Daniel 4:13 Commentary and Bible Study

As he lay on his bed Nebuchadnezzar had been given a vision. A watcher, or wakeful one, one who never sleeps, that is, an angel from heaven comes down to him – Nebuchadnezzar’s life is being watched from heaven, and now he is about to receive heaven’s verdict on it. This tells him that he is an accountable person in the sight of heaven. He realises what this is about; he grasps it is against him, but he dare not think how it will be realised.A heavenly decree is issued to cut down the tree. It isn’t to be brought down by a mighty storm, but it is to be battered with axes, and its branches cut off and just thrown away as if they were never worth anything and only fit to be burned. The tree had to be stripped of all its beauty and glory, no longer being a place of refuge. It is a humiliating vision. God will throw away his fruit. There is nothing precious or worth keeping from his reign when God decides to end it.Will he be totally destroyed? You might think that that was the end of it. But no: ‘Nevertheless, leave the stump.’ It is a last warning. It turns out he is going to have a period of madness, but he is going to be restored to his kingdom. ‘Leave the stump even with a band of iron and brass.’ It means that his reign over the empire will be secure; God will so order it. You might think that once he was humiliated in this way others would contend for the leadership, and once he was mad that would be the end of him. But no, by an extraordinary act of sovereignty God will keep everything calm and everyone working in running the land, and the kingdom will be reserved for his recovery. That sort of thing didn't happen in ancient times, so the dream he receives assures that element of security to him. The vision turns more and more into the literal. The tree is to be felled but there is some life left in it, and it has to be protected with a band of iron. He will think he is an ox and will not come in at night and get dew on him. This is not that rare medical condition whereby people, we read, can be deluded into thinking that they are an animal. He just completely lost his reason, his rationality, and lived in the open. He became – not literally, but in his mind – an animal. He didn't think he was one; he lost his reason altogether. ‘And let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth.’ Nebuchadnezzar, though lifted up so high, is nothing before God. It is not by his power that he has become so great. God was working out his own purposes. The Jews would be punished and even a base person put in authority over them. He has seized all for self, and given no recognition to God, yet he had Daniel and the other three Jews in his administration.