Daniel 4:26 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 4:26
And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.
to know (properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
heavens
שְׁמַיָּֽאshe.mai.Ya'
H8065
the sky (as aloft · noun, common masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
rule
שַׁלִּטִ֖ןsha.li.Tin
H7990
mighty · adjective, masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Daniel 4:15 Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be…
Daniel 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Daniel 4:23 And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stu…
Matthew 5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:
Matthew 21:20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
Luke 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Luke 15:21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 4:19-27
We have here the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream; and when once it is applied to himself, and it is declared that he is the tree in the dream (Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur - Change but the name, the fable speaks of thee), when once it is said, Thou art the man, there needs little more to be said for the explication of the dream. Out of his own mouth he is judged; so shall his doom be, he himself has decided it. The thing was so plain that Daniel, upon hearing the dream, was astonished for one hour, Dan 4:19. He was struck with amazement and terror at so great a judgment coming upon so great a prince. His flesh trembled for fear of God. He was likewise struck with confusion wh…
thou shalt have known, &c.--a promise of spiritual grace to him, causing the judgment to humble, not harden, his heart.
heavens do rule--The plural is used, as addressed to Nebuchadnezzar, the head of an organized earthly kingdom, with various principalities under the supreme ruler. So "the kingdom of heaven" (Mat 4:17; Greek, "kingdom of the heavens") is a manifold organization, composed of various orders of angels, under the Most High (Eph 1:20-21; Eph 3:10; Col 1:16).
Adam Clarke on Daniel 4:26
Thy kingdom shall he sure unto thee - No new king was set up; Evil-merodach his son was regent during his father's insanity.
John Gill on Daniel 4:26
And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots,.... That is the watchers and the Holy Ones; or it was commanded: this was the order given by the most High:
thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee; signifying that another king should not be set up in his place; and though the kingdom and administration of it would depart from, him for a while, yet it would be restored again, and be firm and stable:
after that thou shall have known that the heavens do rule; that is, that God, who is the Maker of the heavens, and dwells there, is known and acknowledged by thee to rule on the earth; from the government of which he was desirous of excluding him, and taking it to himself; see Luke 1…
The Church Fathers
Having foretold the future in this way, [Daniel] offers exhortation and excellent advice and applies a remedy suited to the wound … "compassion for the poor." In this he implies the insatiable cruelty with which [Nebuchadnezzar] treated his subjects. Do you wish, he asks, to receive lovingkindness? Give evidence of it to those who share the same nature as you; this is the way you will persuade the judge to cancel his threat and leave it unfulfilled.
For when it says to him, "Leave the stump of the roots of the tree in the earth," [Daniel 4:26] it is clear that he is again according to the purpose of God about to be reestablished over his own office. For this occurred as an education for the king, so that he would not be high-minded and in the future he would be able to say, "And all who walk in arrogance are able to be humbled." [Daniel 4:37]
When he put away the same great arrogance which he acquired, and when he was suffering in the mountains, he confessed to God, recognizing the heavenly authority and he was restored again to the office of his kingdom, after both the magistrates and princes and all of those who were under him sought him, they also bestowed extravagant honor and glory upon him, so that what was spoken in the vision was fulfilled, "Except leave the stump of the roots of the tree in the earth, until you know that the Most High reigns over the kingdom of men and he shall give it to whom he esteems." [Daniel 4:25]
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Daniel — God is my judge, or judge of God. (1.) David’s second son, “born unto him in Hebron, of Abigail the Carmelitess” (1 Chr. 3:1). He is called also Chileab (2 Sam. 3:3). (2.) One of the four great…
Media — Heb. Madai, which is rendered in the Authorized Version (1) “Madai,” Gen. 10:2; (2) “Medes,” 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; (3) “Media,” Esther 1:3; 10:2; Isa. 21:2; Dan. 8:20; (4) “Mede,” only in Dan. 11:1.…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Daniel 4:26
26. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.
26. Et quod dixerunt de relinquenda radice stirpiuus arboris, regnum tuum tibi stabit, ex quo cognoveris quod potestas sit coelorum. [222]
Here Daniel closes the interpretation of the dream, and shews how God did not treat King Nebuchadnezzar so severely by not giving way to clemency. He mitigates, indeed, the extreme rigor of the punishment, to induce Nebuchadnezzar to call upon God and repent, through indulging the hope of pardon, as a clearer exhortation will afterwards follow. But Daniel now prepares him for pe…
The interpretation of the dream.
As Daniel at once understood the interpretation of the dream, he was for a moment so astonished that he could not speak for terror at the thoughts which moved his soul. This amazement seized him because he wished well to the king, and yet he must now announce to him a weighty judgment from God.
Daniel 4:16 (Dan 4:19)
The punctuation אשׁתּומם for אשׁתּומם is Syriac, as in the Hebr. Dan 8:27; cf. Winer's Chald. Gram. 25, 2. חדא כּשׁעהmeans, not about an hour (Mich., Hitz., Kran., etc.), but as it were an instant, a moment. Regarding שׁעה, see under Dan 3:6. The king perceives the astonishment of Daniel, and remarks that he has found the interpretation. Therefor…
