20 And Daniel answered and said, The Name of God be praised forever and ever: for wisdom and strength are his. 21 And he changeth the times and seasons: he taketh away kings: he setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and understanding to those that understand. 22 He discovereth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 23 I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, that thou hast given me wisdom and strength, and hast showed me now the thing that we desired of thee: for thou hast declared unto us the king’s matter. Daniel 2:20-23 (1599 Geneva Bible)
Over time, Daniel became a very important person in the Kingdom of Babylon. However, as we look at Chapter 2 we find Daniel still a young man among the King’s counselors. The events in this chapter take place shortly after the promotion of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from the ranks of the trainees that we looked at in yesterday’s post. In this chapter God uses a pagan King and a faithful servant to give us a prophetic picture of world kingdoms and a glimpse into the coming Kingdom of God.
Daniel is the only book in the Bible that is written in Hebrew and Aramaic. The Hebrew sections of the book are from 1:1 through 2:4a. Then Daniel switched to Aramaic from 2:4b through 7:28. Then he switched back to Hebrew from 8:1 through 12:13. Why? Aramaic was the language of Babylon. Both Hebrew and Aramaic had their roots in the ancient Chaldee language. Their alphabets were similar, but there were many differences. Daniel became a very important government official in Babylon and Persia, which also used Aramaic. He would have to be fluent in that language. The sections of Daniel in Aramaic are so probably because the focus of those sections was centered more on nations other than the Hebrews, while the Hebrew section deals more directly with Jewish matters.