The Lord told Jeremiah that he had prepared a table for the kings of Judah and the gentile kings living under the influence of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt (cp. Jeremiah 51:7). Through Jeremiah, he told them that they must serve the king of Babylon for 70 years, and this was his judgment upon them for the evil they had been doing (Jeremiah 25:1-5). When the Lord judges a people or nation, it is only fair that he would judge everyone, and this is what occurred, when he chose to judge Judah. Because the Lord chose to judge his people, fairness demanded he also judge the nations round about her, including Egypt (Jeremiah 25:15-27). In this context, he named Nebuchadnezzar as his servant, and the judgment of God was administered by him (Jeremiah 27:6). Babylon’s judgment would come 70 years later, probably due to the fact that she overdid the judgment, which she was called to do for the Lord (Jeremiah 25:11-12; cp. Daniel 4:27). When he would judge Babylon, he also judged the nations in Babylon’s charge and provided a way for them to return to their homelands (Jeremiah 29:10).
When kings and nations refuse to obey the Lord, he strikes them with madness; it is their judgment, for they have come under his wrath (cp. Romans 1:18-22), believing they are wise, they reject a willingness to know/do the Lord’s will (cp. Romans 1:28). They become fools or mad in their thinking (Romans 1:22) and do those things that don’t benefit them, like an insane man is apt to do. Nebuchadnezzar had learned things about God’s power that no man was able to check or keep him from accomplishing what he desired. The Lord had Daniel not only interpret the king’s dream, but he also revealed what the king had forgotten, something which no other wise man in Babylon was able to do. They admitted that only God could do such things. Yet, as Romans 1:21 reveals, Nebuchadnezzar’s praise for God didn’t last. He became vain in his thoughts, so his foolish heart was darkened, by building an image and demanding everyone in the kingdom to bow down and worship it, and he was the object of that worship.
In his renewed madness, he cast Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego into a fiery furnace, because they concluded they would worship only the God of the heavens, and refused to worship the king. At that time, the Lord once more revealed himself to the king by saving his three servants and nullifying the king’s command. Through a miracle, which Nebuchadnezzar agreed no other god could do, the Lord saved the three men out of the fiery furnace. At that time the king once more honored the God of the Jews by decreeing that no one in the kingdom was permitted, through pain of death, to say anything negative against this great God.
Nevertheless, years later, Nebuchadnezzar again began to push the knowledge of God away, out of his heart, and began to wonder, probably immediately after he had Jerusalem destroyed, if it wasn’t through his own power that he built up the empire of Babylon. Once again, the Lord came to him in a dream to correct the king is the thoughts of his heart. The dream was a warning, which, if heeded, its judgment wouldn’t occur. Yet, Nebuchadnezzar didn’t heed God’s warning through Daniel, so judgment fell upon the king in the form of complete madness.
When the seven times (H5732; probably years) were fulfilled, Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity returned to him, and, when he beheld what was done to him, he repented and returned to the Most High God of the Jews, praising him and honoring him, who lives forever, and whose sovereignty is everlasting, and his kingdom is from age to age (Daniel 4:34). It seems that this time, Nebuchadnezzar’s heart was completely won over to the Lord. Not only did he conclude that the Lord does as he pleases and no one, not even the king, has the right to ask why, but he claimed that all men, including the king, are regarded as nothing, meaning they are of no account, in the context of the Lord doing as he pleases. In other words, no one is able to prevent the Lord from doing his will (Daniel 4:35). The Lord God of the Jews is sovereign, period!
When the king’s reasoning faculties were restored, so was the king restored to his former position within the kingdom of Babylon (Daniel 4:36). Nebuchadnezzar concluded by saying he “sets up and magnifies (glorifies) the King of heaven.” In other words, the deeds of Israel’s God are right and his ways are just, and he is able to bring down those who walk in pride (Daniel 4:37).
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