[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.
[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.
Who might imagine that the words above is actually a testimony from a man who is driven by arrogance and drunk with power? Here is King Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon, who runs his kingdom as a tyrant, a man who was evil in his action, and he enjoyed immensely worldly power (power to dominate his enemies-like the Jews, power to require worship of his subject - Daniel 3:7-14, power to kill -Daniel 3:15). Maybe he is like Hitler as a modern tyrant. But the text above is really his personal testimony, that comes from his heart because of a divine intervention: God’s miraculous work.
One day, again Nebuchadnezzar had a strange dream that troubled him so much, and made him afraid. He first asked the same people that he considered as a wise men of Babylon (just like the people in Daniel 2: magicians, enchanters, astrologers, chaldeans), but they could not interpret it, until Daniel came and told him the meaning of his dream. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar (verse 20-26) that Nebuchadnezzar is the tree on his dream, who has become strong and great, his greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and his dominion extends to distant parts of the earth. But then a messenger, a holy one coming down from heaven saying “Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze, in the grass of the field, while its roots remain in the ground.” He will spare Nebuchadnezzar like the wild animals, until seven periods pass by for him. In other words, God will driven away Nebuchadnezzar from among men, and his dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. Nebuchadnezzar will be humbled and he shall be made to eat grass like an ox, until he knows that God is the most high, and God rules above any kingdom of men. Only by then, Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom will be restored. And so Daniel suggest Nebuchadnezzar to repent, and turn away from his sin, and do what is right and be kind to people. But as we know from the story, Nebuchadnezzar neglected what Daniel has suggested, he keeps living on his pride, until twelve months later as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace, looking at his own city, his pride arose to see what he has achieved so far: the greatness of his kingdom (Babylon), his power and glory. Suddenly there is a voice from God saying that his glory has been taken. God has been patient enough to wait for Nebuchadnezzar to repent, to turn away from his pride, but he keeps ignoring it. His arrogance has blinded his eye from taking any attention to God’s voice.
As what has been predicted, God humbled Nebuchadnezzar, He humbled one who has pride of himself, and God put Nebuchadnezzar as equal as an animal, he is put into such condition that he can no longer boast. God’s discipline made him to realise that he is nothing before God, and so his eyes can now see God as the King of all Kings. God is the one worthy of all praised and honor (verse 34-37).
What do we learn here? First, it is clear that God humbled those who exalt themselves, those who has pride of themselves, and God exalted those who humble themselves. As what Nebuchadnezzar said out of his experience: he may have everything (power, glory, richness, etc), but those are nothing in God’s eye. In fact, if we have anything, it is because God has given it to us, God entrusted us to manage what we have for His glory and pleasure, and not for our glory and pleasure.
Second, as God has been patient enough to Nebuchadnezzar, we should reflect on ourselves, whether there any parts on our lives that we haven’t surrender to God. He is still waiting for us patiently to listen to His voice, to come to Him, to leave our pride and humble ourselves before Him, to acknowledge Him as the Lord of everything in our lives.
Third, God’s discipline towards Nebuchadnezzar is God’s way of showing His mercy towards him. God has been so merciful towards sinner like Nebuchadnezzar. Can we imagine a man like Nebuchadnezzar, full of arrogance and drunk with power, can change drastically like that? Do we realise that we too are a sinner just like Nebuchadnezzar? We often boast on ourselves, on our achievement; we often think of things that pleases us, not pleasing God; we take our comfort as the most important thing in life; we were enemies toward God, and our nature is to disobey Him our God. But God too has shown His mercy and His grace on the cross to save us, to take away our sin, so that we no longer keep on sinning, but to live in obedience through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. How merciful is our God, and should we not praise Him like what Nebuchadnezzar did? We will never see how deep is God’s mercy and grace to us, if we never know how deep and wicked is our sin (our filthiness). It is already God at work when we can realise how unworthy is ourselves. God let us see the unworthiness of our lives so that we can come to Him the One who is full of mercy and kindness.
Lastly, what happen to Nebuchadnezzar is exactly as what God has said in his dream. It shows that God is sovereign. God is always in control, just as God was in control when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and carried off the Jews into captivity. His plans will always work out just the way God intends it to be. God plans and carries out His perfect will as He alone knows is best, and He does so without failure or defeat. God knows how to deal with Nebuchadnezzar, and He knows how to deal with us, He too knows how to deal with our circumstances, and He will never fail. The good news is that God always works things out in the end for the good of His children, those who have been adopted into His family by receiving the free gift of salvation. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
Let us reflect on this passage and relate to our lives: are we currently facing hard times? maybe we are still in the time between Daniel 1 and 3, where God is still at work through us, and He is still waiting patiently to change Nebuchadnezzar’s heart. How has God displayed his sovereignty in our life? In what ways has He shown us that He is in control? How did God changed our heart? How did God open our eyes to see the truth about salvation? How did God worked in and through us, to let us realise our filthiness? What are the areas of our life that we haven’t fully surrender to God? Let us be reminded through this passage that we can put our hope in Him who is sovereign. Let us ask God to help us to surrender every area of our life to God and make us the person God wants us to be.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6, ESV)”
Soli Deo Gloria,
~ Paul Hartono
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