Chapter Four

1–4. Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream and the helplessness of the Babylonian wise men to interpret it. 5–15. The king’s appeal for Daniel’s help; the content of the dream. 16–24. The prophet’s explanation of the dream. 25–30. The fulfillment of Daniel’s prediction: Nebuchadnezzar’s illness. 31–34. His recovery, return to power, and his glorification of God.

Daniel 4:1. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palaces. Daniel 4:2. But I saw a dream that terrified me, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head disturbed me. The dream coincided in time with the years of peaceful reign of Nebuchadnezzar. These began after the campaign against Egypt in the 37th year of his rule, in accordance with which the dream is dated by interpreters to this period. On the basis of his previous experience, Nebuchadnezzar could understand that this new dream foretold something important. The complete uncertainty of this latter naturally aroused feelings of confusion and fear.

Daniel 4:3. And I gave orders to bring all the wise men of Babylon to me, so that they might tell me the meaning of the dream. The helplessness shown earlier by the wise men (Dan 2:1-11) does not, however, prevent Nebuchadnezzar from turning to them for an explanation of the dream. They proved unable to reveal the vision (Dan 2:8-11), but did not refuse to give an explanation if the content were told to them (Dan 2:4). With this in mind, the king resorts to their aid.

Daniel 4:4. Then came the enchanters, sorcerers, Chaldeans, and diviners; I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it to me. Daniel 4:5. Finally, Daniel came before me, whom I named Belshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy God; I told him the dream. Daniel 4:6. O Belshazzar, chief of the wise men! I know that the spirit of the holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you; explain to me the visions of my dream that I saw, and their meaning. Only the fresh failure that befell the wise men recalled to Nebuchadnezzar the memory of Daniel’s superhuman wisdom and forced the king to summon him to explain the dream. Until now he had not been invited, both because of Nebuchadnezzar’s faith in his wise men, and also, perhaps, because the gap of 35 years between the first and second dream had faded from the king’s mind the memory of the prophet through whom the first revelation had been explained to him.

Daniel 4:7. The visions of my head as I lay on my bed: I saw, and behold, a tree very high in the midst of the earth. Daniel 4:8. The tree was great and strong, and its height reached to heaven, and it was visible to the ends of all the earth. Daniel 4:9. Its foliage was beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and it provided food for all; under it the beasts of the field found shade, and in its branches the birds of the heavens nested, and all flesh was nourished by it. Daniel 4:10. And I saw in the visions of my head as I lay on my bed; and behold, a Watcher, a Holy One, came down from heaven. Daniel 4:11. He cried aloud and said: ‘Cut down the tree and lop off its branches, strip its foliage and scatter its fruit; let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches; Daniel 4:12. but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the midst of the grass of the field; let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let its portion be with the beasts of the field in the grass of the earth. Daniel 4:13. His heart shall be changed from a man’s heart, and a beast’s heart shall be given to him; and seven times shall pass over him. Daniel 4:14. The sentence is by the decree of the Watchers, the decision is by the word of the Holy Ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will, and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ The content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is pervaded by the worldview and spirit of that time. Among ancient peoples the tree was considered and served as a symbol of human life. A tall, spreading tree meant a man of power and majesty; a green tree meant a man of prosperity, and conversely, a withered tree was the symbol of a man who had lost his former greatness, a felled tree meant a man in some way annihilated or erased from the face of the earth (Ps 1:3; Isa 6:13; Jer 17:8; Ezek 17:22; Ezek 19:10; Amos 2:9). In particular, the tree served as an emblem of the Assyro-Babylonian kingdom. As a symbol of a man, the tree also appears in the famous dream of Astyages. The image has precisely the same meaning in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Direct indication of this is found in the words of the Watcher about the removal from the tree’s root of the human heart and the bestowal of a beast’s heart (Dan 4:12-13) – deprivation of human feelings and desires and the bestowing of animal feelings, which can be done only to a human being. Likewise, the prophet Daniel considers the tree seen by Nebuchadnezzar to be a symbol of this king in all the splendor and majesty of his reign (Dan 4:17). Such details of the dream as the appearance of the “Watchers and Holy Ones” descending from heaven to earth (Dan 4:10) fully correspond to Nebuchadnezzar’s worldview. According to the teachings of the Babylonians as set forth by Diodorus Siculus, in the world of planetary deities a distinction was made between supreme deities and secondary deities subordinate to them, the so-called “theoi boulaioi” – counselor gods. One half of these counselor gods had oversight of the subterranean regions, while the other half kept vigilant watch over what was happening on earth among men and in heaven. The latter appear in the dream under the name of “Watchers.” As Nebuchadnezzar further sees, they pronounce judgment over him (Dan 4:14). The idea of divine judgment expressed by this detail was not foreign to the Babylonians. According to the testimony of the same Diodorus Siculus, they did not believe in fate and chance, but attributed all events to “the precisely determined judgment of the gods.” And in accordance with such beliefs, on ancient Babylonian monuments one finds depictions of the god Bel in the position of a judge, surrounded by inferior deities.

Daniel 4:24. Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins through righteousness, and your iniquities through mercy to the oppressed, if perhaps there may be a prolonging of your peace. Foreseeing the cause of Nebuchadnezzar’s impending punishment – his pride – Daniel counsels the king to humble himself, manifesting it through righteousness and mercy, and thereby avert the coming calamity.

Daniel 4:26. At the end of twelve months, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon, Daniel 4:27. the king said: ‘Is not this great Babylon, which I have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?’ According to the words of the Watcher and the explanation of the prophet Daniel, the punishment destined to befall Nebuchadnezzar was meant to convince him of the truth that the Most High holds dominion and rules over the kingdom of men (Dan 4:14). The cause of his punishment is accordingly the denial of the Most High’s supreme rule – the judgment comes upon the king at the very moment of his denial. This is expressed in the words: ‘Is not this great Babylon, which I have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?’ In these words Nebuchadnezzar says, so to speak, that the Most High does not rule the kingdom; the existence and greatness of Babylon is owed to me and my power. Strictly speaking, Nebuchadnezzar’s words are not an exaggeration. Both according to the testimony of his own inscriptions and according to the account of historians, Babylon was indeed a creation of his hands. “Babylon and Borsippa,” says Nebuchadnezzar in one of his inscriptions, “the greatest cities of my kingdom, founded by me. I carefully gathered riches to adorn my palace. I completely built and adorned it as a royal dwelling... This house, which is to be the object of wonder, I built.” Likewise, according to the testimony of the historians Berossus and Abydenus, Nebuchadnezzar spent the greater part of his immense wealth on the beautification and development of Babylon. By him, among other things, were built the new walls of Babylon, of which the outer ones encompassed an area of 513 square km (450 square versts), and the inner ones an area of 290 square km (260 square versts), and the famous hanging gardens. These latter, which adorned the environs of his palace built on the western bank of the Euphrates, occupied an area of 400 square feet (3,600 square meters) and rose higher than the palace towers, which had a height of 150 feet (45 meters). The platforms supporting them were made of brick and supported at every 10 feet by stone pillars 22 feet (7.3 meters) thick; upon the brick platforms were laid stone slabs, thick layers of reeds, asphalt, and gypsum, covered for protection from moisture by thick sheets of lead. Upon this lead covering, a layer of earth was spread thick enough to allow tall trees to grow freely. Within the gardens, pumps were installed that lifted water from the Euphrates to the uppermost terrace, from where it was distributed by channels over the remaining terraces, serving to artificially irrigate the gardens. Among other structures of Nebuchadnezzar are known channels running through Babylon to protect it from the overflowing of the Euphrates, and numerous temples. And yet, the above phrase of Nebuchadnezzar is pervaded by extraordinary pride. The fact is that in other cases he attributes all his successes not to personal effort but to the assistance and protection of the god Marduk, whom he calls the “chief of the gods.” In this case, however, his words are a deliberate denial of the divine power he himself acknowledged. Haughty even for a pagan, they become in the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar, who had received revelation of the Most High’s supreme rule (Dan 4:14), open defiance against Him.

Daniel 4:28. While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: ‘O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: the kingdom has been removed from you! Daniel 4:29. And you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will.’ Daniel 4:30. Immediately the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from among men, and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws. The denial of divine power was a state of insanity, a deprivation of human reason. By God’s will, this condition was transformed from a temporary one into a prolonged one lasting “seven times.” Nebuchadnezzar was subjected to one of the most terrible forms of mental illness, the one called lycanthropy. He lost his reason (Dan 4:31) and imagined himself to be an ox, as a result of which human desires and needs were replaced by animal ones. Abandoning human society, the king began to feed on grass and, as a result of atmospheric influences, acquired the appearance of a beast; his uncut hair grew like a lion’s mane (Slavonic reading), and his nails became like the claws of fierce birds. The illness that befell Nebuchadnezzar does not represent anything unprecedented or unbelievable: forms of madness similar to this have been known since ancient times. Thus, Herodotus tells of the Neuri who were transformed, according to him, into wolves; the existence of lycanthropes is also reported by Oribasius, the court physician of the Emperor Julian, and the monuments of the 14th and 15th centuries speak of the appearance of this illness in Europe as well. On the basis of these testimonies, Nebuchadnezzar’s madness is considered to be an actual fact, not a fabrication of the author of the Book of Daniel. The reliability of his account is further confirmed, in the opinion of interpreters, by an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar himself, in which he speaks of a four-year interruption in his reign. ‘For four years,’ he remarks, ‘my heart did not rejoice at the throne of my kingdom; I undertook no building projects, sang no hymns in honor of Marduk, offered him no sacrifices, and did not cleanse the canals.’ Understanding this interruption in Nebuchadnezzar’s reign as his removal from the affairs of government due to illness, interpreters find a reference to it in an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar’s second successor Neriglissar, in which he calls himself ‘son of Belasumiskun, king of Babylon.’ In the Babylonian chronicles there is no name of this king, on the basis of which the supposition is made that Belasumiskun was not an actual king but only a regent during Nebuchadnezzar’s illness. His ambitious son (Neriglissar) called his father ‘king.’ As for the duration of the illness, the biblical designation of it – ‘seven times’ – is understood in various ways. Some (Hengstenberg, Hevernik, Keil), proceeding from the consideration that seven is the number of completeness, and the Hebrew word ‘iddan’ is used in the Book of Daniel to designate time in general, in an indefinite sense (Dan 2:8-9; Dan 3:5), understand by ‘seven times’ a period that is indefinite but entirely sufficient for the king’s instruction and enlightenment. Others (Hitzig, Rosenmüller, Fürst), citing Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7, where the expression ‘a time, times, and half a time’ is defined as 1,290 or 1,260 days, understand ‘seven times’ as meaning seven years. And finally, still others (from the ancient Church Fathers, John Chrysostom and Ephrem the Syrian) take ‘seven times’ to mean 3.5 years. Confirmation of this view is provided by Nebuchadnezzar’s own testimony of a four-year interruption in his reign.

Daniel 4:31. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes to heaven, and my reason was restored to me; and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and whose kingdom endures from generation to generation. Daniel 4:32. 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?’ Daniel 4:33. At that time my reason was restored to me, and to the glory of my kingdom my majesty and splendor were restored to me; my counselors and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne, and my greatness was increased even more. Daniel 4:34. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the King of Heaven, all of whose works are true and whose ways are just, and who is able to bring low those who walk in pride. According to physicians, lycanthropy is not an incurable disease. Like other forms of insanity, it can pass away, and the patient may have his reason restored. This is what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. His reason returned to him, bringing with it the thought of the unnaturalness and impropriety of pride. Convinced by personal experience of the justice of the revelation (Dan 4:14), he glorified the majesty of the Most High who had punished him and confessed the insignificance of man before Him. But in this case, as before, the expressions of religious feeling characterize Nebuchadnezzar as a pagan. They remind one of his appeals to Marduk, whom he calls ‘lord of the gods,’ ‘prince of the gods,’ and to whom he attributes power over all men. In the decree, there shines through the belief held by most pagan peoples in a supreme Deity who governs the fates of all nations and kingdoms. But if, despite all this, the language of the decree strongly reminds one, as interpreters note, of the language of certain psalms and the Book of Isaiah (Dan 3:10; Dan 4:31 cf. with Ps 144:13 and Dan 4:32 cf. with Isa 40:17), this phenomenon is explained, it is thought, by the fact that it was composed not without the influence of the prophet Daniel.