Daniel 4:31, commentary and pictures

While his proud boast that he had built great Babylon by his own power and for his own majesty was still in his mouth, a voice fell from heaven declaring that the kingdom was departed from him as immediate divine judgment. The interpretation had been plainly given with counsel to break off sins by righteousness and mercy, and he was then proved for twelve months while his actions were weighed in heaven, but prosperity deceived him and he treated the warning as commonplace. His sin was pride that put himself where God should be, forgetting God as the source of strength and glorifying himself instead. The sentence meant the kingdom was taken from him until he would know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever He will, teaching that all who walk in pride He is able to abase. At that utterance his reason was taken away and he was driven to dwell with the beasts and eat grass for seven years, until he lifted his eyes to heaven and blessed the Most High, when his understanding and kingdom were restored with added majesty.

Dream Context and Wording

The declaration belongs to the account of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in which the lofty tree represents his greatness and prosperity, with nations gathered under his sovereignty and his kingdom firmly established in the hearts of his loyal subjects. It belongs to another dream God gave him after he lost the holy impression made by the deliverance of the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace because he did not continue to walk in the light he had acknowledged as true. God had already revealed Himself to him by the dream of the great image with Babylon as the head of gold and by the miracle in the furnace. He sometimes credited his kingdom's glory and splendor to Jehovah's favor, and the account connects with his earlier vision of the great image, which showed that Babylon would fall, other kingdoms would follow, and God's everlasting kingdom would ultimately replace earthly powers.

While walking in the royal palace he said within himself that this great Babylon was what he had built for the house of the kingdom by the might of his power and for the honor of his majesty. God read his heart and heard its whisperings of self-gratulation and self-glorification. His prosperity had elevated and deceived him, and in an unguarded moment he claimed the building of great Babylon by his own power and for his own honor. He placed a high estimate on his human ability and did not consider God his source of strength and ability, swelling with self-importance as he boasted.

While that proud claim to have built Babylon by his own power was still in his mouth, a voice fell from heaven declaring that the kingdom was departed from him. The sentence from heaven fell instantly while he was speaking, answering his boast that very utterance. The declaration marks the loss of Babylon's power and glory as immediate divine retribution, with the taking of his kingdom accompanied by the removal of his reason and the humiliation of the ruler who had trusted in his own greatness.

Probation Warning and Timing

The meaning of the dream as a symbol of his power and glory had been made entirely plain, and with it came counsel to break off sins by righteousness and iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, that the threatened sentence might not be fulfilled. The king was impressed for a time and was placed on trial for twelve months, during which he was tested and proved while his actions were weighed in the balances of the sanctuary in heaven. But a heart not fully transformed by grace soon loses the impression of the Holy Spirit.

At the end of the twelve months he manifested the same spirit that had set up the golden image, treating the counsel given him as commonplace. Prosperity had elevated and deceived him, and self-indulgence and inordinate ambition ruled his heart while he neglected God's warnings. God's sentence fell instantly while his proud boast about his own power and majesty in building great Babylon was still in his mouth, and the thing was fulfilled that same hour when the appointed time of judgment came. While he was speaking proudly about Babylon and his power and greatness, a voice from heaven announced that his kingdom had been taken from him, fulfilling the warning he had received as the consequence of his pride.

Cause and Meaning of Sentence

His sin was pride, placing himself where God should be, forgetting God and glorifying himself instead of considering God his source of strength and ability. He placed a high estimate on his human ability, swelling with self-importance while indulging self-gratulation and self-glorification over what he had built by the might of his own power for the honor of his own majesty. His self-exaltation and oppressive rule led to his dethronement and humiliation, for his rule, once largely just and merciful through God-given wisdom, had become vain and oppressive.

The sentence declared that the kingdom was taken from him until he would know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever He will. It was the immediate fulfillment of the warning foretold in the dream, beginning his being driven from human society and humbled until he learned that lesson. The verse reveals God as Lord over all His creatures and all His works, who removes ability from those who grasp for ambitious projects in self-confidence. It teaches all humanity that all who walk in pride He is able to abase, and that human ability and strength cannot take the place of dependence on God.

It means God can so humble kings and nobles for His glory that they acknowledge a power above themselves and use the tongue to praise Him.

Punishment and Restoration Outcome

The plain meaning of the symbol of his power and glory had been given, with counsel to break off sins by righteousness and iniquities by showing mercy to the poor so that the sentence might not be fulfilled, and he was impressed for a time and placed on trial for twelve months, but a heart not fully transformed by grace soon loses the impression of the Holy Spirit. At the end of the twelve months he manifested the same spirit that set up the golden image, and prosperity elevated and deceived him while self-indulgence and inordinate ambition ruled his heart and he neglected the warning. While words of self-glorification and vanity about great Babylon built by the might of his own power and for the honor of his own majesty were still in his mouth, the decree to fell the tree took effect at that very utterance. The blessings God had bestowed were removed, his reason was taken away, and the mighty ruler was driven from men that same hour to dwell with the beasts of the field, to eat grass as oxen and be wet with the dew of heaven. His downfall shows that indulged pride brings judgment and that human ability and strength cannot take the place of dependence on God.

For seven times, or seven years, he lived and acted like a beast among the wild animals, for his self-exaltation and oppressive rule led to his dethronement and humiliation. His rule, once largely just and merciful through God-given wisdom, had become vain and oppressive. Till his hairs grew like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws he remained under that humiliation, showing that God can humble those who do not honor Him and that the Most High rules human kingdoms and gives them to whom He wills.

God brought him down as he exalted himself by removing the mind and wisdom He had given him, leaving him a lunatic, because he did not acknowledge God. God gives human beings reason and expects them to use it under His control instead of living like dumb beasts, and even in that judgment He was seeking to teach the king. Authority and wisdom come from God, so leaders must humble themselves, do justice, and remain in the Lord's way, for those who exalt themselves or oppose God's law are subject to His authority.

At the end of the days he lifted his eyes to heaven, his understanding and reason returned, and he blessed and praised the Most High whose dominion is everlasting and who does according to His will in heaven and earth. His honor and kingdom were restored with added excellent majesty as he praised the King of heaven whose works are truth and whose ways are judgment and who is able to abase those who walk in pride. His humiliation led to conversion and miraculous restoration, changing him from a proud despot to a humble, obedient, compassionate ruler, after loss of dominion and banishment from human society for seven years until he acknowledged God's rule. His later acknowledgment of the God of Israel showed God's power and mercy, and that God can so humble kings and nobles for His glory that they acknowledge a power above themselves and use the tongue to praise Him.

Divine Watcher and Sovereignty

A Watcher guards the interests of all men, with every individual before Him, noting every thought of the heart and every plan and imagination, hearing secret whispering, with nothing hid and every secret thing to be brought into judgment. Those who take a measuring line to measure character and climb upon the judgment seat to pass sentence on others are to remember that Watcher in secret councils as well as open councils, for God's eye reads and measures men and unless they humble their hearts those bearing responsibilities will make grievous mistakes. As Watcher He takes notice of all human transactions and is present as witness in them, and after warning and reproof had been given, when Nebuchadnezzar disregarded the warnings and went over ground where God had forbidden him to go, the Watcher pronounced judgment, for no injustice or deceit escapes detection, since He who abhors everything false traces every act exactly as it is. The voice from heaven that answered the proud boast is that Watcher from heaven, who hears open pride and also beholds secret unclean deeds, so that even impure work with others done secretly out of human sight is not hidden from Him.

God, not man, is Ruler and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and men today must learn that God is supreme. Nebuchadnezzar's greatness as ruler of the greatest earthly kingdom did not gain him acceptance with God, for his rule could be taken from him in a moment to teach all humanity that all who walk in pride He is able to abase. Success in the work of the Lord comes because God gives it, not for man's own glory but for God's glory, and whoever seeks to steal a ray of light from God's glory will be punished for presumption. The same result surely follows whenever a people boast in wisdom, exalt self, and indulge pride, for pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall; a church that becomes proud and boastful will be laid low, and those in charge of any institution who take to themselves credit for success and glory in wisdom and efficiency will certainly be brought to humiliation.

Human reasoning powers, abilities and capabilities are gifts dependent on God and only lent in trust, which He can take away when they are not used for His glory, as He did to Nebuchadnezzar. Reason was never given for man to suppose he can climb higher than the Source from which reason flows, but talents are given to be improved by exercise in learning from Christ how to use them wisely. Thinking highly of self and boasting of ability is failure to deny self, and true excellence is shown not by boasting but by Christlikeness, meekness and lowliness, usefulness and love.

God had warned Nebuchadnezzar not to go on in pride, but prosperity lifted him up and deceived him, and the moment he boasted that great Babylon was built by his own power for his own honor, heaven answered instantly with sentence upon him. The kingdom departed from him that instant, the tree was felled, the blessings God had bestowed were removed, his reason was taken away, and the mighty ruler was driven from men to find his place among the beasts of the field. By the mandate of heaven God can in a moment of time deprive men of entrusted wisdom and power, of health or reason, and take the kingdom from them, bringing men down to teach them utter weakness and need of divine aid, so that the Lord alone is to be exalted and man is to glory in nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Nebuchadnezzar's sin was pride, placing himself where God should be, and his retribution was degradation with his reason taken from him, showing that God chastises not merely to separate sin from the sinner but by His own light to reveal the sin that led the soul away from God and would be its ruin unless corrected. Selfish, masterly men connected with the work of God who deal with others with iron determination and form unholy confederacies will be placed in Nebuchadnezzar's circumstances and humbled, for God is living and will tolerate no such confederacy but will break it up; therefore these men are not to be feared or envied, and all in high or lowly positions must be less self-sufficient, fear and tremble, and put away harsh control of others.

Prophecy and Later Babylon

The sentence spoken by the divine Watcher that stripped the kingdom from Nebuchadnezzar stands as a type of what would fall upon Babylon's last ruler, for Babylon in pride and confidence that its power would endure was to lose its rule and be brought low. Nebuchadnezzar's forgetting of God and glorifying of himself brought divine judgment in which his kingdom was taken from him and he was driven from human society to live among the beasts. That sin and fall and judgment was a known warning to Belshazzar concerning the consequences of pride and irreverence toward God, which should have taught him to honor God, yet he ignored it.

Despite warning Nebuchadnezzar continued in his own strength until God took away his wisdom and kingdom to bring him to acknowledge God's power to create and to destroy. The kings who succeeded him failed to profit by his experience, and the kingdom of Babylon passed away because in her prosperity her rulers forgot God and ascribed her honor and glory to human achievement. The same law operates still, for when men forget God and refuse to obey His law they are humiliated and tested by God, and if they do not humble their hearts and confess their sins they receive the penalty of transgression.

Warning for Leaders Today

God let Nebuchadnezzar go so far that his own course counteracted his influence, and the loss of his kingdom warns that self-exaltation and resistance to God cost influence and authority, for no worker is indispensable to God's work. The record warns against trusting self and one's own wisdom or making human strength a support, for turning aside from the path God has marked out forfeits His guidance and prosperity. As soon as influence is used to accommodate self, to lead away from the straight narrow way God has cast up, to lift a pin or remove a landmark of truth He has given, or to lower the banner and blend in other things to gain popularity in the last-days message, prosperity ceases because God will not be guide. Exalting one's own judgment and making one's own ways supreme opens the way to come under Satan's influence and be led to ruin. Like Pharaoh of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar became willfully obstinate in spite of warnings from heaven, and for that self-exaltation the kingdom was taken and he came under Satan's jurisdiction, led blindfold until spirit and methods conformed to the deceiver and the whole mind was charmed and held as in a snare with no power to escape.

High-mindedness left the king of Babylon to his own way, warning all in positions of trust not to lean on exalted ideas of their own. Those who resist correction and refuse God's word may persist in rebellion until God removes reason and the heart becomes unimpressible, yet they remain responsible for their own ruin. Neglecting and failing to practice the lessons God has given brings judgment, as shown when the kingdom was taken after despised light. When a man takes too much power and authority into his own word and sways the work in a way God cannot endorse, the kingdom departs from him. Self-exaltation and magnifying one's own power and authority bring God's disapproval, for no man is sufficient in himself to rule God's work, and the Lord Himself must be ruler over work He can sign with His approval.

To act the Nebuchadnezzar is to stand requiring everyone to understand and carry out one's own mind and ideas, assuming over God's heritage a supremacy and authority God has not given. It is to investigate and criticize and condemn sanitarium and medical missionary work that does not meet those ideas, to harass workers with drawbacks and discouragements instead of encouraging and instructing those making a small beginning, and to reveal supremacy by making laws and pledges for the future. One in leadership must therefore be very careful of words, lest self be exalted even in a good action. God forbids men to make themselves the controlling power by framing binding agreements and restrictions, demanding others sign them, taking control of His work, and refusing to cooperate except on their own terms. Men are not God, and all talents and powers are to be exercised for Him after His own order and plan with minds cleansed from self-exalting planning, rather than pursuing ambitious plans by one's own will while disregarding His warnings and direction.

The taking of the kingdom warns a leader entrusted with sanitarium and medical-missionary work, for carrying that work by human wisdom and personal devising brings in principles God will not sustain or favor. God removes position, power, and divine restraint from a leader who patterns after Nebuchadnezzar in pride and self-glory by diverting workers and means into self-created enterprises. The lesson is to humble the heart, keep the eye single to His glory, stay in the appointed work, and plan so as to give all others a chance to accomplish the work after the wisdom God gives them individually. God takes kingdom and position from a steward who becomes proud, feels himself a man of power, exalts his own work above its appointed place, demerits God's appointed ministry, treats his judgment as superior, and dishonors God's servants. Exalting self puts one in danger of losing what was entrusted and in peril through pride and abandoning the faith, left deprived of power and humbled as Nebuchadnezzar was left.

Selfish, masterly men connected with God's work who deal with others with iron determination and form unholy confederacies will be placed in Nebuchadnezzar's circumstances and humbled. God lives and will tolerate no such confederacy but will break up what He will not sustain, so such men are not to be feared or envied, and all in high or low positions must be less self-sufficient, fear and tremble, and put away harsh control of others. What happened to Nebuchadnezzar will surely be fulfilled in those with great light who sustain one another in doing what God warned against, whose ambitious projects He will bring to confusion and uproot. Yet if they repent and humble their hearts, make Him their trust, and keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, there is pardon and peace in forgiveness with approval, acceptance, and another trial and proving. His prideful ambition to gain glory and spread power shows idolatry in which desire possesses the heart and commands its service, warning that presumptuous ambition and high opinions of one's own wisdom bring divine judgment and that God humbles those who exalt themselves.

Success in the Lord's work comes because God gives it, not for man's glory but for God's, and whoever seeks to steal a ray from God's glory will be punished for presumption. God removed the kingdom to teach all humanity that all who walk in pride He is able to abase, that God and not man is Ruler, and that His kingdom is everlasting and supreme. Whenever a people boast in wisdom, exalt self, and indulge pride, the same result follows, for pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. A church that becomes proud and boastful will be laid low, and those in charge of any institution who take credit for success and glory in wisdom and efficiency will certainly be brought to humiliation.