Daniel 4:8

8 "But finally Daniel came in before me, whose name is 1Belteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is 2a spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream to him, saying,

Daniel 4:8 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 4:8

But at the last Daniel came in before me
Whether sent for or no is not clear; the reason why he came not with the rest might be because he did not associate with them; nor did they care he should be among them, and present at this time; and it may be the king had forgot the knowledge he had of dreams; or, however, did not choose to send for him until he had tried all his wise men; and so it was ordered by the providence of God, and which is the chief reason of all, that he should come last, that the skill of the magicians might appear first to be baffled, and that Daniel, or rather Daniel's God, might be more known, and might be glorified: whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god;
so called by him and his courtiers, after the name of his god Bel, with which this name of Daniel begins; (See Gill on Daniel 1:7): and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods:
meaning either the holy angels, as Saadiah or speaking in his Heathenish manner, having imbibed the notion of many gods, some holy, and some impure; or it may be, speaking in the dialect of the Jews, he may mean the one true God who is holy, and from whom alone is the spirit of prophecy or of foretelling things to come; which he knew by former experience Daniel had: and before him I told the dream, saying;
as follows:

Daniel 4:8 In-Context

6 "So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.
7 "Then the magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners came in and I related the dream to them, but they could not make its interpretation known to me.
8 "But finally Daniel came in before me, whose name is Belteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream to him, saying,
9 'O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretation.
10 'Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Daniel 1:7; Daniel 2:26; Daniel 5:12
  • 2. Daniel 4:9, 18; Daniel 5:11, 14

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or possibly "the Spirit of the holy God," and so throughout the ch
  • [b]. Lit "before"
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