Parts of the book of Daniel are very prophetic and are great companions to be read alongside the book of Revelation. There are tantalizing verses that make us want to know what he was told and what he knew concerning future events. Anyone who is curious about things hidden from our view will have at one time or another wondered just what were the words Daniel was told to shut up and seal in the book?

Are they connected to the sealed scroll in Revelation that only Messiah is able to open?

Obviously these not by any means the first thoughts on this text and we are not told specifically however, in the Hebrew and Aramaic meanings of the Daniel text, there are some interesting things simply offered here to ponder on.

Daniel 12:4: But thou, O Daniel shut up the words and seal the book to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

In this verse Daniel is told very clearly, and we could say he was commanded to, ‘shut up the words’. In our modern day language when we tell someone to ‘shut up’ it is a serious request to stop talking immediately. It may be because we don’t want to hear what they are saying or that we don’t want them to reveal something to others that we have shared with them in confidence. At one time it was considered very rude to say ‘shut up’ to someone; and extremely disrespectful for a younger person to say it to an adult. These days not so much as times have changed, along with many meanings of our idioms and sayings.

The command to Daniel was in regards to

‘shut up’

the powerful words he had heard.

Shut up is sethom also spelled satham or sāṯam

Pronounced saw-tham’

סָתַם çâtham, saw-tham’; or שָׂתַם sâtham;

And the meaning is interesting:

a primitive root; to stop up; by implication, to repair;

figuratively, to keep secret:—

closed up, hidden, secret, shut out (up), stop.

“Sethom” (סֶתְהוֹם) translates to

“to conceal” or “to hide.”

It is derived from the root word that conveys the idea of

secrecy or obscurity.

סָתַם portrays deliberate closure—

blocking, plugging, shutting in or shutting out.

Whether the object is a well, a city wall, a stream of prayer, or a prophetic scroll, the verb depicts intentional restraint that can be either hostile or protective, temporal or eschatological.

Daniel 12:4 
HEB: וְאַתָּ֣ה דָֽנִיֵּ֗אל סְתֹ֧ם הַדְּבָרִ֛ים וַחֲתֹ֥ם
NAS: But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words
KJV: But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words,
INT: you Daniel conceal words and seal

Both Daniel 8:26, 12:4, and 12:9 employ סָתַם to describe prophetic visions kept under divine lock until “the time of the end.” The sealing does not negate comprehension for all time; it preserves the message intact until the era God appoints for full clarity. Thus Scripture affirms its own sufficiency while acknowledging progressive illumination: “many will roam to and fro, and knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4).

Trust sealed prophecy: what God has closed He will one day open; the church lives responsibly in the present light while anticipating fuller revelation at the consummation of Christ’s kingdom.

It has the idea of concealing vital information contained in the prophetic visions which were to be kept protected under divine lock until “the time of the end.” In todays language we might say ‘kept in protective custody.’

The picture we get is of a valuable witness being in protected custody, one who is forbidden to speak or interact with anyone until it is designated time to give testimony; which is determined by the one in authority.

Daniel is further instructed to

‘seal up the book.’

Seal up is chethom/chatham and is similar to sethom/satham the word for ‘shut up’ but goes further as

חָתַם châtham, khaw-tham’;

a primitive root; to close up; especially to seal:—make an end, mark, seal (up), stop. to seal, seal up, affix a seal.

(Qal) to seal, affix one’s seal to seal up, fasten up by sealing

(Niphal) to seal

(Piel) to lock up

(Hiphil) to be stopped

This has the picture of a document/scroll with a royal seal on it, which only the one with correct authority can open and that time is determined as, the time of the end.

What was Daniel to shut up? He was to shut up ‘the words’. The Hebrew for the words is dabar/devar and some say is equal to the Greek word rhema, with which we are familiar. The Greek word Logos means the written word, and rhema the spoken word; as in the words of the Lord God.

Debar/devar, word of God,

as a divine communication in the form of commandments, prophecy, and words of help to His people, used 394 times.

The word debar/devar is the same in Hebrew and these are

‘words from the heart,’

words that carry power;

particularly when it comes from our Heavenly Father’s heart.

This word is spelled דָּבָר

dbr:

daleth which is a picture of a doorway;

beth which as well as the picture of a house/home, pictures the heart;

and Resh which symbolizes the head/God’s power.

We can see the spiritual application of ‘words’ ‘devar/devarim’ here is: a doorway or portal to the heart of God and His power. 

Daniel is commanded to ‘shut up’ these powerful ‘words’.  (Shut up in Hebrew chapters 1 and 8-13 are in Hebrew, 2-7 are in Aramaic is sethom.) 

He was to shut up these words in a book, a sapar or seper סָפַר ,

which is a word for ‘book or papyrus scroll’, but it is also used to express ‘the recording of the verbal words of God’ as David did in Ps.17:4.

Daniel was to put a seal on these words that could only be opened by those who had the proper authority.

In part of this verse we read many shall run to and fro.

Many rabîm

רַבִּים

run to and fro

yᵊšōṭṭû

יְשֹׁטְטוּ

In our modern thinking, we interpret this as travelling all over the place, however in Hebrew terms it means:

from the starting point to the end point.

With this thought in mind we should ask the questions: what is this special event when these words which are to be placed into protective custody are to be spoken again, and when will the time come when someone with the right authority will unseal these words?  In the same verse we are informed it is the time of the end. 

Here the word end is קֵץ Qes which has the idea of 

reaching it’s limits,

the end of time, 

when time reaches it’s limits;

qes קֵץ the end of time and space.

In the text: ‘When knowledge will increase’ we interpret as todays information highways, such as the world wide web/internet, where a plethora of information on any subject is available; but is that what this verse means?

Included below is an interesting observation from the ancient Hebrew sages who teach this possibility and it certainly gives us something to think about. Let the reader decide.

There is much Hebraic/Jewish literature and the writings of rabbis and torah teachers available, and they have been studying the scriptures for many many decades. And apparently some of the Sages teach that time is like a corkscrew that starts at a wide bottom and narrows as it gets to the top. (Think of a tornado shaped corkscrew like swirling water but inverted, like in the picture below.)

 Is this is why at the time of Noah men live to be hundreds of years old where today the life span is under 100?  As Einstein pointed out time is relative.  A 900 year old man during Noah’s time is like a 90 year old man today because that corkscrew of time gets narrower as you get closer to the top? 

The sages teach that doorways/portals are opening as time journeys to the apex and these doorways/portals create some similar major event. i.e. A similar portal will open creating a similar event in history. They say that one example is the abomination of desolation as this has occurred many times in history.  It is a recurring event and viewed as a recurring portal.  Only as the corkscrew of time narrows, these events get closer together until it reaches the point where the events are almost parallel to each other. 

Is that why Yeshua/Jesus said in the last days there shall be wars and rumors of wars. There has always been wars and rumors of wars, but perhaps He is referring to this reoccurring of events that are opening portals closer to each other?

Does this infer that many running to and fro, or from the starting point to the end point, which is expressing the idea that the recurring time has come so close to the top of the corkscrew where all tangent point come together; that man will move from one doorway/portal to the other doorway/portal in the span of just one life time.  Whereas in the past it would take a dozen lifetimes, or a half dozen lifetimes and maybe three lifetimes, then two and finally one life time to see an event reoccur?

Increase in wars and rumors of wars, increase in earthquakes, and natural disasters is a natural result of the corkscrew of time narrowing and a sign that time is about to reach it’s apex, or the tip, or the end. Or what we call time compression, which is events pressing in on each other and increasing in momentum, a little like an unstoppable snowball gathering mass and speed as it hurtles downhill?

And when this happens, knowledge will increase?  

The word knowledge “yada” יָדַע

and represents: a knowledge of God. 

daat knowledge

Hebrew Scriptures show that each generation builds upon the knowledge of God from the former generation, with greater knowledge being added to the new generation.  When humankind reaches that tip of the corkscrew or the end of time, they will have reached that level of knowledge of God where they can then hear the testimony which has been shut up or satham.

The above paragraphs on what the sages teach is offered only as food for thought… as we are all students of the Word of YHVH and no one has it all. There is so much we do not know about the creator of the universe and all of His creation and how it all exists and is connected.

None of us can say what is beyond our realm of understanding…. But one day we will know what those words were that were

‘shut up’

and

just maybe we are closer to qes than we think….

Keep looking up…

For those inclined, further word studies can be done through

Biblehub.com and blueletterbible.org also studylight.org and the Aramaic peshitta given in previous posts.

Shalom shalom

‘Mishpachah’

‘Family/Tribe’

משפחה

Mish-pa-KHa,

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your Redeemer, Savior, Lord

and soon returning King

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I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

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