Daniel 4:28 - Meaning and Application

Here we see Nebuchadnezzar’s dream come true, and Daniel’s explanation of it proved right. We are not told how the king first took Daniel’s warning, whether with pleasure or anger. But we do see God’s patience with him, his pride, and his punishment.

God showed great patience with Nebuchadnezzar. The judgment did not come for twelve months after the warning, as Daniel 4:29 says. That gave him more time, yet there is no sign that he stopped sinning or showed mercy to the captive Jews, which was still part of God’s case against him, because he had not opened the prison house for his prisoners (Isaiah 14:17). Daniel had urged him to turn from his sins, and God confirmed that word by giving him time to repent. He left him alone for another year before bringing the judgment. God is patient with stubborn sinners because he does not want anyone to perish, but wants all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Nebuchadnezzar then showed his pride and abused that patience. He was walking in the palace of Babylon, full of royal pride, enjoying the sight of that huge city and all the lands under his rule. He said, perhaps to himself, or to those around him, “Is not this great Babylon?” It was indeed great, stretching about forty-five miles around inside the walls, full of people and rich goods, a golden city, as Isaiah 14:4 calls it. He admired its walls, towers, houses, and public buildings, and said, “This great Babylon I have built.”

Babylon had existed long before Nebuchadnezzar was born. But because he strengthened it and beautified it, and likely rebuilt much of it during his long reign, he bragged that he had built it all himself. It was much like Augustus Caesar, who boasted about Rome, “I found it brick, and I left it marble.” Nebuchadnezzar also said he had built it as the house of the kingdom, the center of his empire, as if this vast city were like one large house. He had used the help of his subjects, and had built it for security and comfort, yet he spoke as if he had done it only for his own honor. Pride and self-importance most easily trap great men, especially those who have much power and success. They are quick to claim for themselves the glory that belongs to God alone.

Then came his punishment for that pride. While he was boasting, and while the proud words were still in his mouth, a strong word came from heaven. In that instant he lost his honor as a king: “The kingdom has departed from you.” He had thought his kingdom was safe behind strong walls, but in a moment it was gone. He had thought no one could take it from him, and yet it slipped from his hands when he became unable to rule it.

He also lost his honor as a man. His reason left him, and with it his rule. As Daniel 4:32 says, “They shall drive you from men,” and Daniel 4:33 says it happened that very hour. He suddenly fell into severe madness, worse than any ordinary loss of reason. His understanding and memory were gone, and the powers of a rational soul were shattered, so that he became like a beast in human form. He went naked, moved about on all fours like an animal, avoided human company, and ran wild in fields and woods. His own servants drove him out, and after some time, seeing no hope of recovery, they left him alone.

He did not act like a beast of prey, such as the royal lion, but like one of the lower and more common animals. He ate grass like oxen, and likely no longer spoke with a human voice, but lowed like an ox. Some think his body became covered with hair. At the very least, the hair of his head and beard, never cut or combed, grew like eagle feathers, and his nails grew like birds’ claws.

We should stop and look at this miserable sight, and learn from it. First, we should see what a mercy it is to keep our reason. We should thank God for it and be careful not to do anything that would provoke him or naturally tend to unseat our minds. We should value our own understanding, and we should pity those under the power of melancholy, madness, or delirium. We ought to be gentle in how we judge and treat them, because this is a common human trial, and one that may one day be ours.

Second, we should see how empty human glory and greatness are. Is this Nebuchadnezzar the Great? Is this the once glorious ruler, now lower than the poorest beggar? Is this the man who sat on a throne in splendor, ruled with fear in war, and had enough political power to conquer kingdoms, but now cannot even keep his clothes on? Is this the one who made the earth tremble and shook kingdoms (Isaiah 14:16)? Let no wise person boast in wisdom, and let no strong person boast in strength.

Third, we should see how God opposes the proud and delights to bring them low. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to rise above the place of a man, and so God justly made him less than a man. He was put on the level of the beasts, since he had made himself a rival to his Maker. See Job 40:11-13.