Daniel 4:9

9. Daniel is here recognized as master of the magicians. (See note Daniel 2:48.) The otherwise unaccountable failure of the king to call on him first of all, instead of sending out a decree (Daniel 4:6) to bring before him all the other magicians, may perhaps be explained as a mere matter of literary form on the part of the narrator, the effect of Daniel’s success being heightened by the previous unsuccessful attempts of all the other wise men. However, if the king, through an attempt to centralize the worship (Sayce) or for any other reason, was at this time an enemy of the priests (Daniel 2:5; Daniel 2:24-26), this might possibly have been a scheme of his. It should also be remembered that one version, which was probably the original LXX., omits Daniel 4:6-7, which were evidently, therefore, not in the original text which it translated. This version says that immediately upon having his dream the king called Daniel and told it to him. It also gives an entirely different address to Daniel, although the phrase “the spirit of the holy gods is in thee” is not unnatural in a heathen ruler. (Compare Genesis 41:38, Hebrews)