Daniel 4:25-30

Daniel 4:25

That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

 

The first thing that will happen will be he will be driven from the palace and his counselors.  The word “drive” carries with it the meaning of “expel.”  The place where he will be expelled to will be the place where all the beasts of the fields live, that is, in the open range.  Then he will no longer have all the exquisite foods he is used to, instead he will be eating the grass of the field as a cow or horse does.  He will be outside in the open and the dew will settle on him as he finds his dwelling place in the outside, in the open range.  He will continue to remain in that condition until he acknowledges from his heart the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men.  Nebuchadnezzar is to find out that he was not the one built Babylon but it was God who created it and expanded it for His purposes.  The one great purpose that He created it was to find a place where He could discipline His people Israel without them being threatened by extinction because He was going to return them to the land.  God reserves the right to give the kingdoms of this world to whomsoever He wills.  It is the will of God and not the will of man who places the leaders of the countries of this world.

 

Daniel 4:26

And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.

 

Daniel then reassures the king that after his time of testing that he will receive the kingdom back again but this time his arrogance will be checked knowing that what happened to him by divine decree could always be made worse by another time of testing.  In this he will come to know that it is God who rules from Heaven, even in pagan kingdoms.  That is something that we need to learn today when we question why certain despots are allowed to rule certain nations.  God has a purpose for each and every ruler and He does not need to tell us why those things are as they are.  We must look beyond earthly government to the fact that God rules all earthly governments.

 

Daniel 4:27

Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

 

Daniel then puts his preacher’s hat on and gives the king a possible solution to his dilemma.  This would make the dream and the penalty for Nebuchadnezzar’s actions conditional upon his repentance.  First Daniel asks the king that the counsel he gave him would be acceptable to him.  Daniel then tells him to break off his sins.  The words “break off” carries with them the idea of “tearing away.”  In other words, Daniel is telling the king to do a surgical strike on his sins and do away with them.  It was probably sins like arrogance, anger, sexual sins or whatever but he is to tear them away.  He may have also been involved in oppressing the poor and Daniel states that he needs to show mercy to the poor and not cruelty.  If he does these things then maybe God will grant him a stay of execution from the seven year ordeal which was decreed which would be a lengthening of his peace, that is, if he repents then his life will be filled with peace and not all the anxiety that goes with being a nasty dictator.

 

Daniel 4:28

All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.

As usual a monarch who is filled with pride and arrogance will never listen to those who give proper counseling.  So instead of repenting of those many sins, he continued in his way of life, so God continued in His decree concerning Nebuchadnezzar.  His seven year ordeal was to come to pass because of his stubbornness.

 

Daniel 4:29

At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

 

Here is a major principle we need to understand.  Just because the judgment of God does not fall right away, if it is decreed, it will happen and it will happen in God’s timing.  This was also about the same length of time when Nathan came to David about his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah.  God gave David a full year to repent but unfortunately that time span will be used to harden us rather than soften us and that is when God needs to chastise us.

 

Daniel 4:30

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 honour of my majesty?

 

The king did not heed Daniel’s counsel but in that full year, he still walked in his arrogance and pride.  The king was totally absorbed with his own pride and began to exalt himself.  Notice the three phrases, 1) I have built, 2) might of my power, 3) my majesty.  He was totally forgetting the fact that Daniel had warned him that God is the one who rules in every kingdom on earth and that all rulers are vassals of God, no matter how glorious their kingdom looks or how majestic their palaces look.  Nebuchadnezzar was under the illusion that he was the one responsible for the greatness of Babylon.  This is a great mistake that every despotic ruler makes in their own self-aggrandizement.

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