28 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” 33 Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.
Nebuchadnezzar Restored
34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”
36 At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. Daniel 4: 28-37
Daniel 4: 28-37 Pride of Life
…12How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations. 13You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. 14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”… Isaiah 14: 12-14
At the end of twelve months - This is a long time to consider what Daniel revealed to him, that God was coming after him, and how Daniel counseled him, to repent. But pride ravages the mind; it makes us savage, beastly, as though we hear but no longer understand, we see but cannot perceive. We take every gift of intelligence, our talents, our knowledge and frame, all that God has given us, and we apply it to our appeal for autonomy, that we are our own masters, the height of all wisdom. Noah preached to his generation for 120 years, but out of everyone on the earth at that time, only 8 humans survived God's wrath. King David, after his gross sin with Bathsheba, did not run to the Lord asking for forgiveness. He did not beg to be granted repentance right away, no, the hound of heaven had to track him down, God's prophet had to confront him of his sin. It is a mercy to be confronted and another mercy to repent.
…19in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison 20who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water. 21And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,… 1 Peter 3: 19-21
…8Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. 10But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.… 2 Peter 3: 8-10
…20But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling. 22Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.… Revelation 2: 20-22
…13Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks? 14For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices. 15In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,… Job 33: 13-15
He was walking on the roof of the royal palace - He gazes upon his kingdom, his brilliance as an architect, a monarch, a warrior, a leader, and everything he sees fits well within the template of the ideal of who he is. There is more building here than the satisfaction of a job well done.
Is not this great Babylon - It is an incredible kingdom, and the city is amazing, well thought out.
Showers notes that - From a purely human viewpoint, Nebuchadnezzar had good reason to boast. He probably was the greatest builder in ancient times. Forty-nine building inscriptions of this king have been uncovered thus far. Most of the bricks recovered from ancient Babylon bear this inscription: “I am Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.” He himself declared that his heart impelled him to build. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the old palace of his father, then built two more palaces. He built seventeen religious temples in Babylon and its suburb, Borsippa. He completed the two great walls that surrounded the city. The outer wall was wide enough for chariots to pass each other on its top. The king installed great fortifications to protect the city and had canals dug from one end of the city to another to facilitate commerce. One of Nebuchadnezzar’s most splendid projects was the magnificent Ishtar Gate. This was a double gateway through the walls of the city. The walls of this gate were covered with bulls and four-legged dragons in high relief. The approach to the gate was between strong fortress walls on which were rows of lions in relief and covered with brightly colored tiles. The king’s greatest building feat was the Hanging Gardens. One of Nebuchadnezzar’s wives, the princess of Media, grew homesick for the mountains of her homeland. In order to satisfy her, the king had mountains built on the roof of the royal palace complex. These mountains were planted with trees and other kinds of plants. An ingenious hydraulic machine system was devised to lift water from the Euphrates River to water the elevated gardens. These Hanging Gardens became so famous that the Greeks named them one of the Seven Wonders of the World. (The Most High God- A Commentary on the Book of Daniel). - Precept Austin
Which I have built by my mighty power - All this came upon him, at the end of a year he thought about what God had told him through Daniel, and this was the kings reply to God. He has brought in the finest of everything, the greatest minds, gold, has built one of the seven wonders of the world, has raised not only a destructive army, but he has also built, not just destroyed, and it is beautiful. This is an argument in his favor, he thinks. God has said, "the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will." "No,' says Neb, "I did this, by my might, my power, my genius, I know because I was there when Your people fell, I took Assyria, Judah and spanked Pharaoh." We so quickly forget that we didn't make ourselves, that all the materials Neb uses belong to God, his intellect was given to him by God, and so when God demands something from His creatures and they don't give it to Him, that is theft. We start saying stupid things, like, "it's my body", oh, so you made it, did you also write up a little deed of ownership, do you have papers attesting to this?
…17The highway of the upright leads away from evil; he who guards his way protects his life. 18Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. 19It is better to be lowly in spirit among the humble than to divide the spoil with the proud.… Proverbs 16: 17-19
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
7 “Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
8 Will you even put me in the wrong?
Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
9 Have you an arm like God,
and can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 “Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;
clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
11 Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.
12 Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low
and tread down the wicked where they stand.
13 Hide them all in the dust together;
bind their faces in the world below.
14 Then will I also acknowledge to you
that your own right hand can save you. Job 40: 6-14
…5“Do you not know what they are?” replied the angel. “No, my lord,” I answered. 6So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts. 7What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ”… Zechariah 4: 5-7
For the glory of my majesty - Over and over I tell myself, "let my honor be that Christ is glorified," for I was lost and he found me, I did not create or save myself.
…19he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of day. 20A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. Psalm 49: 19-20
…30If I partake in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? 31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. 32Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—… 1 Corinthians 10: 30-32
…10As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another. 11If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.… 1 Peter 4: 10-12
While the words were still in the king's mouth - The time of God's patience had come to an end, and the words from Neb's own mouth were indicting him. God had promised judgment and given warning, now it was time to keep His word, His patience and longsuffering had been rejected.
…19Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!” ’ 20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’ 21This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”… Luke 12: 19-21
There fell a voice from heaven - The voice repeats the judgment of the dream, the interpretation that Daniel had given him. Neb is immediately ushered in to judgement, and this is what it looked like.
Raymond Harrison recites a personal experience with a modern case similar to that of Nebuchadnezzar that was observed in a mental hospital in 1946. And Harrison wrote this, and I thought it was interesting. He said, “A great many doctors spend an entire busy, professional career without once encountering an instance of the kind of monomania described in the book of Daniel. The present writer, therefore, considers himself particularly fortunate to have actually observed a clinical case of boanthropy.”
And by the way, boanthropy is the word bous, which means bull or cow, and that is a form of lycanthropy, where a person thinks they’re a cow or a bull. Now, it sounds kind of funny to us, but it wasn’t too funny, I’m sure, to the people who go around eating grass and acting silly like that.
Anyway, “They observed,” he says, “a clinical case of boanthropy in a British mental institution in 1946. The patient was in his early 20s. He reportedly had been hospitalized for about five years. His symptoms were well developed on admission and diagnosis was immediate and conclusive. He was of average height and weight, with a good physique, in excellent bodily health. His mental symptoms included pronounced antisocial tendencies. And because of this, he spent the entire day, from dawn to dusk, outdoors, on the grounds of the institution.
“His daily routine consisted of wandering around the magnificent lawns, in which the otherwise dingy hospital situation was graced, and it was his custom to pluck up and eat handfuls of the grass as he went along. On observation, he was seen to discriminate between grass and weeds, and on inquiry from the attendant, the writer was told the diet of this patient consisted exclusively of grass from hospital lawns. He never ate institutional food with other inmates, and his only drink was water.
“The writer was able to examine him cursorily, and the only physical abnormality noted consisted of a lengthening of the hair and a coarse, thickened condition of the fingernails. Without institutional care, the patient would have manifested precisely the identical physical conditions as those mentioned in Daniel chapter 4.” - J Mac
At the end of the days - When the 7 years of this judgement of boanthropy were complete.
Lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me - He looked up to the highest throne, and his senses, his rational being returned to him.
1From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God, 2saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice. 3For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.… Jonah 2: 1-3
Blessed the most high - This is logic, reason restored, properly aimed.
Praised and honored Him, Who lives forever - The eternal God, Creator of Neb, raiser of his kingdom, bestower of gifts, intelligence and giver of light.
…1A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place through all generations. 2Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God. 3You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”… Psalm 90: 1-3
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing - He is not a respecter of persons or kingdoms, and we marvel at His handiwork, yet it is a small thing to Him. Never put the creation above the Creator. Never have an idol, whether wife, child, friend, wealth or your life. He is not passing as they, and His word remains forever.
…15Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust. 16Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering. 17All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.… Isaiah 40: 15-17
…22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless. 24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.… Isaiah 40: 22-24
What have You done - Everyone would do it differently than God, yet they will never be God. The most powerful man in the world was not able to resist the hand of God nor change His mind. It is such a mercy to be brought so low as to understand this.
…9Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? 10Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought forth?’” 11Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: “How dare you question Me about My sons, or instruct Me in the work of My hands?… Isaiah 45: 9-11
19One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” 21Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?… Romans 9: 19-21
C H Spurgeon had this to say regarding God's sovereignty....
Most men quarrel with this [God's sovereignty]. But mark, the thing that you complain of in God is the very thing that you love in yourselves. Every man likes to feel that he has a right to do with his own as he pleases. We all like to be little sovereigns. Oh, for a spirit that bows always before the sovereignty of God...No doctrine in the whole Word of God has more excited the hatred of mankind than the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God... (but) There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of divine sovereignty...If God lights the candle, none can blow it out. - Spurgeon quoted in Precept Austin
My majesty and splendor returned to me - He was brought low to have understanding, to have reason when he was healed, to know that the Most High God rules.
…29Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’ 30Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained. 31Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no older man will be left in your house.… 1 Samuel 2: 29-31
…32For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.… Matthew 6: 32-34
…16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.… 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18
5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you. 7Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.… 1 Peter 5: 5-7
Now I...praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven - That throne above time and space. I am one who believes that when I go to be with the Lord that Neb will be amongst the saints in heaven, not because he was a great king, but rather because he was a great sinner like me, who God called out of darkness into light. I believe that Neb was born again, that God gave him a new heart and chastened him as one he loved. Some think they come to God of their own accord, like Neb arguing upon the roof of his palace, or that there are those that cannot be saved because their sins are worse than their own, but salvation is of the Lord.
…9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.… 1 Peter 2: 9-11
…30But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”… Luke 5: 30-32
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