Daniel 2.22-God Reveals Unfathomable Hidden Events And He Alone Knows What Is In The Darkness And The Light Resides In Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday March 8, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 2:22-God Reveals Unfathomable Hidden Events And He Alone Knows What Is In The Darkness And The Light Resides In Him
Lesson # 46
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2:1.
Daniel 2:1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. 2 Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 The king said to them, “I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.” 4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6 But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 8 The king replied, “I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm 9 that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer or Chaldean. 11 Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.” 12 Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them. 14 Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Arioch, the captain of the king’s bodyguard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. 15 he said to Arioch, the king’s commander, “For what reason is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. 16 So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king. 17 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter. 18 so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. 21 It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. 22 It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.” (NASB95)
“It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things” is composed of the third person masculine singular personal pronoun hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “it is He who” and then we have the masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew equivalent is the qal) active participle form of the verb gelā(h) (גְּלָה) (ghel-aw´), “reveals” which is followed by the feminine plural form of the noun ʿǎm∙mîq (עַמִּיק) (am-eek´), “the profound” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the feminine singular puʿʿal (Hebrew: pual) passive participle form of the verb seṯǎr (סְתַר) (seth-ar´), “hidden things.”
The third person masculine singular personal pronoun hû(ʾ) is an independent personal pronoun, which means “He” referring to God the Father.
The verb gelā(h) means “to reveal” indicating that God the Father “reveals” unfathomable events, yes events, which are hidden meaning He reveals the future to humans like Daniel which would otherwise be unknown.
Daniel 2:31-45 tells the reader that the Father revealed to Daniel the content and interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s recurring dream, which was a revelation from God concerning His future program for planet earth.
It contains knowledge of what would take place in the future.
This revelation from God concerned itself with the future Gentile world powers as well as the future of the nation of Israel.
It spoke of the kingdom of God being established on earth through His Son, and which kingdom He will establish at His Second Advent.
The noun ʿǎm∙mîq is in the plural and is used in a figurative sense meaning “unfathomable events” since in context Daniel is praising God for revealing to him the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as well as its interpretation, which concerned itself with future events in world history.
An event in this context refers to something that will take place in the future in human history.
This noun denotes that these events are unfathomable meaning that they are impossible to comprehend.
This word denotes unattainable information about future events implying that this information is profound and valuable.
It refers to revelations from God about future events which are impossible for the human mind to comprehend unless God reveals them.
This information was only attainable by revelation from God and is profound and valuable to mankind since it concerned itself with God’s future program for the human race both Jew and Gentile.
The verb seṯǎr is also in the plural and means “hidden events” referring to events in the future which are unknown to the human mind unless God reveals these future events.
The Father revealed to Daniel the content and interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s recurring dream, which was a revelation from God concerning His future program for planet earth, which was hidden from human beings unless God revealed it.
The conjunction wa is used this time to join the nouns ʿǎm∙mîq and participle form of the verb seṯǎr, which is used as a substantive in order to communicate one idea, which is called “hendiadys.”
This figure takes place when two nouns or verbs are used to express one idea or concept and it literally means “one by means of two” and takes place when the author uses two words but only one idea is intended.
The two words are of the same parts of speech, i.e., two nouns or verbs, and are always joined together by the conjunction “and” and are also always in the same case.
One of the two words expresses the thing, and the other intensifies it by being changed (if a noun) into an adjective of the superlative degree, which is, by this means, made especially emphatic.
Here Daniel 2:22, the substantive participle seṯǎr intensifies the meaning of the noun ʿǎm∙mîq and so these two words express one idea, namely that God reveals unfathomable events, yes, events which are hidden.
So this figure of hendiadys emphasizes mankind’s dependence upon revelation from God with regards to future events as well as God’s omniscience and speaks of the divine decree.
“He knows what is in the darkness” is composed of the masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew equivalent is the qal) active participle form of the verb yeḏǎʿ (יְדַע) (yed-ah´), “He knows” which is followed by the interrogative pronoun mā(h) (מָה) (maw), “what” and then we have the preposition b- (בְּ־) (beth), “in” whose object is the masculine singular noun ḥǎšôḵ (חֲשֹׁוךְ) (khash-oke´), “the darkness.”
The verb yeḏǎʿ means “to know personally” in the sense of knowing without the intervention of another and proceeding from a single person.
Here it denotes that God “knows personally” what is in the darkness in the sense that He alone knows what is in the darkness, i.e. future events which are unknown to mankind and angels.
The interrogative pronoun mā(h) means “what” and denotes a relative reference to any entity, event or state and refers to each and every event, circumstance, person and decision in the future.
The noun ḥǎšôḵ means “darkness” but not in a literal sense.
Rather the word is used in a figurative or metaphorical sense of entities, events, and circumstances that will occur in the future on planet earth as well as the people who will live in the future and the decisions they will make, which are all unknown to mankind unless God sheds light on them in the sense that He reveals them.
Job 12:22 “He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deep darkness into light.” (NASB95)
“And the light dwells with Him” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine singular noun nehôr (נְהֹור) (neh-ore), “the light” and then we have the preposition ʿim (עִם) (eem), “with” and its object is the third person masculine singular personal pronoun hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “Him” which is followed by the masculine singular peʿil (Hebrew: qal passive) passive participle form of the verb šerā(h) (שְׁרָה) (ser-aw), “dwells.”
This time the conjunction wa is used in an explicative sense meaning that the word is introducing a statement about the Father, which clarifies the preceding statement that God alone knows what is in the darkness.
The noun nehôr means “light” but not in a literal sense but rather is used of light in a figurative or metaphorical sense for knowledge of the future since in context Daniel is describing God as knowing the future perfectly.
The verb šerā(h) means “resides” and its subject is the noun nehôr which is used in a figurative sense for “light” referring to God’s omniscient knowledge of the future.
Thus, this verb is saying that this omniscient knowledge of God “lives” with Him or resides with Him and is alluding to God’s nature telling the reader that omniscience is an attribute of God or lives with Him.
The personal pronoun hû(ʾ) means “Him” referring to the Father and is the object of the preposition ʿim, which is a marker of consciousness.
This preposition denotes that these future events, circumstances, people and their decisions reside “in the mind of” the Father because they reside in His character and nature because He is omniscient and denotes that they all reside in His consciousness.
Daniel 2:22 contains two statements about the Father, which pertain to His attribute of omniscience, which describes God has having perfect and complete knowledge of the past, present and future, both the actual and the possible.
The omniscience of God is that attribute by which He knows perfectly and completely each and every event, circumstance-past, present and future as well as each and every person and decision that these persons would make-past, present and future.
What is hidden from the human mind is known perfectly and completely by God.
The Scriptures speak of God’s unique self-knowledge within the Trinity (Matthew 11:27; See also John 10:15; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11).
They speak of the nature of God’s knowledge. God’s knowledge originates within Himself (Isaiah 40:13-14; See also Job 21:22; Romans 11:33-34; 1 Corinthians 2:16).
God’s knowledge is complete (Matthew 10:30 pp; Luke 12:7; See also Psalm 147:4; Isaiah 40:26).
God knows things that are hidden from human understanding (Deuteronomy 29:29; See also Job 37:15-16; Daniel 2:22; Matthew 24:36 pp; Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7; 2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
God has a comprehensive knowledge of people and their actions (Job 34:21; See also Job 24:23; 31:4; Psalm 33:13-15; 139:2-3; Jeremiah 23:24) as well as people’s needs (Matthew 6:8; See also Matthew 6:31-32; Luke 12:29-30).
He has perfect knowledge of people’s hearts and minds (1 Chronicles 28:9) as well as each and every individual (Genesis 20:1-7 God’s knowledge of Abimelech’s motives and behavior towards Abraham’s wife Sarah; 1 Samuel 16:1-12 the Lord to Samuel regarding David’s anointing as king; Acts 5:1-10 God’s knowledge of the deception of Ananias and Sapphira)
He has perfect knowledge of people’s sin (Jeremiah 16:17; See also Job 10:14; Psalm 69:5; Jeremiah 2:22; Hosea 7:2; Amos 5:12).
God knew in eternity past of His Son’s death on the cross for sin (Acts 2:23; See also Acts 3:18; 4:27-28) and who would become the Lord’s disciples (Romans 8:29; See also Jeremiah 1:5; Romans 11:2; 1 Peter 1:2).
God has perfect knowledge of people’s actions (Psalm 139:4; See also Exodus 3:19; Deuteronomy 31:21; 1 Samuel 23:10-13), which ensures that all will be judged fairly (Hebrew 4:13; See also 1 Samuel 2:3; Job 34:22-23; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 4:5).
It ensures that He knows those who are His (2 Timothy 2:19; See also Numbers 16:5; Exodus 33:12; Job 23:10; John 10:14; See also 1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:9; 1 John 3:19-20; Revelation 3:8).
The divine decree took place in eternity past before anything was ever created and is God’s eternal and immutable will.
God has rendered certain all the events of the universe, including both angelic and human history-past, present and future.
Therefore, God rendered certain to take place all the events of human history-past, present and future and thus figured these various circumstances into His plan.
God’s decree rendered all things as certain to occur and He decided that they would exist and so therefore, God rendered certain to occur all the events of human history-past, present and future and God decided that they would take place.
The decree of God is the chosen and adopted plan of all God’s works and so it was a part of God’s chosen and adopted plan that every event of human history-past, present and future would take place.