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KING WHO LOST HIS MIND |
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I once saw a bumper sticker that read, “Insanity is hereditary. I got mine from my children.” Albert Einstein said, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Another has defined love as, “a temporary insanity curable by marriage.”
We all have said at one time or
another, “I feel like I am about to lose my mind. In this study I
want us to see a king that did lose his mind. In our last study we
saw that Daniel chapter four is actually a letter that was sent by
Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 1 says,
“Nebuchadnezzar the king,
unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the
earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.” In the letter he explains
his seven year absence from the throne. He tells of a dream he had,
the fulfillment of the dream and the results of the dream being
fulfilled. He actually admits that for seven years he had been
insane.
There are some politicians, in my
opinion, who have lost their mind. However, I have never known of
one who would admit it. Yet, as we see in the verses before us,
Nebuchadnezzar sends out a state letter informing the people that he
had gone through a period of insanity for seven years. The dream
that Nebuchadnezzar had was actually a word from God that predicted
all that we see happening in verses 28-37.
We read in verse 28, “All
this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.”
The “all this” was the dream
he had.
The fulfillment of
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream reminds us that every promise and prophecy of
God’s Word is absolutely true. When God was finished with
Nebuchadnezzar he was a firm Bible-believer. He had no doubts about
the reliability of God’s Word.
Let’s look at the fulfillment of
his dream:
1. THE CONCEIT NEBUCHADNEZZAR
Nebuchadnezzar is the classic
example of pride in the Bible. The Bible in Psalms 10:4 gives us a
description of this proud king:
“The wicked, through the
pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is
not in all his thoughts.” Nebuchadnezzar had been a follower of
the gods of
The
Bible has much to say about pride. We read in Proverbs 11:2, “When
pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is
wisdom.” Proverbs 16:18
says, “Pride goeth
before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Also,
we read in Proverbs 29:23,
“A man's pride
shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.”
Nebuchadnezzar is a good example
of how God will bring low the proud. Nebuchadnezzar honestly admits
of his pride and how God had brought him down. Notice with me:
A) The Patience of God
We
read in verse 29, “At
the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the
Now, the judgment of God is ready
to fall, but it is interesting that 12 months have gone by. It
speaks of how patience God is and how He gives us time to repent.
God’s judgment is certain, but how patience He is before He drops
the axe of His judgment. We read in
Numbers 14:18, “The
LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity
and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation.”
Someone has said:
Patience is a virtue,
Possess it if you can.
Found seldom in a woman,
Never in a man.
Now, patience may seldom be found
in a woman, and never in a man, but I am glad that God is patient.
God had graciously given Nebuchadnezzar a full year to repent. What
a wonderful picture of God’s patience. Furthermore, notice:
B) The Pride of Nebuchadnezzar
Verse
30 says, “The
king spake, and said, Is not this great
Now,
To give you an idea of its
grandeur, it was a rectangular shaped city surrounded by a broad and
deep water-filled moat and an intricate system of double walls. Its
inner wall was 21-ft thick and reinforced with defensive towers at
60-ft intervals while the outer wall was 11-ft thick that also
contained watchtowers. The city boasted of 53 temples within its
wall. Nebuchadnezzar had at least 3 palaces in the city, the
principal residence located in the southern citadel and covering
about 350 by 200 yards.
Of course there were the beautiful
hanging gardens which the ancient Greeks considered one of the
He looked out at the greatness of
2. THE CORRECTION OF
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
In his dream God had warned
Nebuchadnezzar that he would bring him down, but in his pride, he
didn’t listen. But when God says something will happen, you can be
absolutely certain it will happen. Notice how:
A) Hasty His Fall
We
read in verse 31, “While
the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from
heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken;
The kingdom is departed from thee.”
Even while he made his boast that he had made
For 12 months God had been patient
with Nebuchadnezzar and given him a chance to repent. God is
patient, but there comes a time when He does act, and when He does,
swift is the fall of His sword. We read in verse 33,
“The same hour was the thing
fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.” When God’s patience with
Nebuchadnezzar was exhausted, His promised judgment came quickly.
Furthermore, notice:
B) How Humiliating His Fall
We
read in verses 32-33, “And
they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be
with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as
oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the
most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth 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.”
God’s judgment came placing the
proud king under the delusion that he was an animal. Thinking that
he was an ox, he began to act like an ox. Many believe that
Nebuchadnezzar experienced a type of lycanthropy, or more precise,
boanthropy. “Lycanthropy” comes from two Greek words meaning “wolf”
and “man” and refers to a psychiatric state in which a person
believes they are a wolf or some animal. “Boanthropy” is that state
of thinking one is an ox.
The words,
“They shall drive thee from
men,” describes how his advisors removed him from his throne.
Behaving as he was, his advisors felt that he was incapable to
leading
And who could blame them. Here was
their kind thinking and acting like an ox. He was living in the
fields with the cattle. He was eating grass like the cattle. His
body wet with dew indicates that he was spending the night in the
fields. He let his hair grow out and it was dirty and matted until
it looked like eagles feathers. His let his finger and toe nails
grow out until the resembled claws. He remained in this state and
acted this way for seven years. You could say that he had a bad case
of it.
How ironic that the king who felt
himself superior to other men had now sunk to a subhuman level. Note
Vs 32 again, “And they shall
drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the
beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and
seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High
ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”
Notice carefully the words “until thou know.” He was brought to such
a place and kept in such a place until he realized and understood
that “the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to
whomsoever he will.”
Notice lastly,
3. THE CONFESSION OF
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
From the beginning of the Book of
Daniel Nebuchadnezzar has been a major character. However, this is
last time we will see Nebuchadnezzar. What an interesting fellow he
has been. You start out loathing him but end up loving him. We first
meet him as a king defiling the house of God, but in our last visit
with him we see him as a king declaring the greatness of God. There
has been a total and thrilling transformation of his life.
Notice with me this change in his
life. First, there was:
A) His Turning to God
Nebuchadnezzar tells of his
turning to God in verses 34-35,
“And at the end of the days
I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine
understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I
praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, 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 doeth 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 doest thou?”
Finally, Nebuchadnezzar lifted his
eyes toward God. That is another way of saying that he turned to
God. When he did so, he understanding came back to him. Having
regained his sanity, he understands that God is the One and true
God, the most High whose dominion was an everlasting dominion, and
his kingdom, a kingdom that lasts from generation to generation.
Where he once had boasted on being
a great king, he now confesses that he and all others are as
nothing. He knows with full understanding that nothing or no one can
stop God from doing His will on earth. It is obvious there has been
a miraculous change in his life. There has been an 180-degree change
in his life. The God he sought to destroy is the God he is now
worshipping and honoring.
Furthermore, you see:
B) His Testimony for God
We read in verses 36-37,
“At the same time my reason
returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and
brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors 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 honour
the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways
judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”
He testifies of how once he
regained his sanity, his kingdom was given back to him, and the
glory of his kingdom was even greater than before.
The blessing of his testimony is
that he gives a public testimony of what God had done in his life.
He tells his people in his letter of state that he is now praising,
extolling, and honoring God. He testifies of how all His works are
truth, His ways are judgment, and of His ability to bring the proud
down. As we would say, he was telling his people that he had got
SAVED!
The name of Saddam Hussein is
familiar to us all. Of course
Adjacent to
Nebuchadnezzar's ancient palace and overlooking the
The palace Saddam
built was not merely large, it was also ostentatious. Containing
several hundred thousand square feet of marble, it became a showy
confection of angular towers, arched gates, vaulting ceilings, and
majestic stairways. Critics charged that Saddam Hussein's lavish new
palace expressed exuberant excess in land where many died in
poverty.
On the ceilings and
walls of Saddam's palace, 360-degree murals depicted scenes from
ancient
We know that this
self-declared Nebuchadnezzar was hanged on December 30, 2006. But
imagine that Saddam Hussein had gone on public TV and told the
people of
© 2007 by the Living Word |
