Daniel 4 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application

Daniel 4 Bible Study

TIMELINE:

• The Book of Daniel opens in the 3rd year of the reign of King Jehoiakim, 606 BC. Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel in Babylon. Daniel was taken to Babylon about 14 years before Ezekiel was called by God to be a prophet (Ezekiel 1-2).

• Daniel 1:21 informs us Daniel was in the palace of Babylon until the first year of King Cyrus (539 BC).

• Below is a useful list of kings of Judah and dates for their reign:

  • Amon (642-640 BC)

  • Josiah (640-609 BC)

  • Jehoahaz (also known as Shallum, 609 BC)

  • Jehoiakim (initially known as Eliakim, 609-598 BC)

  • Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah or Coniah, 598-597 BC)

  • Zedekiah (His reign ended when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, (597-586 BC)

WHAT WE'VE STUDIED SO FAR IN DANIEL:

• Daniel 1 – Daniel and his friends are taken to Babylon and educated for 3 years to work in the king’s court. Daniel requests to be exempted from eating the king’s food in order to keep God’s dietary laws.

• Daniel 2 – Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a great image made of 5 different materials. Daniel interprets the dream for him, telling him about an everlasting kingdom that God would set up in the latter days.

• Daniel 3 – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold and were thrown into the fiery furnace. God miraculously saved them from the fire, and Nebuchadnezzar praised God and honored Him throughout the kingdom.

OUTLINE:

• NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S INTRODUCTION (4:1-3):

  • *The imagery in this chapter is very similar to that in Ezekiel 31 (the cedar of Assyria).

  • This chapter was written by Nebuchadnezzar about his experience being humbled by the God of Heaven.

  • The intention of the writing was to share God’s “signs and wonders” with all the people in His kingdom.

  • He started off by acknowledging God as eternal king whose “dominion endures from generation to generation.”

• NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM (4:4-18):

  • Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling experience with God started with a dream, which he described to Daniel after all the other wise men and magicians failed to interpret it.

  • In the dream, there was a great tree. The tree grew strong and reached to heaven.

  • Its leaves were thick and its fruit abundant. All the animals found shelter and food beneath its branches.

  • But one day, a “watcher, a holy one” came down from heaven and chopped the tree down.

  • It was stripped of its leaves and its fruit was scattered, but the watcher left the roots in the ground with the stump bound with a band of iron and bronze.

  • The watched announced, “Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ 

• DANIEL INTERPRETS THE DREAM (4:19-27):

  • Daniel was disturbed by the dream, but Nebuchadnezzar insisted on the interpretation.

  • Daniel told the king that the tree represented him. He had grown strong, influential, and proud on earth, but God was going to chop him down and humble him.

  • Nebuchadnezzar would lose his mind and take on a mind like that of an animal. He would live in the fields and eat grass like an ox until “seven periods of time” passed over him, until he understood that God is the true ruler of the kingdoms of men, including Babylon.

  • Nebuchadnezzar was promised that he would live through his humiliation and be restored to his throne. This was communicated in the dream by the roots of the great tree being left in the ground.

  • Daniel encouraged the king to put away his sins and his pride.

• THE FULFILLMENT OF THE DREAM (4:28-33):

  • “All this came upon the king” about 12 months later.

  • He was walking in his palace admiring himself and his kingdom when he heard a voice from heaven announcing that it was time for his humiliation to begin.

  • “Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws” (4:33).

• NEBUCHADNEZZAR RESTORED (4:34-37):

  • At the end of the “7 periods of time,” God gave Nebuchadnezzar his mind back.

  • The first thing he did was praised God as the “Most High” and acknowledged that all the inhabitants of the earth (including himself) are “accounted as nothing” in comparison to the Creator.

  • When his lesson was learned, God restored the humbled king to the throne.

  • The chapter ends with this expression from the king, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are right and His ways are just; and those who walk in pride He is able to humble. 

APPLICATION:

• Pride and thinking too much of yourself is NEVER appropriate.

• There is not a man on earth today that had the wealth, power, and influence of Nebuchadnezzar.

• He attained a level of prominence that a miniscule percentage of people have achieved throughout history.

• If it was inappropriate for Nebuchadnezzar to be proud, how ridiculous is it that some of us have big heads about some of our meager accomplishments.