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Daniel 4:1 [a]King Nebuchadnezzar,
To the nations and peoples of every language, who live in all the earth:
May you prosper greatly!
2 It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
3
How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;
his dominion endures from generation to generation.
4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. 5 I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. 6 So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. 7 When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me. 8 Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. (He is called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.)
9 I said, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream; interpret it for me. 10 These are the visions I saw while lying in bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. 11 The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the wild animals found shelter, and the birds lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed.
13 “In the visions I saw while lying in bed, I looked, and there before me was a holy one, a messenger,[c] coming down from heaven. 14 He called in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.
“‘Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times[d] pass by for him.
17 “‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.’
18 “This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means, for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”
To the nations and peoples of every language, who live in all the earth:
May you prosper greatly!
2 It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
3
How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;
his dominion endures from generation to generation.
4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. 5 I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. 6 So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. 7 When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me. 8 Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. (He is called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.)
9 I said, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream; interpret it for me. 10 These are the visions I saw while lying in bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. 11 The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the wild animals found shelter, and the birds lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed.
13 “In the visions I saw while lying in bed, I looked, and there before me was a holy one, a messenger,[c] coming down from heaven. 14 He called in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.
“‘Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times[d] pass by for him.
17 “‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.’
18 “This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means, for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”
a.Daniel 4:1 In Aramaic texts 4:1-3 is numbered 3:31-33, and 4:4-37 is numbered 4:1-34.
b.Daniel 4:7 Or Chaldeans
c.Daniel 4:13 Or watchman; also in verses 17 and 23
d.Daniel 4:16 Or years; also in verses 23, 25 and 32
By now in all the other studies of Daniel that I have been through, I'd be lost. In most of the Bible Studies, by this time, we'd be jumping through the books of Daniel out of order and we were also in Revelation. Just like the times when all I had was the KJV, with all it's thees and thous I just couldn't understand and I would just shut down. I also noticed that by this time the number of people in the group had dwindled. So I'm praying that I can stay involved and study this book of Daniel from cover to cover.
I believe that the Bible was inspired by God and written down by men. God had a reason for the book to be written this way. I believe that if God had wanted chapter 7 to follow right after chapter 2, He would have inspired the writer to put it in that order. That said.... here we go.
We already learned that Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. It was God's way of using this evil man to do His will. The last time we saw a dream, Nebuchadnezzar wouldn't [or couldn't] even describe the dream. He called on his "wise men" to tell him the dream and interpret it. They couldn't do it. Finally, after Nebuchadnezzar had decided to kill everyone because they were useless to him, Daniel came forward to tell Nebuchadnezzar what he had dreamt and what the dream meant.
Here we have evil old Nebuchadnezzar dreaming again. Once again he called on the "wise men" to interpret the dream. Once more none of them could do it. So at the end.... Nebuchadnezzar called on Daniel. One of the commentaries speaks to that.
He knew that God would tell him bad news. He may have guessed what the dream meant. He did not want to hear bad news. The wise men probably knew all this too. They did not want to tell the king bad news.
Apparently Nebuchadnezzar had changed in some way. In verse 4 he describes himself as happy. Evil men don't really know what happy means. It's just not part of their vocabulary. While he was still an evil man, he was no longer purely evil. He was changed by meeting Daniel. He was changed by seeing what God had done through Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. But Nebuchadnezzar, had not fully given himself over to the one true God. He still made room in his life for the little gods he had grown up worshiping.
In verse 5, though, we learn that this dream terrified Nebuchadnezzar. So now, terrified, he turned back to God. He knew God was the author of this dream and he also knew that Daniel was the only one who would interpret the dream for him. In true human form, he depended on humans until he was terrified and then turned to God.
In verses 10-17 Nebuchadnezzar describes the his dream about the tree. Here's another description of the dream that I found in yet another commentary.
Nebuchadnezzar saw great and high tree standing in the midst of the earth. The tree great and strong and reached high into the sky and everyone one earth could see it. It was pleasant to look at and it fruit every kind of creature ate the fruit. Then Nebuchadnezzar said he saw a "watcher" a holy one that came from heaven who loudly cried to cut the tree down and strip it of it leaves, branches, and fruit and let the animals get from under it. However, the watcher says to leave the stump and roots in the earth. The stump then was to be bound with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field and it would be wet with the dew of heaven and have its portion or food with the beasts who grazed in the grass.
Note that in the description of the tree in verses 10-12, the tree is referred to as "it", but in verses 14-16 the pronoun is changed to "his." This is significant because this great tree that is hewed down in this dream is symbolic of Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom. Verse 16 says let "his" heart be changed from a man's to that of a beast for a period of seven years. This was troubling to Nebuchadnezzar who surely understood the dream was about him and symbolism of the tree being cut down and the stump becoming a animal was alarming.
He begs Daniel for the interpretation, but all the while refusing to accept that the vision and the interpretation would come for "The" God. He recognizes the power of God, but still uses the plural of "holy ones" and beckons Daniel to give him the interpretation by the spirit of the "holy gods" which was in Daniel. But this gross misunderstanding and rebellion against Almighty God was soon to be changed.
Note that in the description of the tree in verses 10-12, the tree is referred to as "it", but in verses 14-16 the pronoun is changed to "his." This is significant because this great tree that is hewed down in this dream is symbolic of Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom. Verse 16 says let "his" heart be changed from a man's to that of a beast for a period of seven years. This was troubling to Nebuchadnezzar who surely understood the dream was about him and symbolism of the tree being cut down and the stump becoming a animal was alarming.
He begs Daniel for the interpretation, but all the while refusing to accept that the vision and the interpretation would come for "The" God. He recognizes the power of God, but still uses the plural of "holy ones" and beckons Daniel to give him the interpretation by the spirit of the "holy gods" which was in Daniel. But this gross misunderstanding and rebellion against Almighty God was soon to be changed.
I've looked back and I don't see where the NIV says that the root becomes an animal. Reading verse 14 we see the tree being cut down and the root system bound up. Then all of a sudden, it says let "him" be covered with dew and in verse 16 "his" mind becomes an animal's mind.
No wonder Nebuchadnezzar didn't understand the dream. At the end it doesn't make sense. Call for Daniel to interpret it.
