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Theodoret of Cyrus

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,374 passages across 50 books

Commentary

241–260 of 1,374
Daniel 4:13

I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;

By eir he refers to the watcher, the meaning in Greek. By watcher he means an angel, thus bringing out its bodiless form: what is clad in a body is subject to sleeping, whereas what is rid of a body is superior to the need for sleeping. So he means, I saw an angel, bodiless in nature, who descended from heaven.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:13

Daniel 4:17

This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

This is what the angel means, that the fate of the tree will come to pass for this purpose, for everyone to know through this that there is one God, Lord and King, who appoints kings on the earth and entrusts the kingdom to whomever he wishes. In fact, to bring out his own authority, he appoints as king the one who is at one time the most insignificant and thought to be of no value and makes those of greatest rank obey him.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:17

Daniel 4:20

The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth;

Daniel’s wisdom is worth admiring: he did not say simply, the big tree, but grown to great size and strength—in other words, instead of being great from the beginning, you became great gradually, and instead of having strength from the outset, you gradually acquired it. Hence he goes further, “Because you have grown great and strong, your greatness has increased, you reach to heaven and your lordship to the ends of the earth.” It was very fitting and appropriate for him to relate these things to heaven and earth: he said his lordship had reached the ends of the earth, that is, his authority, whereas it was not yet his lordship that had reached to heaven but his imaginings.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:20-22

Daniel 4:24

This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king:

At this point it is possible to learn the value of the apostolic teaching, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities”; blessed Daniel, note, calls the impious king “lord” and, influenced by the norm of authority, he adopts the appropriate titles, and he gives a glimpse of the truth of the dream, distressing though it is.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:23-24

Daniel 4:25 · 2 passages

That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

Now, while some commentators claimed the “seven times” are seven years, others said three and a half. The divine Scripture, in fact, divides the year not into four seasons but into two more generic parts, winter and summer; so seven divisions of that kind amount to three and a half years. You will spend such a length of time in misfortune.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:25

God will take from you even human reason and will make you resemble the beasts so that you may learn from experience what is human and what is God, what is human fortune and what is divine kingship, and the fact that it is impossible to attain it unless God wishes.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:25

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.

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.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:26, 27

Daniel 4:29

At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

The text then conveys also the span of divine longsuffering: after the passage of twelve months the threat in the prophecy reached its factual conclusion. Though given such a length of time to repent, he failed to meet the deadline for repentance; it would be of him that blessed Paul spoke, “Do you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance and longsuffering? Are you unaware that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? In your hard and impenitent heart, however, you are storing up wrath for yourselves on the day of wrath, revelation and right judgment by God, who will render to everyone according to each one’s works: eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, while anger and wrath will come to those who in self-seeking do not obey the truth but obey iniquity. There will be tribulation and distress for every person guilty of evildoing.”

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:27

Daniel 4:31

While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

Since he dreamed of going up to heaven, he received the verdict from there; and since he was not satisfied with the palace here below, and instead at the same time he insanely hankered after one on high, he was deprived of the one here below; in his wish to snatch heaven he was driven also from earth.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:31

Daniel 4:33

The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.

By all this it suggested his condition of neglect and carelessness: bereft of divine providence, he was not even a recipient of care from his own—wife, children and family; instead, like a wild animal he kept frequenting uninhabited places, filling his stomach with the food of brute beasts.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:33

Daniel 4:35 · 2 passages

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Up to the present I [Nebuchadnezzar] thought myself very great and elevated, whereas now I know clearly that all human nature is nothing compared with God. Having sought a term for insignificance and not found one suitable, he used “nothing,” which gives a sufficient clue to the instability and impermanence of nature; while calling God “Most High, Lord, living and eternal king,” he spoke of all human beings as “nothing.” In similar fashion also blessed Isaiah in comparing the divine nature with the idols focused on human nature: “If all the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as a turn of the scale and will be accounted as spittle, while Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, and all its animals not sufficient for a burnt offering, and all the nations are nothing and were reckoned as nothing in comparison with him, to what will you compare the Lord? and with what analogy compare him?”

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:35

He says, “There is no one who will oppose his hand or say to him, ‘Why did you do that?’ ” to bring out the invincibility of God’s power. One must accept gladly what is done by him, whether it is pleasing or distressing: resisting or criticizing what is wisely ordained by him is a rash endeavor.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:35

Daniel 4:36

At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.

Squalid and dirty, in all likelihood, unkempt and with nails grown long, he washed away the dirt, and thanks to divine grace he was recognized as the person who previously had administered the mighty kingdom. “My rulers and my nobility sought me out”: they put aside their hatred and adopted a friendly attitude toward me.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:36

Daniel 4:37

Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Having had experience of misfortune and then being rid of it, I sing the praises of the one who to my advantage brought on me one condition and the other in his great wisdom. I know he is the King of heaven and Lord of all, acting in truth, governing everything justly and capable of humbling those behaving haughtily.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:37

Daniel 5:1

Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

This man was the son of Nebuchadnezzar but did not directly succeed him.… After Nebuchadnezzar, then, Evil-merodach ruled, and after him Belshazzar. The most divine Daniel, however, omitted mention of the former man, since he was composing not history pure and simple but prophecy—hence his not recording everything done by Nebuchadnezzar, either, but only those things of which mention was required with a view to bringing benefit. So since also in the time of Belshazzar God gave evidence of a wonderful miracle capable of instilling reverence and dread not only in the people of that time but also in those of any later time and of leading them to the true religion, he did not think it right to conceal in silence such a great act of kindness, judging it instead a holy thing to put it in writing and leave for everyone a record of the teaching.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:1

Daniel 5:2-3

Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.

In other words, intoxication confused his thinking, and intemperance gave rise to this insane action against God: the vessels consecrated to the worship of God, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had seized when God surrendered them but had honored in the way he thought fit and had kept from human use, this man presumed to use like ordinary vessels, not only giving the order but giving effect to the order.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:2

Daniel 5:5

In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

Since, you see, he had sung the praises of the idols, deprived as they were of any power to move, and had scorned the God of all, the Lord of all gives him a lesson in his invisible and incorporeal nature by letting him see only fingers writing, the purpose being to instruct him that he would not even see them were it not that he personally had provided the occasion of need.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:5

Daniel 5:9

Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

From this it is clear that the Lord was concerned for the welfare of the others and did not take the king’s life on the spot, instead giving a glimpse of the writer’s fingers. But having startled him by this and instilled fear, he caused the wise men of the Chaldeans to be summoned and showed up their falsity and weakness while producing the need for Daniel’s wisdom so as through his tongue to accredit him and benefit the others, and with this happening to inflict punishment at that stage on the impious king.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:9

Daniel 5:10 · 2 passages

Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:

This was probably an introduction offered at that time to kings by their subjects; even to this day this custom prevails.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:10

“Amid the king’s and his nobles’ words the queen entered the banqueting hall,” that is, with them pondering what should be done and various people making various suggestions under pressure of fear, the queen entered. Now, in my view, this lady was his mother: the wives were attending the banquet along with the concubines, and drinking from the gold and silver vessels was himself and his nobles, his wives—that is, his spouses—and his concubines, partners of his not by law but in lust. Now, this lady entered after the hubbub, and being old she probably was not a party at that stage to the drunkenness and antics or dancing.

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:10

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