The Second Dream Fulfilled

The narrator states that all this happened to Nebuchadnezzar, though a full year passes before the crisis arrives. Walking on the roof of his royal palace, the king boasts that Babylon the Great is his own creation, built by the might of his power for the glory of his majesty. The delay only reveals how unrepented pride ripens until it openly claims for self what belongs to God.

A²⁸ll this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹Twelve months later, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, ³⁰the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

While the boast is still in Nebuchadnezzar's mouth, a voice from heaven announces that the kingdom has departed from him and repeats the sentence that he will live among the beasts until he acknowledges the Most High's rule. The word is fulfilled immediately: he is driven from human society, eats grass like an ox, and becomes physically disfigured by his humiliation. The king who gloried in civilized greatness is reduced to creaturely helplessness under the decree of heaven.

³¹While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you. ³²You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.” ³³At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind. He ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.