Daniel 4.30-Nebuchadnezzar Expresses His Great Pride By Boasting Of Babylon As His Personal Possession And A Reflection Of His Power And Glory
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 16, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 4:30-Nebuchadnezzar Expresses His Great Pride By Boasting Of Babylon As His Personal Possession And A Reflection Of His Power And Glory
Lesson # 133
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 4:30.
This evening we will study Daniel 4:30, which records Nebuchadnezzar expressing his great pride by boasting of Babylon as his personal possession and a reflection of his power and glory.
Daniel 4:30 “The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’” (NASB95)
Nebuchadnezzar under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is employing the figure of “asyndeton” because he wants the reader to dwell upon the statement in this verse, which records the king boasting of the city of Babylon as his personal possession as well as a reflection of his power and glory.
This figure emphasizes with the reader the great pride and arrogance of the king.
“Reflected” is the masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb ʿǎnā(h) (עֲנָה) (an-aw´), which means “to pose a rhetorical question to oneself” since the statement which follows it records Nebuchadnezzar posing a rhetorical question to himself which from the king’s perspective demanded an emphatic affirmation.
This rhetorical question expresses the king’s great pride in himself and his accomplishments.
“Babylon the great” is composed of the feminine singular noun bā∙ḇěl (בָּבֶל) (baw-bel´), “Babylon” and then we have the feminine singular form of the noun rǎḇ (רַב) (rab), “the great.”
The proper noun bā∙ḇěl refers to the city of Babylon since the king identifies this word as the place of his royal residence, which history records as being this city.
This word is modified by the adjective rǎḇ, which means “great” and denotes the city of Babylon as being the preeminent city in the world at the time when Nebuchadnezzar made this boast in the sense that this city had a larger impact on human history than the rest of the cities in the world at that time.
“I myself have built” is composed of the first person singular personal pronoun ʾǎnā(h) (אֲנָה) (an-aw´), “I myself” and then we have the first second person singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb benā(h) (בְּנָה) (ben-aw´), “have built.”
The independent personal pronoun ʾǎnā(h) emphasizes Nebuchadnezzar’s personal accomplishment of making the city of Babylon as the greatest city on the earth at that time.
The verb benā(h) means “to build, construct” and denotes that the king is boasting that he “built” or “constructed” this city so that it became the greatest city on the earth when the king made this boast.
“As a royal residence” is composed of the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh) and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun bǎ∙yiṯ (בַּיִת) (bah-yith), “a residence” which is modified by the feminine singular noun mǎl∙ḵû (מַלְכוּ) (mal-koo´), “royal.”
The noun bǎ∙yiṯ refers to the residence or the dwelling place or home of Nebuchadnezzar and is modified by the noun mǎl∙ḵû, which means “royal.”
The noun bǎ∙yiṯ is the object of the preposition lĕ, which is a marker of purpose indicating that Nebuchadnezzar is boasting that he built the great Babylon “for the purpose of” it being his royal residence.
“By the might of my power” is composed of the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beh), “by” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun teqāp̄ (תְּקָף) (tek-ofe´), “the might of” and then we have the masculine singular noun ḥěsēn (חֱסֵן) (khay´-sen), “the power” which is modified by the first person singular pronominal suffix –î (־י) (ee), “my.”
The noun teqāp̄ means “mighty” and is in the construct state meaning that it is governing the noun which follows it, namely the noun ḥěsēn, which refers to Nebuchadnezzar’s military power to conquer and rule over other nations.
It denotes that Nebuchadnezzar’s military power enabled him or gave him the ability to impose his will on other kings and nations.
The noun teqāp̄ is the object of the preposition bĕ, which is a marker of means indicating that Nebuchadnezzar is boasting that he built the city of Babylon into the greatest city on earth “by means of” his mighty military power.
“For the glory of my majesty” is composed of the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh) and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun yeqār (יְקָר) (yek-awr´), “the glory of” and this is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun hǎḏǎr (הֲדַר) (had-ar´), “majesty” which is modified by the first person singular pronominal suffix –î (־י) (ee), “my.”
The noun yeqār means “honor, praise” and denotes public recognition referring to honor in the sense of public recognition or praise that Nebuchadnezzar received from men as a result of building the city of Babylon into a great city.
The noun hǎḏǎr means “majesty” or “greatness” and denotes the state of being preeminent over others indicating that Nebuchadnezzar built the city of Babylon into the greatest city for his royal residence by his mighty military power and in addition for the praise of his greatness.
Thus, this word denotes that the greatness of the city reflected Nebuchadnezzar’s greatness as a human being from the king’s perspective.
The noun yeqār is the object of the preposition lĕ, which again functions as a marker of purpose indicating that Nebuchadnezzar is boasting that he built the great Babylon “for the purpose of” it praising his majesty or greatness.
Daniel 4:30 The king posed a rhetorical question to himself and said, “Is this not the great Babylon, which I myself have built her for a royal residence by means of my mighty military power as well as for the praise of my greatness?” (My translation)
Daniel 4:29 tells the reader that Nebuchadnezzar was walking about the roof of the royal palace in the city of Babylon when the Lord executed the sentence against him.
Daniel 4:30 records what the king said to himself when this sentence against him was executed by God.
The king poses a rhetorical question to himself which from his perspective demanded an emphatic affirmation.
This indicates that Nebuchadnezzar was expressing his great pride by boasting of the city of Babylon as his personal possession and a reflection of his power and glory.
In this boast, he describes the city of Babylon as great in the sense that the city was preeminent among the cities of the world at that time, which it was.
He says that he built her, which is not true since Nimrod built the city originally.
However, he did build her into a great city, which is true.
He is not claiming he built her originally but that he built her into the greatest city on the earth at that time.
He built her into the greatest city in the world at that time for two purposes.
The first was for his royal residence and the second was for the praise of his greatness meaning he wanted the city to reflect his greatness as a human being in the sense that he wanted the city to demonstrate that he was the greatest man on the earth at that time.
Nebuchadnezzar says that his mighty military power was the means by which he accomplished both purposes.
His mighty military power enabled him to accomplish these two purposes because he exacted tribute from those nations he defeated on the battlefield and subjugated to himself.
This wealth from these nations would be brought to the city of Babylon the capital of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire.
This city would then grow and expand immensely as a result of so much money and possessions in the city’s treasury.
In fact, as we noted in Daniel chapter one, the articles of gold and silver and bronze in Solomon’s temple were brought to the city of Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar’s first invasion of Jerusalem in 605 B.C.
They were placed in the temple of Marduk by Nebuchadnezzar and stayed there until the Jewish exiles returned to Israel seventy years later.
Nebuchadnezzar’s boast here in Daniel 4:30 is blasphemous and an insult to God who gave him his entire being and gave him his great military power including giving into his power the nations of the earth.
Daniel 2:37-38 and Jeremiah 27 make clear that the God of Israel created the king and gave him his military power and the nations of the earth into his hand including the wild animals of the earth.
The king’s stubborn refusal to repent and his boast here in Daniel 4:30 reveals his great pride and arrogance.
In the Scriptures, pride is a great evil because it involves pretending to a greatness and glory that belongs rightly to God alone.
It 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).
God commands humility (Micah 6:8; James 4:10; 1 Peter 3:8; cf. Exodus 10:3; Proverbs 16:19; Isaiah 57:15; 58:5; Zephaniah 2:3; Luke 14:9-11; Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 1:28; Ephesian 4:2; Colossians 3:12; Titus 3:2; James 3:13; 1 Peter 5:5).
He promotes the humble (Luke 1:52; cf. 2 Samuel 7:8; 1 Kings 14:7).