Daniel 4.4-Nebuchadnezzar Was Relaxing And Living Luxuriously In His Palace, When He Was Given A Revelation By God In A Dream
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday August 22, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 4:4-Nebuchadnezzar Was Relaxing And Living Luxuriously In His Palace, When He Was Given A Revelation By God In A Dream
Lesson # 110
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 4:4.
This evening we will study Daniel 4:4, which records Nebuchadnezzar relaxing and living luxuriously in his palace when he was given a revelation by God in a dream.
Daniel 4:1 “King Nebuchadnezzar, to each and every person belonging to the nations, ethnicities and language groups, who are living throughout the entire earth: May your prosperity increase! 2 It is pleasing to me to make known the miraculous signs, yes, and wondrous signs at that, which the Most High God performed on my behalf. 3 How great are His miraculous signs! Indeed, how great are His wondrous signs! His kingdom is eternal. In other words, His governmental dominion is from generation to generation.” (My translation)
Daniel 4:4 “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.” (NASB95)
Nebuchadnezzar under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is employing the figure of “asyndeton.”
This figure is to emphasize with the reader Nebuchadnezzar’s prosperous circumstances in contrast to what is about to take place in his life, which is recorded in the rest of the chapter, which records God disciplining himself severely and deposing him from power for seven years.
“I” is the first person singular personal pronoun ʾǎnā(h) (אֲנָה) (an-aw´), which serves to emphasize Nebuchadnezzar’s peaceful and prosperous circumstances when he received a revelation from the Most High God in a vision in a dream regarding himself.
“At ease” is the masculine singular form of the adjective šelē(h) (שְׁלֵה) (shel-aw´), which means “contented, at ease,” implying a carefree and light-hearted attitude and that Nebuchadnezzar was at peace with his enemies.
“And flourishing in my palace” is an epexegetical clause since the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” is introducing a statement which describes from a different perspective the previous statement that Nebuchadnezzar was content in his house.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that he goes from telling his readers that he was content in his home to saying that he was living luxuriously in his palace or in other words, he specifies his home as being his palace.
Further supporting this interpretation is a comparison of the adjective šelē(h) which means “content” implying a carefree and light-hearted attitude and the adjective rǎ∙ʿǎnǎn, which means “prosperous” pertaining to thriving with emphasis on contentment.
The former speaks of contentment whereas the latter emphasizes why he was content, namely he was prosperous because he conquered the world.
“Flourishing” is the masculine singular adjective rǎ∙ʿǎnǎn (רַעֲנַן) (rah-aw-nan´), which means “prosperous” pertaining to thriving with emphasis on contentment and adequacy of life, which implies a life of luxury, riches and good health and other such ideas.
The word speaks of a life marked by success and economic well-being and enjoying vigorous and healthy growth.
Daniel 4:4 “I myself, Nebuchadnezzar was content in my house, specifically prosperous in my palace.” (My translation)
Daniel 4:4 presents to the reader the circumstances in which Nebuchadnezzar found himself in when he received revelation from God in a vision in a dream.
This verse says he was content in his home.
This contentment was the result of being at peace since he had conquered his enemies and possessed a world-wide empire, which is indicated by the events in chapter three.
The king specifies in verse 4 that he was prosperous in his palace.
This prosperous condition indicates that his life was marked by success and economic well-being and enjoying vigorous and healthy growth.
Thus, Nebuchadnezzar was living prosperously possessing luxury, riches, good health, a world-wide kingdom as a result of achieving victory over his enemies in war.
Some argue that the events of chapter four took place later in Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.
Archer argues that they took place some eight or nine years before the end of the siege of Tyre in 573.
However, the description that Nebuchadnezzar gives us in Daniel 4:4 of his circumstances when he received a revelation from God in a vision in a dream corresponds with the events in chapter three.
The latter records him issuing a decree to the representatives of the nations, ethnicities, and language groups in his world-wide kingdom to come to the dedication of the statue he erected of himself.
This dedication not only expressed the king’s pride and arrogance and rebellion against God but was an attempt to unite these various elements of his kingdom by the joining of religion (idolatry) with civil government.
Thus, chapter three paints a picture that Nebuchadnezzar had conquered his enemies and was a world-wide ruler.
Therefore, to read about him in chapter four as contented and prosperous in his palace corresponds to what we read in chapter three.
Thus, the events recorded in chapter four must have followed not soon after the events recorded in chapter three.
Furthermore, history records that he had already conquered his most powerful enemy Egypt.
In 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar attacked Egypt in the Battle of Carchemish which resulted in the defeat of Egypt.
The Babylonian king pursued the Egyptians and thus expanded his area of authority by going into Syria and toward Palestine.
Upon learning of the death of his father Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar returned from Riblah to Babylon in August 605 B.C. where he was crowned king.
After this he returned to Palestine and attacked Jerusalem in September 605 B.C.
Nebuchadnezzar returned to Judah again a second time in 597 B.C. where he laid siege to Jerusalem in response to Jehoiachim’s ill advised rebellion.
At this point, Jerusalem was now subjugated to Babylon with ten thousand captives taken to Babylon, one of whom was the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1-3; 2 Kings 23:8-20; 2 Chronicles 36:6-10).
Jehoiakim died that year and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin who was also known as Jeconiah or Coniah.
He surrendered to the Babylonians after only three months in power and was taken as a prisoner to Babylon along with the royal family, the court, the upper classes and the artisans.
After the attack in 597 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar established Zedekiah (Mattaniah) who was the uncle of Jehoiachin, as a puppet ruler in Judah who was urged to rebel and ally with Egypt against the protestations of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:6ff.; 38:14ff.).
Zedekiah did not pay heed to Jeremiah and allied himself with Egypt and revolted against Nebuchadnezzar.
The Chaldean armies invaded Judah in 587 B.C. with Nebuchadnezzar attacking Jerusalem after destroying the small Syrian states and laying siege to Lachish and Azekah as predicted by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:9).
In 588 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar returned a third time where he again laid siege to the city of David, breaching the walls and destroying the city and burned the temple of Solomon in 586 B.C.
The majority of Jews who were not killed in this offensive were also taken captive to Babylon (2 Kings 25;1-7; Jeremiah 34:1-7; 39:1-7; 52:2-11).
In Daniel 4:4, Nebuchadnezzar is describing for his readers that he was living in pride and was content with himself and full of himself after achieving such great prosperity and success on the battle field as well as politically and economically.
He was not only the most powerful man in the world as the events in chapter three tell us but he was also the richest as a result of plundering many nations such as Israel.
In the Scriptures, pride is a great evil because it involves pretending to a greatness and glory that belongs rightly to God alone and is condemned as evil (1 Samuel 15:23; Proverbs 21:4; James 4:16; cf. Mark 7:22-23; Romans 1:29-30; 2 Corinthians 12:20; 2 Timothy 3:1-2; 1 John 2:16).
There are warnings about pride in the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 16:5, 18; cf. Proverbs 3:7, 34; 6:16-17; 11:2; 25:6-7, 27; 26:12; 27:1; 29:23) as well as elsewhere in Scripture (Psalm 119:21; cf. Leviticus 26:19).
God is said to be opposed to the proud (1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6; Proverbs 3:34).
Arrogance is an attitude of the heart (Mark 7:21-22; cf. Job 35:12; Psalm 10:2-11; 73:3-12; 86:14; 94:3-7; Malachi 3:15; Romans 1:28-31) and arises from self-confidence (Isaiah 9:9-10; Daniel 4:29-30; Revelation 18:7; cf. Exodus 15:9; 1 Kings 20:11; 2 Kings 14:10; 2 Chronicles 25:19; Isaiah 28:15; Ezekiel 16:49; Hosea 12:8; Habakkuk 2:4-5; Luke 18:9; Acts 8:9-10; 2 Peter 2:10-12).
It is essentially rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 1:43; 1 Samuel 15:23; cf. Nehemiah 9:16-17, 29; Job 36:8-9; Psalm 5:5; 119:85; Hosea 5:4-5; 7:10; Zephaniah 3:1-4).
God punishes the arrogant whether they are a believer or a non-believer (Isaiah 2:17-18; Exodus 18:11; 1 Samuel 15:23).