但以理書註釋 第 1 章 第 5/11 段

'His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.' For human affairs, whatever they may be, have an end, and a swift end;

but the kingdom of God alone is enduring and unshaken.

Having thus first taught the cause of the matters, he begins the narration concerning it.

'I Nebuchadnezzar was at ease in my house, and flourishing upon my throne, and prospering among my people.' He has placed his own name not without purpose, but that the name might bear witness to the words.

For since he was exceedingly renowned, inasmuch indeed as he had received the dominion over all that lay in Asia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, he prefixed his own name, as being sufficient for the confirmation of what was said.

'In the height, therefore, of good fortune, and encompassed by countless blessings, I continued to pass my days;

'I saw a dream,' he says, 'and it frightened me, and I was amazed at all these things, and I was troubled upon my bed, and the visions of my head confounded me.' For being in such great prosperity, I saw a distressing dream, and I was greatly terrified by the sight of the dream, but I was troubled the more, being unable to discern the things signified by it;

I summoned together those who were able to interpret these things.

'And there came in enchanters, magi, Gazarenes, Chaldeans, and I told the dream before them, and they did not make known to me its interpretation;'

wherefore he also enumerates the nations of the wise men of Babylon, in order to show that they indeed knew nothing at all, while he was enlightened by the divine Spirit.

And he calls him not merely by the appellation which he himself had imposed, but adds the Hebrew name.

And, showing the reason: 'Who has the holy Spirit of God in himself.' And this too we have learned from the teaching of the prophet.

For from what other source had he come to know the appellation of the all-holy Spirit, being one wedded fast to counterfeit idols? 'And I told the dream,' he says, 'before him.' And he told it, beginning thus:

'Belteshazzar, chief of the enchanters, of whom I knew that the holy Spirit is in you, and no mystery is beyond your power, hear the vision of the dream which I saw, and tell me its interpretation.'

'And the visions of my head upon my couch.' For the majority of men their prosperity often causes to forget their benefactors, whereas times of need recall the memory of those who have done them good.

And when one is sound in body, he does not take up the memory of the physician's skill;

but when he falls into sickness, he remembers how already before, having suffered this very thing, he enjoyed health through such and such a physician;

Then he tells the dream, and says:

'I beheld a tree in the midst of the earth.'

'God will bring it upon the great mind, the king of the Assyrians, and upon the height of the glory of his eyes.' He called him a 'great mind' as one who had imagined great things and dreamed of the things which he narrated a little later;

and since, so to speak, he had gained mastery over the whole inhabited world, he sees the trunk of the tree—that is, the mass of its breadth—extended even to the very ends of the earth.

'Its leaves,' he says, 'were fair, and its fruit abundant.' He calls 'leaves' the outward comeliness—that in raiment, and throne, and royal palaces, and shield-bearers and spear-bearers, and foot-soldiers;

and by 'fruit' the tribute brought in from every quarter.

'And in it was nourishment for all.' For those who tilled the ground, enjoying peace through his care, gathered in the fruits from the earth;

and those who served as soldiers, receiving their rations from him, made their living under arms.

the barbarous peoples living [under him], as well as the more rational and civilized, and those keen and swift in mind, continued to pass their lives under his authority.

'I beheld, therefore,' he says, 'in a vision of the night upon my bed, and lo, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven.' He calls the wakeful one an 'Ir';

for this is what it is rendered in the Greek tongue.

And he calls the angel a 'wakeful one,' in order thereby to signify his incorporeal nature;

for he who is clothed about with a body is a slave to sleep;

but he who is superior to sleep is free from the body.

'I saw, therefore,' he says, 'an angel, having an incorporeal nature, who came down from heaven.'

'And he cried aloud with strength, and thus he said':

for he sees the tree being cut down, and the branches being separated—that is, the governors, and the generals, and satraps, and those to whom some other rule had been entrusted by him;

and the leaves being shaken off—the glory with which he had been clothed, flowing away and withering like leaves;

and the fruit being scattered abroad;

for when that king had fallen into that calamity, those who exacted the tribute thenceforth diverted the gain to themselves without fear.

'Let the beasts be shaken out from beneath it,' he says, 'and the birds from its branches.' For those who had been compelled to serve against their will, finding an occasion in the king's change of fortune, withdrew from their obedience.

'Nevertheless leave the growth of its roots in the earth';

'and in a band,' he says, 'of iron and bronze, and in the grass without, and in the dew of heaven shall he lodge.' For as one who had fallen into derangement and madness and frenzied disease, being crazed and reeling in Corybantic frenzy and raging against all, he was of necessity bound with fetters;

but nevertheless not even these were sufficient to hold him fast within;

but escaping like a fugitive, he lingered in the wilderness, suffering hardship under the open sky, and, like the beasts, feeding on the grass.

For this is what he signifies when he says:

'And with the beasts is his portion';

'in the grass of the earth is his heart';

'he shall be changed from among men.'

(v. 13.) 'And a beast's heart shall be given to him, and seven times shall pass over him.' This too discloses the long-suffering of God;

for he confines the punishment to a brief span of time, awaiting the repentance that would be born of chastisement.

Then he shows that what has been spoken shall come to pass beyond all contradiction;

for it is a holy angel who has spoken it — a watcher, and incorporeal.

'This dream I saw, I Nebuchadnezzar the king;'

'and you, Baltasar, declare the interpretation before me' — that is, truly and exactly;

'for all the wise men of my kingdom are unable to make its interpretation known to me, but you are able.' And showing the reason, he says, 'Because the holy Spirit of God is in you.' For they employ human reasonings, but you learn hidden things from God.

so that the grace which breathed in him might be manifested.

The king therefore answered and said:

'Baltasar, let not this dream and its interpretation dismay you.' For he saw him troubled, and of necessity consoles him, being eager to learn what he does not know;

'Do not be too hurried, but at your leisure, having found out what is signified through the dream, make these things plain to me.'

Baltasar therefore answered and said:

'My lord the king, may this dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies.' Very wisely and prudently he prays that its sorrows may fall away from the king, beginning thus at the outset, yet he nonetheless signifies the truth.

'The tree,' he says, 'that grew great and became strong, whose height reached to heaven, and whose spread reached to all the earth' —

for he did not simply say, 'The great tree,' but 'the tree that grew great and became strong' — that is: You were not great from the beginning, but became so by degrees; and your might you did not possess from birth-pangs, but acquired it little by little.

'Because you grew great and became strong, and your greatness increased and reached to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth.' And these things too he fitted very aptly and suitably to heaven and to earth;

for the dominion he said reached to the ends of the earth — that is, his authority;

but he assigned to heaven no longer the dominion, but the greatness — that is, the fantasy of his reasoning.

'And because the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven, and he said:', 'Cut down the tree and destroy it;

'Cut down the tree and destroy it;

'only leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and in a band of iron and bronze; and in the grass without, and in the dew of heaven let him lodge, and with the wild beasts be his portion, until seven times be changed upon him.'

'And this is its interpretation, O king.' And to render his word worthy of belief, he necessarily added:

'And it is the interpretation of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king.' From this it is possible to learn exactly the usefulness of the apostolic teaching.

'For they shall drive you out,' he says, 'from among men, and with the wild beasts shall be your dwelling, and they shall feed you with grass like an ox, and from the dew of heaven your body shall be wetted, and seven times shall pass over you.' As for the seven times, some have said they are seven years, others three and a half.

For divine Scripture does not divide the year into four seasons, but into two most general ones, winter and summer;

seven such portions, then, fill out three and a half years;

'For so long a time,' he says, 'shall you continue in the calamity;'

'until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He wills.' For since you dream of being a god — nay rather even greater than God — God takes from you even your human reason, and will make you like the beasts, that by experience you may learn what a man is and what God is, and what human prosperity is and what the divine kingship, and that it is impossible to attain to this without the will of God.

'Leave the stump of the roots of the tree; your kingdom shall remain to you, from the time that you know the kingdom which is of heaven.' For being deprived of the kingdom, and having endured all those things, you shall come to recognize the Giver of the kingdom; then, having come to know Him, you shall receive back again your former authority;

so that both by the taking away and by the giving back you may learn exactly who is the Governor of all things, who it is that wisely directs and administers all.

He also brings in the best counsel, and applies a remedy suited to the wound.

'Do you wish,' he says, 'to enjoy loving-kindness? Then show this same toward those who have received the same nature as yourself;'

'for thus you will persuade the Judge to quench the threat, and to leave it unfulfilled.'

'For perhaps,' he says, 'there shall be long-suffering toward your transgressions.' The prophet, then, put forward this counsel;

but he who remained unbending and inflexible received the wages of his lawlessness, and those grievous things which he had heard, these he beheld with his own eyes.

Then he also signifies the length of the divine long-suffering;

for after twelve months had run their course, the threat delivered through the prediction received the fulfilment of its events.

And having received so long a time for repentance, he wickedly wasted the appointed term of repentance.

To such a man the blessed Paul might fittingly say:

'Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation and righteous judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works:'

'to those who by patience in good work seek for glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life;'

'but to those who are of contention, and who disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation;'

'tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that works evil.' For these things befell Nebuchadnezzar too, since he did not use the long-suffering of God as he ought.

And of this he himself is the witness, speaking thus:

'And after twelve months, he was walking in the palace of his kingdom in Babylon, and upon the walls of the city with all his glory, and he was passing over his towers.'

'And the king answered and said:', 'Is not this the great Babylon, which I have built for a royal house, in the might of my power, for the honour of my glory?' Behold the swelling of his pride; behold the excess of his arrogance.

'Is not this the great Babylon, which I have built for a royal house, in the might of my power, for the honour of my glory?' Behold the swelling of his pride; behold the excess of his arrogance.

'For I,' he says, 'made it a royal city, establishing in it a palace, for the honour of my glory;'

'and I did these things possessing the greatest might, having gained the mastery over all.'

But indeed, snorting and swaggering, he made use of such words as these:

'For while the word,' he says, 'was yet in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven.' For since he had dreamed of ascending into heaven, from there he receives the sentence;

and since the kingdom below did not suffice him, but he madly desired at the same time the things above as well, he becomes destitute even of the things below;

and having wished to seize heaven, he is driven out even from the earth.

A voice, then, came from heaven:

'To you, to you it is said, Nebuchadnezzar the king.' Now the doubling of the pronoun is not set down simply, but for a more vivid rebuke of him to whom these things are said.

And he still calls him king, thereby showing both the glory that is still present and the dishonour that shall come before long.

'Your kingdom,' he says, 'has departed from you.'

(v. 29.) 'And they shall drive you out from among men, and with the wild beasts shall be your dwelling, and they shall feed you with grass like an ox, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He wills.' Then, showing the swiftness of the punishment, and that immediately, he says, the deed followed upon the word.

'In that very hour,' he says, 'the word was accomplished upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven out from among men.' And he was driven out, first of all, because of the affliction itself;

for he was given over to madness and frenzy, and would have wrought countless evils, had he enjoyed impunity;

and when he had fallen into calamity, they set upon him, loathing his savagery.

'And he ate grass like an ox,' he says. For it is characteristic of those who are deranged, not only to say and do things senseless and disorderly, but also to eat everything that comes their way;

and this one might see even now in those who are troubled by demons, both doing and suffering the like.

And not only did he eat the grass like an ox, but also 'from the dew of heaven his body was wetted.' For being in distress under the open sky, and with naked body wrestling against frost and scorching heat, he necessarily took on another hue.

'Until his hairs grew great like a lion's, and his nails like a bird's.' For not being shorn as is customary, nor having the overgrowth of his nails pared away, he necessarily, in so long a time, came to have such hairs and nails.

For being bereft of the divine providence, neither did he enjoy the care of his own household, and that though he had a wife, and children, and kinsfolk;

but after the manner of a beast he continued roaming through the uninhabited regions, consigning to his belly the food of the brute creatures;

for since, 'being a man,' and being in the highest honour, he understood not, but was likened to the senseless beasts, and became like unto them, and used a bestial disposition against his subjects, fittingly and most justly he was condemned to the beast-like and savage life.

'For after the end of the days,' he says, 'I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes to heaven.' And he did not add the 'I' without purpose, but teaching all men that he who had used that arrogance, who had said:

'Who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hands?' — he who had dreamed of ascending into heaven and setting my throne above the stars — 'I was taught by experience what was needful, I learned through punishment to be sober-minded, I acknowledged my own servitude.'

And straightway I received back my mind in health.

'And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.' For having learned by experience what man is and what God is, he calls Him the Most High and the Living One, and names Him the eternal King, while acknowledging his own worthlessness.

'And all who dwell upon the earth are reckoned as nothing.' For until the present I supposed myself to be very great and most exalted; but now I have clearly recognized that the whole nature of men, when set beside God, is nothing.

And seeking a name for his own worthlessness, and finding none worthy, he set down 'nothing,' which sufficiently expresses the frailty and dissolubility of our nature.

In this same way the blessed Isaiah too, comparing the divine nature with the idols, brought forward into the midst the race of men.

'For if all the nations,' he says, 'were reckoned as a drop from a bucket, and as the tipping of a balance, and shall be counted as spittle;'

'and Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, and all its four-footed beasts are not sufficient for a whole burnt offering, and all the nations are as nothing, and are reckoned by Him as nothing;'

'To whom will you liken the Lord? and to what likeness will you compare Him?' So great was the benefit that Nebuchadnezzar received from his misfortunes, that he both thinks and speaks about God in a prophetic manner;

and as though in a kind of concert, he weaves his whole song of praise out of the creation.

'...the inhabitants of the earth.' And this too is the teaching of another prophet.

'Whatever the Lord willed, He did, in heaven and on earth.' This is what this man too proclaims.

'For whatever He wills,' he says, both in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, He governs and rules as sovereign, not only over the earth, but indeed over the very heavens themselves.

Then, showing also that His power is irresistible:

'And there is none,' he says, 'who can withstand His hand, or say to Him,'

'What is this you have done?' For we must be content with the things done by Him, whether they be pleasant or grievous;

for it is presumptuous to resist and to find fault with the things wisely governed by Him.

'Having learned and confessed these things,' he says, 'and having glorified the Most High, I returned to myself, and received back my former kingdom together with piety.'

'For at that very time my understanding returned to me, and I came to the honor of my kingdom, and my form returned upon me.' For being, as was likely, squalid and filthy, when he had been shorn, and had cut away the overgrown nails, and had washed off the filth, and had enjoyed the divine grace, it was recognized that he was that very man who formerly administered the greatest kingdom.

'And my rulers,' he says, 'and my nobles sought me out.' For they too, having laid aside their hatred, took on a disposition and affection toward me.

'And I was established over my kingdom, and yet greater majesty was added to me.' And this saying again is full of piety;

for he did not say, 'I acquired greater majesty,' but 'It was added to me,' thereby pointing to the Giver, and proclaiming the Author of good things.

'Now therefore,' he says, 'I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true, and His ways are judgments, and all who walk in pride He is able to humble.' For having had experience of grievous things, and then being delivered from them, I praise and hymn Him who brought both these and those upon me profitably, and with great wisdom;

Having learned, therefore, how pride and vainglory injure those who practice them, and how he who delights in these reaps fruits that are not good, let us acquire humility, the mother of good things;

for this possession the Lord also pronounces blessed, as having the kingdom of heaven for its revenue.

'For blessed,' He says, 'are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' And He also sets Himself forth as an archetype for those who wish to be benefited, saying:

'Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.' And showing how great is the fruit of these things, He immediately added:

and beholding the fleeting swiftness of present prosperity, let us think nothing boastful about our present goods;

but let us rather laugh at their changeableness and instability, and let us long to attain those good things which have a nature that is enduring and abiding;

which may it be granted to us all to enjoy, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-merodach, Belshazzar.

'Belshazzar the king made a great feast for his nobles.' This man is the son of Nebuchadnezzar, yet he did not succeed him immediately;

for Evil-merodach, being his elder brother, reigned; and this the history of the Kings teaches us, as does the blessed prophet Jeremiah, speaking thus:

'And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, and on the twenty-fourth of the month, that Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the year in which he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him out of the house where he was kept, and spoke kindly to him, and gave him a throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon, and changed the garments of his imprisonment, and he ate bread continually before him all the days that he lived.' And this Jehoiachin is the same also called Jeconiah.

After Nebuchadnezzar, then, Evil-merodach reigned;

and after him, Belshazzar.

For which reason he did not write down all the things done under Nebuchadnezzar either, but only those whose remembrance was necessary for the sake of profit.

Since, then, under Belshazzar also God displayed a very great wonder, sufficient to instill reverence and awe, and to guide toward piety, not only in the men of that time, but also in those who should come to be later, He did not think it right to hide so great a benefaction in silence, but deemed it holy to record it, and to leave it as a memorial of instruction for all.

'Belshazzar the king made a great feast for his thousand nobles, and before the thousand was the wine.' That is, wine sufficient for the thousand, prepared for so great a number.

'And as he was drinking,' he says, 'Belshazzar, in the taste of the wine, commanded that the golden and silver vessels be brought, which Nebuchadnezzar his father had carried off from the temple in Jerusalem;'

'For as the king was drinking,' he says, 'he commanded in the taste of the wine that the golden and silver vessels be brought.' For drunkenness overwhelmed his reason, and intemperance gave birth to his madness against God;

and the vessels consecrated to the service of God, which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken—God having delivered them up—and had honored as he saw fit, and had set free from the use of men, these this man dared to use as though they were common;

for he not only spoke, but also added the deed to the words.

'For they brought,' he says, 'the golden and silver vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from the temple of God which was in Jerusalem.' And well did he show the excess of the outrage, by mentioning together with the temple also God, and by showing the distinction of the temple, he added the name of Jerusalem.

'For these vessels,' he says, 'were not dedicated to certain so-called gods that have a name only, but to the very God who is over all, who both chose Jerusalem, and filled the temple in it with His own glory.'

But these untouchable things, dedicated to the God of all—not as though He had need, but as accepting the good disposition of those who offer—the impious king brought forth into the midst, and drank from them;

and not only he himself, but also his nobles, and his consorts, and his concubines drank wine;

through these vessels he ordered them to enjoy the wine.

Then the prophet, indicating the extremity of the impiety, added:

...but having received only a form, devoid of any operation.

But the Sovereign of all did not endure to allow, by His longsuffering, both the men of that time and those after them to be harmed;

and straightway He displays His own power.

For He shows him only fingers writing, teaching him that he would not even have beheld these, had not He Himself supplied the occasion for the need;

and the fellow-banqueters too received the greatest benefit from this, being taught concerning God, along with His incorporeity and invisibility, also His power;

while concerning the gods hymned by them, along with their being material and lifeless, also their utter powerlessness and weakness.

And that this wonder wrought much fear in all, the prophet has testified, speaking thus:

'Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, and the joints of his loins were loosened, and his knees knocked one against the other.' But if the sight of writing fingers so terrified the man who administered the greatest kingdom, that even the harmonies of his joints were dissolved by fear, and his limbs endured trembling and agitation, what would that hater of God not have endured, had he beheld thunderbolts or lightnings, or angels of grim aspect, terrifying him by the strange novelty of their forms?

Truly, 'Why does earth and ashes exalt itself?' Being filled, then, with such great fear... (verse 7)

'He cried aloud with might to bring in the magicians, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers.' For fear produced the outcry, and the tumult of his soul urgently pressed him to learn the pronouncement.

Then he sets forth a prize for the one who reads the writing and supplies the interpretation: a royal robe, and a golden collar, and to hold the third rank after the king.

But the godlessness of the magicians and Chaldeans was exposed;

for they were not able to find out the reading of the divine writing, and that too when so great a prize was set before them, and greatly urging them on.

but first He revealed the fingers of the one writing.

When, therefore, both the king and the banqueters were troubled... (verse 10)

'The queen, in response to the words of the king and his nobles, came into the banqueting house.' That is, while they were deliberating what should be done, and some were suggesting one thing and others another, such as fear compelled, the queen came in.

for the consorts together with the concubines had shared in the feast;

'...of him, and his consorts,' that is, his wedded wives, 'and his concubines,' those cohabiting with him not according to law, but through licentiousness.

But she came in after the tumult, and it was likely that, being aged, she did not at that time take part in that drunkenness and those cordax-dances, that is, revelries.

'And the queen answered,' he says, 'and said:'

'O king, live forever.' This, as it seems, was a form of salutation offered by the subjects to the kings of that time.

And even until now this custom has prevailed;

For some of the senseless are accustomed to call even the present-day kings 'eternal,' and in the drafting of contracts certain people add this word, being enslaved to ignorance rather than to impiety.

'Let not your thoughts trouble you, and let not your countenance be changed.' Then she adds the reason for which she dispels his fear:

'There is still,' she says, 'a man in your kingdom, in whom is the Holy Spirit of God, and in the days of your father wakefulness and understanding were found in him.' It is also possible from this to perceive that she is rather his mother;