Daniel 4.31-The Sentence Against Nebuchadnezzar Is Executed While The King Was Boasting
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday October 17, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 4:31-The Sentence Against Nebuchadnezzar Is Executed While The King Was Boasting
Lesson # 134
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 4:31.
This evening we will study Daniel 4:31, which records the Lord executing the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar while the king was expressing his great pride by boasting of Babylon as his personal possession and a reflection of his power and glory.
Daniel 4:31 “While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you.’” (NASB95)
Nebuchadnezzar under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is once again employing the figure of “asyndeton” because he wants to the reader to dwell upon this statement in Daniel 4:31.
Thus, the Spirit wants the reader to dwell upon the statement in this verse, which records that while Nebuchadnezzar was boasting of the city of Babylon as his personal possession as well as a reflection of his power and glory, a voice came down from heaven and told the king that he was deposed from power.
This figure emphasizes with the reader the sovereign authority that God has over the king, which should comfort those oppressed by tyrannical rulers.
“While the word was in the king’s mouth” is a temporal clause because the temporal adverb ʿôḏ (עֹוד) (ode) is indicating that “while” Nebuchadnezzar was boasting about his accomplishments, the Lord told the king that the sentence that Daniel communicated to him was being executed and he would be deposed from power for seven years.
“The word” is feminine singular form of the noun mil∙lā(h) (מִלָּה) (mil-law´), which means “statement” since it refers to Nebuchadnezzar’s rhetorical question in Daniel 4:30, which records the king posing a rhetorical question which from the king’s perspective demanded an emphatic affirmation.
This rhetorical question expressed the king’s great pride since he boasts of the city of Babylon as his personal possession and a reflection of his power and glory.
Nebuchadnezzar’s boast 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.
“A voice came from heaven” is composed of the masculine singular form of the noun qāl (קָל) (kawl), “a voice” which is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min) “from” and its object is the masculine plural noun šemǎ∙yin (שְׁמַיִן) (shaw-mah´-yin), “heaven” which is followed by the third person masculine plural peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb nep̄ǎl (נְפַל) (nef-al´), “came.”
The noun qāl means “voice” referring to an audible voice, which came from heaven and communicated to Nebuchadnezzar that he was deposed from power for seven years at the precise moment when he was boasting about his accomplishments.
The text does not say if the voice was of an elect angel or God Himself.
However, more than likely it was the voice of the Holy Watcher who appeared in the vision to the king as recorded in Daniel 4:13-17.
This Holy Watcher as we noted was the preincarnate Christ who communicated the sentence against the tree in the vision.
No doubt God would communicate the execution of the sentence against the king by employing the same voice which communicated the judgment against the tree in the vision and which tree symbolized Nebuchadnezzar according to Daniel’s interpretation in Daniel 4:22.
The verb nep̄ǎl means “to come down” and denotes that the voice “came down” from the heavens or in other words, it indicates that this voice “descended” from the heavens in order to communicate to the king that the sentence against him was now being executed.
Nebuchadnezzar is telling his readers that God (the preincarnate Christ) descended from His throne in the third heaven and traveled through the second and first heaven and came to planet earth in order to communicate to the king personally that the sentence against him was now being executed.
The plural noun šemǎ∙yin refers to the first, second and third heaven and is the object of the preposition min, which is a marker of source indicating that this voice “originated from” the first, second and third heavens.
Therefore, this indicates that while Nebuchadnezzar was boasting about his accomplishments, a voice came down from the first, second and third heaven.
This means that this voice, which was the Lord’s, proceeded from His throne in the third heaven and He passed through the second and first heaven and came to planet earth to tell the king personally that the sentence against him was now being executed.
“It is declared” is the masculine plural peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb ʾǎmǎr (אֲמַר) (am-ar´), which means “to declare” in the sense of communicating something to someone explicitly in a formal and official manner.
Here it denotes the Lord “declaring” to the king that He had taken away Nebuchadnezzar’s sovereign authority.
The masculine plural form of the verb is interesting.
Most translations render the plural form of this verb as “it” but this is incorrect to do so since the plural form is a reference to the Holy Watchmen who are identified in Daniel 4:17 as being the originators of this sentence against the king.
As we noted, the Holy Watchmen in verse 17 is a reference to the Trinity.
Therefore, the plural form of this verb means “we” and is a reference to the Trinity.
The voice which Nebuchadnezzar heard was from the preincarnate Christ, i.e. the Son of God who was communicating to the king that the sentence from the Trinity was now being executed.
Therefore, this indicates that Nebuchadnezzar is telling his readers that while he was boasting about his accomplishments, a voice came down from the heavens (the preincarnate Christ) who said to the king “we” (the Trinity) declare to you: sovereign authority has been taken away from you.
The plural form of this verb further substantiates the fact that the Holy Watchman in Daniel 4:13 is the preincarnate Christ and the Holy Watchmen in Daniel 4:17 is the Trinity.
“Sovereignty” is the feminine singular noun mǎl∙ḵû (מַלְכוּ) (mal-koo´), which connotes a situation in which a person, from his innate dignity, exercises supreme power, with no areas of his province outside his jurisdiction.
As applied to Nebuchadnezzar, the term “sovereignty” indicates his complete power over all of creation, so that he exercised his will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills.
This term denotes that Nebuchadnezzar exercised supreme power over various nations, ethnicities and language groups absolutely.
“Has been removed” is the third person feminine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb ʿǎḏā(h) (עֲדָה) (ad-aw´), which means “to take away” and is used with Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom as its subject.
This indicates that the preincarnate Christ declared to the king that He and the other members of the Trinity “had taken away” from the king, his world-wide kingdom and thus the word speaks of the fact that the Trinity had deposed Nebuchadnezzar from power.
Daniel 4:31 While the statement was in the king’s mouth, a voice came down from the heavens: “We declare to you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Sovereignty has been taken away from you!” (My translation)
This verse says that at the exact moment the king was boasting of his accomplishments, the Lord told him he was deposed from power.
When God deposed Nebuchadnezzar from power for seven years, the king was suffering divine discipline as a believer in the Lord, which is indicated by Daniel 3:28 and 4:27.
Daniel 4:28-31 tells the reader that Nebuchadnezzar never repented by obeying Daniel’s advice in Daniel 4:27.
Daniel 4:31 teaches that Nebuchadnezzar was learning the hard way that the God of Israel was sovereign over him which Daniel taught the king in Daniel 2:19-23.
As applied to God, the term “sovereignty” indicates His complete power over all of creation, so that He exercises His will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills (Isaiah 40; Psalm 66:7; Acts 17:22-33; Colossians 2:9-10; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Timothy 6:13-16).
Daniel 4:31 also reveals that Nebuchadnezzar found out that the God of Israel is his judge and does execute judgments against those who violate His laws. God has authority to judge since He is the creator.
The Scriptures teach of God’s status as judge (Psalm 75:7; cf. Psalm 50:6; 76:8-9; Ecclesiastes 11:9; Isaiah 33:22; 66:16; 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 12:23; James 4:12) and presides in the heavenly court in the third heaven (Isaiah 3:13; cf. Psalm 50:4; 82:1; Daniel 7:9-10; Joel 3:12; Revelation 20:11-15).
God judges the inhabitants of the earth (Genesis 18:25; cf. Psalm 9:8; 58:11; 82:8; 94:2; 96:13; 98:9) and every individual (Ezekiel 33:20; cf. Ecclesiastes 3:17; Hebrews 9:27; 1 Peter 4:5; Jude 15; Revelation 20:12).
He judges the nations (Joel 3:12; cf. Psalm 9:19-20; 110:6; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 3:8) and rulers of nations (Isaiah 40:23; Jeremiah 25:17-27; Revelation 6:15-17).
By judging men and angels God reveals his sovereignty (Psalm 9:7; 96:10; 99:4; Ezekiel 6:14), His power (Exodus 6:6; 14:31; Ezekiel 20:33-36; Revelation 18:8), His holiness (Leviticus 10:1-3; 1 Samuel 6:19-20; Ezekiel 28:22; Revelation 16:5), His righteous indignation (Nahum 1:2-3; Romans 2:5), His truth (Psalm 96:13; Romans 2:2; Revelation 16:7), His impartiality (2 Chronicles 19:7; Romans 2:9-11; Colossians 3:25; 1 Peter 1:17), His compassion (Lamentations 3:31-33; Hosea 11:8-9; John 3:10; 4:2), His patience (Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:30; 2 Peter 3:9), and His mercy (Nehemiah 9:31; Job 9:15; Psalm 78:38; Micah 7:18).