Scripture Daily

Context No. 409 of 4322 · Daniel (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Daniel (Greek) 4:1-8: in context

1Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. 2It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked toward me. 3How great are his signs! How mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion is from generation to generation. 4I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace. 5I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. 6Therefore I made a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 7Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in; and I told the dream before them; but they didn’t make known to me its interpretation. 8But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. I told the dream before him, saying,

This is the opening of a remarkable chapter, and the remarkable thing is who is speaking. It is Nebuchadnezzar, the most feared emperor of his age, the proud king of Babylon, and he has written a public proclamation to all peoples, nations, and languages in all the earth. He is broadcasting something to the whole world, and it is not a decree of his own greatness. It is a testimony about God. It has seemed good to me, he writes, to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked toward me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

And then he begins to tell the story, and it is the story of his own humbling. In the chapter that follows this opening, Nebuchadnezzar recounts how he was at ease and flourishing in his palace when a terrifying dream came, how his wise men could not interpret it, how Daniel finally did, and how God then broke his pride, driving him out of his mind to live like an animal until he learned that the Most High rules over human kingdoms. What is striking is that Nebuchadnezzar publishes all of it, the embarrassing parts included. The emperor who once demanded to be worshiped now writes an open letter to the world telling everyone how he was reduced to nothing, because the God who did it, and who then restored him, was worth testifying to even at the cost of his pride. He would rather the world know what God did than protect his own image.

That is a rare kind of honesty, and it exposes how carefully most of us curate our own stories. When I talk about my life, do I tell the version where God actually worked, including the part where I was humbled, broken, brought low and shown my limits, or do I only tell the flattering edit? Would I be willing, like the proud king, to make my own humbling public, because the God who did it is worth the testimony more than my image is worth protecting?

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