Daniel 4:13

13 'I was looking in the ¹visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, ²an angelic watcher, a ³holy one, descended from heaven.

Daniel 4:13 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 4:13

I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed
The king goes on to relate what other things presented themselves to his imagination in his dream, concerning this tree which signified himself: and, behold, a watcher:
which Saadiah interprets of Bath Kol; but Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Jacchiades, and Ben Melech of an angel; so called because incorporeal, ever watches, and never sleeps, and is always attentive to, and observant of, the commands of God so the angels in the fragment of Enoch are called "egregori", watchers; and the same word is here used in the Alexandrian copy. Some ^F11 render it "an enemy", "an holy one": according to the sense of the word in ( 1 Samuel 28:16 ) , and produce it to show that angels are called enemies: and an Holy One;
one of the holy angels that never sinned, nor left their first estate, but continued in it; in which they are established by Christ, and are impeccable; are perfectly pure and holy in their nature and actions: such an one came down from heaven; the place of their abode, as it seemed to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Lex. Kabalist. in voce (bwya) p. 54, 55.

Daniel 4:13 In-Context

11 'The tree grew large and became strong And its height reached to the sky, And it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

12 'Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, And in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, And the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, And all living creatures fed themselves from it.

13 'I was looking in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher, a holy one, descended from heaven.

14 'He shouted out and spoke as follows: "Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit; Let the beasts flee from under it And the birds from its branches.

15 "Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground, But with a band of iron and bronze around it In the new grass of the field; And let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, And let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth.

Cross References

• 1. Daniel 7:1
• 2. Daniel 4:17, 23
• 3. Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalms 89:7; Daniel 8:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "of my head"