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1–4. Nebuchadnezzar's second dream and the powerlessness of the Babylonian sages to explain it. 5–15. The king's appeal to Daniel for help; dream content. 16–24. The prophet's explanation of the dream. 25–30. Fulfillment of Daniel's prediction: Nebuchadnezzar's illness. 31–34. His recovery, return to power and his glorification of God. Dan.4:1. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at peace in my house and prosperous in my palaces. Dan.4:2. But I saw a dream that frightened me, and the reflections on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. The dream coincides in time with the years of the peaceful reign of Nebuchadnezzar. They came after the campaign against Egypt in the 37th year of his reign, according to which the dream is attributed by exegetes to this period. Based on previous experience, Nebuchadnezzar could understand that the new dream also foreshadowed something important. The complete unknown of this latter naturally caused a feeling of embarrassment and fear. Dan.4:3. And I gave the command to bring all the wise men of Babylon to me so that they could tell me the meaning of the dream. The powerlessness previously demonstrated by the sages (Dan. 2:1–11) does not, however, prevent Nebuchadnezzar from turning to them for an explanation of the dream. They found themselves unable to open the dream (Dan. 2:8–11), but did not refuse an explanation if its contents were told to them (Dan. 2:4, 7). With this in mind, the king resorts to their help. Dan.4:4. Then came the magicians, charmers, Chaldeans and fortune-tellers; I told them the dream, but they could not explain to me its meaning. Dan.4:5. Finally Daniel came in to me, whose name was Belshazzar, after the name of my god, and in whom was the spirit of the holy God; I told him the dream. Dan.4:6. Belshazzar, chief of the sages! I know that the spirit of the holy God is in you, and no mystery bothers you; Explain to me the vision of my dream that I saw and its meaning. And only the failure that befell the wise men again evokes in Nebuchadnezzar a memory of Daniel’s supernatural wisdom and forces the king to call him to explain the dream. Until now, he had not been invited because of Nebuchadnezzar’s faith in his wise men, and also, perhaps, because the time difference between the first and second dreams of 35 years smoothed out in the king’s soul the idea of ​​a prophet, through whom the first revelation was explained to him. Dan.4:7. The visions of my head on my bed were as follows: I saw, behold, a very tall tree in the middle of the earth. Dan.4:8. This tree was large and strong, and its height reached to the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth. Dan.4:9. Its leaves are beautiful, and there is a lot of fruit on it, and there is food on it for everyone; the beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. Daniel 4:10. And I saw in visions my head on my bed, and, behold, He came down from heaven, He who was Watchful and Holy. Dan.4:11. Exclaiming loudly, He said: “Cut down this tree, cut off its branches, shake off its leaves and scatter its fruit; let the beasts be removed from under it and the birds from its branches; Dan.4:12. but leave its main root in the ground, and let it be watered with heavenly dew in chains of iron and copper among the grass of the field, and let a part of it be with the animals in the grass of the earth. Daniel 4:13. The heart of man will be taken away from him and the heart of a beast will be given to him, and seven times will pass over him. Daniel 4:14. This has been determined by the commandment of the Watching Ones, and by the judgment of the Saints it has been appointed, so that the living may know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of man, and gives it to whomever He wants, and appoints over it one who is lowly among men.” The content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is imbued with the worldview and spirit of that time. Among ancient peoples, a tree was considered and was a symbol of human life. A tall, spreading tree meant a powerful and majestic person; a green tree - a prosperous person, and vice versa, a withered tree was a symbol of a person who had lost his former greatness, cut down meant a person who was somehow destroyed, wiped off the face of the earth (Ps. 1:3; Is. 6:13; Jer. 17:8; Ezek. 17:22; Eze. 19:10; Am. 2:9). In particular, the tree served as an emblem of the Assyro-Babylonian kingdom. The tree also appears as a symbol of man in the famous dream of Astyages. This image has exactly the same meaning in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. A direct indication of this is in the words of the Watchful One about taking away the human heart from the root of the tree and giving him the heart of an animal (Dan. 4:12-13), - depriving human feelings, aspirations and communicating the feelings of animals, which can only be done with a person. Likewise, the prophet Daniel considers the tree seen by Nebuchadnezzar to be a symbol of this king in all the splendor and grandeur of his reign (Dan. 4:17, 19). Quite consistent with the views of Nebuchadnezzar are such details of the dream as the appearance of the “Wakeful and Saints” descending from heaven to earth (Dan. 4:10, 14). According to the teaching of the Babylonians set forth by Diodorus Siculus, in the world of planetary deities there were distinguished supreme deities and secondary deities, subordinate to the first, the so-called “θεοι βουλαιοι” – advisor gods. One half of these advisory gods had oversight over the underground countries, the other kept a watchful eye on what was happening on earth between people and in heaven. The latter appear in the dream under the name “Wakeful”. They, as Nebuchadnezzar further sees, pronounce judgment on him (Dan.4:14). The idea of ​​divine judgment expressed by this detail was not alien to the Babylonians. According to the testimony of the same Diodorus Siculus, they did not believe in fate and chance, but attributed all events to the “precisely determined judgment of the gods.” And in accordance with similar beliefs, on ancient Babylonian monuments there is an image of the god Bel in the position of a judge, surrounded by lower deities. Dan.4:24. Therefore, king, may my advice be pleasing to you: atone for your sins with righteousness and your iniquities with mercy towards the poor; This is how long your peace can last. Foreseeing the reason for the upcoming punishment for Nebuchadnezzar - his pride, Daniel advises the king to humble himself, showing this in truth and mercy, and thereby avert the coming disaster. Daniel 4:26. After twelve months, walking around the royal palaces in Babylon, Dan.4:27. the king said: Isn’t this majestic Babylon, which I built as the house of the kingdom by the power of my might and for the glory of my greatness! According to the words of the Watcher and the explanation of the prophet Daniel, the punishment that will befall Nebuchadnezzar should convince him of the truth that the Most High owns and rules over the kingdom of men (Dan. 4:14, 22). Accordingly, its cause is the denial of the supreme sovereignty of the Lord - the trial of the king is carried out at the very moment of denial. The latter was reflected in the words: “Isn’t this the majestic Babylon, which I built in the house of the kingdom by the power of my might and for the glory of my greatness!” No, as Nebuchadnezzar says, it is not the Almighty who owns the kingdom: the existence and greatness of Babylon is due to me and my power. Strictly speaking, Nebuchadnezzar's words are not an exaggeration. And according to the testimony of his own inscriptions and according to the instructions of historians, Babylon is truly the creation of his hands. “Babylon and Borzippa,” says Nebuchadnezzar in one of his inscriptions, “are the greatest cities of my kingdom, founded by me. I carefully collected wealth to decorate my palace. I completely arranged and decorated it, like a royal dwelling... I built this house, which should be a subject of surprise.” Likewise, according to the testimony of the historians Berosus and Abydenus, Nebuchadnezzar used most of his untold wealth to decorate and organize Babylon. By the way, they built new walls of Babylon, of which the outer walls embraced a space of 513 square meters. km (450 sq. versts), and internal ones - an area of ​​290 sq. km (260 sq. versts), and the famous Hanging Gardens. These latter, which decorated the surroundings of his palace, built on the western bank of the Euphrates, occupied an area of ​​400 square meters. feet (3600 sq. m.) and rose above the towers of the palace, which had 150 lb. (45 m) height. The brick platforms that supported them were propped up every 10 lbs. stone foundations of 22 ft. (7.3 m) thickness; stone slabs, thick layers of reed, asphalt and plaster were laid on the brick platforms, covered with thick lead sheets to protect them from dampness. A layer of earth was poured onto this lead lining so thick that tall trees could easily grow on it. Pumps were installed inside the gardens, raising water from the Euphrates to the uppermost terrace, from where it spread through canals to the remaining terraces, serving as artificial irrigation for the gardens. Among other buildings of Nebuchadnezzar, the canals running through Babylon to protect it from the flood of the Euphrates and numerous churches are known. And yet, the above phrase of Nebuchadnezzar is imbued with extraordinary pride. The fact is that in other cases he attributes all his successes not to personal efforts, but to the assistance and patronage of the god Merodach, whom he calls “the head of the gods.” In the present case, his words are a conscious denial of the divine authority he himself recognizes. Proud even for a pagan, they become, in the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar, who received the revelation of the supreme sovereignty of the Most High (Dan. 4:14), open opposition to Him. Daniel 4:28. While this speech was still in the mouth of the king, a voice came from heaven: “They say to you, King Nebuchadnezzar: the kingdom has departed from you! Dan.4:29. And they will separate you from men, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field; They will feed you grass like an ox, and seven times will pass over you until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of man and gives it to whomever He wants!” Daniel 4:30. Immediately this word was fulfilled over Nebuchadnezzar, and he was excommunicated from the people, ate grass like an ox, and his body was watered with the dew of heaven, so that his hair grew like a lion’s, and his nails like a bird’s. Denial of divine power was madness, deprivation of human meaning. By the will of God, this state turned from short-term to long-lasting for “seven times.” Nebuchadnezzar suffered from one of the most terrible forms of mental illness, the so-called lycanthropy. He lost his mind (Dan.4:31) and imagined himself to be a bull, as a result of which human desires and needs were replaced by animals. Having left human society, the king began to eat grass and, thanks to the influence of atmospheric changes, acquired the appearance of an animal; uncut hair grew back like the mane of a lion (Slavic reading), and the nails became like the claws of birds of prey. The illness that befell Nebuchadnezzar does not represent anything unprecedented or incredible: similar forms of insanity have been known since ancient times. Thus, Herodotus talks about the neuros, who, according to him, turned into wolves; The existence of lycanthropes is also reported by Oribasius, the court physician of Emperor Julian, and monuments from the 14th–15th centuries. They talk about the appearance of this disease in Europe. Based on this evidence, Nebuchadnezzar's madness is considered a real fact, and not an invention of the writer of the book of Daniel. The reliability of his narrative is further confirmed, according to exegetes, by one inscription of Nebuchadnezzar himself, in which he speaks of a four-year break in his reign. “For four years,” he notes, my heart did not rejoice at the throne of my reign; I did not undertake any construction, did not sing hymns of praise in honor of Merodach, did not make sacrifices to him, did not cleanse the canals.” Understanding this break in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar in the sense of his removal from the affairs of government due to illness, exegetes find an indication of it in the inscription of Nebuchadnezzar’s second successor Neriglissor, in which he calls himself “the son of Bilusumiskun, king of Babylon.” In the Babylonian chronicles there is no name of the last king, on the basis of which the assumption is made that Bilusumiskun was not a real king, but only a regent during Nebuchadnezzar’s illness. The proud son (Neriglissor) called his father “king.” As for the duration of illness, the biblical definition of it – “seven times” – is understood differently. Some (Hengstenberg, Gefernik, Keil), based on the consideration that seven is the number of completeness, and the Hebrew expression “iddan” is used in the book of the prophet Daniel to designate time in general, in an indefinite sense (Dan. 2:8-9; Dan. 3:5, 15), understand by “seven times” an indefinite period, but quite sufficient for admonishing and enlightening the king. Others (Hitzig, Rosenmüller, Fuerst), citing Daniel 7:25; Dan.12:7, 11, where the expression “time, times and half-time” is defined as 1,290 or 1,260 days, “seven times” is understood in the sense of seven years. And finally, the third (from the ancient church fathers John Chrysostom and Ephraim the Syrian) accept “seven times” for 3.5 years. This view is confirmed by the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar himself about the four-year break in his reign. Daniel 4:31. At the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes to heaven, and my mind returned to me; and I blessed the Most High, praised and glorified the Ever-Bearing One, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and whose kingdom endures throughout all generations. Daniel 4:32. And everyone living on earth means nothing; according to His will, He acts both in the heavenly army and among those living on earth; and there is no one who can resist His hand and say to Him, “What have you done?” Daniel 4:33. At that time my mind returned to me, and my dignity and my former appearance returned to me to the glory of my kingdom; Then my advisors and my nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my kingdom, and my greatness increased even more. Daniel 4:34. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, glorify, exalt and magnify the King of Heaven, Whose all deeds are true and all ways are righteous, and Who is able to humble those who walk proudly. According to doctors, lycanthropy is not an incurable disease. Like other forms of insanity, it may pass and the patient may return to sanity. This is what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. Reason returned to him, instilling the idea that pride was unnatural and inappropriate. Convinced by personal experience of the justice of revelation (Dan. 4:14), he glorified the greatness of the Almighty who punished him and confessed the insignificance of man before Him. But in the present case, as before, expressions of religious feeling characterize Nebuchadnezzar as a pagan. They are reminiscent of his appeals to Merodach, whom he calls “lord of the gods”, “prince of the gods” and ascribes to him power over all people. The decree reveals the belief in a supreme Deity, characteristic of most pagan peoples, who controls the destinies of all peoples and kingdoms. If, with all this, the language of the decree is very reminiscent, as exegetes note, the language of some psalms and the books of the prophet Isaiah (Dan.3:10; Dan.4:31 cf. Ps.144:13 and Dan.4:32 cf. with Is.40:17), then this phenomenon is explained, as they think, by the fact that it was compiled not without the influence of the prophet Daniel. You might be interested in: