Good morning,
Daniel 4 deals with the Nebuchadnezzar’s pride. He dreams about a great tree. Daniel interprets the dream. Nebuchadnezzar is deposed, humbled, made to live as an animal, and then his kingdom is restored.
Daniel 4
Nebuchadnezzar’s Pride
Judgment follows Nebuchadnezzar’s pride (4:28-33)
28 All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.29 At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?31 While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. 32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision eventually happened just as predicted (v. 28). God in his grace gave an additional year before judgment came (v. 29). The king may have humbled himself at first, but he eventually became fatally prideful once again. One day when Nebuchadnezzar was strutting around his palace displaying arrogance and pride, he directly challenged God by taking all glory to himself (v. 30). Nebuchadnezzar had a lot to be proud of. He was victorious in battle to be sure, but perhaps his greatest accomplishments were in his building projects. Ancient Babylon would have truly been a wonder to behold. Imagine it: His palace with its famous hanging gardens; his city with its walls and gates; the Euphrates River running through the city; the ziggurat; iconography of all the gods of Babylon visible everywhere you looked. All of it either build or restored according to his will. “The king spoke, and said, is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” (v. 30).
Immediately, before he had finished speaking, the proud king heard a voice from heaven. The words of the vision were repeated to him, and Nebuchadnezzar was reduced to the level of a beast (vv. 31-33). Minutes before his fall he wore the royal robes of a ruling monarch; then he was found crawling on all fours in an open field, eating grass like an ox. For seven years he lived like an animal.
(https://www.family-times.net/commentary/nebuchadnezzars-humiliation/)
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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