Daniel 2:27

27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, "The secret which the king hath demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot show unto the king.

Daniel 2:27 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 2:27

Daniel answered in the presence of the king
Boldly, and without fear: and said, the secret which the king hath demanded:
so he calls it, to show that it was something divine, which came from God, and could only be revealed by him, and was not to be found out by any art of man: cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers
show unto the king;
this he premises to the revelation of the secret, not only to observe the unreasonableness of the king's demand upon them, and the injustice of putting men to death for it; but that the discovery of the whole might appear to be truly divine, and God might have all the glory; it being what no class of men whatever could ever have made known unto him. The last word, rendered "soothsayers" {u}, is not used before; the Septuagint version leaves it untranslated, and calls them Gazarenes; and so Saadiah says, it is the name of a nation or people so called; but Jarchi takes them to be a sort of men that had confederacy with devils: the word signifies such that "cut" into parts, as the soothsayers, who cut up creatures, and looked into their entrails, and by them made their judgment of events; or as the astrologers, who cut and divide the heavens into parts, and by them divide future things; or determine, as Jacchiades says, what shall befall men; for the word is used also in the sense of determining or decreeing; hence, Saadiah says, some interpret it of princes, who by their words determine the affairs of kingdoms: by some it is rendered "fatalists" F23, who declare to men what their fate will be; but neither of these could show this secret to the king.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (Nyrzg) sectores, Cocceius, Gejerus.
F23 "Fatidici", Munster, Tigurine version; "qui de homine determinant hoc, vel illo modo ipsi eventurum esse", Jacchiades.

Daniel 2:27 In-Context

25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, "I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known unto the king the interpretation."
26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?"
27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, "The secret which the king hath demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot show unto the king.
28 But there is a God in heaven who revealeth secrets, and maketh known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these:
29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.