Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 2:19
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
19. in a vision of the night ] For the expression, comp. Isa 29:7 (‘like a dream, a vision of the night ’), Job 4:13; Job 7:14; Job 20:8; Job 33:15, Gen 46:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then was the secret revealed … – To wit, the dream and the interpretation. The thing which had been hidden was disclosed. We may suppose that this occurred after a suitable time had been given to prayer.
In a night vision – A representation made to him at night, but whether when he was asleep or awake does not appear. Compare the notes at Dan 1:17; Isa 1:1; Job 4:13; Job 33:15.
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven – Nothing would be more natural than that he should burst forth in a song of grateful praise for disclosing a secret by means of which his life, and the lives of his companions, would be preserved, and by which such signal honor would redound to God himself, as alone able to reveal coming events.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Dan 2:19
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.
Daniels Preparation for Prophetic Work
A prophecy does not fall from Heaven in the form of a book written and sealed. Prophecy is given through the spirit of a man. It comes first into the living soul. He afterwards declares it, and then records it, in a form adapted to the needs of living souls around. The situation of the prophet, then, must be favourable to the full reception of the prophecy in all its significance. To qualify him for his work his historical position must be such that his whole situation may be, so to say, the human question to which revelation proclaims the Divine answer. Accordingly, Daniel was carefully placed by the hand of God so that the prophecies with which he was favoured should have for him the fullest meaning. When we say that his watch-tower was in the palace of Babylon, hard by the very throne, we indicate how exactly God prepared him to be the prophet of this crisis in the history, not of Israel merely, but of the whole world. For more than seventy years he lived at the Babylonian and Medo-Persian court. He was a member of the government, high in position. His political preparation for successive revelations was very favourable. He gained an insight into the secular organisations of the kingdoms of this world, and became thus fitted to receive what we may be allowed to call political revelations. His spiritual preparation, too, was wisely and graciously ordered. The moral victory over the temptations of his state of pupilage, rendered it possible for God to communicate with humanity through him. He was well versed in previous revelations. Daniel knew the contents of preceding prophecies (9:2). Besides this preparation of knowledge and self-conquest, the experience of life at Babylon was likely to make his soul very susceptible to Divine impressions. (H. T. Robjohns, B.A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. Then was the secret revealed – in a night vision.] Daniel either dreamed it, or it was represented to his mind by an immediate inspiration.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is not improbably conjectured that Daniel spent the night in watching and prayer, for night vision is distinguished from dreams, Num 12:6; whether sleeping or waking, Daniel had the same thing revealed unto him which king Nebuchadnezzar had, with this difference, the king remembered not his dream, nor knew what it meant, but Daniel was able to tell his dream and give the meaning of it also.
Daniel blessed the God of heaven; he gave thanks and praise to the Father of lights, from whom all wisdom comes, who heard his prayer, and revealed this secret to him. Note, this was revealed to Daniel, and not to his companions, for he was chief, and by this is signified by what steps he rose up to the degree of a famous prophet. Again, he calls the true God the
God of heaven, because he made heaven, his throne is there, and the magicians and heathen gods come not there, but were cast out thence, being devils of hell; but the God of Israel is the God of heaven.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. revealed . . . in . . . nightvision (Job 33:15;Job 33:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision,…. That is, after Daniel and his companions had importunately sought the Lord by prayer, the secret of the king’s dream, and the interpretation of it, were made known to Daniel, and to him only; he being the person designed in Providence to be raised to great honour and dignity by means of it; this was done either the same night, or the night following, and, as some think, in a dream, and that he dreamed the same dream Nebuchadnezzar did, which he remembered, though the king forgot it; or, however, the same image was represented, to him, whether sleeping or waking, and the meaning of it given him:
then Daniel blessed the God of heaven: gave thanks to him, that he had heard his prayer, and indulged him in his request; which thanksgiving, blessing, or praise, is expressed in the following words:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
THE SECRET DREAM REVEALED TO DANIEL
Verses 19-30:
Verse 19 declares that then, in response to the prayers of Daniel and his three devout Hebrew colleague friends, God revealed the secret to him in a vision by night, to magnify God, preserve their lives, and to relieve the king of his tormenting sleepless fears, v. 1; Job 33:15-16; See also Gen 45:7-8; Gen 50:20.
Verse 20 relates that immediately Daniel blessed or praised the God of heaven, the living God, because wisdom and might were inherent in His being; It was a wisdom and power He was willing to grant to those who asked Him for it, Jas 1:5; Jas 5:16-17. See also Psa 115:18; Psa 136:12-13; Jer 32:19.
Verse 21 continues to witness that the living God also: 1) repeatedly changes the times and the seasons, Dan 7:25; Dan 11:6; Daniel 2) He repeatedly removes kings and sets up kings, as set forth Job 12:18; Psa 75:6-7; Dan 4:17; Daniel , 3) He doles out wisdom to the wise, with knowledge to those who have understanding, or comprehensive ability, Job 12:23; Psa 25:14; Jas 1:5.
Verse 22 adds that He unveils the deep and secret or covert things, because He knows what is or exists in the darkness; For both it and the light reside or dwell in Him, in the power of His control, Job 12:22; 1Co 2:10; Eph 1:17-18; Psa 139:11-12; Heb 4:13; Jas 1:17; Joh 1:5.
Verse 23 relates Daniel’s praise and thanksgiving to God for answering the prayers of him and his three colleague Hebrew brethren in this hour of captivity crisis; He acknowledged that the covenant God of his fathers had disclosed or made known to him, by wisdom and might, in a supernatural way, what he and they had requested of the Lord, regarding the demand of the king against them, that their lives might be spared, Amo 3:7; Daniel acknowledged that the revelation of the vision which Nebuchadnezzar had forgotten, was now made known to him, by Divine Grace, not for any merit of his own, Tit 3:5. See also Psa 106:45; Wicked men are often forced to eat their words, v. 10.
Verse 24 discloses that Daniel then went to Arioch, the king’s executioner, and interceded to him not to destroy the wise men of Babylon, Psa 119:46. He too requested that he again have an immediate meeting with the king, assuring that he was now prepared to tell him the dream, giving the meaning of it all, as he pledged, v.16.
Verse 25 recounts that Arioch, captain of the king’s executioners, v. 14, carried Daniel with his message to the king, immediately or with haste, without delay. In formal delight, Arioch related to the king that he had found a man of the captives of the Jews who was ready to make known his dream and all he wanted to know about its message.
Verse 26 relates king Nebuchadnezzar’s direct inquiry of Daniel to whom he had given the heathen god name of Belteshazzar, god of Bel, whether or not he was now able to relate both his forgotten dream and its interpretation; See Mar 13:9. It required of Daniel an open commitment and testimony of truthfulness, under the blade of the sword; He would witness of the Lord, not himself, Isa 43:10; Act 1:8.
Verse 27 states that without dodging, or evading, or equivocating, Daniel responded that the secret that the king had demanded be told was not, did not exist, in the power of any of the astrologers, magicians, or soothsayers to comprehend; for they had no live God to whom they could resort for any information. And Dead, blind, deaf gods can help no one, Psa 115:4-9; 1Co 8:5-6. Daniel was trained in the “fore” of their gods and knew their vanity, Dan 1:1-4.
Verse 28 adds that Daniel then declared that there existed a living God, (Elohim) in heaven, who held and revealed or disclosed secrets or concealed things and was making known to Nebuchadnezzar the king things that were to be or exist in the latter days, v. 29, about which he was now prepared to advise him, n a definitive way, Gen 40:8; Amo 3:7; Dan 4:13. The “latter days” alludes to the end of the Messianic days, Gen 44:1; Isa 2:2; He hen proceeded to tell Nebuchadnezzar the dream and visions; conceptions he had in his mind in the dream was as follows:
Verse 29 explains to the king that the things that came into his mind, while he had lain upon his bed, concerned things that were to occur first, regarding the future of his empire. And Daniel asserted hat what he was about to tell the king did not come from his own mind but as a revelation from the living God. He witnesses by faith,
Joh 5:4; 2Pe 1:5; Mat 10:32. For the relating of the dream, and its meaning, Daniel disavowed any desire for credit.
Verse 30 adds that the relating of the secret that Daniel was to ell to Nebuchadnezzar was not because of any of his own super wisdom that he had any more than any other living person; True men of wisdom always ascribe it to the Lord, as Joseph did, Gen 41:16; and as Peter did, Act 3:12. The revelation of the secret was for the benefit of Nebuchadnezzar who had been so long sleeplessly burdened, that he might know of the true God and his own heart and his future, on which he had been meditating when the dream came before him; See 2Ch 32:31; Luk 2:35.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here it may be gathered, that Daniel did not vacillate nor pray with his companions through any doubt upon his mind. For that sentence of James ought to come into our memory, namely, Those who hesitate, and tremble, and pray to God with difference, are unworthy of being heard. Let not such a one, says James, think he shall obtain anything from the Lord, if he is driven about variously like the waves of the sea. (Jas 1:6.) As God, therefore, shewed himself propitious to the prayers of Daniel, we conclude him to have prayed with true faith, and to be clearly persuaded that his life was in God’s hands; hence, also, he felt that God did not vainly harass the mind of King Nebuchadnezzar, but was preparing some signal and remarkable judgment for him. Because Daniel was imbued with this firm persuasion, he exercises a sure confidence, and prays to God as if he had already obtained his request. On the other hand, we perceive that God never closes his ears when rightly and cordially invoked, as also it is said in the Psalms, (Psa 145:18,) He is near to all who pray to him in truth; for there cannot be truth when faith is wanting; but as Daniel brought faith and sincerity to his prayers, he was listened to, and the secret concerning the dream was made known to him in a vision by night. I cannot now proceed any further.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
HOMILETICS
SECT. VI.THE THANKSGIVING (Chap. Dan. 2:19-23)
The part of faith not only to pray but to look out for an answer. Daniel prayed in the firm expectation that, if for Gods glory, an answer would be granted. When the answer was given in the vision vouchsafed to him, he was in no doubt about its being such. The vision carried with it the proof of its divine origin. Revelations from God bear their evidence in their own bosom. No need for Daniel to wait till the king identifies his dream. Daniel therefore at once gives thanks and blesses the God of heaven. The text exhibits him at seventeen or eighteen years of age as a beautiful example of elevated piety and devotion, worthy of the mention made of him by the prophet Ezekiel some years afterwards.
In Daniels thanksgiving we have
I. The Object of it. This is God, viewed under two aspects.
1. The God of heaven (Dan. 2:19). All blessings received to be traced immediately to God. The title indicates
(1.) His unity. The one God in contrast with the gods many of the heathen. The only God known in heaven, though mysteriously subsisting in a Trinity of persons.
(2.) His supremacy. Heavenly powers and heavenly bodies worshipped by the heathen. Israels God the God of them all. All in heaven as well as on earth subject to Him as His creatures. Daniels God not the sun nor the firmament, but He that made both.
(3.) His majesty. Heaven His throne, the earth His footstool. Nations and their sovereigns as nothing before Him. This not to be forgotten in our approaches to Him. Prayer to be addressed to Him as Our Father, who art in heaven.
(4.) His holiness. Heaven conceived of as the place of purity, untainted by sin. The abode only of pure and holy beings. That holy heaven the place of Gods throne and special residence.
(5.) The source and centre of happiness. Heaven the place of blessedness. It is God that makes it such. The God of heaven makes heaven what it is. A heaven without God no heaven to holy creatures: Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
2. The God of his fathers (Dan. 2:23). The God known, served, and trusted in by his fathers, from Abraham downwards. A special mercy when the God of heaven is also the God of our fathers. Daniel recognises the privilege of having godly, praying ancestors. Answers to prayer and blessings in general to be then viewed in connection with such ancestry. The prayers of godly parents often answered in the blessings bestowed upon their children after them. Children often blessed for the sake of godly forefathers. The prayers of the righteous their childrens best inheritance. A special reason as well as encouragement to pray to Him who has been the God of our fathers. Our fathers trusted in Thee and were delivered, a scriptural and powerful plea in prayer. The God of our fathers likely to be our God too. The promise that comforted Jacobs sorrowful heart on his way to Padanaram (Gen. 28:13-15). What God was to our fathers He will be to us, if we take Him and trust Him as our God. I am the Lord; I change not. The text a powerful argument with parents to make God in Christ their God, so as to hand down the blessing to their children and childrens children after them.
II. The Subject of the thanksgiving. The special subject is the answer to prayer vouchsafed. Who hast given me wisdom, &c. (Dan. 2:23). The very thing that Daniel and his friends had asked had been grantedwisdom and power to interpret the kings dream, and so to save the lives of others as well as themselves, as well as to relieve the kings agitation. The thing granted in answer to prayer often the very thing asked. Examples, Eliezer, Hannah, Elijah, Nehemiah. Faith receives either the very thing asked or something better. With thanks for the special blessing vouchsafed, Daniel connects blessing and praise.
1. For what God is.
(1.) Wise. Wisdom and might are His (Dan. 2:20). Divine wisdom seen in the manner in which all things have been created and in which all things are governed; in the plan of the universe and the means for carrying that plan out. Especially seen in the redemption of fallen mankind by the incarnation and mediatorial work of His own Son. God the only wise. His wisdom contrasted with the pretended wisdom of the wise men of Babylon. That wisdom revealed in part in the kings dream.
(2.) Mighty. Might as well as wisdom His. Has power to execute what His wisdom plans. Power as well as wisdom necessary to the government as well as the creation of the universe, and of every, even the smallest portion of it. One object of the kings dream to exhibit the power of God, in opposition to the gods of the heathen and the rulers of the world. Constant reference to this contrast in the descriptions of Jehovah in this book. It is He, not as the Chaldean kings in their pride fondly imagined, human power, that bestows kingdoms, sets up kings and casts them down, and that changes times. The author of those great changes in the kingdoms of the world which Daniel announced in the interpretation of the kings dream.
(3.) Omniscient. Knoweth what is in darkness, &c. (Dan. 2:22). Able to reveal the deep and secret things, which the wise men of Babylon, with all their pretension, were unable to do, or their gods to do for them. All things naked and open before Him. No darkness or shadow of death where men may hide themselves from His sight. Hell and the invisible world without a covering before Him. The future as the present within His ken. Sees the end from the beginning. Known unto Him all His works from the beginning of the world. All history, including the lives and doings of the humblest of His creatures, only the development of His plan formed before the foundation of the world. No mysteries with God. The web of the universe, with its endlessly varied pattern, all before His all-seeing and all-contriving mind from the beginning, and that without any prejudice to the free agency of His intelligent creatures.
DANIEL EXHIBITED IN THE TEXT AS AN EXAMPLE OF THANKSGIVING
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven (Dan. 2:19).
Mercies in general, and answers to prayer in particular, call for due acknowledgment. Favours demand returns. A thankless heart a graceless one. Neither were they thankful, among the marks of mans apostasy from God. Of the ten cleansed lepers, only one returned to give glory to God. Not much prayer in the world, still less of thanksgiving. A gracious soul not only prays but praises, especially when prayer has been heard and answered. Thanksgiving for answers to prayer doubles the blessing. More blessed to give than to receive. Thanksgiving both Gods right and mans happiness. The want of it a wrong both against God and ourselves. To give thanks not only right and comely, but pleasant,pleasant both to God and man. The ungodly man prays at times in a way; the godly both prays and gives thanks. Prayer made in hell, though in vain; thanksgiving and praise the employment of heaven.
Daniels thanksgiving was
(1.) Prompt. Followed immediately on the bestowment of the blessing. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Thanks delayed lose half their value. He gives twice who gives quickly. Christ gave thanks even before the answer to His prayer was actually given, though anticipated (Joh. 11:41).
(2.) Hearty. Indicated by the language and enlargement on the subject. Heartless thanks not real ones. The thankful leper fell down on his face on giving thanks to Jesus, a thing more like a person asking for a favour than giving thanks for one. Daniel as hearty in his thanks as he had been in his prayers. I thank thee, O God of my fathers. So the Psalmist: I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart; for great has been Thy mercy toward me (Psa. 86:12-13).
(3.) Full. Daniel copious in his thanksgiving, as in his prayer (ch. 9.). Anxious to omit nothing in describing the blessing received. When God is not stinted in His gifts, we should not be stinted in our thanksgiving.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(19) Night vision.Not in a dream, but literally in a vision; but that Daniel saw a repetition of the kings dream cannot be inferred from the words. We know from Num. 12:6 that God was pleased to reveal the truth both by dreams and by visions.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
God Reveals To Daniel What He Asked. Daniel Is Filled With Gratitude and Praise ( Dan 2:19-23 ).
‘Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and he sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.” ’
Their prayer was answered and Daniel experienced one of his visions in which the dream was made known to him. What he envisioned moved him profoundly as he recognised its significance and he broke out in a prayer of praise and wonder.
‘“Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever.’ Compare Psa 41:13 and Neh 9:5. He had been given a glimpse into the distant future and recognised that he was dealing with the everlasting One. ‘The name’ was what revealed the nature and being of God. He was the One Who ruled over all.
The vision made him recognise even more than ever the wisdom and might of God. He recognised as never before that here was One who controlled and changed the times and seasons, the events of history. That in His wisdom He did what was right. That here was One who disposed of kings and who set them up, not arbitrarily, but by design. Who, while being the God of heaven, also ruled over the earth, Who controlled all things and especially the great empires of the world and their gods. That here was One Who knew and could reveal the deepest secrets. That here was One Who could see into the mists and darkness of the future, and that to Him all was light.
‘He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding.’ Daniel was under no illusions. He did not pride himself on his knowledge. He recognised its true source. If a man has true wisdom it was from God. Those who truly understand do so because God has revealed it to them. So no such man has any cause to have a high opinion of himself.
‘He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.’ The penetrating eye of God sees all things. He sees into the depths and all secrets are known to Him. No darkness can hide anything from Him. He is the source and possessor of light, and light is His essential companion.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Dan 2:19. Then was the secret revealed It is generally thought that this secret was revealed to Daniel only, and that in sleep, by a dream. Full of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which denoted the succession and change of the great monarchies, Daniel humbly acknowledges before God, Dan 2:21 that time and its duration, as well as the elevation and abasement of states and empires, are entirely in his hand.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Behold, Reader! the prevalency of prayer. Oh! what hath not prayer with faith in Christ wrought? When God the Holy Ghost gives a spirit of prayer, and leads the soul in Jesus into the very retirings of the Lord, so that we wrestle, as Jacob did; and act faith, as Elijah did; what mercies may not be expected to follow. See also those Scriptures, Gen 32:24-30 ; 1Ki 18:36-381Ki 18:36-38 ; Joh 16:23-24Joh 16:23-24 . I must not dismiss these verses before that I have called upon the Reader to remark with me the behavior of Daniel upon this occasion. As soon as the Lord revealed unto him the secret, he first poured out his whole soul in praise to the great Author of the mercy. He did not hasten to the King of Babylon before that he had first blessed the King of kings for his grace. There were numberless mercies Daniel found grace to be thankful for; and no doubt under the sense he had of the Lord’s favor, his heart was melted before the Lord. See another beautiful instance of the like kind, 2Sa 7 throughout. Reader! is there nothing in all these instances, and which we read in the history of God’s people, which is suited to you and to me, as they refer to our state and circumstances? Surely, Daniel’s success in prayer, and the Lord’s blessing in hearing, and answering prayer, will leave us without excuse, if we neglect to visit the throne, upon any and every occasion; especially with so many increased arguments, as we have in Jesus, our Great High Priest and Intercessor. Oh! thou Almighty Lord, that art in the midst of the throne! do thou cause this bright example of Daniel, to stir up thy redeemed to this most blessed and sure rewarding service, that we may be delighted in bringing all our concerns before thee, and by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make all our requests known unto God. Phi 4:6-7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Dan 2:19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Ver. 19. Then was the secret revealed. ] Oh the power of joint prayer! It seldom or never miscarrieth. While the apostles were praying together, the house where they prayed shook; Act 4:31 to show that heaven itseff was shaken, and God overcome by such batteries.
In a night vision.
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
a Alb. Mag.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Dan 2:19
Dan 2:19 ThenH116 was the secretH7328 revealedH1541 unto DanielH1841 in a nightH1768 H3916 vision.H2376 ThenH116 DanielH1841 blessedH1289 the GodH426 of heaven.H8065
Dan 2:19
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
God was indeed merciful to Daniel and Daniel was properly grateful. The application here for us today is that God has indeed been merciful to us as well. The plan of redemption by which we are saved is nothing short of the most incredible gift man could have ever received from God. We today need to be as grateful as Daniel was that next day following his night vision. Daniel’s prayer of thanksgiving to God is given to us in the following scripture.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
was: Dan 2:22, Dan 2:27-29, Dan 4:9, 2Ki 6:8-12, Psa 25:14, Amo 3:7, 1Co 2:9, 1Co 2:10
in: Dan 7:7, Num 12:6, Job 4:13, Job 33:15, Job 33:16, Mat 2:12, Mat 2:13
Reciprocal: Gen 40:22 – he hanged Gen 46:2 – in the visions Exo 8:19 – This is Deu 29:29 – secret Jos 22:33 – blessed 2Ch 26:5 – had Dan 2:47 – a revealer Jon 1:9 – the God Zec 1:8 – by night Act 9:10 – and to 1Pe 1:12 – it Rev 16:11 – the God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 2:19. After this prayer service Daniel retired for the night, and God answered the prayer In a vision. (See Heb 1:1.) The prophet was grateful and blessed the God of Heaven for the vision. This is another instance discussed in the note cited at chapter 1: 15,
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Dan 2:19-23. Then was the secret revealed It is generally thought that this secret was revealed to Daniel only, and that in sleep, by a dream, or, as it is here termed, a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven He does not stay till he had told what had been revealed to him to the king, and seen whether he would own it to be his dream or not; but, being confident it was so, and that he had gained his point, he immediately turns his prayers into praises. As he had prayed in full assurance that God would do for him what he asked, so he gives thanks in full assurance that he had done it, and in both he has an eye to God as the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said In the latter part of this and the next three verses, Daniel celebrates the praises of the Almighty in a simple, but truly sublime and animated strain of warm and unaffected piety, makes especial mention of his wisdom and power, and illustrates the display of those attributes in several instances, apposite to the subject and occasion. Wintle. For wisdom and might are his His wisdom appears in ordering the great affairs of the world, and his might, or power, in bringing them to pass. To the same purpose Jeremiah styles him, great in counsel, and mighty in work, Jer 32:19. And he changeth the times, &c. The great changes of the world are brought to pass by removing kings and translating their dominions to others; by raising some empires, and pulling down others. Of this, Nebuchadnezzars dream, which was then revealed to Daniel, contains several signal instances, as it comprehends the succession of the four great monarchies of the world. He knoweth what is in the darkness, &c. The most secret things are manifest to him; he discerns them while they yet lie hid in their causes, and discovers and brings them to light at the proper time. I praise thee, &c., who hast given, or, because thou hast given, me wisdom and might Namely, the means and power of saving myself and others from the greatest danger.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The writer narrated these events to help us understand that God revealed the mystery as a response to the prayers of the four men (cf. Jas 4:2). The answer came at night, but in a vision, rather than in a dream. In a vision, the person receiving the revelation was awake, whereas in a dream, he or she was asleep. Both methods were common vehicles of divine revelation at this time (Num 12:6). The writer waited until later to reveal to the reader what God had revealed. Here he wanted to focus our attention on the response to receiving this revelation.