In the dream and its interpretation, of the great image of Daniel 2, the Lord revealed himself to King Nebuchadnezzar, and taught him the impotence of all the gods, and the imposture of all the claims on their behalf made by astrologers, magicians, and Chaldeans.
In so wonderfully delivering from the fiery furnace His servants who refused to obey the king's command to worship the king's great golden image, the Lord taught to Nebuchadnezzar and all people that, according to the word and will of God, earthly governments cannot rightly have anything whatever to do with commanding, regulating, or directing the religion or worship of the people; that there must be a positive and clear-cut separation between the worship of the people and the government of the state, and between religion and the state.
In this the Lord also taught to him and to all people that which he acknowledged,--that the king's word, the laws of the state, must change and give way in the presence of the exercise of the right of the people to be religious, and to worship according to the will of God toward the individual himself--in modern phrase, according to the dictates of the individual conscience.
There was yet one further lesson to be given to the king, thoroughly to teach him and all people that it is the Most High, and not kings alone, who "rules in the kingdom of men." (Daniel 4:17 also vs. 25,32)
King Nebuchadnezzar had accomplished the complete conquest of all the nations, which had proved him to be the greatest warrior then in the world. Great in war, he was yet greater in peace.
It was as the adorner and beautifier of his native land--as the builder and restorer of almost all her cities and temples--that this monarch obtained that great reputation which has handed down his name traditionally in the East on a par with those of Nimrod, Solomon, and Alexander, and made it still a familiar term in the mouths of the people. Probably no single man ever left behind him as his memorial upon the earth one half the amount of building that was erected by this king.--Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, article: "Babel, Babylon".
He made Babylon one of the greatest of the "seven wonders of the world," "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency," (Isaiah 13:19) the very "lady of kingdoms." (Isaiah 47:5)
Throughout the empire, at Borsippa, Sippara, Cutha, Chilmad, Duraba, Teredon, and a multitude of other places, he built or rebuilt cities, repaired temples, constructed quays, reservoirs, canals, and aqueducts, on a scale of grandeur and magnificence surpassing everything of the kind recorded in history, unless it be the constructions of one or two of the greatest Egyptian monarchs.
It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians would have had no place in history. At any rate, their actual place is owing almost entirely to this prince, who, to the military talents of an able general, added a grandeur of artistic conception and skill of construction which place him on a par with the greatest builders of antiquity.
Of all this, King Nebuchadnezzar, very naturally and very humanly, was very proud. He gave to himself the credit for the whole of it. But from this self-worship the Lord would save him; the process is given in the king's own words in Daniel 4.
The king was at rest in his house and flourishing in his palace. Upon his bed he dreamed that he saw a great and high tree standing in the midst of the earth; the height reached to heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. The leaves were fair, the fruit was much, and it was meat for all. The beasts of the field had shadow under it, the fowls of the heaven dwelt in its boughs, and all flesh was fed of it. In his dream he saw a watcher and a holy one descend from heaven, and heard him cry aloud: "Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him: and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He will, and sets up over it the basest of men." (Daniel 4:14-17)
The magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans were again called. But though this time the king told them his dream, they could not tell him the meaning of it. Then Daniel was called, who readily told the interpretation to the king. Of the great tree he said: "It is you, O king, that art grown and become strong: for your greatness is grown, and reaches unto heaven, and your dominion to the end of the earth." (Daniel 4:22)
Of the watcher and the holy one who came down, he gave the meaning: "That they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; your kingdom shall be sure unto you, after that you shall have known that the heavens do rule." (Daniel 4:25-26)
Upon all this Daniel gave him a word of counsel: "Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of your tranquility." (Daniel 4:27)
But, like many another man, Nebuchadnezzar would not yield to the warning, accept the word, and so escape the impending calamity. He continued to indulge his self-worship. "At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spoke, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from you. And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make you to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." (Daniel 4:29-33)
Yet the rest of the dream was fulfilled also; his kingdom was held sure unto him, and when the time was expired, and he had learned of a surety, and would acknowledge permanently, that the heavens do rule, his intelligence was returned to him, and he was restored to his kingdom in peace.
It was not alone for Nebuchadnezzar's sake that all this occurred, but for the sake of all nations and kings not only of that time, but of all time, even to the world's end. Accordingly, when he had learned the appointed lesson, and, in the fear of God, was seated upon the throne to which he now acknowledged that the Most High had brought him, he wrote out a full account of his experience, and in the form of an official royal proclamation, sent it to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people in all his wide dominions. And here it is: "Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all the people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God has wrought toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation." (Daniel 4:1-3)
Then follows the full account of his dream of the great tree, etc., of Daniel's interpretation of it, of how it all came upon him, and how he was driven out to the fields for the appointed time; and he concludes the proclamation as follows: "And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him that lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What do you? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and brightness returned unto me; and my counselors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase." (Daniel 4:34-37)
All the Lord's training of King Nebuchadnezzar had been to this great and noble end, and that noble end was nobly accepted by him. It was written for the admonition of all kings and rulers who should come after him, and especially those upon whom the ends of the world are come.--Advent Review, April 12, 1898.