Daniel 12:4

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words,.... Of the book, in which he had wrote the visions and prophecies delivered to him: this he is bid to "shut up", to keep it from the common and profane people,

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book.

Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: by these words the angel doth not forbid all knowledge of the things here foretold, for whatsoever is written is written for our learning; but the meaning is, 1. That Daniel must take notice of the special favour of God to him to make so great discoveries of the Divine secrets. 2. That they were intrusted with him to see the force and fruit of his humiliation and fervent prayer. 3. That he should support, and lay up these things for the support of the godly in their future deep afflictions. 4. That God would never utterly forsake his people, though their sins justly provoked his heavy hand upon them. 5. That these things be kept from the profane, who would make an evil’ use of them. 6. The book was commanded to be sealed, because it would be long ere the words would be all fulfilled, whereas those that were shortly to be fulfilled were forbidden to be sealed: see . Many shall run to and fro; they shall diligently inquire and search these prophecies concerning the fates of the church, and shall see and admire both the prescience and providence of God concerning things to come; they shall know signs of the times, and wait upon God in the way of his judgments: see . The miserable Jews pervert this scripture, and forbid the people by dire threatenings to calculate times, namely, lest they find thereby that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah. Thus are they wilfully and judicially blinded, . And knowledge shall be increased; he means chiefly in gospel times, which came by the preaching of Christ and searching the Scriptures about it.

Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.Ver. 4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words.] Since the full understanding of them is reserved to later times, and event will prove the best interpreter, as it doth in all prophecies, which are as riddles till accomplished; and men must meanwhile be content with a learned ignorance. But what meant Jachiddes the Jew to give us this gloss upon the text, God sealed up the time of the coming of the Messiah, revealing it only to Daniel; and that his coming might be accelerated by their deserts, like as for their sins, which are many, it is retarded? He concludeth well, howsoever: God will one day give us a clear vision - viz., when he shall bring back our captivity, then shall we understand things as they are. Even to the time of the end.] The time appointed. Many shall run to and fro.] For increase of divine knowledge they shall spare for no pains, care, or cost, as the Queen of Sheba, the Ethiopian eunuch, &c. See Proverbs 18:1 Acts 17:11-12. Increase of knowledge is promised only upon our industry, and it is especially promised to these later times, wherein we find to be (as in our climate) much light, little heat; our heads are so big (like children that have the rickets) that the whole body fareth the worse for it. Bullinger thus interpreteth the text, that toward the end of the world men shall run to and fro, being certain of nothing, but distracted in opinion, variis se adiungent sectis, they shall join themselves to divers sects. They shall run to and fro, saith another expositor, velut canes famelici, as hungry dogs, and there shall be much knowledge in the world; that is, there shall be innumerable opinions and sects abroad, wherewith many being infected shall be at no certainty in the matters of salvation. For the confirmation, therefore, and comfort of the last ages of the world, wherein these things shall befall, "shut up the words," and "seal the book." Omnis prophetia priusquam compleatur, aenigma est. - Irenaeus. Zegedin.

(4) Shut up the words.—The revelation, which commenced in Daniel 10:20, now draws towards a close, and the prophet receives a further revelation respecting the time of the end. The revelation continues to be called by the same name, “the words,” as in Daniel 10:1; and now the prophet is told that the book in which this revelation is written must be placed in a safe and sure place, for the need of it will be felt in “the time of the end,” that is, in the time when the fulfilment makes the meaning of the prophecy clear and unambiguous. Many shall run to and fro.—The verb “to run” is used in Jeremiah 5:1 of searching after knowledge. In this sense it is used of “the eyes of the Lord” (Zechariah 4:10; comp. Amos 8:12). In the same sense it is used in this verse. Many will anxiously search in this book for knowledge of the manner of God’s dealings with His people, and will derive comfort and understanding therefrom.

Verse 4. Shut up the words, and seal the book] When a prophet received a prediction concerning what was at a considerable distance of time, he shut his book, did not communicate his revelation for some time after. This Daniel was commanded to do, Daniel 8:26. See also Isaiah 29:10-11; Revelation 22:10. Among the ancients, those were said to seal, who in the course of their reading stamped the places of which they were yet doubtful, in order to keep them in memory, that they might refer to then; again, as not yet fully understood. This custom Salmasius, in his book De modo Usurarum, p. 446, proves from Hesychius. Many shall run to and fro] Many shall endeavour to search out the sense; and knowledge shall be increased by these means; though the meaning shall not be fully known till the events take place: THEN the seal shall be broken, and the sense become plain. This seems to be the meaning of this verse, though another has been put on it, viz., "Many shall run to and fro preaching the Gospel of Christ, and therefore religious knowledge and true wisdom shall be increased." This is true in itself; but it is not the meaning of the prophet's words.

4. The closing injunction to Daniel. shut up, &c.] The injunction is similar to that in Daniel 8:26. until the time of the end] i.e. (Daniel 8:17) the time of Antiochus’ persecution, regarded from the standpoint of Daniel himself. The words are meant to explain why the visions in the book, though communicated to Daniel, were not made generally known until the time of the persecution. Cf. on Daniel 8:26; and contrast Revelation 22:10. many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased] A famous passage, prefixed by Bacon in its Latin form (Multi pertransibunt, et multiplex erit scientia) to the first edition of his Novum Organum, and interpreted by him (1. 93) as signifying that the complete exploration of the world (pertransitus mundi), which seemed to him to be then on the point of accomplishment, would coincide with great discoveries in science (augmenta scientiarum). This explanation of the words is, however, unhappily, too foreign to their context to be probable. But it must be admitted that the words are enigmatic. The verb rendered run to and fro occurs elsewhere, Jeremiah 5:1, Amos 8:12 (of literal movement hither and thither); Zechariah 4:10, 2 Chronicles 16:9 (of Jehovah’s eyes, present in every part of the earth); and the sense generally given to the passage is that many will then run to and fro in the book, i.e. diligently explore and study it, and so the knowledge of God’s providential purposes, to be obtained from it,—how, for instance, He tries, but at the same time rewards, His own faithful servants, and how the course of human history leads ultimately to the establishment of His kingdom,—will be increased. The text, it must be owned, is open to suspicion. Prof. Bevan making a slight change (δψςϊ for δγςϊ), in a sense suggested by the LXX., obtains the rendering ‘many shall run to and fro (viz. in distraction), and evils (calamities) shall be increased,’ i.e. the revelation is to remain concealed, because there is to ensue a long period of commotion and distress. For the thought of the emended clause, he compares 1Ma 1:9 (of the wars and other troubles brought upon the world by the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies) ‘and they multiplied evils in the earth.’

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words - To wit, by sealing them up, or by closing the book, and writing no more in it. The meaning is, that all has been communicated which it was intended to communicate.

4. “This command more naturally refers to the entire Book of Daniel’s revelations, whether communicated by dream, by vision, or by the word of the angel.