What Does Daniel 1:20 Mean?
And in every word of wisdom and discernment that the king asked of them, he found them ten hands above all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.THE KEY
The Hebrew pictures “ten times better” as ten hands above the court: understanding rises into view when every question is tested.
THE MEANING
Your understanding shows itself in how clearly you discern across the matters brought before you. Examination can reveal that discernment even when established experts stand as the measure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that recognized expertise is the final measure of understanding.
THE ROOT
בִּינָה
binah
GROWS FROM
בין
B-Y-N
To discern or perceive what lies between; to distinguish.
The seed of “understanding” links it to distinction: binah is the capacity to tell one thing from another. Here, that discernment becomes visible across the king’s questions, rising above the court’s established experts.
ALSO GROWS
bein: Between; among.
בֵּין
The root makes understanding a way of perceiving distinctions among the matters brought before the reader.
navon: Discerning; perceptive.
נָבוֹן
This form describes a person marked by the same capacity to distinguish and understand.
tevunah: Understanding; insight.
תְּבוּנָה
This related form appears in Proverbs 2:3, where understanding is something sought and voiced.
THE PATTERN
Discernment becomes visible in what a person can understand, answer, or make.
And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.And God gave Solomon wisdom and discernment exceeding much, and a wide heart, as the sand that is on the lip of the sea.And all who heard him were beside themselves at how he put things together, and at his answers.THE THREAD
Indeed, if you call out for discernment, and give your voice to discernment.The word translated “understanding” here and the word in Daniel share the root בין (B-Y-N, to discern or perceive what is between). Proverbs shows this discernment as something actively sought; Daniel shows it becoming unmistakable when tested across many questions.
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