4:28 Verse 28 introduces the fulfillment of what God had warned Nebuchadnezzar he could expect if he failed to repent. Perhaps he humbled himself initially, but after 12 months he was as proud as ever.
4:29-30 Archaeologists have discovered ancient documents in which Nebuchadnezzar boasted of the glory and splendor of Babylon.153
"The palace from which he surveyed Babylon was one of the citadels on the north side of the city. It had large courts, reception rooms, throne room, residences, and the famous hanging gardens, a vaulted, terraced structure with an elaborate water supply for its trees and plants, apparently built by Nebuchadnezzar for his Median queen. From the palace he would see in the distance the city's 27km outer double wall, which he had built. His palace stood just inside the double wall of the inner city, which was punctuated by eight gates and encircled an area 3kmby 1km, with the Euphrates running through it. The palace adjoined a processional avenue that Nebuchadnezzar had paved with limestone and decorated with lion figures, emblematic of Ishtar; this avenue entered the city through the Ishtar Gate, which he had decorated with dragons and bulls (emblems of Marduk and Bel). It continued south through the city to the most important sacred precincts, to whose beautifying and development Nebuchadnezzar had contributed, the ziggurat crowned by a temple of Marduk where the god's statue resided. In Marduk's temple there were also shrines to other gods, and in the city elsewhere temples of other Babylonian gods, restored or beautified by Nebuchadnezzar."154
4:31-33 No sooner had the king articulated his pride than he heard a voice from heaven pronouncing the punishment that Daniel had warned might come upon him. Immediately something snapped in his mind and he became as an animal. Hair as eagle feathers pictures hair that is neglected and matted as well as long. He did not think to trim his finger and toe nails either. His judgment is a sobering reminder that we are all but a breath or a heart-beat from insanity or death but for God's grace. It is He who sustains us moment by moment (John 15:5; Col. 1:17).155
"What he should have learned from his vision of the great image and from the deliverance of the three Hebrews from the fiery furnace would [now] be indelibly impressed on him."156
"Perhaps one should say that the true insanity belongs to the Nebuchadnezzar who has earlier been talking as if he were the eternal king and God did not exist. His outward madness is the external expression of a delusion he has already been the tragic victim of. Only a madman thinks he is a king or an emperor (Pascal): politics is the house rules of a lunatic asylum. But those rules are important, because they make the madness as little harmful as possible."157
It would not have been abnormal for Nebuchadnezzar's enemies in Babylon to kill him and take his place. The fact that this did not happen during the time of the king's breakdown is another tribute to God's sovereignty. He kept affairs under control so when Nebuchadnezzar recovered he could continue to rule.158One wonders what role Daniel might have played in protecting the king and encouraging the other royal officials to expect and plan for Nebuchadnezzar's restoration.
