Daniel 4

Daniel dismayed; the king tells him not to fear; Daniel wishes the dream on enemies. Wesley: he foresaw troubles on a king he reverenced; what address and excellent spirit in this short preface. Speak out, let the event be what it will.

Daniel feels pity for a tyrant. Jeremiah had bid them pray for Babylon’s peace. Loyalty under the Most High is. The interpretation will still be plain.

Calvin: sorrow, not ecstasy. He was bound to pray for him; until the seventy years, not lawful to invoke wrath. Faithful to his king though a tyrant. The pious fear God’s judgments even when spared; the impious sleep when threatened. He does not turn aside from unsparing reproof.

The Prophet’s middle course—humanity without flattery. On this both agree: alarmed, then he speaks. The tree is next.

The tree you saw: grown strong, top to heaven, visible to the end of the earth. Daniel recites the dream before naming its meaning. Shared with v. 22: this height is the king’s.

He walks the king back through his own vision. The recital is a means of helping the king hear. The Most High still rules the tree that reached.

Calvin: he follows up with perseverance. Calls him lord with cordiality; meanwhile ambassador of the Supreme King, discourse above the king’s command.

The figure is not in doubt. The tree is the same one the king saw.

The gifts of 4:12 now sit on the man who must hear “it is you.”

Usefulness under a flawed crown. Shelter does not undo the chop. No slogan about empire as such.

Calvin: political order as trees on whose fruit all feed. God’s blessing in princes even when they neglect duty; grace not all extinguished.

Ordinance, not this man’s equity. Food for all.

It is you, O king. Wesley: thou art high and mighty in the majesty which God hath given thee; to the Caspian, Euxine, Aegean, Mediterranean.

“You”—no riddle left. Gifted majesty, growth. The Most High who gives (4:17) named the giver in the height. Agency of conquest under that gift.

Calvin: he does not speak with hesitation or obscurity. Thou art the king. Why? Thou hast become great and strong; magnitude extended to the heavens, power to the end of the earth.

The interpretation is the decree already. Shared with Wesley: it is you. The watcher-sentence follows.

A watcher from heaven: chop down, leave the stump, dew, beasts, seven times. Recital of 4:13–16 as the king’s own sight. Both readings: stump is mercy, not annihilation.

“Watcher”—heaven’s word, already heard. Seven times still to be lived. The king remains a man under the sentence.

Calvin: angels called watchers, prompt to fulfill bidding. Seven times—long; he wished to put forth an example for all ages. Cut down, yet root remains.

The same host that subscribed in 4:17. Chop, and leave the stump.

This is the interpretation: the decree of the Most High on my lord the king. Wesley’s thundering peal is coming; here the source is named. Not the watchers instead of God—the Most High decrees.

The decree is a sentence on a lord. Daniel still says “my lord.” Authority of office under a higher decree.

Calvin: judgment overhanging. The message sorrowful; kings hardly bear being cited before God’s tribunal. He still elevates the Word above the king.

“Decree”—Most High, not fortune. On my lord the king.

Driven from men; dwell with beasts; eat grass; wet with dew; seven times; till you know the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will. Wesley: a thundering peal; wonderful the king could hear it without fury, yet the Lord withheld him. Seven years. Till thou know—how hard for lofty princes to learn this lesson.

The goal of the judgment is knowledge: “until you know that the Most High rules.” Arminians read the seven times as discipline with a door in it—humiliation, aimed at a change of mind.

Calvin: they shall cast thee out from among men; habitation with beasts; grass like an ox. Liberty of the Prophet: he shuts his eyes to worldly grandeur. Until thou acknowledge how great a Lord in the kingdom of men, who delivers it to whomsoever He will. Difficult to attribute supreme power to God; especially when raised, we snatch His honor. Violent medicine to learn humility.

Effectual teaching by the rod. He actually gives the kingdom. Wesley agrees: seven times, and the Most High rules in the stump’s mercy is v. 26.

The stump: your kingdom will be restored from the time you learn that Heaven rules. Wesley: that God who sits in heaven rules over all. Held in common: the stump is mercy. Restoration is tied to knowing, not to a bargain that skips the seven times.

Return of a kingdom when he knows. Heaven rules—the same as 4:17. Knowing is a human act under that rule, not empty theater.

Calvin: God did not treat him so severely as to give no way to clemency. He mitigates extreme rigor to induce him to call upon God and repent, through hope of pardon. Not merely moderate station but former dignity. General doctrine: we are invited to repentance when God puts an end to chastisements. From which thou shalt know there is power in heaven—promise of spiritual grace; he would never have acquired this of his own accord unless touched by the Spirit.

Mercy in the root, and the knowing itself is gift. Both traditions agree: stump, and Heaven rules. Counsel to break off sins is next—not a fake warning.

Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your tranquility. Wesley: if it may be—Daniel was not certain of pardon for him, nor did he altogether despair of it. Wisdom and tenderness, and yet plainness. The call to repent is earnest. Alms here are mercy to the oppressed, not a works-gospel invented against a fake warning.

A counsel a king can take or refuse. Righteousness and mercy are deeds under grace, testimonies of turning, not a purchase of the seven times. Wesley’s “if it may be” keeps the lengthening uncertain: God may pity; Daniel will not promise what he does not know. No Pelagian leftover—the king already lives under the Most High’s decree—and no despair that counsel is pointless.

Calvin: may my counsel please thee; break off thy sins by righteousness and pity to the poor. Exhortation to repentance; Prophets touch outward duties of charity as fruits, not as the root. True justice is pity—not papal satisfactions or works of supererogation. We do not redeem sin before God as if beneficence were expiation; we may restore what we took before men. The decree stands, yet the warning treats men kindly; Ahab’s case shows God sometimes tempers the rod when even signs of turning appear. The medicine is to cease from errors and open the eyes.

The call is made in earnest, the lengthening is God’s to give, not alms buying a quieter year. Calvin refuses a merit-reading of the poor. Wesley agrees: repent, show mercy, do not despair. They part on how sure the “perhaps” is, and how far alms reach.