Daniel 4

Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler

Daniel 4 was written by Nebuchadnezzar and published publically for the rest of the world. It was written in Aramaic, language of the Gentiles at the time.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR TELLS HIS STORY

Daniel 4:1-3
Babylon had a far-reach. This testimony was shared around the world.

Nebuchadnezzar is the "I" throughout this chapter, sharing his story of how a pagan king discovered the true living God. This is pretty cool. Nebuchadnezzar was a tyrant and a despot, yet here we see him humbling himself before God and sharing to a pagan world about the living God!

God's kingdom is everlasting. Contrasts God's kingdom to the other earthly kingdoms mentioned in Daniel 2. 

Daniel 4:8 
Nebuchadnezzar called Daniel by his Hebrew name instead of the Babylonian name he has assigned him! Furthermore, Daniel had rose to the position of "Chief of the magicians," equivalent to the position of a prime minister of our day. 

GOD WARNS NEBUCHADNEZZAR ABOUT HIS PRIDE 

Daniel 4:19-27
Through Nebuchadnezzar's dream, who do we learn that is truly in charge? God. Nebuchadnezzar's rise and fall, who was in charge? God.

The sum of Nebuchadnezzar's dream is that he was the tree. He will be cut down until he knew that God is in charge. When he finally acknowledges God, his kingdom will be restored.

Daniel therefore encouraged Nebuchadnezzar to repent of his pride and return to God. 

NEBUCHADNEZZAR FALLS BECAUSE OF HIS PRIDE 

"Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty," boasted Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:30)

Babylon was the greatest city. It was thought to be impregnable because of its geographical advantage. Nebuchadnezzar knew this and was proud because of his kingdom that he boldly thought was built by his own two hands.

And as soon as he finished his boast, God replied, "This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes" (Daniel 4:31-32).

This isn't just some fairy tale story. This is Nebuchadnezzar's account of what happened to him!

Some scholars say what happened to Nebuchadnezzar was a psychiatric condition known as lycanthropy (aka, wolf-man psychosis), where he believed he was a wolf or some other kind of animal. Perhaps Nebuchadnezzar's conditions are better described as a case of boanthropy, where he had delusions of himself as an ox. At any case, Nebuchadnezzar, for seven years, suffered from a psychiatric disorder where he lived as an animal.

Why?

1) God hates pride
2) God disciplines His children

Before we readily start judging God with comments like, "How could a loving God discipline anyone with something as cruel as this?" Let us just take a step back and remember a few things. We did not make this universe with a breath. We are not omniscient. We do not see what God sees, and we certainly do not have a grand plan that involves salvation for mankind and eternal damnation for Satan.

Let us just skip the whole self-righteous statements and leave it at, if we don't want other people telling us how we discipline our children, then don't tell God how to discipline His.

More importantly, as any parent knows, different children respond differently to teachings. Some children learn a light admonishment; others, there is nothing to do but to let them fall flat on their face before they would finally learn their lesson. It is my personal opinion that Nebuchadnezzar belongs to this second group.

Another interesting observation that arises from this passage is that God disciplines His children--aka, Nebuchadnezzar was God's child because he was disciplined by God!

That has so many implications: God works on all of us. ALL. He doesn't just love those who have accepted Him. He loves all of us and reaches out to all of us. Jews or Gentiles, Christians or non-Christians, we are all God's children, and He reaches out to save us at least once if not multiple times.
In this passage, we see how God disciplined Nebuchadnezzar about pride.

God hates pride 
Proverbs 6 
Proverbs 16:5 
Proverbs 26:12 
1 Corinthians 4 

"Where there is contention, there is pride" (Proverbs 13:10) 

Any time we get prideful, it helps to remember that
everything we have, we have as a gift from God (James 1:17).

Why does God hate sin? I don't claim to have the answer, but if I have to guess, it might have something to do with the fact that pride was the primary reason for the fall of Satan and human race (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28).

NEBUCHADNEZZAR RECOVERS HIS SANITY AND PRAISES GOD

Daniel 4:34-37
Amen, Nebuchadnezzar!

This poem of praise for God came out of the mouth of a pagan despot!

According to the Talmud, Daniel took care of Nebuchadnezzar during those 7 years that he went crazy. It is clear from these passages that Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar had formed a close friendship. Daniel could be viewed as his prime minister in many ways.

Nebuchadnezzar's testimony was a statutory edict published throughout the world. It was issued in 562 BC, the year that Nebuchadnezzar recovered from his insanity. This is the last time we'd hear from him in the Bible. He died shortly within a year, due to the steady weakening of his health and kingdom.