PHIL HARRIS |
Theme Passage
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things (Rom. 1:18-23).
All people in all places on earth or in time, in all position of power or no power at all, are without excuse as to who God is. This fact establishes the foundation for the events of Daniel 4 and of God’s discipline of Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar Addresses All Peoples of the World
In this chapter the prophet Daniel has included the first personal testimony of king Nebuchadnezzar that is addressed to all peoples of the world in all ages:
King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you!It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation (Dan. 4:1-3).
In these opening verses Nebuchadnezzar proclaims the sovereign greatness of the one and only King of kings and Lord of lords.
In the rest of this chapter, Nebuchadnezzar steps back and outlines a candid sequence of events detailing how he went from extreme pride in himself to becoming a humble person knowing that all real power comes from the one and only true God.
By his testimony we can conclude that Nebuchadnezzar is now in the kingdom of God, knowing that God is eternally more powerful than even a world emperor would ever be.
Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation did not occur in a vacuum. From the following passage recorded in the previous chapter, we know he already had a limited understanding of the one and only God of heaven and earth before he gave his tribute to Almighty God in chapter 4:
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods” (Dan. 3:24-25).
Nebuchadnezzar Has His Second Dream
In Daniel 4:4-7 Nebuchadnezzar shares how he was at ease and prospering in Babylon when he had a dream that made him afraid. In fact, he was so alarming that he decreed that all his wise men should come before him and explain the meaning of this dream. In verse five we learn that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream consisted of multiple visions. This fact implies that he was awake when he had this dream—a circumstance which would be enough to alarm almost anyone, including Nebuchadnezzar.
First to answer his summons were his pagan magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers. However, they could not provide an interpretation of the king’s dream.
Then Daniel arrives:
At last Daniel came in before me—he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods—and I told him the dream, saying, “O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation (Dan. 4:8-9).
In Dan. 4:10-12 Nebuchadnezzar says to Daniel; “The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these.”:
- There was a great tree in the midst of the earth.
- The tree grew, became strong, and reached to the top of heaven.
- The tree was visible to the end of the whole earth.
- The tree had beautiful leaves and abundant fruit.
- The tree provided shade for beasts, a place for birds to live and food for all.
In verses 13-14 Nebuchadnezzar tells Daniel:
- A Watcher came down from heaven.
- The Watcher said to chop down the tree, lop off his branches, strip off the leaves, and scatter the fruit.
- The beasts and birds fled from the tree.
Next in verses 15-16 we learn that the tree is representative of a man:
- The stump was to be bound with a band of iron and bronze amid the tender grass of the field.
- “Let him be wet with the dew of heaven with the beasts and grass of the earth.”
- “Let the man be given the mind of a beast for a time of ‘seven periods’.”
When Seventh-day Adventist pioneer and author Uriah Smith reached this point in the biblical account, he introduced into his book Daniel and the Revelation the unbiblical theory that a “prophetic day” equals a literal year as he was writing commentary on Daniel 4:16 (Daniel and the Revelation, p. 95).
Let’s look at the passage in context and see whether Smith’s positions is defensible. First, the pronoun ‘him’ shows us that this tree is a man.
The banding of the stump shows that the tree was still living even though it had been cut down. Let us look at a passage in Job that illustrates this situation:
“For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil,yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant (Job 14:7).
The Decree of the Watchers
The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. And you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you” (Dan. 4:17-18).
- The watchers are the holy angels who bring this message from God in the form of a dream.
- The watchers testify to Nebuchadnezzar that the purpose of the dream is that the most high God, the one and only God, is the one who rules over the “the kingdom of men”.
- Nebuchadnezzar requests that Daniel explain the meaning of what he has seen in this dream.
- Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that only Daniel has “the spirit of the holy gods”.
Daniel Interprets the Dream
- Nebuchadnezzar now explains that Daniel understood the meaning of his dream:
Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies! (Dan. 4:19)
- Daniel was shown by God the meaning of the dream and is distressed by what he learns.
- Nebuchadnezzar addresses Daniel by his pagan name and tells him not to be alarmed.
Daniel explains to Nebuchadnezzar that the tree in the dream is about him and his rule:
The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived— it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him,’ this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules (Dan. 4:20-26).
Daniel diplomatically advises the king:
Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Dan. 4:27).
Nebuchadnezzar’s Pride
All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:28-30)
Even though Nebuchadnezzar now knows the meaning of the dream, he has not yet become a humble person. In pride, he reflects upon the worldly things he has accomplished. He demonstrates the truth of this proverb:
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud (Prov. 16:18-19).
Nebuchadnezzar Is Now Humbled
While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws (Dan. 4:31-33).
Nebuchadnezzar is humbled but avoids the ultimate penalty of ignoring the warning of God. As the book of Job tells us,
He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste (Job 12:23-24).
Nebuchadnezzar Blesses the Most High God
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?” (Dan. 4:34-35).
God Restores Nebuchadnezzar’s Reason
Nebuchadnezzar’s gives his final testimony in Daniel 4:36-37. While we can’t be 100% certain, I believe that, based upon his words, Nebuchadnezzar encountered the one true God, and he was never the same after that.
- God gave back my reason and the glory of my kingdom.
- My majesty and splendor were returned to me.
- I was restabilized in the Babylonian kingdom with my counselors and my lords once again seeking me.
- I now praise, extol and honor the King of heaven.
- God’s ways are just, knowing that God will humble those who walk in pride.
In the early days of the new covenant, Jesus’s brother James wrote the following:
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:8-10)
King Nebuchadnezzar ended his seven-year sojourn in the fields where he lived as an animal by acknowledging the one true God. He KNEW who had stricken him down and that He had stricken him because of his pride. His pride was broken, and He not only honored the Lord God but called all his empire to do likewise.
All biblical quotes from the ESV
- Daniel 5: Babylon Is Fallen! - April 25, 2024
- Daniel 4: The Stump Bound By Iron and Bronze - March 7, 2024
- Daniel 3: The Fiery Furnace - December 21, 2023