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. 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. (Dan 4:6-7)
Carving Above: Nebuchadnezzar the King. Once an eye of a statue of the god Marduk, this unique carving on onyx is surrounded by a cuneiform inscription: ´To Marduk his lord, Nebuchadnezzar has given this for his life.´
*Photo: Biblepicturegallery.com/ Babylonian chronicle of Nebuchadnezzar´s reign.
God exercises infinite variety. If you were going to crack the hardened shell of a man like Nebuchadnezzar, how would you do it? Old Neb still didn't get it. He had called in Daniel in Dan 2:24-25, many years before for an especially difficult case, but apparently had not "needed" God since that time. Many men seek God when they have a knotty problem they can't handle. We might conclude that if God didn't allow us to get in over our heads, some of us would never call on Him.
King Nebuchadnezzar calls in his standard wizards, the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers. It's not good to clutter up the palace court with the Hebrew odd balls unless you just have to. It reminds us just how pervasive God's hand is in human matters. God ordains that the usual hocus-pocus crew be allowed to do their thing first and reduce this whole situation to an impasse. Then God would send His man to interpret His dream for His purpose. Sometimes some very ordinary-looking people and some very ordinary-looking events are from the hand of the Lord. When God gave the dreams, only God could interpret the dreams.
No doubt, the family had kept the king's insanity quiet and maybe had a gag order on it so that nobody in the palace could talk about it and keep his head. McGee lists a number of famous rulers as having had some form of insanity.
"Nebuchadnezzar was not insane because he had been dropped on his head as a baby). It manifests itself in somnambulism (sleepwalking) and amnesia (loss of memory), and it is thought to be hereditary. A historian tells us that a number of other world rulers have suffered from some form of mental instability: Antiochus Epiphanes, Charles VI of France, Christian VII of Denmark, George III of England, Otho of Bavaria, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon. It has also been in the Spanish royal line, the Russian line (among the czars), and also in the English line.
"Henry VI of England was a real madhatter, and suffered from something similar to hysteria. Hitler also had that problem. And here, the head of gold, Nebuchadnezzar, was a lunatic. He had bats in his belfry. He was not ruling with a full deck in his hands. He was just a little off, if you please. All of this was revealed in his extreme emotionalism—he would move in any direction and to an extreme."
The key to this chapter is found here: …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 (Dan 4:17).
There is a strong suggestion in this verse that God gives us the kind of rulers we deserve and sometimes the rulers we want. We have only to go to McGee's list of wacky rulers above to understand that the elevators of many rulers did not go to the top floor. Why does God do that? I don't know. Maybe we can ask Him when we see Him. It does seem like a modern progressive nation such as ours would be able to elect rulers who would behave like principled men and women.
I leave it to you as to why we so often are tempted to call our politicians "dipsticks," etc. But, then I'm forced to remember that it's the "dipsticks" in the hamlets and villages that sent them there did we not? The problem is not in Washington. The problem may be looking back at us in the mirror and mowing the yard next door.
The problem may also be found standing behind many pulpits on Sunday mornings trying to be smooth and preaching what the paying congregation wants to hear. Fifty million murdered babies is a lot to be swept under a rug. Nebuchadnezzar did not deal with his problem until God called his hand. Most of us are that way, are we not? How long has it been since you talked – really talked – with the Lord?
"If my people…" occurs 16 times in the King James concordance. The best known one says: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land
(2Ch 7:14).
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