Daniel 4:17

This matter is by the decree of the watchers,.... That is, the cutting down the tree, and what is signified by it, was with the advice, consent, and approbation of the watchers, by whom is generally

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

The decree was God’ s, and the demand was of the holy angels; if God would enact and ratify it, the angels as commissioners had the dispensation of it put into their hands, and they all consent to it as a just judgment of God, to be executed by them according to the will and pleasure of God; and they desire of God it may be done, alluding to the customs of some nations, and speaking after the manner, for the holy angels are zealous for God’ s honour, and pray him to assert his own sovereignty against the bold encroachments of mortal men, especially rampant and savage tyrants, to make them know themselves. Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men: this Nebuchadnezzar and his flatterers conceited he was god in earth, independent and unaccountable to any; and though he had notions of a supreme God, yet he confined his government to heaven. Jupiter in heaven, Caesar in earth, rules all, said the heathen poet. But the great God will make all men know he rules all in earth too, and sets up at his pleasure whom he will, and plucks them down again. All power is of God, , who doth often make use of his power in this case, thereby declaring he only is arbitrary and absolute; for instance, he gives this dignity sometimes to the basest of men, as he took it from Saul and gave it David, a poor shepherd’ s boy, ,71, and made him a name among the great men of the earth, ,8 ,8.

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.Ver. 17. This matter is by the decree of the watchers,] i.e., Of God surrounded with his holy angels as his assessors and approvers of the divine decree. And the demand by the word of the holy ones.] Petitio haec - scil., that the tree may be cut down. It is hereby intimated, saith Piscator, that the angels, in the consultation held for the punishing of Nebuchadnezzar’ s pride, petitioned God that it might be so.

(17) By the decree—i.e., the message to the king rests on this decree or sentence, and it is ascribed to the “watcher,” because to him pertained the execution of the decree. The demand.—Comp. Isaiah 44:26. According to the use of the word in Chaldee elsewhere, this can be the only true meaning. The “holy one” makes this request of God, and the carrying out of His decree pertains to the “watcher.” “This,” says Dr. Pusey, “gives another glimpse into the interest of the holy angels in ourselves. They, too, longed that oppression should cease, and joining in the cry which for ever is going up from the oppressed to the throne of mercy and judgment, prayed for that chastisement which was to relieve the oppressed and convert the oppressor” (Lectures on Daniel, p. 525). Ruleth . . .—i.e., Almighty God disposes of human empires as He pleases. (Comp. Daniel 5:21.)

Verse 17. This matter is by the decree of the watchers] See on Daniel 4:13. The Most High ruleth] He never leaves the government of the world to man, to second causes, or to fortuitous occurrences. What are thus called are his agents; they are no moving causes. And setteth up - the basest of men.] "Tyrants and kings from Jove proceed Those are permitted, these decreed." The throne ennobles no man: to be properly filled, the man must be noble. Some of the greatest and some of the meanest of men have sat on the throne. Kings differ in education, seldom in intellect, from the common mass of men; the power and authority are from God. The king himself may be given either in mercy or in wrath. When James II. ruled this kingdom, it might well be said, God hath set up over it the basest of men. His successor was one of the best. The former nearly ruined it both in a civil and religious point of view; the latter was the means of restoring it in both these respects.

17. This matter] either The word (i.e. The sentence, R.V., as Ecclesiastes 8:11 [cf. Esther 1:20, the decree, for the same word in Hebrew]), or (in a weakened sense), The thing (cf. Daniel 3:16 ‘in this matter’), i.e. what has just been described. by the decree &c.] implying that it is unalterably fixed. of the watchers, &c.] in Daniel 4:24 the king’s doom is said to be ‘by the decree of the Most High.’ God is represented in the O.T. as surrounded by an assembly of angels (1 Kings 22:19), who form almost a kind of heavenly council, Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 15:8 (R.V. marg.), Jeremiah 23:18, Psalms 89:7; and it seems that in Dan. the decree is regarded as possessing the joint authority of God and of His council. By the later Jews this assembly of angels was called God’s ‘court of judgement’ (αιϊγιο), or His ‘family’ (τξμιΰ); and He was represented as taking counsel with it, or communicating to it His purposes (so Genesis 1:26 in the Targ. of Ps.-Jon.). In Sanh. 38 b it is said, “The Holy One, blessed be He! does nothing without first consulting the family above, as it is said (Daniel 4:17), ‘By the decree of the watchers,’ &c.” See further Weber, System der Altsynag. Theol. p. 170 f. the demand] probably the matter (R.V. marg.). The Aram. means either a request (1 Kings 2:16, Heb. and Targ., Luke 23:24, Pesh. for αἴτημα), or a question, subject of discussion or dispute (Jeremiah 12:1, Targ.); and is hence generally supposed to have here the weakened sense of the matter. (‘Demand’ must be understood in a sense analogous to that expressed by the verb in Daniel 2:27 (see the note); there is no warrant for giving the Aram. word the sense of authoritative request.) to the intent &c.] the humiliation of the mighty king is to teach all who witness it that God is supreme over the kingdoms of the world. the basest] i.e. the lowest (R.V.),—viz. in rank and position, not in character. ‘Base’ in Old English meant ‘low, humble, not necessarily worthless or wicked,’ (Wright, Bible Word-Book, s.v.). Polydore Vergil i. 70 (cited ib.), ‘which the baser sorte [i.e. common people] doe sometime superstitiouslye note as signs and wonders.’ In 1 Corinthians 1:28 the ‘base things of the world’ (τὰἀγενῆτοῦκόσμου) means merely ‘things of no account’; and in 2 Corinthians 10:1 St Paul in calling himself (A.V.) ‘base among you,’ of course really only means to say that he is ‘lowly’ (R.V.). Cf. Ezekiel 17:14; Ezekiel 29:14-15. The same word which is used in the Aram. here is used also (in its Heb. form) in Job 5:11, ‘to set up on high those that be low;’ Psalms 138:6, ‘yet hath he respect unto the lowly,’ and Isaiah 57:15 (‘humble’).

This matter is by the decree of the watchers - See the notes at Daniel 4:13. They are described here not only as watching over the affairs of men, but as entrusted wth the execution of high and important designs of God.

17. “The sentence is by the decree of the watchers” (R.V.). These are the angels referred to in Daniel 4:13, who are messengers of Jehovah, and are empowered to announce his decree (Daniel 4:24).