Burning Bush Blogs
Equipping Men with Biblical Knowledge and Leadership Skills
Category: Personal Study
Thread: Crazy Stories of the Bible
Post Topic: Nebuchadnezzar – the Insane King of Babylon
Post in Thread: #4
Previous: Snake on a Pole
Next: Handwriting on the Wall
Scripture: Daniel 4:1-34
Key Verse:
Daniel 4:33
Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.
Observations
Context
- Nebuchadnezzar was king over the most powerful empire in the world at his time: Babylon.
- Many young Jews, including Daniel, had been taken into captivity in Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar’s forces defeated Judah.
Events
- Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a tree so magnificent the entire world admired it.
- It was suddenly chopped down, but the stump and roots remained.
- Daniel told the king, “You are that tree. Repent and help the poor. Maybe , then you won’t get the heart of a beast.”
- Nebuchadnezzar didn’t repent. He didn’t help the poor.
- His pride made him less than human.
- God cut down that “magnificent tree.” It happened suddenly, as Nebuchadnezzar was walking on his roof, glorying in all that he thought he’d accomplished.
- After seven years, God restored him to power. The stump grew again into a tree.
- The king became a follower of the true God, and wrote about his conversion.
Interpretation
Authors
Daniel records this story, and starting in verse 34, he includes King Nebuchadnezzar’s first person account of how God humbled and then restored him. (This is the only section of the Old Testament written by a Gentile.)
Daniel 4:34-37 – Nebuchadnezzar describes his seven years as a wild animal, his recognition that the God of Heaven is the true ruler, and his return to leadership, a changed man.
Genre
Partly apocalyptic, revealing prophetic visions, dreams and symbols. Partly narrative.
Setting
Babylon was the most wondrous city of the ancient world. When Daniel arrived at the Ishtar Gate three years before, dragons, lions, and bulls embedded in its blue bricks symbolized unmitigated power. He walked the Processional Way, the long pathway into the city. Safeguarding Babylon were walls stretching 50 feet high; wide enough for chariots to pass each other. In the distance loomed the 280 foot ziggurat dedicated to the god Marduk.
He likely was taken to one of Nebuchadnezzar’s three palaces, lavishly decorated with blue and yellow glazed tiles. He’d glimpse the famous hanging gardens—one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. With all its grandeur, the city inspired awe, perhaps even reverence.
Takeaways
- Nebuchadnezzar was given a full year to change, but he refused. He couldn’t bring himself to humble himself before God.
- God hates pride more than any other sin.
- Archaeologists have found bricks Nebuchadnezzar ordered to build Babylon.
- All were stamped with his name and his description as the exalted one.
- Nebuchadnezzar’s madness is an extremely rare but real mental disorder called boanthropy. Psychology journals describe it as: someone who thinks he’s a cow or an ox.
- After seven years grazing in the royal pastures, he admitted that only Yahweh deserved the title of exalted one.
Imagine
Before
You’re the most powerful man in the world, but you can’t control your dreams, and you’ve had another terrifying one. Only the Hebrew Daniel makes sense of it. Seven years of madness? No way. For twelve months you walk the halls of your elegant palace in denial. God’s given you time to repent, but you’re 100% comfortable and 100% puffed up with pride as you gaze down on “your city…”
Something’s happened. You eye the stalk of aromatic grass clutched in your bird-claw nails. Angrily you swat away the long, matted hair from your eyes. You catch a shadow of man watching you from behind the only tree in your pasture. You bellow and charge him on all fours.
After
Seven long years. So much has changed. Weeds grow out of the walls. The hanging gardens you built for your beautiful Queen Amytis are in a state of disrepair. And she’s different – the lines on her face have grown. How did she keep the kingdom together?
The dream-master Daniel stands beside her. Perhaps he assisted. He also has aged. Instead of the I-told-you-so look you’d have expected, you only read compassion. Your first instinct is to drop in front of him. But you’re still the king – you think. And Daniel wouldn’t want that. He’d only want you to bow before his God.
The one true God.
Correlation
II Samuel 12:1-13
- The prophet Nathan also told the truth to a powerful king.
- King David of Israel was guilty of adultery and murder.
- Nebuchadnezzar ignored Daniel’s warning, but King David listened to Nathan.
- David grieved his sin and begged God’s forgiveness.
- Psalm 51 is David’s powerful repentance.
Matthew 23:12 – Jesus warns against exalting ourselves. In the end, we will be humbled.
Application
Generic Applications
God ‘s love for Nebuchadnezzar demonstrates a pattern. First, God blessed him. He put people in his life to speak and live truth. The man sinned. God was patient. Finally, God disciplined him. A broken king repented and told the world that God is the real king.
It was better for Nebuchadnezzar that he was broken by God, like a wild colt, than to live and die in his prideful state.
Personalize it
Can I see myself somewhere in the pattern above? Does God’s discipline seem like love?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
Leave a Reply