Downfall and Restoration
The King has another troubling dream that leads to his downfall but only after his display of imperial hubris - Daniel 4:1-34.
The power of the heavenly decree was demonstrated when the ruler of the World-Power turned to Daniel for understanding. Through his God-given ability, the “lowly” Jewish exile exercised dominion over the Babylonian sovereign. Thus, he declared the removal and the restoration of political power to one who presumed to possess it through his own might, rather than acknowledge it as a gracious gift from the “God of Heaven.”
In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar had another
dream, and as before, one that only Daniel could interpret. Yahweh would remove
the king from power until he learned, once again, that the “Most-High God”
alone is sovereign over the affairs of men. The chapter begins and ends with the
Babylonian ruler acknowledging the sovereignty of Yahweh - [Photo by Andy Holmes on Unsplash].
In the opening paragraph, the terms “great,”
“kingdom,” and “dominion” are repeated from the
preceding chapter. This prepares us for the concluding declaration by the king concerning
the sovereignty of God over the kingdoms of the earth.
- (Daniel 4:1-3) – “Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, races and tongues who are dwelling in all the earth: Let your prosperity abound! The signs and the wonders which the most-high God has wrought with me, it is pleasing before me to declare. His signs, how great! And his wonders, how mighty! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.”
The term “earth” occurs eight
times in the chapter in reference to Nebuchadnezzar’s sovereignty. In
contrast, “heaven” is applied sixteen times to the rulership
of Yahweh. The king must learn that “heaven” alone rules over the earth -
(Daniel 4:26).
Nebuchadnezzar began his discourse by recounting
the dream that gave him great anxiety when he was “luxuriating” in his palace. This translates an Aramaic
word for the “greening” of plants. It anticipates the representation of
the king in the dream by the great tree that nourished all
earthly creatures.
In his dream, the tree “grew great and
its height reached to the heavens and its sight to the end of all the earth.”
The same description is repeated in verses 20-22 and applied to Nebuchadnezzar,
but the king attributed his greatness to his own majesty and not to the “Most-High
God.”
As before, Nebuchadnezzar summoned all the “wise
men” of Babylon to interpret his dream, the “scribes,
enchanters, astrologers and soothsayers.” And as previously, none could
do so except Daniel.
In the dream, the king saw a large tree in
the center of the earth that grew until its height reached heaven. It was
visible from the extremities of the earth. The animals of the earth were fed by
its fruit and the birds of the air were sheltered and nourished in its branches
- (Daniel 4:4-18).
Nebuchadnezzar saw a “holy watcher”
descend from heaven. The figure commanded the removal of the tree so that
nothing of it would remain visible above the ground. It was to be “cut
down,” its branches “lopped off,” its leaves “stripped,” and
its fruit “scattered across the earth.” Only the “tip of its root”
would remain in the ground.
The “watcher” declared that the heart of
the king would change from that of a man to a “beast” until “seven
seasons passed over him.” The great tree would become a pitiful
tethered animal dependent on others for nourishment, and through his downfall, “All
the living would come to know that the Most-High rules in the kingdom of men
and gives it to whomever he will and sets up over it
the lowest of men.”
Once again, “set up” translates
the same Aramaic verb used in Daniel 2:21 when the prophet declared
that God “removes kings and sets up kings.”
Likewise, the same verb for “removed” is used in both
passages - (“Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom is removed from you”).
Photo by Simon Wilkes on Unsplash |
The power of the heavenly decree was demonstrated when the ruler of the World-Power turned to Daniel for understanding. Through his God-given ability, the “lowly” Jewish exile exercised dominion over the Babylonian sovereign. Thus, he declared the removal and the restoration of political power to one who presumed to possess it through his own might, rather than acknowledge it as a gracious gift from the “God of Heaven.”
Interpretation. The
great tree represented Nebuchadnezzar. He had “become strong, his greatness
reaches to the heavens, and his dominion to the ends of the earth.” The
command of the “watcher” to cut down the tree was “the decree of the
Most-High.” Men would drive him from society to live among wild animals for
“seven seasons” until he comprehended that “the Most-High has
sovereignty over the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he pleases.” Then
his kingdom would be restored.
The term “seven seasons” is
ambiguous and does not necessarily mean seven years. It could just as
well refer to seven weeks or seven months. Nebuchadnezzar would be in this
state until the divine pronouncement ran its course, however long that was. The
dream was a warning to Nebuchadnezzar, one that all too soon he forgot.
A year passed, then “all this came upon
Nebuchadnezzar.” At the very height of his power, he boasted of his majesty
and achievements: “Is this not Babylon the Great that I built by the might
of my power and for the dignity of my majesty?” A voice from Heaven
responded:
- “O Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom is removed from you…until you come to know that the Most-High has dominion over the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he pleases.”
His understanding departed and he was driven
from society to live like an animal for “seven seasons.” However, after his
mind was restored, Nebuchadnezzar looked to heaven and declared:
- “Blessed is the Most-High who lives forever! I praise and honor the One whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. Before Him, all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and according to his own pleasure, He deals with the Host of Heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is none who can say to him, What have you done.”
History remembers Nebuchadnezzar as a great
ruler and builder, as well as the conqueror of vast territories. He established
an empire larger and mightier than any that preceded his realm. In Scripture, “Babylon”
came to symbolize the World-Power set in opposition to God, humanity
confident in its self-rule.
Nebuchadnezzar’s downfall and restoration is
an object lesson in just how hollow such boasts are, even when made by the mightiest
rulers on the earth. His fall demonstrates how decisively and quickly God can remove
any ruler or regime to suit His purposes.
Parallels to Genesis 11:1-9. There are verbal parallels in the story with the
incident at the Tower of Babel. For example, in the Genesis account, “all the earth
was of one language” and came to “inhabit the
plain of the land of Shinar.” The
inhabitants set out to “build for us a
city and a tower whose height reaches to the heavens and,
thus, let us make for us a name
lest we be scattered over the face of
all the earth.” Then, Yahweh “came down” from
heaven to see the city that men had built.
When He pronounced judgment, He mockingly used the first-person plural - “Let
us go down and confuse their speech.” Thus, He “scattered
them over the face of all the earth, and so they left off building the city.”
Likewise, in Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar
addressed a circular letter to “all the peoples, nations, and languages
that inhabit all the earth.” In
the dream he was represented by a great tree whose “height reached
unto the heavens.” He boasted, “Is this
not Babylon the great that I built by the
might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?” Like the great tree in
his dream, his greatness “reached to the heavens and
his dominion to the end of the earth.”
The “watcher” pronounced judgment using
verbs in the first person, plural form, as did God in the Genesis
account – “Let us” cut down the tree, destroy it, and
leave the stump of its roots. The fruit of the tree would be “scattered”
and the king was driven from among men until he understood that the “Most
High has dominion over the kingdom of men, and to whomever, he pleases he gives
it.”
At the end of the “seven seasons,”
Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his right mind and his sovereignty was reconfirmed. He
then extolled the “Most-High who does according to his will in the host of
the heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none
can stay his hand or say to him, What are you doing?”
In Revelation. The
passage from Daniel is echoed in the judgment pronouncement on end-time
“Babylon” when the “kings of the earth” wailed over her demise:
- “Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city; for in one hour is your judgment come… and a strong angel took a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus, with force will Babylon, the great city, be cast down and be found no more at all” – (Revelation 18:10-21).
From start to finish in Revelation, Ancient
Babylon symbolizes the determination of human society to arrogate to itself
self-rule in opposition to the sovereignty of the “God of Heaven,” the
creator of all things. Likewise, the term “inhabitants of the earth” is
derived from this story, which is then used repeatedly by Revelation to refer
to humanity in its hostility to the “Lamb” and the “one who sits on
the throne.”
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