“As for me,
Daniel,
My spirit
Was troubled
Within me.
The visions
Of my head
Terrified me.”
Thus, Daniel, the great interpreter of dreams, was terrified and troubled by his own dreams. Could he make any sense of these visions or dreams in his head?
these visions
God had revealed the answer to Daniel (Dan 2:28-2:28)
“But there is a God in heaven
Who reveals mysteries.
He has disclosed
To King Nebuchadnezzar
What will happen
At the end of days.
Your dream
With the visions
Of your head
Came
As you lay in bed.”
Daniel seemed to be a favorite of the God in heaven. Daniel received many of these visions with interpretations about the end of days, the end times, the end of the world. Only God could reveal this mystery to Daniel. This same God had revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar what was going to happen, as he was laying in his bed. Thus, Daniel made the king feel important.
Isaiah (Sir 48:22-48:25)
“King Hezekiah followed
What the prophet Isaiah
Had commanded.
Isaiah was great.
Isaiah was trustworthy
In his visions.
In Isaiah’s days,
The sun went backward.
He prolonged
The life of the king.
By his dauntless spirit
He saw the future.
He comforted the mourners
In Zion.
He revealed
What was to occur
To the end of time.
He revealed the hidden things
Before they happened.”
Sirach may have had 2 sources for his information about the prophet Isaiah (approximately 772-698 BCE). Besides, the mention of Isaiah in 2 Kings, chapters 17-20, there is a whole biblical Book of Isaiah with 66 chapters about and supposedly from this prophet Isaiah. He consulted with a number of kings, but especially King Hezekiah. He is generally considered one of the most important of the Israelite prophets both for age and time, because he was faithful to Yahweh. He made the sun turn around when he cured King Hezekiah, by lengthening his life. He also was a seer or predicator of things to come, but some of these visions may have been written after the events had already happened. He revealed many hidden things. Suffice it to say, his impact on Judaism and early Christianity was enormous.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 