Deeper Reflection
God commanded Daniel to “conceal the words” of the prophetic-theological visions given to him and to “seal up the book” (v.4). We can make a theological application of “the book” by extension to the whole Bible – “All Scriptures” (2 Tim 3:16). This divine concealing is not God’s Word “kept secret in the sense that no one was permitted to read it”, but yet at the same time “it was not placarded for all to see”¹⁴. God who reveals His Word also conceals His Word.God conceals His Word for the right time: “until the end of time” (v.4). In Daniel, “the end of time” began with the evil reign of the “small horn” – Antiochus (Dan 8:9, 17, 19). God conceals His Word “until the time when they will be needed”¹⁵. There is a divine timing of God giving us understanding of His Word and speaking to us. God does not speak to us on demand. And “I wait for Your Word” is a divine necessity in biblical discipleship (Psa 119:81-82; 130:5-6).God conceals His Word for the right heart. The concealing of God’s Word (v.4) “alludes to the words of Amos 8:11-12 concerning a ‘famine… of hearing the words of the LORD’”¹⁶ – such that God’s people seek His Word but not find it, because their hearts are not right. The right heart is “the good and honest heart” that hears the Word and “hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance” (Lk 8:15). The “He who has ears, let him hear” (Matt 13:9) is always there in every reading and hearing of the Word of God.

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¹⁴ Joyce G. Baldwin, 207 ¹⁵ Joyce G. Baldwin, 206 ¹⁶ Earnest C. Lucas, 296