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> Chapter 5 > Chapter 6 > Chapter 7 > Chapter 8 > Chapter 9 > Chapter 10 > Chapter 11 > Chapter 12 > Chapter 13 Susanna > Chapter 14 Bel and the Dragon >
Chapter 4: This remarkable chapter opens with a speech in the
first person by King Nabuchodonosor. He had a dream which none of his consultors could interpret. But Daniel could He saw a great tree in the middle of the earth. Its top reached to the sky and it could be seen from all the earth. It had fine leaves and abundant fruit. Then a watcher (an early name for an angel), a holy one came from the sky and cried out an order to cut down the tree and its branches. Yet the stump should be left, bound with iron and bronze, amidst the dew of heaven and the grass. Let his mind be changed into that of a beast to make known that the Most High God rules all kingdoms. At first, Daniel, also called Baltassar, hesitated to give the interpretation. Yet he did. It said that the King was the great tree, but was to be cut down, but the stump would remain and be wet with the dew until seven times (years) had passed. It meant that the King would lose a human mind, and be like an ox for seven years until he would acknowledge God. Twelve months later, when the king was walking on the roof of his great palace, and was thinking of his great power until a voice from the sky told him his fate. He then became like an ox for seven years. At the end of the seven years his reason returned, and he praised God. more than before. The episode in chapter 4 of Nabuchodonosor's temporary insanity (boanthropy) does seem strange. Yet we notice that the Babylonian records carry no entries of military activity on his part between 582 and 575. Boanthropy was a mental disease comparable to the better known lycanthropy. The victim being constantly in the open in the difficult climate (range from 110 or 120 down to below freezing in winter, with high humidity) would develop coarser skin. His hair never being cut would be matted and coarse and his nails would grow long. |