Main news for 21 October 2025

King James Version (en)

Daniel, Chapter 2, verse 22

²²He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

NOTES

The Book of Daniel describes not only the faithfulness of the faithful; it also contains descriptions of visions, some of which can...

The Book of Daniel describes not only the faithfulness of the faithful; it also contains descriptions of visions, some of which can be considered prophetic and others apocalyptic. At first glance, there is no substantial difference between the two: after all, God often revealed something very important to the prophets precisely in visions, as happened, for example, with Ezekiel. But apocalyptic visions have their own features, connected not only with their length, which as a rule exceeds the length of a prophetic vision.

The point is that apocalyptic is inseparable from history. Apocalyptic visions are always connected with the revelation of the Kingdom; but the Kingdom appears not in a vacuum. It enters an already existing order of things, which cannot fail to react in one way or another to this entrance. And apocalyptic reflects an experience of revelation that describes the era of the Kingdom's coming in its relation to preceding history. Of course, earthly history in this case is also perceived primarily in its spiritual aspect, and not in a social, political, or economic one. And it is revealed to Daniel in just this way: like all visionaries, he sees not historical events that have already happened or will still happen in the future, but God's design for the Kingdom and for the world, including world history. This is precisely God's revelation of His plans and designs, and not foresight or prediction of future events; it is no accident that pagan magicians and sages turn out to be unable either to guess what the king saw in his dream or to explain what he saw (vv. 1-11).

Daniel, however, is not a predictor and not a seer; he is rather like a prophet, receiving revelation from God (vv. 17-23). He differs from the prophets only in that the revelation he receives concerns future events, and not the nearest ones; he sees the coming of the Kingdom, which still lies ahead, whereas the prophets, as a rule, testified either about events of which they were contemporaries or about what was directly connected with them. But the meaning of the vision opened by God to the king (vv. 26-36) does not become any less clear to Daniel because it refers to future times (vv. 37-45).

Today it is not easy to determine which "kingdoms" are meant; in all probability, Babylon, Persia, Hellenistic Egypt, and Hellenistic Syria, which successively ruled Judea (one should remember that this vision, like all the others described in the Book of Daniel, was revealed to its author or to someone else whose experience he describes around the middle of the second century). The main meaning of the vision is that earthly kingdoms are replaced by another, new Kingdom, founded no longer by human beings, but by God (vv. 44-45).

Daniel's words about God, in whom light begins, or with whom light dwells, for such a translation is also possible, can be understood in different ways. One can understand them allegorically, and then the matter will be God's omniscience, that nothing is hidden from Him, that He knows everything, even what is "in darkness," what man will never see. But one can also understand them literally, and then one must recall that Yahwistic spiritual and mystical experience which begins at least with Moses, and perhaps even earlier. It was to Moses that God's presence was revealed as light, as a shining cloud that descended on a desert plant resembling tumbleweed.

Moses did not immediately understand that before him was not physical fire, that the bush was not burning, otherwise it would have burned up in an instant, for such bushes burn like paper, but was shining. And afterward this presence accompanied the people throughout their historical path: during the Exodus, and afterward, when the shining cloud was seen at night above the Tabernacle and in the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple. In the priestly environment this shining Presence was called the glory of God or the glory of Yahweh, the glory of the Lord; in the rabbinic environment it was called the shekinah, a Hebrew word that literally means "presence."

Of course, the light is not God. It is only the outward, physical manifestation of God's presence. God marks the place on earth where one can meet Him; His power, His energy abides in that place, and the physical nature with which this energy comes into contact, air, stone, metal, begins to shine, to glow with mysterious light. A light for which darkness does not exist. Not because it itself penetrates everywhere, but because for the divine presence that generates it there are no barriers.

If God wants to mark His presence in absolute emptiness, where there is nothing physical to shine, emptiness itself will shine. And here it no longer matters whether the depths of the universe or the depths of the human soul are in view. Darkness is possible only where God's presence does not manifest itself. Where God hides Himself. But here the fault is no longer nature, but sin. It hides God from us, not God's creation. But the blame here is entirely ours, since we choose sin ourselves. With all the consequences that follow from such a choice.

The king's dream closely resembles an illustrative model of how every earthly state is built, whatever its foundation...

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