Break Off Your Sins by Righteousness
19 Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or the interpretation, trouble you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries. 20 The tree that you saw, which grew and was strong, whose height reached to the sky and its sight to all the earth; 21 whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit plentiful, and in it was food for all; under which the animals of the field lived, and on whose branches the birds of the sky had their habitation— 22 it is you, O king, that have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown, and reaches to the sky, and your dominion to the end of the earth. 23 “Whereas the king saw a holy watcher coming down from the sky and saying, ‘Cut down the tree, and destroy it; nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of the sky. Let his portion be with the animals of the field, until seven times pass over him.’ 24 “This is the interpretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High, which has come on my lord the king: 25 You will be driven from men and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field. You will be made to eat grass as oxen, and will be wet with the dew of the sky, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will. 26 Whereas it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be sure to you after you know that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your tranquility.”
Daniel is grieved before he speaks, names the tree as the king, and closes the interpretation with something no interpreter was asked for — an appeal.
Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or the interpretation, trouble you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries.
The silence is the first thing worth noticing. Daniel had understood the dream by the time the king finished telling it, and what stops his mouth is not difficulty but distress. This is the man whose people this king had deported, whose city he had burned, whose temple vessels stood in a Babylonian treasury Daniel 1:2 — and the prospect of his fall grieves him. The king has to reassure the prophet: don't let the dream or the interpretation trouble you. Then Daniel's own wish, in the courtly form of the day and with evident sincerity: my lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries. He would rather it were not so. No trace of the satisfaction a conquered man might be forgiven for feeling.
it is you, O king, that have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown, and reaches to the sky, and your dominion to the end of the earth.
The identification is direct — it is you — and it credits everything before it removes anything. The greatness is real. The tree that fed all flesh Daniel 4:12 is not a delusion to be punctured; it is an actual empire that actually sheltered peoples, and Daniel says so to the man's face before delivering the sentence. Rebuke that begins by denying the good is not honest, and this one does not.
“This is the interpretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High, which has come on my lord the king:
The watchers' sentence Daniel 4:17 is restated as what it actually is: the decree of the Most High. Then the terms — driven from men, dwelling with the animals, eating grass like oxen, wet with the dew, and seven times shall pass over you — with the purpose clause attached, because the purpose is the whole point: until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will Daniel 4:25. The affliction has a terminus and a curriculum. It ends when he knows one thing, and the thing is the sentence Daniel had sung the night the first dream was answered Daniel 2:21.
Whereas it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be sure to you after you know that Heaven rules.
The banded stump Daniel 4:15 is interpreted as the promise it was: the throne is kept for him. And the condition is worded with beautiful precision — after you know that Heaven rules, not after seven times have elapsed. Time alone would restore nothing; the sentence is calibrated to a recognition.
Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your tranquility.”
And here Daniel exceeds his commission, which is the finest moment of his career. He was asked for an interpretation; he adds an appeal. Break off your sins — the imagery of the felled tree turned into an imperative, cut them off yourself before they are cut off for you. And the specific remedy prescribed for a proud king is showing mercy to the poor, the one act that cannot be performed while the self is at the center; the prophets consistently make treatment of the powerless the test of a ruler's standing before God Isaiah 58:6–7 Jeremiah 22:16 Proverbs 14:31. Perhaps is the honest word — Daniel promises nothing he has not been told, but a sentence announced twelve months before it falls Daniel 4:29 is a sentence with a door in it. Judgment foretold has always been an invitation to make the foretelling unnecessary Jonah 3:10 Jeremiah 18:7–8.
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