Daniel Lesson 4

Introduction

If you haven’t been for a session or two in Daniel chapter 4, the syllabus will give you the roadmap of where we’re going to be so that if you miss a class, you can be prepared. You know where I’m going to be because we’re going to adhere to the schedule pretty pretty rigorously. What was the punishment from last lesson? If anyone demeaned the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Yeah, cut and their homes would be burned to ash. That’s barbaric, isn’t it? Nobody does that today, do they? Depends on where you live. Does it forecast that on women are lighting a fire? Um, they give you a necklace hanging in Africa. Uh there’s a lot of brutal punishments today. I think of uh modern day Israel. When you do something against the state of Israel today, what do they do? Bulldoze your house. Oh really. At least it’s been done in the last ten years. Uh they’ve taken a lot of heat from the international community over that type of punishment.

But yeah, it’s not unheard of even today. Um brutal punishments are men are still men. Talked to a girl at work one time who uh when faced with the 9-11 disaster, um, said I thought we had progressed as a society beyond that. I thought we had evolved more. And there’s that idea that uh, you know, if you believe in evolution or you believe in um I think it’s the Hindus. Is it the Hindus that believe in reincarnation? Yeah. And so we should be getting better over time. And uh there’s kind of a disillusionment, I think, with those kind of belief systems because we don’t see that. People aren’t getting better over time. History repeats itself. History repeats itself. Okay, so we’re in chapter 4 of Daniel.

1. Nebuchadnezzar’s Second Dream

Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream. So, let’s begin with the text. Nebuchadnezzar are the king to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell on the earth. These be multiplied to you. Did you ever think about the address that he uses here? Peoples, nations, and uh languages, and why he would make such a proclamation that starts off that way? What’s his position now? Nebuchadnezzar?

Okay, yeah, a king over the world at that time. He ruled over Middle Earth. All the nations around the Mediterranean. Mediterranean means the middle of the earth, right?

So he’s reigning over nations, peoples, and languages. They didn’t all speak the same language. So he’s addressing the world in this address. And it probably went out in multiple languages. Because that’s the kind of empire he reigned over. Peace be multiplied to you. I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the God most high has worked for me. How great are his signs and how mighty his wonders.

And I saw a dream which made me afraid. And the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my heart of my head troubled me. And probably for good reason, based upon what the dream is that we’re going to see.

And you consider that the works of my hands are great and greater than anybody else in the world. But what do we know that God says? And he says this over and over in his scriptures, that the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty. Not just pride, but the pride of man that lifts itself up above God and is not in submission to God. That which of a man that lifts itself up and ignores God will be brought low. That’s a general statement. That’s in Isaiah chapter 2. It’s in the context, you see that God is speaking against those of man that would lift themselves up. And so it’s expected that this dream would trouble him because of his position.

Therefore, in verse 6, I issued a decree. And of course, he spoke, God spoke to him in a vision or a dream, and that’s how he speaks. Job chapter 33 talks about this. God speaks in one way or in two, though man does not perceive it, in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men while they slumber in their beds.

Why? So that they might submit, that he might turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man. Keeps back his soul from the pit. Now, why would God in a dream seek to terrify the king of the world? Turn him back. Turn him back. And he’s done this many times, and we we have a record in the scripture of of God speaking through dreams over and over again. Primarily to people in this kind of position.

Nebuchadnezzar says, I issued a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Now keep in mind, all this is not just a historical narrative. This is part of the decree sent forth to all peoples and nations. And he’s telling them what happened. The magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers, they came in and I told them the dream. But they did not make known to me its interpretation. Why do you suppose they might pull back from giving an interpretation? Perhaps that he was so troubled. That Nebuchadnezzar was so trouble. Perhaps he was still troubled? That he was so troubled about the dream. Okay, it was obviously something of great importance.

So you didn’t just throw out a well, it might be this. Yeah, there’s a certain amount of fear and intimidation there. I think they had an idea of what it what the interpretation was, and they weren’t going to tell him that. Because it was a negative thing, right? Absolutely. They feared the message.

Pardon? Probably especially because of punishment from the last time.

Well, the king was highly suspicious of them last time, wasn’t he? And he said, Tell me the dream. Now this time he tells them the dream. And so the reason he didn’t tell them the dream the first time was lest you deceive me. So there’s a certain element of distrust, perhaps, that we’ve seen in the past.

And the punishment for getting it wrong is severe.

And let’s not neglect the fact that Daniel was successful in telling the dream and its interpretation last time. Daniel is in what position now?

He’s chief of the magicians, right? He’s head over all these people. Daniel wasn’t in that group. So Daniel wasn’t with them at that time when they went before him. So if they had gone out on a limb and given their interpretation, here comes Daniel next, afterwards. If he says something that contradicts what they’ve said, then guess who’s right? Yes. And the punishment would probably be death. So there’s a lot of fear here. A lot of good reason for them to hold back. And so at last Daniel comes before me. His name is Beltishazzar, according to the name of my God, with him as the Spirit of the Holy God. And I told the dream before him, saying, Beltishazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you.

2. The Tree and the Watcher From Heaven

Explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen and its interpretation. These were the visions while on my bed. I was looking, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great, and the tree grew and became strong, and its height reached to the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of all the earth. Its leaves were lovely, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heaven dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, there was a watcher, a holy one coming down from heaven. He cried aloud and said thus, chop down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit, and let the beast get out from under it, and the birds from its branches.

Nevertheless leave the stump and its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field, let it be wet with the dew of heaven. Let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth, and let his heart be changed from that of a man. Let him be given the heart of an animal, and let seven times pass over him. This decision is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he will, and sets it over it the lowest of man. It’s such a familiar story, it’s hard for us to step back and look at it and imagine what would the king think?

Would he have any clue about what this meant? I kind of think he would. I mean, clearly the watchers are described as what?

Says holy ones. Came from where? Heaven. This is obviously a divine judgment of some sort. You may not know all the details, but you can figure out that much. And we know that God watches over man, and Job. Job said, If I sin, what I what do I do to you, watcher of mankind? He calls God the watcher of mankind. Why is he the watcher of mankind? He’s the creator, he’s the judge. And the judge has to watch in order to judge. And so God watches over mankind. It’s not a concept that’s unique to Judaism or Christianity. And so in Jeremiah, the watchers would be the agents of God. Jeremiah says, make mention to the nations, proclaim against Jerusalem. Watchers come from a far country and raise their voice against the city of Judah.

Messengers from God, saying, You’re doing wrong. So this is a concept I believe that’s fairly common in many cultures. Many cultures. So I think I think he had an idea. And like somebody said, this is going to be a strongly negative message toward the king. So, this dream, I, King Nebuchadnezzar, verse 18, have seen. Now you, Beltashazzar, declare its interpretation. Since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, that you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for a time. And his thoughts troubled him. So the king spoke and said, Beltashazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation trouble you.

We’ve all heard the common proverbial phrase, uh, kill the messenger. Yeah. You don’t want to be in that position. Belteshazzar answered and said, My Lord, may the dream concern those who hate you, and its interpretation concern your enemies. In other words, there’s something bad here. Let it be against those who oppose you. But he does continue the tree that you saw, which grew and became strong, whose height reached the heavens, and which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely and its fruit abundant, and which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and on whose branches the birds of the heaven had their habitation. It is you, O king, who have grown and become strong, for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion to the end of the earth.

And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven, saying, Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze and the tender grass of the field, let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass over them. This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord the King. They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. 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 whomever he chooses.

3. The Purpose: Break Off Your Sins

And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you after you come to know that heaven rules. Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity. Again, it’s useful to ask question, what’s the purpose of this dream? Is it pardon?

Turn down to sin. Humility? Yes. Humility is a part of it. I’ll call you back to Job 33, 14 through 18. When God speaks in dreams, what’s the purpose? To keep back his soul from the pit, to turn back his life from perishing. Turn him away from the path that he’s going. And so what does Daniel tell him at the very end? Break off his sins. Don’t break away from the sins. Don’t oppress the people.

It is said that he built a great building and he didn’t pay the workers at all. He forced them to work and he didn’t pay them. Yeah, probably many times. He has a tendency to have his way and oppress the people. And God is saying, don’t oppress your people. Show mercy.

Walk in the ways of justice. That’s important for a king. Be righteous. So that’s that’s the purpose. Oh, king, here’s the path that you’re going down. Here’s what’s going to happen. But you know what? Can that change? He said, do these things if you want to avert this? God said over and over again: when I pronounce disaster against a country, and that country repents, I will relent. That’s the kind of God we serve. He tells us to repent. And if we repent, he relents. So yes, uh, it’s a very important concept to remember. Now, of course, the real question that people have with this story is uh, first of all, is it historical? And second of all, what is the seven times? And so, you know, you ask the uh well, let’s talk about, yeah, I’ve already went through that.

How long would it take for fingernails to grow to be like a bird’s talons? Seven years. Well, if you look up how long do fingernails grow, it’s it’s basically about three millimeters a month. And so seven months would be uh 0.7 inches. Okay, uh that’s long. There are people today that you see have long nails, probably 0.7. We don’t really say they’re like birds’ talons, although you might envision that. Seven years, eight eight inches. Yeah, that would certainly do it. Hair growth. Uh, how long did his hair grow? How did he describe it in the text? Feathers. Till it grows so that it’s like feathers. Well, what do you know about feathers? They cover they cover the bird, right? So hair growth, seven months would be about three and a half inches.

Yeah, you’d say that’s long, but you wouldn’t say it covered him. Seven years, uh 42 inches, yeah. So many people have said seven months is not long enough, maybe seven seasons, but certainly seven years. Um that that would be my best guess in seven years. Uh we know other places in the scripture where a time is used, it’s considered to be a year. Uh you can demonstrate that.

4. Symbols That Meant a Lot to This King

Don’t know a lot of detail about Nebuchadnezzar, basically because history has not provided us a really strong record of his reign. A lot of the records have been lost. But if you look at the kings of that time, for instance, Cyrus, we’ve got his cylinder. We know that when they looked at their reign, they considered that their reign was an act of their God. So here’s Cyrus, he says, Exalted Marduk. Remember, Marduk is the chief god of Babylon. And when Cyrus comes in, he considers it. He comes in at the behest of Babylon’s God. And so he exalts Marduk. Exalted Marduk, took the hand of Cyrus, king of the city of Anshan, called him by name, proclaiming him aloud for the kingship over all of everything.

I am Cyrus, king of the universe, the great king, the powerful king. And this is the language they used.

Son of Cambyses, he gives his lineage, the great king, and finally he says, whose reign bell, that is Marduk, and Nabu love. And with whose kingship to their joy they concern themselves. So the point here is he says, look, I’m not just a guy, but I am a guy with a great lineage. But I reign by the hand of Marduk. He called me by name. He set me up as king. And it’s Marduk and Nabu that are watching over me to perpetuate my reign. That’s kind of the philosophy of kings during that time. I want to call your attention to the Assyrian sacred tree. Remember that Babylon existed for many years under the reign of the Assyrians. And the Assyrians and the Babylonians shared a common cultural background.

Now, if you walk to the British Museum, you can find these great slabs taken from the palace of the king of Assyria when it was discovered. It was discovered buried, but a lot of it was somewhat intact. And so they cut out these huge panels and brought them back to Britain. And you can see them in the museum, I’ve seen them. And you can see them in Brooklyn. A lot of big museums have them. There were a lot of them created. And this is a very common theme that you see in them. What’s interesting about this is first of all, there is a tree in the middle. And there are winged creatures on either side. Sometimes there’s winged creatures and the king in the middle as well.

This is really the most discussed symbol in the historiography of Assyrian art. And why are they studying it so much? We don’t know exactly what it means. But here’s a book that’s been written, and he proposes three theories. First, that the tree represents the tree of life from Genesis chapter 2 and 3.

That theory is not so closely held today. Some others have proposed that it’s a symbol of a real tree. And it should be understood as a conventionalized or stylized depiction of a date palm. And it’s being fertilized by genies or beings of great power.

The third theory is it’s representation of a constructed cult object. Okay? And the interesting thing here, and this is a quote that I found very interesting from this book, he quotes Parpola, who argue that these related trees represent a mystical diagram that symbolized divine world order, an image of God and an image of the ideal man. And the footnote there is the idea that the AST, the Assyrian sacred tree, represents the king as the perfect man, seems to me to be connected. Okay. Now, think about it. If this is coming from Assyrian culture, that they view the watchers or their gods as looking over and tending to the tree as the ideal representation of man. And the king is that representation. And they, and the other thing you see in these things that are really curious, is they almost always have a pail and a cone.

Nobody really knows what those symbols mean. But some have speculated that it’s obviously some sort of care of the plant. Gods are looking out over man, they’re watching over man, and they’re tending man. That’s not unlike the picture that we have of the one true God, is it? Man is God’s creation. He’s looking out over man, he’s watching man, he’s controlling things to a certain extent. But the point is, this was part of the Assyrian culture. And so when the king has this vision of this tree and the watchers, I think this might be something that comes to his mind. And I think he’s quickly convicted in his own mind that the gods have directed that I’m to be chopped down. Because I’m the tree, and that makes perfect sense to him based upon the culture.

So I don’t think God chose random symbols, and the king had to figure out the symbolism. I think he chose symbols that meant a lot to this king.

Um that says in the Buchanas before he died. Uh they use the word prophesied that the kingdom would fall. Okay. Yep. We’re going to get to that because that’s an important part. First of all, the symbols I think are important to understand. This is based upon the cultural background. And so I think that would have made a lot of sense to Nebuchadnezzar. I think he would have been convicted from the time he had his dream. When you see that, now you know why he’s so worried. If he just saw random symbols that didn’t mean anything to him, yeah, that’s kind of interesting. I don’t know what that means, but no, he was troubled. Why? I think he knew what they meant. Okay. But with that theory, why do you suppose that he still believed in other gods, even though he knew that Daniel’s God was holy as a holy God, and he still will call Daniel his God name.

But he still has had this vision. We would think it were quick, you know. Yeah, well there’s that’s the problem that we have with Nebuchadnezzar. We think that, well, surely when these three friends were miraculously Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saved from the furnace, this should have convicted him that there one true God. But think of his cultural background. His cultural background is there are many gods and some are stronger than others. So all he’s going to do is come out and say, okay, Daniel Scott’s pretty strong.

I’m not sure about that, but yeah he’s we got to respect him. But is he unique? Is he the only true God? We’re not convinced that he has that view yet. But this, what’s the purpose of this? Do you know? And I think this process of commute of education is ongoing. So and you know it’s amazing that he would make this kind of proclamation to the society that he made it to based upon what he has learned. And it could explain why the magicians and all that didn’t want to do an interpretation of it. Because they knew he was this kind of guy. He is not he’s a kind of no nonsense kind of leader. And he’s a kind of knowing all kind of leader. And it’s hard to talk to people that are like that.

5. Who Is Nabonidus?

And and if I’m right about this cultural background they may have already heard the dream and if they heard it they knew what it meant. They didn’t want to say it. They didn’t want to tell the king. Okay. So we have to ask the question next who is Nabonidus? Now the question of who Nabonidus was is important because we do have a a piece of clay with writings on it, cuneiform writings, that has come down to us, written in Aramaic. That tells a story very similar to this about Nabonidus. So who is Nabonidus? Well, Nebuchadnezzar’s son reigned, evil Meridoch. He was murdered by Neroglysar, who lasted for three years, and then his son for nine months, and then his son was killed by the nobles because they didn’t like him.

And so who came to power? Well, Nabonidus. Well, he wasn’t of the lineage, so how what was his right to claim to power? He was married to Nidacris. Nidacris was Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter. Okay.

And he had a son named Belshazzar, and of course we know that he was the last ruler before the kingdom fell. But Nabonidus went off. He left Babylon and went off into the desert, a place called Tima. And so we have this prayer of Nabonidus. It was found in the Qumran Cave, number four, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was been dated to about 75 to 50 BC. And it’s available online. You can read it. But listen to the words of the story. The words of the prayer which Nabonidus, king of Babylon, the great king, prayed when he was stricken, with an evil disease by the decree of God in Timon. I, Nabonidus was stricken with an evil disease for seven years. And from that time I was likened to a beast, and I prayed to the Most High.

And as for my sin, he forgave it. A diviner, who was a Jew of the exiles, came to me and said, recount and record these things in order to honor the greatness to the name of the God most high. And thus I wrote.

And as for me, seven years I was praying to gods of silver and gold, wood, stone, and clay, because I was of the opinion they were gods. Now you notice the key elements. There’s a seven-year affliction from God. And he was like a beast. Sounds a lot like the account we’ve got here, doesn’t it? So, what skeptics have done is they have came up and said, Well, what you’re reading in Daniel is not really what happened. They’ve taken the account of Nabonidus and they’ve attributed it to someone else. So you find books like this published in 2007, Case Histories in Times of Change and Dissolving Order in the Ancient Near East. Starts off by saying, The legend of the madness of Nabonidus, Babylon’s last king, has haunted the literature and historiography of Babylonia, ancient Judaism, and the Western world for more than 25 centuries.

The version of the legend most familiar to us is the fourth chapter of the book of Daniel, where the madness is reattributed to another king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. In other words, Daniel got it wrong. It really happened to Nabonidus, but he, you know, for his religious purposes, he attributed it to Nebuchadnezzar. So, how do we deal with that? That’s the real question.

David. Yes. But uh Nebuchadnezzar, he never believed in the real God before he died? We we don’t know. I mean, this is basically the last record that we have of him, at least in the Bible, uh, is this proclamation that he gives. Right? And this proclamation is a strong statement of belief in the God of Daniel. What we don’t know is that he still cling to the idol gods as well. Don’t know. It’s a good question. Uh this is the verse account of Nabonidus. Uh now, this was cuneiform writing. Uh, and it’s interesting because the question of what Nabonidus was doing in Tima will probably remain unsolved forever. But one thing is clear. The people in Babylon didn’t like it. The king leaves town and he stays gone for years and years and years, and he neglects the gods.

And so in Babylon, the annual festivals of the idols aren’t being kept. Uh and so there are rumors about this guy, Nabonidus. What happened to Nabonidas? Why did he go off? Um he built a temple to the moon god in Timah, and that’s a historical fact, and probably at the direction of his mother. We know that by the inscription found at Haran. Uh that he blasphemed against Marduk is probably an exaggeration. But here’s the verse account, because I think you need to see the history of Nabonitis, what what we know from an unbiased source. Well, I shouldn’t say that, from a biased source. Uh as to Nabonidus, his protective deity became hostile to him, and he, the former favor of the gods, is now seized by misfortunes.

Against the will of the gods, he performed an unholy action. Well, think about this telling. There’s strongly negative about Nabonidus. Why? Because this is by Cyrus’ people. So when he comes and takes over Babylon, he’s going to have a lot of negative things to say about the king of Babylon. Look down at paragraph two. He made the image of a deity which nobody had ever seen in his country. This is the moon god in the temple that he built. Down in verse paragraph three, he let everything go and trusted the kingship to him that is his son. And he himself, he started out for a long journey. The military forces of Akkad marching with him, he turned to Timah, deep in the west. He started out the expedition on a path leading to a distant region, and when he arrived there, he basically killed the people, took over, built a palace.

Next it says, it was he who once stood up in the assembly to praise himself, saying, I am wise, I know, I have seen what is hidden. Even if I do not know how to write with a stylist, yet I have seen secret things. The gods have made me see a vision, he has shown me everything. I am aware of a wisdom which greatly surpasses that even that of the series of insights which Adapta has composed. Yet, and see, this is the criticism. He continues to mix up the rites, he confuses the oracles to the most important ritual observances. He orders an end as to the sacred representations and so forth. He looks at the representations and utters blasphemies. Nabonidus’s deeds, Cyrus effaced, and everything Nabonidus constructed, all the sanctuaries of his royal rule, Cyrus is eradicated.

The ashes of the burned buildings, the wind is carried away. Nabonidus’s picture, he is effaced, and in all the sanctuaries, the inscriptions of that name are erased. Whatever Nabonidus has created, Cyrus is fed to the flames. So, is it any wonder we don’t have any good records from Nabonidus’ time that are authentic? It’s not a wonder. It’s expected. The people were unhappy with him. The conquerors demeaned him. Anything he did was erased and burned by Cyrus. And so we have the record found in the Qumran Caves of the quote, prayer of Nabonidus. Is it real or not? Who knows? The atheists or the skeptics are going to take it and say, look, we’ve got proof. Dated from 75 to 50 BC. Okay, so are there any other evidences?

Well, there’s evidence from this guy named Abidinus, Greek historian. You can look him up on Wikipedia. Problem with Abninus is we don’t have anything he wrote that’s extant. But we do have him quoted. And this is not uncommon for historians. We don’t have their original works, but we find them quoted. We find him quoted by Eusebius. Much of the original Greek text of the Chronicle has been lost. This translation is based upon the Latin translation of the Armenian translation of the Greek original. And so here it is. This is what uh Walcott was talking about. Abidinus declares that the Chaldeans say that when Nebuchadnezzar went up to the palace, he was possessed by some god and uttered these words. Oh Babylonians, I Nebuchadnezzar predict that a great disaster will befall you.

And after adding some more details about this, the historian continues, when he had uttered this prediction, he immediately vanished from sight, and his son became king in his place. So are there historical records that this happened to Nebuchadnezzar? Yes. This is the one that we have. The prayer of Nabonidus may be a way to explain the history. Yes. Question. Could the same thing not have happened to both kings? I mean, what why do we have to try to meme exactly a bit? I mean, is it not possible that? I mean, we already have established God works in the kingdoms of men. Could he not have done the same thing with the other kingdom? He very well could have. He very well could have. And that’s the biggest problem.

Most of the arguments are based on silence. The skeptic says this didn’t happen to Nebuchadnezzar. Why? We don’t have the records of it. So it could have been, it could have really happened to him as well. Or it could have been an attempt to explain the actions of Nabonidus. Where it’s thought that mental illness may be hereditary.

What are people going to say? Well, you know, you know what happened to his. Of course, Nabonidus wasn’t a direct descendant, but a former king. Same thing’s happening to him. It could have been a Jewish writing of late date. We do have records in Qumran of things like Bell and the Dragon. Anybody ever read Bell and the Dragon? Yeah. Yeah, it’s part of the Apocrypha. If you talk to Jews living in Egypt, they would say it’s part of the canon. It’s canonical. The Jews living in Palestine never never accepted it. Today most Protestants say no, that’s not part of the canon. The Catholic Church at the Council of Trent adopted it as part of their canon. So it’s a controversial book. But if I urge you to go read it as an extra credit assignment here.

Because it relates to Daniel.

In the Catholic Bible, it will be part of the book of Daniel. So what’s the name of it? Bell? The EL and the Dragon. Bell and the Dragon. And so it’s not very long. You can actually Google it on the web and find the text on the web. But it’s basically a storyline that seeks to tell. A story of that tries to build faith in God. Okay. Is it real? Is it true? Well, it’s not accepted. Were there other writings like that that aren’t accepted as being canonical? Yeah, absolutely. Is the prayer of Nabonidus any different? I don’t believe it’s any different. And based upon the evidence from Abednus, it’s certainly not. The prayer of Nabonidus is certainly does not keep Daniel from being true. So look at the end of the thing.

6. The Most High Rules in the Kingdom of Men

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar, verse 28. At the end of the 12 months, he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. At the end of 12 months is interesting because I think perhaps this dream made him change his ways for a while. But at the end of 12 months, things changed. The king spoke, saying, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty? And apparently that is a statement of pride, or at least viewed that way by God. For while the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you, and they will drive you like men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.

They shall make you eat grass like oxen. Seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses. That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar, he was driven from men. He ate grass like oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle’s feathers and nails like birds’ claws. Physicians will tell us that this is a condition that is can be explained. That is, it’s uh it has happened to other people. Um but he recovered. And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion.

His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can restrain his hand or say to him, What have you done? So it’s a statement of great faith. Doesn’t this say that he hadn’t formed changed his life? It doesn’t.

After the testing of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He has a much stronger conviction. I think before he was only convicted that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was strong. That’s a lot different than saying he rules over me. Here he’s saying he rules over me, and not just me, but everybody on earth. And he chooses who he will set in position and power or not. So, yes, a much stronger conviction. At the same time, my reason returned to me, and the glory of my kingdom, my honor, my splendor returned to me, my counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, an excellent majesty was added to me. And now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice, and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.

Don’t have any extra biblical record of this proclamation. And that’s not surprising, is it? It wouldn’t be a popular proclamation among an idolatrous society. Look in your uh lesson book, uh page 26. Robert asks a question, which is a thought-provoking question. If God rules in the kingdoms of men, and he quotes these passages from Daniel that says he does, then why have wicked rulers had control from time to time? Because God decides and receives the power.

And whether it means it’s somebody wicked, he’s got purpose.

What purpose would God have with Hitler? Because of the people.

And really understand the good from evil. He allows it for us to learn and give us a chance to change the things. That’s a popular concept to try to reconcile this idea that we have trouble with. And I I’ve heard that a lot. I don’t I don’t really agree with it. But I understand the argument. And a lot of people believe that.

No, no, I struggle with this because you say you struggle with it. I struggle with it. I tell you that every person on earth struggles. Because I I I just I don’t know that he works today in the kingdoms of men like he did back before his will was complete. It was different.

I just I don’t know. I struggle with whether or not he truly has a hand in it like he did then now. I just I don’t know. I I understand that, and that’s uh I think I think part of that is when we we kind of think that well he doesn’t work today like he did then. I I question is it is it because he told us then and he doesn’t tell us now. We have to ask ourselves a question. Every time God acts, does he tell us? And if he didn’t tell us, would we know? For instance, if we didn’t have the book of Daniel, all we had was history. Would we look back and say, Oh, God did that? I could see that. I don’t think we would.

I don’t think we would. When Assyria comes and takes over uh Israel in the north, could we look at it from history and say, Oh, I can see that God did that. No, God says Assyria was the rod in my hand, and he says the same thing about Babylon coming and taking over his people captive. So that was we only know those things because God told us. Is it possible that God works in kingdoms today and just doesn’t tell us? It’s possible. Why not? The problem I have with the concept of everything evil, evil will produce something good, is that there are some things that we look at and we just cannot find any good. And when that happens, how do we explain that? Well, two ways.

Either we we put on blinders and say, I don’t know what it is, but it must be there somewhere, or else I walk away from God. And I say that’s a trap of Satan. That we need to be wary of.

Sometimes we see good come from evil. Sometimes we see that. Something bad happens to us, but it causes us maybe to grow closer to God and we say, well, see, good came from evil. And I’m not denying that it can. But what I’m questioning is, should we believe that it always comes? No. I don’t believe that we can say it always comes. And there’s the trap, see. So we look back at people like Hitler and we say, did God choose him? What good came from that evil? I can’t think of any. No, but we shouldn’t allow men such like that power to get in and out. We’ve got the right to vote. We shouldn’t allow a person like Hitler to get into power in our country.

What I see in the biblical account is not that God chooses a certain person and says, you will rule, and then they turn out to be evil. But I see a God that says, Here’s an evil man, I have set bounds on him. I’ve set bounds on him. Psalm 73, go and read that. What does it say? He says, you know, I almost lost my faith because I looked around and I saw evil people and they looked like they were prospering. They were doing good. And until I came to the house of the Lord and learned that those that are evil, God hasn’t set them in position of power, but he says he sets his feet in slippery places. He will see his end. God will judge him because he’s placed bounds on him.

So when we see evil kings come on place, that doesn’t mean that God chose him, but God has set bounds on them. A man like Hitler doesn’t reign for generation after generation after generation. Why? Because God does still rule in the nations of man, I believe. The principles that he had then, I believe he still has today. God just doesn’t let man run willy-nilly. He tries to turn them back to him. Right? Well, it’s an opportunity for us to challenge them and to stand up to them. Also, we can see there’s some of us that feel that we should, you should be challenging them.

Because they are standing on sleepery stove. The righteous is going to evade. In other words, God’s going to do it all.