According to Josephus, a Chaldean historian named Berosus claimed that, after Nebuchadnezzar had built up Babylon, he fell prey to some unusual sickness (cf. Barnes Notes, comments on this chapter). Barnes also refers to a Greek historian Abydenus who recorded that Nebuchadnezzar suffered a “mental derangement. Daniel 4 describes Nebuchadnezzar’s unusual sickness or derangement.
·
Nebuchadnezzar warned by God in a dream,
4:4-18. Daniel, in whom is the Spirit
of the Holy God (v8), again provided the interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar’s empire was seen as a great
tree (v10-12); how appropriate for the one who built the “hanging gardens.” The tree was cut down (v13-14), leaving a
stump (v15-16). The “stump” is, or
becomes, a “he;” it refers to Nebuchadnezzar. It described seven years of insanity,
living in the fields as an animal. The
event is overseen by “watchers,” as Nebuchadnezzar calls them. The point of the dream is made very clear: In
order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men,
gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.
·
Daniel interpreted the dream. Daniel was reluctant to do this because he cared
for Nebuchadnezzar. What a testimony
that should be to us. We do not rejoice
in the judgment of the wicked. So,
Daniel provided the interpretation (v20-26) and then exhorted the king to heed
the warning (v27). The “watchers” Daniel
referred to as a holy one, coming down from heaven (v23). We take this to refer to angelic beings who
serve God in whatever ways He desires.
·
The fulfillment came a year later
(v29). The connection between the king’s
pride and the “unusual sickness” is seen in the text: while the word was
still in the king’s mouth (v31); That very hour the word was fulfilled
(v33).
·
The end of the story is a great testimony to God’s
grace. The king confessed that the Most
High was the true King, whose dominion is everlasting. The “Most High” is a name for God, used in
the OT, in relationship to the nations.
What Nebuchadnezzar did was knowledge that there was one God higher than
all others. He said, I … praise and
extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways
justice (v37).
Recently someone asked if I expect to see
Nebuchadnezzar in heaven. It’s a good
question. And I do. Nebuchadnezzar moved from acknowledging the
goodness of the four young men in 1:19-20, to noting that the God of Daniel is
God of Gods (2:47), and that no God can deliver like the God of the three men
in the fire (3:28-29), to a personal acknowledgment of what God has done for me. If his heart is in this, what the king has
done is what must be done in OT times for those in the nations to put faith in
the Most High God, the God of Heaven (v26,31,34,37). Rom. 10:9-10 tells us of the confession of
faith that saves on this side of the cross, to confess that Jesus is the Lord,
the same God to whom Nebuchadnezzar bowed in faith.
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