Daniel 7:1

Schlachter Bibel

Im ersten Jahre Belsazars, des Königs von Babel, hatte Daniel einen Traum und Gesichte seines Hauptes auf seinem Lager. Er schrieb den Traum alsbald auf, und dies ist der vollständige Bericht.

Parallel Translations

Lutherbible (1912)
Im ersten Jahr Belsazers, des Königs zu Babel, hatte Daniel einen Traum und Gesichte auf seinem Bett; und er schrieb den Traum auf und verfaßte ihn also:

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cir, am 3449, bc 555

Belshazzar: Daniel 5:1, Daniel 5:22, Daniel 5:30, Daniel 8:1, Jeremiah 27:7

Daniel: Daniel 2:1, Daniel 2:28, Daniel 2:29, Daniel 4:5, Numbers 12:6, Job 33:14-16, Jeremiah 23:28, Joel 2:28, Amos 3:7, Acts 2:17, Acts 2:18

had: Chal, saw

visions: Daniel 7:7, Daniel 7:13, Daniel 7:15, Genesis 15:1, Genesis 46:2, Job 4:13, Ezekiel 1:1, 2 Corinthians 12:1

he wrote: Isaiah 8:1, Isaiah 30:8, Habakkuk 2:2, Romans 15:4, Revelation 1:19, Revelation 10:4

matters: or, words

Reciprocal: Genesis 28:12 - he dreamed Genesis 40:5 - General Genesis 41:1 - that Pharaoh Ezekiel 40:2 - the visions Daniel 2:4 - Syriack Daniel 4:13 - in the

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon,.... Daniel having finished the historical part of his book, and committed to writing what was necessary concerning himself and his three companions, and concerning Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede, proceeds to the prophetic part, and goes back to the first year of Belshazzar's reign, seventeen years before his death, and the fall of the Babylonish monarchy last mentioned; for so long Belshazzar reigned, according to Josephus u; and with which agrees the canon of Ptolemy, who ascribes so many years to the reign of Nabonadius, the same, with Belshazzar: he began to reign, according to Bishop Usher w, Dean Prideaux x, and Mr, Whiston y, in the year of the world 3449 A.M., and 555 B.C.; and in the first year of his reign Daniel had the dream of the four monarchies, as follows:

Daniel had a dream: as Nebuchadnezzar before had, concerning the same things, the four monarchies of the world, and the kingdom of Christ, only represented in a different manner: or, "saw a dream" z; in his dream he had a vision, and objects were presented to his fancy as if he really saw them, as follows:

and visions of his head came upon his bed; as he lay upon his bed, and deep sleep was fallen on him, things in a visionary way were exhibited to him very wonderful and surprising, and which made strong impressions upon him:

then he wrote the dream: awaking out of his sleep, and perfectly remembering the dream he had dreamed, and recollecting the several things he had seen in it; that they might not be lost, but transmitted to posterity for their use and benefit, he immediately committed them to writing:

and told the sum of the matters; the whole of what he had dreamt and seen; or however the sum and substance of it, the more principal parts of it, the most interesting things in it, and of the greatest importance: when it was daylight, and he rose from his bed, and went out of his chamber, he called his friends together, and told them by word of mouth what he had seen in his dream the night past; or read what he had written of it, which was as follows:

u Antiqu. Jud. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 4. w Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3449. x Connexion, &c. part. 1. p. 114. y Chronological Tables, cent. 10. z חלם חזה "somnium vidit". V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon - On the character and reign of Belshazzar, see Introduction to Daniel 5:0 Section II. He was the last of the kings of Babylon, and this fact may cast some light on the disclosures made in the dream.

Daniel had a dream - Margin, as in Hebrew, saw. He saw a series of events in vision when he was asleep. The dream refers to that representation, and was of such a nature that it was proper to speak of it as if he saw it. Compare the notes at Daniel 2:1.

And visions of his head upon his bed - See the notes at Daniel 4:5.

Then he wrote the dream - He made a record of it at the time. He did not commit it to tradition, or wait for its fulfillment before it was recorded, but long before the events referred to occurred he committed the prediction to writing, that when the prophecy was fulfilled they might be compared with it. It was customary among the prophets to record their predictions, whether communicated in a dream, in a vision, or by words to them, that there might be no doubt when the event occurred that there had been an inspired prediction of it, and that there might be an opportunity of a careful comparison of the prediction with the event. Often the prophets were commanded to record their predictions. See Isaiah 8:1, Isaiah 8:16; Isaiah 30:8; Habakkuk 2:2. Compare Revelation 1:19; Revelation 14:13; Revelation 21:5. In many instances, as in the case before us, the record was made hundreds of years before the event occurred, and as there is all the evidence that there could be in a case that the record has not been altered to adapt it to the event, the highest proof is thus furnished of the inspiration of the prophets. The meaning here is, that Daniel wrote out the dream as soon as it occurred.

And told the sum of the matters - Chaldee, “And spake the head of the words.” That is, he spake or told them by writing. He made a communication of them in this manner to the world. It is not implied that he made any oral communication of them to anyone, but that he communicated them - to wit, in the way specified. The word “sum” here - ראשׁ rē'sh - means “head”; and would properly denote such a record as would be a heading up, or a summary - as stating in a brief way the contents of a book, or the chief points of a thing without going into detail. The meaning here seems to be that he did not go into detail - as by writing names, and dates, and places; or, perhaps, that he did not enter into a minute description of all that he saw in regard to the beasts that came up from the sea, but that he recorded what might be considered as peculiar, and as having special significancy.

The Codex Chisianus renders this, ἔγραψεν ἐις κεφάλαια λόγων egrapsen eis kephalaia logōn - “He wrote in heads of words,” that is, he reduced it to a summary description. It is well remarked by Lengerke, on this place, that the prophets, when they described what was to occur to tyrants in future times, conveyed their oracles in a comparatively dark and obscure manner, yet so as to be clear when the events should occur. The reason of this is obvious. If the meaning of many of the predictions had been understood by those to whom they referred, that fact would have been a motive to them to induce them to defeat them; and as the fulfillment depended on their voluntary agency, the prophecy would have been void. It was necessary, therefore, in general, to avoid direct predictions, and the mention of names, dates, and places, and to make use of symbols whose meaning would be obscure at the time when the prediction was made, but which would be plain when the event should occur. A comparison of Daniel 7:4, Daniel 7:9, Daniel 7:11, Daniel 7:14, will show that only a sumptuary of what was to occur was recorded.

Matters - Margin, as in Chaldee, words. The term words, however; is often used to denote things.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER VII

The prophet having, in the preceding chapters of this book,

related some remarkable events concerning himself and his

brethren in the captivity, and given proof of his being

enabled, by Divine assistance, to interpret the dreams of

others, enters now into a detail of his own visions, returning

to a period prior to the transactions recorded in the last

chapter. The first in order of the prophet's visions is that

of the four beasts, which arose out of a very tempestuous

ocean, 1-9;

and of one like the Son of man who annihilated the dominion of

the fourth beast, because of the proud and blasphemous words of

one of its horns, 9-14.

An angel deciphers the hieroglyphics contained in this chapter,

declaring that the FOUR beasts, diverse one from another,

represent the FOUR PARAMOUNT empires of the habitable globe,

which should succeed each other; and are evidently the same

which were shadowed forth to Nebuchadnezzar by another set of

hieroglyphics, (see the second chapter,) 15-26.

But for the consolation of the people of God, it is added that,

at the time appointed in the counsel of Jehovah, "the kingdom

and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole

heaven, shall be given to the saints of the Most High;" and

that this kingdom shall never be destroyed or transferred to

another people, as all the preceding dominations have been,

but shall itself stand for ever, 27, 28.

It will be proper to remark that the period of a time, times,

and a half, mentioned in the twenty-fifth verse as the duration

of the dominion of the little horn that made war with the

saints, (generally supposed to be a symbolical representation

of the papal power,) had most probably its commencement in

A.D. 755 or 756, when Pepin, king of France, invested the pope

with temporal power. This hypothesis will bring the conclusion

of the period to about the year of Christ 2000, a time fixed

by Jews and Christians for some remarkable revolution; when

the world, as they suppose, will be renewed, the wicked cease

from troubling the Church, and the saints of the Most High

have dominion over the whole habitable globe. But this is all

hypothesis.

NOTES ON CHAP. VII

Verse Daniel 7:1. In the first year of Belshazzar — This is the same Belshazzar who was slain at the taking of Babylon, as we have seen at the conclusion of Daniel 5:30-31. That chapter should have followed both this and the succeeding. The reason why the fifth chapter was put in an improper place was, that all the historic parts might be together, and the prophetic be by themselves; and, accordingly, the former end with the preceding chapter, and the latter with this. The division therefore is not chronological but merely artificial.

Told the sum of the matters. — That he might not forget this extraordinary dream, he wrote down the leading particulars when he arose.