In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
Hear. Daniel begins to offer instruction peculiar to the Church. For God had formerly appointed him an interpreter and instructor to, profane kings. But he now appoints him a teacher to the Church, that he may exercise his office within it, and instruct the sons of God in the bosom of the Church.
When deep sleep falls upon us and we are most removed from the world's distractions, God opens His mind to us. Daniel wrote his dream that he might not lose it as dreams do, and shared it with his brethren that they should not be deceived by false hopes of unbroken peace after their return, but be prepared for the oppressive monarchies yet to come.
AI summary
Commenting on Daniel 7:1-8
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon,.... Daniel having finished the historical part of his book, and committed to writing what was necessary concerning himself and his three companions, and concerning Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede, proceeds to the prophetic part, and goes back to the first year of Belshazzar's reign, seventeen years before his death, and the fall of the Babylonish...