Daniel 4

Daniel 4:1

IV. NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM OF THE RUINED TREE AND ITS MEANING (Chap. 4)4:1-9 Here Nebuchadnezzar the king witnesses to the greatness of the Most High God and to an experience in his life which led to his conversion (vv. 1-3). He had a dream which his own wise men were unable to interpret, so he sent for Daniel and told him the dream. 4:10-15b He had seen a tree, high, beautiful, and fruitful. The tree . . . reached to the heavens and spread out to the ends of all the earth. A watcher, a holy one coming down from heaven, ordered the tree to be chopped down, leaving only a stump and roots in the ground. 4:15c-18 Then the holy ones described a man losing his senses and becoming like a wild beast of the earth for seven years. 4:19-26 Daniel told the king that the tree represented him and his worldwide empire. He would lose his throne, and he would become insane for seven years, living like an animal in the field. (The medical name for his condition is boanthropy.) But the stump signified that Nebuchadnezzar would not be destroyed but would be restored. 4:27-37 Daniel also counseled the king to change his ways. However, after twelve months of impenitence on the king’s part, the vision came to pass. For seven years he lived like a beast. At the end of that time, he turned to God and acknowledged that He is the Most High . . . who lives forever. He was then restored to the glory of his kingdom.