Daniel 4:27

Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to thee,.... Since this is the true interpretation of the dream, and such evils are like to befall thee according to it, permit me, though thou art a

Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

Let my counsel be acceptable unto thee: these words Daniel adds out of his good will to the king, if perhaps it might turn away this dreadful stroke from him, and give the king some hopes of mitigation at least, as it was with Nineveh and others. Break off: the word is well translated break off, for so it properly signifies, and not redeem, as the papists would wrest it, to establish their works of satisfaction and merit; and is no more than this, cease to do evil and learn to do well, change thy course, instead of oppressing the poor show them mercy. If it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity: Daniel was not certain of pardon for him, nor did he altogether despair of it, as Peter dealt with Simon Magus, , Who knoweth if he will return and repent? . Though Daniel save not this counsel to elude or nullify the decree of God, which was immutable, yet it might turn to the king’ s good many ways, if he followed this counsel. 1. Hereby this judgment was shorter in the time, and easier in the rigour. 2. That he might acknowledge God to be gracious to him in this chastisement. And, 3. That he might become by his reformation more capable of pardon, and prepared for it.

Daniel 4:27 Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.Ver. 27. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee.] Happy was Nebuchadnezzar in such a faithful counsellor at hand to advise him; more happy than his successors Cyrus and Cambyses were in Croesus, King of Lydia, who yet more enriched them by his counsel than by all the wealth they had from him. But Nebuchadnezzar was as yet uncounsellable, till God had tamed and humbled him. Break off thy sins by righteousness.] Be abrupt in the work, for delays are dangerous; cut the cart ropes of vanity as soon as may be, lest they pull down upon us heaviest judgments. For the diversion of God’ s anger, get sin removed: take the bark from the tree, and the sap can never find the way to the boughs. And thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.] Nebuchadnezzar had been an open oppressor, Daniel therefore preacheth unto him of righteousness and mercy. So Paul discoursed of "righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment to come" before Felix (who was inexplebilis gurges, saith Tacitus, a covetous wretch) and Drusilla, a filthy adulteress. Let this be a mirror for ministers. If it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.] An futura sit prorogatio. Et sane fuit aliqua prorogatio, nempe per annum. Repentance ever findeth favour, yea, the very shadow of it, as in Ahab. Jerome thinks it probable that Nebuchadnezzar did for a time as Daniel had advised him, and had therefore for a temporary repentance a temporary tranquillity. Chrysostom’ s note upon this text is, Prolata est sententia ut non fiat. God is iudex liber, non iuratus, as Zanchy saith well, he punisheth as he pleaseth. Anticipa iudicium eius vera rescipiscentia. - Jun.

(27) Break off.—The metaphor is taken from a refractory beast casting off the yoke. (Comp. Genesis 27:40, where it is foretold that Esau’s posterity shall “break off” the yoke of Jacob.) In Chaldee the word is used for the most part in the sense of putting on one side. Daniel therefore counsels the king to rebel against his sins, such as pride, harshness, and cruelty towards his captives, and to put all these sins aside. And how can he do this in a better manner than by practising the contrary virtues? Righteousness.—In all wars of conquest many acts of injustice are perpetrated. The king is warned here to show justice or to act justly for the future. Similar counsel is given, though in different language (Micah 6:8). The idea of “alms” and “redeeming” is not conveyed by the Chaldee words, so that the translation “redeem thy sins by alms” is incorrect and unwarrantable. If it may be—i.e., if Nebuchadnezzar will repent, his prosperity and peace will be prolonged.

Verse 27. Break off thy sins by righteousness] Do justice. Thou hast been an oppressive man; show mercy to the poor, many of whom have been made such by thyself: witness the whole nation of the Jews. He was to cease from his sins-repent and bring forth fruits meet for repentance, in order that he might find mercy at the hand of God.

27. Daniel closes with a piece of practical advice addressed to the king. break off] R.V. marg. ‘Or, redeem’; LXX., Theod., λύτρωσαι. The word (p‘raḳ ?,) meaning properly to tear away, is common in Aram. (both Targums and Syriac) in the derived sense of tearing away from servitude, death, or danger, i.e. of redeeming (e.g. Leviticus 25:25, 2 Samuel 4:9); and occurs twice in that sense in Heb. (Lamentations 5:8, Psalms 136:24); but though sins might of course be ‘atoned for,’ or ‘expiated,’ it is doubtful whether they could be spoken of as ‘redeemed’: and hence no doubt the word is used here in its more original sense of break off (cf. in Heb. Genesis 27:40 of a yoke, Exodus 32:23-24), i.e. make a complete end of, cast absolutely away. by righteousness] i.e. by righteous conduct: cf. Proverbs 5:2, ‘righteousness delivereth from death’; Proverbs 16:6, ‘by kindness and truth iniquity is cancelled.’ ‘Righteousness’ (φγχδ) acquired, however, in late (post-Bibl.) Hebrew, as also in Aramaic (Targums, Talmud, Syriac), the special sense of alms or almsgiving: for instance Abhoth, Daniel 4:13 (Taylor 19), ‘those who give ẓ ?edβḳ ?βh (i.e. alms)’; Jerus. Taanith, ii. 65 b, ‘three things neutralize an evil fate, prayer, righteousness (almsgiving), and repentance.’ Cf. Matthew 6:1, where ‘righteousness’ (R.V.) is the true reading, and ‘alms’ (A.V.) the (correct) explanation, which has found its way into the textus receptus. In accordance with this usage, LXX. and Theod. (ἐλεημοσύναις), Pesh., Vulg., express the same sense here; but, in view of the context, the limitation of ‘righteousness’ to such a special virtue cannot be said to be probable[245]. On the contrary, ‘righteousness’ in its widest sense, especially towards subjects and dependents, is in the O.T. one of the primary virtues of a ruler (2 Samuel 8:15; Jeremiah 22:15, &c.), which Nebuchadnezzar, as the ideal despot, is naturally pictured as deficient in. [245] LXX also render ṣ ?edδḳ ?βh by ‘alms’ in Deuteronomy 6:25; Deuteronomy 24:13; Psalms 24:5; Psalms 33:5; Psalms 103:6; Isaiah 1:27; Isaiah 28:17; Isaiah 59:16; Daniel 9:16; and ‘alms delivereth from death’ in Tob 4:10; Tob 12:9, seems based upon Proverbs 10:2, similarly interpreted.by shewing mercy to the poor] cf. Proverbs 14:21, where the same two words occur in their Hebrew form. if haply there may be lengthening (Daniel 7:12 Aram.) of thy prosperity] the last word being the subst. corresponding to the adj. rendered at case or prosperous in Daniel 4:4. A.V. marg., and R.V. marg., ‘an healing of thy error’ (so Ewald), implies changes of punctuation in the two substantives: ’arϋkhβh, ‘healing,’ Isaiah 58:8 al. (lit. fresh flesh over a wound), for ’arkhβh, and shβlϋthβkh, ‘thy error’ (Daniel 3:29, Daniel 6:4) for shelηwethβkh. Theod. (ἴσωςἔσταιμακρόθυμοςτοῖςπαραπτώμασίνσουὁθεός), Vulg., Pesh., also, presuppose the same reading of the last word (though their renderings of the first word are inadmissible).

Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee - Daniel was permitted to see not only the fact that this calamity impended over the king, but the cause of it, and as that cause was his

27. Break off — Or, R.V., margin, “redeem.” The LXX. translates righteousness by almsdoing and in Ecclesiasticus (second century B.C.) the word is used constantly in this sense.