Our Part: Daniel 4
After Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego spent a day in the spa (i.e., superheated furnace) with the preincarnate Christ in Daniel 3, things smoothed out for Daniel and his friends. Years passed, they remained in the king’s favor, and as a result, they were safe and enjoyed significant influence within the Babylonian kingdom. Things were good, but then King Nebuchadnezzar had another dream.
In Daniel 4, the narrative shifts as the author chose to include a letter written by Nebby to everyone in his kingdom. In the first three verses of this letter, the king declared his intention to “tell you about the miracles and wonders the Most High God has done for me.” Then, starting in verse 4, he wrote of a dream that frightened him. At once, he called in the magicians, mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners, but just as in chapter 2, they were unable to help. Thus, Nebby once again called in Daniel and told him about the dream starting in verse 10:
In the visions of my mind as I was lying in bed, I saw this: There was a tree in the middle of the earth, and it was very tall. 11 The tree grew large and strong; its top reached to the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the[a] earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and on it was food for all. Wild animals found shelter under it, the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and every creature was fed from it.
13 “As I was lying in my bed, I also saw in the visions of my mind a watcher, a holy one,[b] coming down from heaven. 14 He called out loudly: Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it, and the birds from its branches. 15 But leave the stump with its roots in the ground and with a band of iron and bronze around it in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky and share the plants of the earth with the animals. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a human, and let him be given the mind of an animal for seven periods of time.[c][d] 17 This word is by decree of the watchers, and the decision is by command from the holy ones. This is so that the living will know that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms. He gives them to anyone he wants and sets the lowliest of people over them.
Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was stunned for a moment, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.”
Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies! 20 The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky and was visible to the whole earth, 21 and whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant—and on it was food for all, under it the wild animals lived, and in its branches the birds of the sky lived— 22 that tree is you, Your Majesty. For you have become great and strong: your greatness has grown and even reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.
23 “The king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground and with a band of iron and bronze around it in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky and share food with the wild animals for seven periods of time.’ 24 This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree of the Most High that has been issued against my lord the king: 25 You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants. 26 As for the command to leave the tree’s stump with its roots, your kingdom will be restored[e] to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven[f] rules. 27 Therefore, may my advice seem good to you my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right, and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”
28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of twelve months, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon, 30 the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built to be a royal residence by my vast power and for my majestic glory?
Daniel 4:10-30 CSB
The world will strut.
If you read that entire block, you can no doubt imagine that Daniel’s interpretation of Nebby’s dream was alarming for everyone involved. The notion of a king being driven from people and living among wild animals, feeding on grass like cattle, and everything else about the interpretation is almost too absurd to believe. If all these things actually happened, then King Nebby would be taking crazy to a whole new level!
Before we get to that, however, we must understand why God would do such an outlandish thing, and in Daniel’s interpretation, we see several clues. For instance, in verse 22, we see that the great tree of Nebby’s dream represented Nebby himself. Daniel affirmed that, just as the tree was large and strong, beautiful and fruitful, Nebby was “great and strong,” and his “dominion extends to the ends of the earth.” Now, all by itself, dominion – that is, power and influence – is not necessarily a bad thing. If we back up to verses 10-11, however, we see that, in the original dream, the tree was “in the middle of the earth” and “its top reached to the sky.” The suggestion was that the whole world revolved around the tree, which represented Nebuchadnezzar. The description also was reminiscent of the Tower of Babel, or Babylon, in Genesis 11. There, people decided to build a tower which would touch the heavens and put them on God’s level. Of course, God could not abide such hubris. Thus, he made them all speak different languages and so scattered the people to the ends of the earth.
In verses 25-26, we discover that this same arrogance is at the heart of Nebby’s problem. He had listened to his own press, drunk his own Kool-Aid, and allowed his own greatness and strength to go to his head. He failed to “acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms,” including his own. Indeed, in verse 27, Daniel observed that Nebby had taken his own greatness and strength as a license to sin and abuse the needy, and in verses 28-30, while strutting on the roof of one of his three local palaces, he wondered to himself, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built to be a royal residence by my vast power and for my majestic glory?”
Just like Nebuchadnezzar, the world will strut. They will listen to their own press, drink their own Kool-Aid, and they will allow their own greatness and strength to go to their heads. They will look upon all of the wonderful things that God has given them or enabled them to do, and they will decide that they can handle pretty much anything that comes their way on their own.
We must admonish
How will we respond to this strutting? What, if anything, will we say or do when the world takes God’s glory and claims it for themselves? To be clear, then when the world is strutting, God’s people must not be silent. Instead, if we are to follow Daniel’s example, we must admonish. The dictionary defines this term as “to warn or reprimand someone firmly,” but so that there is no confusion, let us consider Daniel’s example more closely.
Consider, for example, verse 19. Remembering that this is a letter written by Nebby, the guy who ordered Daniel and his friends be given Babylonian names, it is interesting to note that he referred to Daniel here by his Hebrew name: “Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar…” In fact, this was the second time that Nebby did this in Daniel 4. This is significant because, in cultures and situations that aim to systematically debase people, the very first thing they do is refuse to call people by name. For example, in her autobiography, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom recounted how she stood stupidly where she was for a long moment after the guard called her name to be released from the Nazi prison camp. She wrote, “I had been Prisoner 66730 for so long that I almost failed to react to my name.” Nebby had stripped Daniel of his Hebrew name when he first arrived in Babylon, but over the years that followed, Daniel had built such a rapport with the king that now, more than three decades later, Nebby made a point to return his original name. Such was the rapport these two had, and such is the rapport that we must seek to build when the world starts strutting. This means developing a relationship based on mutual respect and trust, and it stands in stark contrast to the sort of arguments that dominate our public discourse today. Yes, this can and often will take years, but it was this rapport that opened the door for the king to listen rather than shut Daniel down or worse.
Consider something else in verse 19. When Daniel finally responded to the king, he prayed that the dream should apply to Nebby’s enemies instead. That is, he did not want the king to suffer the humiliation prophesied by the dream. And if you think about it, that really was remarkable. Nebby had taken Daniel from his home, hauled him a thousand miles away, and held him captive in a foreign land. He had sought to deprive Daniel and his friends of their home, their culture, and on more than one occasion, their lives. More, in the years since then, Nebby had returned to Jerusalem twice to haul more people away, and the second time, he left in ruins the city and the temple of the God that Daniel loved. If anyone had a reason to want Nebby humiliated, it was Daniel. Yet, Daniel wanted what was best for Nebby. To want what is best for someone means we do not pray that the bad guy would get what is coming to him or gloat when bad things happen to them. Rather, it means that everything we say and do to them should come from Christ-like love because, in the end, that is what love is: an ardent desire and commitment to what is best for someone else.
Consider also what Daniel did in verses 25-26. There, he explained what Nebuchadnezzar needed to do to return to God’s good graces. Namely, he needed to “acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants” (vs 25), and “acknowledge that Heaven rules” (vs 26). Daniel’s impudence is astonishing! Nebby could have him executed on the spot for saying such things, and indeed, I suspect he would have had Daniel executed except for the rapport the two shared. Thus, Daniel avoided two deep ditches that believers too often fall into. On the one hand, there is the tendency to not call out sin because we are afraid of how the other person will react. On the other, there is the tendency to skip right past rapport and love and come down harshly on someone with whom we have little or no relationship. We, like Daniel, must avoid both of these ditches!
Finally, consider Daniel’s words in verse 27: “Therefore, may my advice seem good to you my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right, and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.” In this one verse, Daniel offered both direction and hope. He told Nebby what he needed to do – do what is right and show mercy to the needy – and suggested that, if he did these things, God’s judgment may yet be averted. Contrast this to our tendency to possibly offer direction – you should do this – with a heaping side of condemnation! We point out this political candidate’s corruption and dishonesty while we support a candidate that is dishonest and corrupt. We call the LGBTQ lifestyle sin but offer none of the relationships and support they crave. We pronounce abortion is wrong but make adoption ridiculously difficult and withhold resources that would help mom raise that baby. Yes, we need to call out sin, but in lieu of condemnation, we should offer direction and hope.
To admonish this faithless world, then, includes at least four key components: build rapport, love our neighbors, call out sin, and offer direction and hope. This is what God’s people must do when the world struts.
God will humble.
No doubt, admonishment was an important part of Daniel’s response to Nebby’s dream, but what wasn’t a part of Daniel’s response is at least equally important. We have seen, for example, that Daniel did not gloat or cheer, but in fact, in verse 29, we discover that twelve whole months passed while Daniel did nothing. In other words, he knew God’s decision against King Nebuchadnezzar, but Daniel did not take it upon himself to execute or even help along that judgment. Instead, we read:
At the end of twelve months, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon, 30 the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built to be a royal residence by my vast power and for my majestic glory?”
31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared that the kingdom has departed from you. 32 You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals, and you will feed on grass like cattle for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants.”
33 At that moment the message against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people. He ate grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair grew like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
Daniel 4:29-33 CSB
When Nebuchadnezzar’s hubris finally reached its absolute peak, a voice came from heaven, and everything about the absolutely bizarre warning came to pass. Nebby was driven away from people, ate grass like a cow, and was drenched with dew. More, his hair grew long and wild like eagles’ feathers, and his nails became long and gnarly like a bird’s claws. In short, the king of Babylon was reduced to a wild animal.
To be honest, there is a lot that is left unclear here. For instance, was he driven completely out of the kingdom, or merely sequestered in the famed gardens of Babylon? We do not know. Neither do we know exactly how long this condition lasted. We are told that it lasted “for seven periods of time,” but were those periods days, weeks, months, or years? Many scholars and translations assume they were years, but we truthfully do not know.
Despite this uncertainty, there are at least two things that are absolutely clear in this passage. First, Nebby suffered some sort of mental breakdown. Scholars suggest it was a condition called boanthropy, in which a person actually believes themselves to be a cow. Second, between the voice from heaven, the suddenness and severity, and the fact that it was predicted precisely a full year in advance, this breakdown was the was the work of God. This is important because it means that Daniel did not take it upon himself to humble Nebuchadnezzar. Instead, he allowed God to work in his way and in his time.
Yes, this stands in stark contrast to what the world would tell us. Even some supposedly godly teachers insist we should lash out. Yet, as Christians who seek to live a Christian life in today’s world, we should trust God to to do it in his way and in his time because God will humble. Indeed, while we can certainly find biblical exceptions to this rule, consider the example of Gideon. In Judges 6-8, God used Gideon to humble the vast Midianite army, but before he embraced that call, Gideon tested it thoroughly. We should do the same because, more often than not, in this faithless world, God’s people are called to follow the example of Daniel, who admonished the king, and let God do the rest.
Admonishment leads to praise.
Certainly, God’s humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar was astonishing, but what came next was even more so. In the first three verses of Daniel 4, Nebby began his letter by proclaiming God’s praise, but it is in the last four verses of the chapter that we learn what changed Nebby:
But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever: For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
36 At that time my sanity returned to me, and my majesty and splendor returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and my nobles sought me out, I was reestablished over my kingdom, and even more greatness came to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens, because all his works are true and his ways are just. He is able to humble those who walk in pride.
Daniel 4:34-37 CSB
Once upon a time, the blatantly pagan King Nebuchadnezzar did everything in his power to remove God from Daniel’s and his friends’ lives, but at the end of his breakdown, when he apparently remembered Daniel’s words, Nebby looked to heaven, acknowledged God, and was restored. His praise at the beginning of the letter, then, was in response to God’s restoration, and now, instead of strutting about in arrogance and sin, his intention was to praise, honor, and glorify the Most High for the rest of his days. In other words, Daniel’s admonition led to Nebby’s praise, and ours can and will do the same.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I do not want to mislead you. I wish I could tell you this was a bona fide confession and Nebby lived up to his intention, abandoned his other gods, and became a paragon of godliness. Unfortunately, this is the last we see of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel’s account, and there is simply insufficient evidence to reach such a conclusion. In this moment, however, Nebby’s knee bowed, his tongue confessed, and he wrote this letter to the entire kingdom. This, in and of itself, is significant, but perhaps more significantly, Nebby’s letter exponentially expanded the circle of people who had heard of God and his wonders as a result of Daniel and his friends.
You see, then, even if we are unable to convert everyone, getting them to acknowledge God’s reality and power is a significant step in the right direction! Indeed, when we build rapport so that we can admonish, and allow God to do the humbling, we can expect to make a difference in someone somewhere. Perhaps even many someones. We can expect our admonishment leads to praise.