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Nebuchadnezzar’s Seven Years of Madness
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your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be
a lengthening of your prosperity.”
Nebuchadnezzar’s Short-lived Repentance
For a time the counsel of the prophet weighed strongly on Neb-
uchadnezzar; but self-indulgence and ambition still lived in the
king’s heart, and later these traits reappeared. His rule, which up to
then had been just and merciful to a great degree, became oppressive.
He used his God-given talents for self-glorification, exalting himself
above the God who had given him life and power.
For months the judgment of God lingered. But instead of being
led to repentance by God’s restraint, the king indulged his pride until
he lost confidence in the interpretation of the dream and laughed at
his former fears.
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A year after the warning, while walking in his palace and think-
ing with pride of his power as a ruler and of his success as a builder,
Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have
built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of
my majesty?”
While the proud boast was still on the king’s lips, a voice from
heaven announced that God’s appointed time of judgment had come:
“King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has de-
parted from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your
dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you
eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you
know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it
to whomever He chooses.”
In a moment the once mighty ruler was insane. He was no longer
able to rule. Stripped of the power his Creator had given him, and
driven from society, Nebuchadnezzar “ate grass like oxen; his body
was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’
feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”
For seven years Nebuchadnezzar was an astonishment to all his
subjects and was humbled before all the world. Then God restored
his reason and he recognized the divine hand in his affliction. In
a public proclamation he acknowledged the great mercy of God in
restoring him: “I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and