Daniel 4:4 Commentary and Bible Study

‘I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house,’ – wars are over; victories are accomplished – ‘and flourishing in my palace.’ He is in extremely good health, taking his leisure, possibly engaging in lion hunting, a popular royal pastime, and there is nothing in the world to worry him. Mark you, he has got a great problem: his conduct is appalling. When Daniel interprets his dream, shortly, he reproves him, and he tells him he has got to mend his ways. He seizes the moment and tells him he has got to stop being an unjust emperor and a tyrant. Possibly he was victimising the Jews in particularly, but Daniel tells him that he has got to behave as a righteous judge. This comes later in the chapter. ‘What can be done’, Daniel may have said to himself and to his friends who also occupied high offices of state. Probably their responsibility was more towards the Jews in the empire, but they held office. ‘Who can straighten out this proud, all-powerful emperor? No one can touch him. No one can address him. No one say anything to him. How will these empires ever end? How will God ever deal with them?’ So to strengthen the faithful, to remind the people, and to curb the excesses of Nebuchadnezzar, God inflicts this extraordinary discipline.The dream terrified him, and when he woke up from the dream the dream continued to terrify him: ‘The thoughts upon my bed, and the visions of my head troubled me.’ Those are his own reflections once the dream was over. It made him afraid, realising its meaning was momentous, and that it was a sign from God, but not knowing its meaning. He couldn't get it out of his mind. He realised this was against him, that here was something terrible that he had to either avert or face. It troubled him deeply. Previous dreams predicted trouble, but not in his lifetime. This one seemed different. Why assume it is against him? Partly because of the nature of the dream, and partly he knows what he has been doing. Why does he call in the wise men again, after they have been so discredited? – there is no indication that he did this regularly, as some say. Maybe because he feared it would be bad news, and he hoped they would give a good interpretation and tell him what he wanted to hear. The text doesn’t say that he sent for Daniel. If he did, Daniel chose to go in last after they couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t, interpret the dream.