Daniel 4:30, commentary and pictures

Walking in his palace, the king congratulated himself within and claimed the greatness and splendor of Babylon as built by himself for his own power and honor. His words were pride and self-sufficiency, crediting his own ability and majesty for his position and success while forgetting and robbing God as the source of strength and exaltation. The boast came after warning in the dream of the tree and counsel to break off sins, followed by twelve months of probation in which his heart remained unchanged. While the word was still in his mouth judgment fell, his reason was taken, and he was driven from men to live as a beast for seven times until he knew that the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men. When he lifted his eyes to heaven and blessed the Most High, his understanding returned and he was restored with added majesty to confess that God is able to abase those who walk in pride. The record stands as warning that prosperity lifts up corrupt nature to self-exaltation, that pride is surely followed by punishment, and that success and ability are lent in trust to be used humbly for God rather than for display and control of others.

Boast and Setting

The king uttered the boast while walking in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, speaking in self-gratulation even within himself, on a morning when he was swelling with self-importance. He asked whether this great Babylon was not built by him for the house of the kingdom by the might of his power and for the honor of his majesty, claiming its building, greatness, construction, splendor, and his success as ruler as his own achievement and for his own glory.

The words were pride, self-sufficiency, self-importance, and self-glorification, crediting his own power, ability, strength, achievement, and majesty for Babylon. He proudly claimed credit for building Babylon and took its splendor as a display of his power and majesty. His prosperity fed that pride and self-glorification, and his words revealed a heart unchanged by warning.

The boast forgot God and robbed Him of glory, failing to recognize Him as the power that had exalted the king and as the source of strength, ability, authority, position, prosperity, success, and exaltation. He did not consider God as his source of strength and ability, forgot God's honor, and put self where God should be and self before the people as an object of worship. Babylon itself likewise passed away because in prosperity its rulers forgot God and gave human achievement the glory for its success.

Prosperity had elevated him and deceived him, raising him up until in an unguarded moment corrupt human nature lifted up by prosperity claimed Babylon as his own by his own power for his own honor. He looked on his kingdom with pride and did what he had been warned not to do, taking credit for Babylon and glorying in his own power and majesty rather than God.

That pride stood in contrast with his earlier recognition that his kingdom and its splendor had been granted to him, for he had understood that Babylon would fall, other kingdoms would follow, and God's everlasting kingdom would supersede all earthly powers. It grew out of flattery over Babylon as the head of gold and out of failing to continue walking in the light after acknowledging the living God, joined to the pride and ambition that set up the golden image. Flattered by the word that he was the head of gold, he became jealous of other kingdoms and determined his kingdom should be as an image all of gold. A rule that had been largely just and merciful by God-given wisdom was thus turned into vanity and oppression, with self-indulgence and pride remaining.

Warning Beforehand

The boast did not come without warning, for the king had first been shown his kingdom and greatness in the dream of the tree, with counsel to break off his sins by righteousness and to show mercy to the poor. That warning was followed by twelve months of probation and testing in which his actions were weighed in the balances of the sanctuary in heaven. He did not heed it, and when he spoke his heart remained unchanged in pride, ambition, self-indulgence and vanity. His prosperity had fed that pride and self-glorification, revealing a heart not changed by the warning.

The twelve months passed and the announced judgment fell while the word of self-glorification was still in his mouth. God read his heart and heard its secret whisperings when he spoke within himself in self-gratulation. The Watcher guards the interests of all men, sees every act and plan, hears every secret whispering, reads and measures every heart and thought, and will bring every secret thing into judgment.

He had set God aside and trusted in his own wisdom, magnifying himself and his power and glory as builder and ruler of great Babylon. Flattered by the word that Babylon was the head of gold, he became jealous of other kingdoms and determined his kingdom should be as an image all of gold. A rule that had been largely just and merciful by God-given wisdom was thus turned into vanity and oppression, as he misapplied his God-given reason to glorify and exalt himself before God.

Judgment and Restoration

While the word was still in his mouth, judgment fell from heaven and a voice declared that the kingdom was departed from him. The sentence came at once upon the utterance of the boast, without delay after the twelve months of probation and testing in which his actions were weighed and the warning was not heeded. It revealed God as Lord over all creatures and works, able to humble kings and nobles for His glory until they acknowledge a power above themselves.

As the felling of the tree that had represented his kingdom and greatness, the blessings God had given were removed. His reason was taken away, with the judgment and wisdom he had prized and trusted, the jewel of the mind that elevates man above the beasts. The mighty ruler was thus brought down from rule and driven from men to find his place among the beasts of the field.

The sentence was fulfilled the same hour. He was driven from men to dwell with the beasts of the field, to eat grass as oxen and to be wet with the dew of heaven, living as a beast and following the instincts of beasts for seven times or years. He continued until his hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws, an astonishment to his subjects. The humbling lasted until he knew that the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men and gives them to whom He wills. His kingdom was taken from him until he learned that God, not man, is Ruler, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

At the end of the days he lifted his eyes to heaven, and his understanding and reason returned. He blessed and praised the Most High whose dominion is everlasting, was restored to his kingdom with added majesty, and acknowledged the power and mercy of God. He confessed that the works of the King of heaven are truth and His ways judgment, and that He is able to abase those who walk in pride. Babylon itself passed away because in prosperity its rulers forgot God and credited human achievement and glory for success, and the kings who succeeded him failed to profit by his experience.

God and Pride

Human greatness and rule remain subject to God, and royal position and power do not make a ruler acceptable to Him apart from acknowledgment of Him. Claiming the building, greatness, and success of a kingdom as the work of one's own power and for one's own glory is pride in power, achievement, and majesty. While such boasting is still being spoken, God's appointed judgment begins, and power can be taken away suddenly. Position and abilities come from God and must not be ruled by self-seeking, but used to acknowledge Him and do what is right, for those who exalt themselves or make laws against His law are not beyond His authority to humble them and direct human affairs to carry out His purposes.

All powers of mind, including reason, are God's precious gift, given to understand man's situation and to glorify Him, and using ability only for self-glorification does not fulfill His will. When a ruler walking in his capital used God-given reason to exalt himself and credited his own power and majesty for building his great city, forgetting God's honor, God removed his reason and wisdom and sent him to dwell with the beasts of the field to eat grass as an ox. What is left when God takes away the powers of the mind is nothing but the instinct of a beast, showing what a man becomes without that precious endowment. The jewel of the mind that elevates man above beasts, the judgment and wisdom he prized, can be removed in judgment.

Pride is surely followed by punishment from God, for He has many ways to punish and will bring down anyone lifted up by a sense of his own ability and trusting in human strength, ability, wisdom, or talents. Prosperity elevates and deceives until, in an unguarded moment, a man claims his great work as built by himself by the might of his power and for the honor of his majesty, after warning against that course. The instant such words are spoken divine sentence falls as the felling of the tree, the blessings God had given are removed, reason is taken away, and the mighty ruler is driven from men to find his place among the beasts of the field. By this God teaches utter weakness and need of divine aid, that the Lord alone is to be exalted and that pride and trust in human ability lead to a fall.

In this God magnifies Himself as the true and living God by withdrawing support, leaving corrupt human nature lifted up by prosperity to fall and be brought to confusion when it does what He warned against. Any man, church, or people, and any leaders of an institution, lifted up in pride and glorying in wealth, intellect, knowledge, wisdom, efficiency, or anything but Jesus Christ instead of depending on God will not be sustained. Success in work comes from God for God's glory, not for man's glory, and whoever seeks to steal glory from God and takes to himself credit for success will be punished for presumption. The same result surely follows today for those who boast in wisdom, exalt self, and indulge pride; pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall, the proud will be laid low and brought to humiliation, and the wicked in great power will pass away and not be found.

Success, ability, talents, capabilities, and powers are not one's own but God's, lent in trust to be exercised after His order and plan for His glory, and glory belongs to Him. Thinking highly of oneself, boasting of one's own capabilities, taking personal credit for success, becoming proud of power and importance, and supposing a great work is one's own achievement to carry out one's own purposes is failure to deny self. God answers such boasting by taking away reason, and true excellence is shown not by boasting but by Christlikeness in meekness and lowliness, usefulness and love. Prosperity is dangerous to spiritual life like carrying a cup full to the brim, requiring nice precision to balance, while an empty cup is not the most difficult to carry. It is not those who have lost property who are most likely to forget God, but those who have a measure of prosperity or success in their plans, who too often fall into self-exaltation and self-approbation, feel they are masters and others are dependent on them, and turn fellow men away from their rights, which is deception, delusion, presumption, and vanity; therefore every man in a position of trust, when even a little power is placed in his hands, must not feel too great and too wise to follow Christ's example, but must respect and treat kindly every other man.

Warnings for Today

The verse warns not to follow the king's course by trusting in self, in one's own wisdom, or in human strength and plans, instead of learning from God and making Him the support. Making one's own ways and judgment supreme puts a person under Satan's jurisdiction and into a snare. Then he is led blindfold until spirit and methods conform to the arch-deceiver little by little, until the whole mind is under the spell, charmed and fixed by the serpent's eye with no power to leave the snare, brought into pride and spiritual blindness.

Those with responsibility and position must not exalt themselves, take the measuring line and judgment seat to measure character and pass sentence on others, oppress those purchased by Christ's blood, or wield authority as though human judgment should rule. They must humble their hearts before God, respect others, acknowledge Him as source of position and ability and do what is right, and let the Lord be ruler, or they will make grievous mistakes. Man is not sufficient to take such power and authority into his own word and sway God's work, exaggerating power in a way God cannot approve, and those who exalt themselves or make laws against God's law are not beyond His authority to humble them and direct affairs to His purposes. The Watcher guards the interests of all, sees every act and plan, hears every secret whispering, reads and measures every heart and thought, and will bring every secret thing into judgment, a warning especially pointed at Battle Creek.

Treating oneself as complete, claiming too much as one's own work, exalting self, trying to control others, and trusting presumptuous ambition, high opinions, and one's own plans and wisdom cannot succeed without the Lord. Such a course is permitted to go so far that it counteracts one's influence, and may bring God's humbling, which could be escaped through revulsion at presumptuous ambition and high opinions of self. The king's sin, fall, banishment from men to beasts, and judgment were a lesson that ought to have taught Belshazzar to know and do God's will. He had great opportunity and knowledge of the works and power of the living God from that history, yet disregarded it as if it had never occurred and went on repeating the same sins and daring the same crimes, and he was condemned not only for doing wickedly but for not availing himself of opportunities and capabilities which if cultivated would have made him right, for God will not condemn any for honestly believing a lie but for neglecting opportunities to learn truth.

That same self-exaltation is pursued in gladness over the burning of the old sanitarium buildings when their burning was a reproof, in giving place to self-exaltation instead of heeding it. It is pursued in risking God's warning by concentrating the work in one place at Battle Creek rather than establishing it in many places according to His direction, and in self-exaltation and desire to direct everything which brings divine rebuke upon claims of kingly power. Carrying on sanitarium and medical-missionary work by the wisdom of human minds and personal devising instead of as God requires will not be sustained or favored by the Lord. Eternal interest depends on a change of heart so that planning no longer imposes one man's devising but gives all others a chance to accomplish the work after the wisdom God gives them individually.

The verse means feeling oneself a man of power, magnifying self to large proportions, exalting self and one's own work while demeaning the ministry, making the medical missionary work the body instead of the hand, treating a created work as the all and in all, discrediting the ministry and ridiculing God's ordained means, creating many responsibilities and devising human plans to build an unfinished tower when God was not in the devising, and taking up work God did not put into human hands instead of bearing only what He designed and knew was best. A steward placed by God becomes a power only by refusing that pride, and persisting in it causes the Lord to withdraw and leave him in the humbled position in which the king was left. It also means standing to require everyone to understand and carry out one's own mind, investigating and criticizing and condemning workers unless their work meets one's ideas, harassing striving workers with drawbacks and discouragements instead of encouraging and instructing them in their small beginning, and revealing supremacy by making laws and pledges for the future. One in oversight must be very careful of words lest self be exalted even in a good action.

To act the king's part is proud self-exaltation claiming what God has given as one's own work and setting self up as controlling power, claiming supremacy and authority over God's heritage that God has not given. It frames binding agreements that force other men to accept restrictions, takes control of institutions and refuses to cooperate unless they subscribe to one's terms, and holds the molding of the work in one's own hands instead of leaving it in other hands under God. No man is God, and all talents and powers are given by God to be exercised for Him after His own order and plan. The verse warns against pride in talents and advantages, which must be used and improved only under the shield of humility. Humility is the safeguard for churches, requiring faithfulness, self-denial, close watching and waiting, and careful conscientious doing of God's will, because even the best of men could not endure God's wrath for one moment.

Spiritual pride that builds and spends for display repeats the king's glorifying of himself for what he had built by his own power and for the honor of his own majesty. Putting up a costly showy house of worship when a plain comfortable respectable building in keeping with faith would be more pleasing to God manifests that same self-glorification, and wisdom is not manifested in such direction. Every needless article of dress and every needless expenditure for display to glorify self wastes entrusted means needed elsewhere, while missionaries lack comfortable clothing and enough food to sustain their families. Such outlay is placed on the losing side in the books of record. Instead there is need to buy love and faith, Christ's righteousness, and spiritual discernment.

The verse means an unquenchable thirst taking possession of the whole man to obtain money, to be first, to accomplish some great thing and spread renown and get glory to self. A man with this spirit betrays the most precious cause of truth to obtain money or to be first, binds up with worldly men, forsakes the fountain of living waters, makes self-worship an idol, and forms selfish plans to exalt self. Nothing but humbling the soul to the light of the Word, with the Sun of Righteousness penetrating every chamber of the moral being, will break the fog and dense darkness gathered about the soul. The record warns never to grasp every dollar possible in connection with God's cause to carry out ambitious projects and be overcome by Satan's bribes, never to sustain one another by unholy confederacy in what God warned against, manipulate matters to suit personal plans, lift a pin or remove a landmark of truth, leave the strait and narrow path to accommodate self, seek popularity, or lower the banner and blend into the last message anything that hides prominent features of faith. Allowing influence so to lead away causes prosperity to cease, for God will not guide, and He will surely remove ability, uproot the exalted and bring ambitious projects to confusion, yet if they repent and humble hearts, make God their trust and do justice and judgment, there is pardon, peace, acceptance and another trial.

Self-glorification that puts self before the people as an object of worship, takes glory to one's own name and power and majesty, robs God of glory and puts self in His place, exemplifies high-minded pride. It grows out of flattery and out of failing to continue walking in the light after acknowledging the living God, and it leads people to follow their own way rather than learn from God and to treat one's own judgment as superior to others. Any worker entertaining the same self-exalting spirit and patterning after the king by exalting self and seeking honor for his own name is in danger of passing through a trying experience.