Daniel 2:19
During the night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he blessed the God of heaven
During the night
This phrase indicates the timing of the revelation, suggesting a period of rest or quiet when God often communicates with His servants. Biblically, night can symbolize a time of divine encounter, as seen with Jacob's dream (Genesis 28:11-12) and Samuel's calling (1 Samuel 3:3-4). It underscores the idea that God’s revelations can come unexpectedly and in times of darkness or uncertainty.

the mystery was revealed to Daniel
The "mystery" refers to King Nebuchadnezzar's dream and its interpretation, which none of the Babylonian wise men could discern. This highlights the limitations of human wisdom and the sovereignty of God in revealing divine truths. The term "mystery" is significant in biblical literature, often denoting truths hidden in God’s plan, later revealed through His prophets (Ephesians 3:3-5). Daniel's ability to understand the mystery emphasizes his role as a prophet and a type of Christ, who reveals the mysteries of God (Colossians 2:2-3).

in a vision
Visions are a common means of divine communication in the Bible, used to convey God's messages to His prophets. Daniel's vision is part of a broader biblical tradition where God imparts wisdom and future events through dreams and visions, as seen with Joseph (Genesis 37:5-10) and John in Revelation. This method underscores the supernatural nature of the revelation and Daniel's unique prophetic gift.

and he blessed the God of heaven
Daniel's immediate response to the revelation is worship, acknowledging God as the source of wisdom and power. The title "God of heaven" reflects a common biblical expression emphasizing God's sovereignty and authority over all creation, contrasting with the earthly gods of Babylon. This act of blessing God highlights the appropriate response to divine revelation and aligns with the biblical theme of giving glory to God for His works (Psalm 115:1). Daniel's praise prefigures the worship of Christ, who is the ultimate revelation of God (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Persons / Places / Events
1. Daniel
A young Hebrew man of noble lineage, taken into Babylonian captivity. Known for his wisdom, faithfulness, and ability to interpret dreams and visions.

2. God of Heaven
The sovereign God whom Daniel worships, distinct from the pagan gods of Babylon. He is the source of wisdom and revelation.

3. Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
The Babylonian king had a troubling dream that none of his wise men could interpret, leading to a decree to execute them, including Daniel and his friends.

4. Vision
A divine revelation given to Daniel during the night, providing the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

5. Babylon
The empire where Daniel and his friends were exiled, known for its grandeur and idolatry.
Teaching Points
Dependence on God for Wisdom
Daniel's experience teaches us to seek God's wisdom in times of uncertainty and crisis. Just as Daniel prayed and received revelation, we too should turn to God for guidance.

The Power of Prayer
Daniel's response to the king's decree was to pray with his friends. This highlights the importance of communal prayer and seeking God's intervention together.

God's Sovereignty
The revelation of the mystery underscores God's control over human history and His ability to reveal His plans to His people.

Faithfulness in Exile
Despite being in a foreign land, Daniel remained faithful to God. This encourages believers to maintain their faith and integrity regardless of their circumstances.

Blessing God for His Revelation
After receiving the vision, Daniel's immediate response was to bless God. This teaches us to respond with gratitude and worship when God answers our prayers.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Daniel's response to the crisis in Babylon challenge us to respond to our own crises today?

2. In what ways can we cultivate a prayer life that seeks God's wisdom and revelation, as demonstrated by Daniel?

3. How does the account of Daniel 2:19 encourage us to trust in God's sovereignty over the events of our lives?

4. What are some practical ways we can remain faithful to God in environments that are hostile to our beliefs, as Daniel did in Babylon?

5. How can we incorporate the practice of blessing and thanking God into our daily lives, especially after receiving answers to our prayers?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 41
Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dreams, similar to Daniel's role in Babylon, showing God's power to reveal mysteries.

Acts 2
The Holy Spirit gives believers the ability to understand and proclaim God's mysteries, paralleling Daniel's reception of divine insight.

James 1:5
Encourages believers to seek wisdom from God, who gives generously, reflecting Daniel's reliance on God for understanding.
Daniel's Preparation for Prophetic WorkH. T. Robjohns, B.A.Daniel 2:19
A Specific Remedy for Human DistressJ.D. Davies Daniel 2:14-23
The Dream FoundH.T. Robjohns Daniel 2:14-30
People
Abednego, Arioch, Azariah, Belteshazzar, Daniel, Hananiah, Meshach, Mishael, Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach
Places
Babylon, Shinar
Topics
Blessed, Blessing, Clear, Daniel, Heaven, Heavens, Mystery, Praised, Revealed, Secret, Vision
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Daniel 2:19

     1466   vision
     4957   night

Daniel 2:17-23

     8160   seeking God

Daniel 2:17-49

     6694   mystery

Daniel 2:19-21

     5841   ecstasy

Daniel 2:19-23

     1409   dream
     8131   guidance, results
     8367   wisdom, importance of
     8428   example

Library
The Image and the Stone
'This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Book and Tract Catalogue.
THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION. BY I. C. WELLCOME AND C. GOUD. "The Plan of Redemption is an earnest book, evidently prepared after no little study, and with a conscientious desire to advance the cause of Christ. The Bible is made the basis of argument; it contains many fresh and well considered suggestions. The careful reader will find much that is valuable."--Watchman and Reflector. "This treatise aims to serve up the gospel scheme in a compact form. It states the plan and work well, and usually correctly.
Dwight L. Moody—That Gospel Sermon on the Blessed Hope

Editor's Preface
Professor Maspero does not need to be introduced to us. His name is well known in England and America as that of one of the chief masters of Egyptian science as well as of ancient Oriental history and archaeology. Alike as a philologist, a historian, and an archaeologist, he occupies a foremost place in the annals of modern knowledge and research. He possesses that quick apprehension and fertility of resource without which the decipherment of ancient texts is impossible, and he also possesses a sympathy
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 1

The Scattering of the People
[Illustration: (drop cap A) The Fish-god of Assyria and Babylonia] At last the full punishment for their many sins fell upon God's chosen people. The words of warning written in the fifth book of Moses had told them plainly that if they turned aside and worshipped the wicked idol-gods of Canaan, the Lord would take their country from them and drive them out into strange lands. Yet again and again they had yielded to temptation. And now the day of reckoning had come. Nebuchadnezzar, the great king
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

That Gospel Sermon on the Blessed Hope
In 2 Timothy, 3:16, Paul declares: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" but there are some people who tell us when we take up prophecy that it is all very well to be believed, but that there is no use in one trying to understand it; these future events are things that the church does not agree about, and it is better to let them alone, and deal only with those prophecies which have already been
Dwight L. Moody—That Gospel Sermon on the Blessed Hope

Epistle Xliii. To Eulogius and Anastasius, Bishops.
To Eulogius and Anastasius, Bishops. Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria, and Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch. When the excellent preacher says, As long as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I will honour my ministry (Rom. xi. 13); saying again in another place, We became as babes among you (1 Thess. ii. 7), he undoubtedly shews an example to us who come after him, that we should retain humility in our minds, and yet keep in honour the dignity of our order, so that neither should our humility be
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

A Description of Heart-Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 The holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity' calls here for heart-purity, and to such as are adorned with this jewel, he promises a glorious and beatifical vision of himself: they shall see God'. Two things are to be explained the nature of purity; the subject of purity. 1 The nature of purity. Purity is a sacred refined thing. It stands diametrically opposed to whatsoever defiles. We must distinguish the various kinds
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Wisdom of God
The next attribute is God's wisdom, which is one of the brightest beams of the Godhead. He is wise in heart.' Job 9:9. The heart is the seat of wisdom. Cor in Hebraeo sumitur pro judicio. Pineda. Among the Hebrews, the heart is put for wisdom.' Let men of understanding tell me:' Job 34:44: in the Hebrew, Let men of heart tell me.' God is wise in heart, that is, he is most wise. God only is wise; he solely and wholly possesses all wisdom; therefore he is called, the only wise God.' I Tim 1:17. All
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Wicked Husbandmen.
"Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord

The First Great Group of Parables.
(Beside the Sea of Galilee.) Subdivision B. Parable of the Sower. ^A Matt. XIII. 3-23; ^B Mark IV. 3-25; ^C Luke VIII. 5-18. ^a Behold, ^c 5 The sower went forth to sow his seed [Orientals live in cities and towns. Isolated farmhouses are practically unknown. A farmer may therefore live several miles from his field, in which case he literally "goes forth" to it]: ^b 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some seed { ^a seeds } fell by the way side, ^c and it was trodden under foot, and the birds of
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Necessity of Regeneration, Argued from the Immutable Constitution of God.
John III. 3. John III. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. WHILE the ministers of Christ are discoursing of such a subject, as I have before me in the course of these Lectures, and particularly in this branch of them which I am now entering upon, we may surely, with the utmost reason, address our hearers in those words of Moses to Israel, in the conclusion of his dying discourse: Set your hearts unto all
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Letters of St. Bernard
I To Malachy. 1141.[924] (Epistle 341.) To the venerable lord and most blessed father, Malachy, by the grace of God archbishop of the Irish, legate of the Apostolic See, Brother Bernard called to be abbot of Clairvaux, [desiring] to find grace with the Lord. 1. Amid the manifold anxieties and cares of my heart,[925] by the multitude of which my soul is sore vexed,[926] the brothers coming from a far country[927] that they may serve the Lord,[928] thy letter, and thy staff, they comfort
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Lii. Concerning Hypocrisy, Worldly Anxiety, Watchfulness, and his Approaching Passion.
(Galilee.) ^C Luke XII. 1-59. ^c 1 In the meantime [that is, while these things were occurring in the Pharisee's house], when the many thousands of the multitude were gathered together, insomuch that they trod one upon another [in their eagerness to get near enough to Jesus to see and hear] , he began to say unto his disciples first of all [that is, as the first or most appropriate lesson], Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. [This admonition is the key to the understanding
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus.
(at Nazareth, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke I. 26-38. ^c 26 Now in the sixth month [this is the passage from which we learn that John was six months older than Jesus] the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth [Luke alone tells us where Mary lived before the birth of Jesus. That Nazareth was an unimportant town is shown by the fact that it is mentioned nowhere in the Old Testament, nor in the Talmud, nor in Josephus, who mentions two hundred four towns and cities of Galilee. The
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The First Sayings of Jesus --His Ideas of a Divine Father and of a Pure Religion --First Disciples.
Joseph died before his son had taken any public part. Mary remained, in a manner, the head of the family, and this explains why her son, when it was wished to distinguish him from others of the same name, was most frequently called the "son of Mary."[1] It seems that having, by the death of her husband, been left friendless at Nazareth, she withdrew to Cana,[2] from which she may have come originally. Cana[3] was a little town at from two to two and a half hours' journey from Nazareth, at the foot
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

The Gospel of the Kingdom.
"This is He whom Seers in old time Chanted of with one accord; Whom the voices of the Prophets Promised in their faithful word." We have seen that, in the providence of God, John the Baptist was sent to proclaim to the world that "The Kingdom of Heaven" was at hand, and to point out the King. And as soon as the Herald had raised the expectation of men by the proclamation of the coming Kingdom, our Lord began His public ministry, the great object of which was the founding of His Kingdom for the salvation
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

Daniel
Daniel is called a prophet in the New Testament (Matt. xxiv. 15). In the Hebrew Bible, however, the book called by his name appears not among the prophets, but among "the writings," between Esther and Ezra. The Greek version placed it between the major and the minor prophets, and this has determined its position in modern versions. The book is both like and unlike the prophetic books. It is like them in its passionate belief in the overruling Providence of God and in the sure consummation of His
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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