Nebuchadnezzar / William Blake (ca. 1800)

The stories about Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in the book of Daniel show that God is God not just of Israel, but God over all. In the last of them, Nebuchadnezzar must acknowledge him as the Most High God.

The Bible identifies God by several different titles. El Elyon, God Most High, emphasizes that God, creator of the universe is the supreme object of worship. He outranks all other power, and especially anyone or anything else that claims to be a god.

Nebuchadnezzar never claimed to be a god, but as ruler of the most powerful empire in the world, he considered himself supreme. That puts him on par with countless despots before and since. But the Bible recounts two troubling dreams he had, and of all his expert counselors, only his Hebrew servant Daniel could explain them.

Daniel functioned as Nebuchadnezzar’s unofficial chaplain. The two seem genuinely fond of each other, and Daniel always sought to bring God’s blessing to Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream

Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a tree / Jean Bondol (1372)

The fourth chapter of Daniel takes the form of a court document, written or dictated by the king himself. “It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me” (Daniel 4:2 NASB 1995). El Elyon was not a Babylonian deity. How did Nebuchadnezzar come to acknowledged him as the Most High God?

Having conquered a vast territory and built Babylon as a spectacular capital, Nebuchadnezzar was at ease in his palace until he had a dream of a large and majestic tree. A voice from heaven commanded that it be chopped down.

But the command went on,

“Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground,
But with a band of iron and bronze around it
In the new grass of the field;
And let him be drenched with the dew of heaven,
And let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth.
“Let his mind be changed from that of a man
And let a beast’s mind be given to him,
And let seven periods of time pass over him.
“This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers
And the decision is a command of the holy ones,
In order that the living may know
That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind,
And bestows it on whom He wishes
And sets over it the lowliest of men.” – Daniel 4:15-17

The stump was preserved but referred to not as “it” but “he.” And he would act like a beast for seven years.

Nebuchadnezzar called his wise men, but either they didn’t understand the dream or they were afraid to tell the king the interpretation. So he called Daniel.

Interpretation and fulfillment of the dream

Nebuchadnezzar and ox / Guyard des Moulins in Bible Historiale, 1357

God Most High was telling the king that he would lose his reason but not his throne. He would be driven away from mankind and eat grass with the beasts of the field. Seven periods of time (probably but not necessarily seven years) would pass. After that time, Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity would return and he would retake the throne.

Daniel as much as said that the dream didn’t have to be fulfilled. If Nebuchadnezzar would acknowledge God Most High and repent of his sin, God would prolong his prosperity. But it would require doing righteousness and showing mercy. In other words, he would have to start ruling by justice and not caprice and stop oppressing his people.

Here’s grace: Nebuchadnezzar had an entire year to repent. But he apparently forgot about the dream and its interpretation. Twelve months later, as he congratulated himself for his greatness and all his accomplishments, a voice from heaven pronounced his doom in the name of the Most High. Everything happened as Daniel had predicted.

As a grazing animal, he had to look down—the same posture that, as king, he had demanded of anyone brought before him. His nobles and servants, if no one else, saw him in that condition.

It would have been easy and normal for someone to have assassinated the incapacitated king, but the dream clearly promised his restoration. And it came the very moment he looked to heaven and acknowledged God.

After he regained sanity, he would have to know that his nobles and servants would remember his weakness. He could no longer hide behind a façade of self-sufficiency or pretend to be supremely powerful.

What does Nebuchadnezzar have to do with us?

Some rights reserved by Randy Willis.

The Bible teaches one lesson over and over: there is only one God, and none of us qualify.

And yet we’re all as supremely selfish as Nebuchadnezzar. We may not wallow in pride in our accomplishments. We might even feel sorry for ourselves for all our failures. But complaining about bad circumstances has the same effect: It focuses attention on self.

Nebuchadnezzar looked around and everything he saw told him of his greatness. He had the attitude, “It’s all about me.” But if any of us fixate on, “I deserve ____ and it’s all ___ fault I don’t have it,” everything we see still reminds us of our greatness. Still, “it’s all about me.” Whether self means the greatness of accomplishments or the greatness of grievances, it’s still a level of pride that excludes considering God.

Anything in life—success or failure, pleasure or pain, fulfillment or frustration—can cloud our vision of who God is and become “most high” to us. Until God himself becomes El Elyon in our minds, we’ll always be less than we could be.

So what can we do about it?

Any kind of prayer besides selfish petition acknowledges God’s greatness. So does volunteer work done in his name, showing genuine interest in nature, or genuinely caring about someone else’s joys and sorrows. Or at least it’s a step in the right direction, taking focus away from self.

God holds before each of us what he held before Nebuchadnezzar. Unfortunately, he gave only lip service to God Most High. He never reached the stage of true repentance and grace. We have the same choice. Not just once, but every moment of every day.