Ver. 1. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim.] That wicked king, who killed the prophet Uriah; (Jeremiah 26:23) cut Jeremiah’s prophecy with a knife, and cast it into the fire; (Jeremiah 36:23) was a gross idolater, (2 Chronicles 36:8) and therefore justly suffered. Came Nebuchadnezzar.] Surnamed Magnus son to Nebuchadnezzar, surnamed Priscus. See 2 Kings 24:1,2 2Ch 36:8. [See Trapp on “2Ki 24:1”] [See Trapp on “2Ki 24:2”] [See Trapp on “2Ch 36:8”] Lib. xii., contra Christian. Jerome, Ep. 103, ad Paulin. Piscat. Epist. Dedicat. Ante Com. in Dan. Quod alio tempore canitur, alio cernitur. -De Vir. Perfect. Lib. ii. Dec. 4, lib. ix. In Vita Catonis. Splendida peccata. Sixt. Senens. Bib. Sanct., lib. iv. A chronicle of many events or periods. ŒD Torshel.
Ver. 2. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim.] Because the affliction by Pharaoh (being but a money matter) had not a kindly effect, (2 Kings 23:35) a heavier is now sent; for as one cloud followeth at the heels of another, so doth one judgment of God upon another, till repentance, as the sun, do interpose, and cause it to clear up. With part of the vessels.] Not all as yet, by a sweet providence, and for an instance of God’s patience. Which he carried into the land of Shinar.] Or, Babylonia, (Genesis 11:2) a part of the garden of Eden, as most geographers think, but now “the seat of Satan.” [as Revelation 2:13] To the house of his god.] Jupiter Belus. See on Isaiah 46:1.
Ver. 3. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz.] Which signifieth in the Chaldee tongue the chief chider, or controller of the king’s house, as Ctesias useth Ashpamithres for chief priests. To this great officer the king commendeth the care of his school. And of the king’s seed, and of the princes.] As having been better bred, and so more hopeful. Here Nebuchadnezzar, minding nothing but the glory of his court by these noble waiters, unwittingly maketh way for the Church’s comfort.
Ver. 4. Children in whom was no blemish.] Such as were Joseph, David, Artaxerxes Longimus, Germanicus, and others, in whom beauty proved to be the “flower of virtue,” as Chrysippus called it. Of Galba the emperor one said, that his good wit dwelt in an ill house, like an excellent instrument in a bad case; whereas Vatinius the Roman was not more misshapen in body than in mind. The heathens also advise us to beware of those whom nature hath set a mark upon. And skilful in all wisdom,] i.e., Ingenious and industrious, apt and able to receive and improve instruction. Tacitus telleth us that in the times of Vespasian and Domitian, the children of the British nobles were so witty and well bred that the Romans infinitely admired them for the debonnaireness of their natures, preferring the wits of the Britons before the study of the Gauls. And they are called Angli quasi Angeli, the English just as Angels, said Gregory the Great, concerning the English boys presented to him. And such as had ability in them.] Daniel and his three friends are thought by some to have been bred under the prophet Jeremiah, and to have begun to prophesy some years before Ezekiel. To stand in the king’s palace,] i.e., To do him service. This is that which learned men should aim at in these studies, viz., to lay forth themselves for the public good. Paulum sepultae distat inertiae Celata virtus, And whom they might teach the learning.] Heb., The book—that is, the art of grammar, say some. B ut why not other arts also learned by books, those mute masters? Yet not so well, the mathematics especially, without a teacher. Joseph Scaliger, who was αυτοδιδακτος, self-taught, and yet proved so great a scholar, is by one called daemonium hominis, et miraculum naturae, more than a man, even a very miracle. And the tongue of the Chaldee.] Which was not therefore the same with the Hebrew, but a different dialect, or daughter of it. The most ancient tongue was the Hebrew, preserved in Heber’s family. The Hebrews and Chaldees had one common ancestor, viz., Arphaxad; and Abraham, being born in Chaldea, could speak both languages; but so could not Daniel and his fellows till they were taught. Good letters and languages are to be taught in schools and universities, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, especially, the dignity and study whereof Christ would have to be ever kept a-foot in his Church, as appeareth by that inscription, not without a providence, set upon his cross in those three tongues. (John 19:19,20) Ingenium Galbae male habitat. Deformitas corporia cum turpitudine certavit ingenii. -Paterc. In Vit. Jul. Agrico. Horat.
Ver. 5. And the king appointed them a daily provision.] A competent and comfortable subsistence and maintenance, such as whereof, in time past, those abbey lubbers had too much, and now universities and schools of learning have too little, but far less should have, might some brain-sick sectaries be heard, such as was that Weigelius, who said that in no university in the world was Christ to be found, and that Christ would not have his gospel to be preached by devils, and therefore not by academics, with a great deal more of such paltry stuff, vented by that illiterate widgeon. So nourishing them three years.] Those that stay overly long in the universities, standing there till they are sour again, and preaching only now and then, to air their great learning, shall have the rust and canker of their abilities to be a swift witness against them at that great day. Dr Arrowsmith, Orat. Anti-Weigel. ad Calc. Tact. Sacr.