Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar speaks praise to God

Daniel 4

Nebuchadnezzar himself is speaking here, and it had to be the end of the seven years he was sentence to an animals like existence.

So we see a parting place; where Nebuchadnezzar, as king of Babylon, differ from Satan, as king of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar was not a son of Cain or a Kenites.

You will not find more beautiful praise for our living God than Nebuchadnezzar speaks in these words.

God puts whom He will over our people, and this is always in accordance with His plan. He has a specific purpose for those he chooses.

Nebuchadnezzar has been brought back to God. I feel he will be one of the kings of the nations, spoken of in Revelation 21, which says "nations" in English, but it is the "ethnos" in the Greek, indicating one of the ethnic groups.

Daniel 4:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.

Nation in Aramaic translates "races".
Note Nebuchadnezzar addresses all people.
Nebuchadnezzar, what follows is evidently a proclamation. Given probably in 454 B.C., the last of the seven years, 461-454 B.C. the same year as the decree of Astyages, Daniel being then fifty-nine,

2 I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.

High = Most High

3 How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.

The first three verses are evidently a proclamation.
It is evident God has dealt with Nebuchadnezzar.

4 I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace:

5 I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

6 Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream.

Naturally Daniel was among those he called for, being the chief of the wise men.

7 Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.

8 But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying,

The name Belteshazzar, remember means Bel protect his life, and was the name given to Daniel by Nebuchadnezzar.
my god = baal worshipper

9 O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.

Notice that Daniel was still master of the magicians, because in the following chapter, we find Daniel is not the chief of magicians under another king, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar called Belshazzar.
You must watch that the similarity of names here does not confuse you.
Notice also that Nebuchadnezzar here realizes that Daniel is of the living God.
I might add here, that you are an interpreter.
You know who Satan is, when he will appear and to whom.
You can decipher the word of God.
Revelation is not a mystery to you because you have ears to hear.
You understand your place in it.
And this makes you an interpreter of God's word and I ask you to remember that favorite little verse of mine; Dare to be a Daniel: Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose strong and Dare to make it know.

10 Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great.

11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:

You might even say, to the end of all time, because this vision takes us there.
Who's the tree of life?
Christ
Who's the tree of good and evil?
Satan

12 The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.

The beasts of the field or all the living creatures of the earth, all races, all people, all souls.
Ezekiel 31:1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
10 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

13 I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;

Watcher = angel

14 He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:

15 Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth:

The word ''band'' or ''esor'' in the Aramaic or the Hebrew, means ''a tool of imprisonment'', such as manacles or a yoke.
Nebuchadnezzar here takes a different path than Satan does.
When Satan lies are bound in the pit, it is a total imprisonment, and he will have no influence on the earth while you teach during the millennium.
Revelation 20 = Satan in the pit
And Satan is already sentenced to die.
This Gentiles is not.
His band "esor" detains him, rather than imprisons or convicts him.
And you'll also note the dew of heaven comes to him.
The dew of heaven can be none other than the truth.

16 Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.

The Biblical meaning here is that a Gentiles must wait until the end of the seventh dispensation (the millennium) before he can come into the full body he will have throughout eternity.
This seven year wait for Nebuchadnezzar is symbolic of the seven dispensations that must pass before he can take up his kingship in eternity outside the temple of God.
Bear with me, this will become clear to you as we go along.

17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

God decides who shall govern us.
He may choose whom so ever he pleases to suit His purpose, even a base person.
Now Israel can learn from this.

18 This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.

Note again, That Nebuchadnezzar recognizes the spirit of God in Daniel.

19 Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.

Daniel had been with Nebuchadnezzar almost twenty years and no doubt had grown attached to him.
And he was troubled and unhappy about the meaning of the dream.
Was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him.

20 The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth;

21 Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation:

22 It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.

Remember, God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingship, and this whole thing was part of God's plan.
Nebuchadnezzar = was a type of king of Babylon of the end times

23 And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him;

Seven times pass over = seven dispensations = 7th trump
Consider the words, "let his portion be with the beasts".
A disease is indicated here, in which a man thinks he is a wild animal.
In an attempt to put it on an understandable level, let's look at the beast as common man.
Remembering that as a king, he has had his every wish and whim gratified, then this being reduced to live the life of an ordinary person would not only be chastisement in a sense, but would also develop in him a compassion and understanding of problems with which the everyday person contends.
In any case, in this seven years, a gigantic thing happen in the heart of this man.

24 This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which is come upon my lord the king:

25 That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

We see from this that God will give kingship to whomever He pleases.
It is His right, naturally, as God, the Father of all.
And here He is humbling this man.

26 And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.

Who rules the heavens?
And if some have a kingship then, it will be through the grace of God.
This will be made known to those who say they are Jews, but are not and do lie.
These are the kenites, but God said they shall come to worship before your feet.
Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Why?
Because in the millennium you are going to teach them the truth, which is the Word of God.

27 Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

28 All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.

29 At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

Nebuchadnezzar had listened to Daniel, but a whole year had gone by and he was beginning to feel important again.
He had created a vast kingdom with paved streets etc.. and now again, he was pretty self-satisfied.

31 While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

So here again we see the symbolism of the seven dispensations, and we see Nebuchadnezzar being brought into humbleness before God.
Incidentally, there is a period of seven years when Babylonian tablets record no decrees, absolutely no word of Nebuchadnezzar.

33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.

This experience was awesome for Nebuchadnezzar, and you will see in the next verse how it changes his outlook and humbled him.

34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

Why did Nebuchadnezzar bless the Most High?
Because he realized God was shaping him.
It is obvious that something quite inspiring happened to him, because he truly accepted and turned to God.
The millennium is the time of salvation, and you are going to stand with Christ and teach all languages, all people, including your own.
You will bring them to this same light of truth that Nebuchadnezzar has just experienced.
Let us pray that they will stand firmly in that truth at the second testing when Satan is again released for a short while.

35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

It almost sounds like an Israelite were writing this; doesn't it?
Yet, it was Nebuchadnezzar.

36 At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellers and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.

Surely you can see that majesty that was added to him was the glory of the Truth.. Christ that was shinning in him.

37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Nebuchadnezzar is aware of his own false pride and he has become humble before God.
Do you realize the fairness and love of God that brought this man from his selfishness and self-pride?
This man had been put in manacles simply for a time of teaching and training, and he overcame.
These last verses are one of the most beautiful statement of praise recorded anywhere in the Bible.
It is your responsibility to see that God's Word is taught.
We must be a disciplined people, priests that will speak for Him and withstand the evil one.

• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.

• The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25