Daniel 4:13

13 "I continued looking, in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and there was a holy watcher, coming down 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Daniel 4:13 In-Context

11 The tree grew great and strong, its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth.
12 Its foliage was beautiful, its fruit abundant, and it provided food for all. The animals of the field found shade under it, the birds of the air nested in its branches, and from it all living beings were fed.
13 "I continued looking, in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and there was a holy watcher, coming down from heaven.
14 He cried aloud and said: "Cut down the tree and chop off its branches, strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from beneath it and the birds from its branches.
15 But leave its stump and roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be bathed with the dew of heaven, and let his lot be with the animals of the field in the grass of the earth.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.