Daniel 4:30

The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? IS NOT THIS GREAT BABYLON, THAT I HAVE BUILT? Herodotus ascribes the building of Babylon to Semiramis and Nitocris, his informant under the Persian dynasty giving him the Assyrian and Persian account. Berosus and Abydenus give the Babylonian account-namely, that Nebuchadnezzar added much to the old city; built a splendid palace and city walls. Herodotus, the so-called 'father of history,' does not even mention Nebuchadnezzar. (Nitocris, to whom he attributes the beautifying of Babylon, seems to have been Nebuchadnezzar's wife.) Hence, infidels have doubted the Scripture account. But the latter is proved by thousands of bricks on the plain, the inscriptions of which have been deciphered, each marked 'Nebuchadnezzar, the son of...

I now approach the matter before us. Some think Nebuchadnezzar to have been touched with _penitence _when instructed by God’s anger, and thus the time of his punishment was put off. This does not seem to me probable, and I rather incline to a different opinion, as God withdrew his hand till the end of the year, and thus the king’s pride was the less excusable. The Prophet’s voice ought to have frightened him, just as if God had thundered and lightened from heaven. He now appears to have been always like himself. I indeed do not deny that he might be frightened by the first message, but I leave it doubtful. _Whichever _way it is, I do not think God spared him for a time, because he gave some signs of repentance. I confess he sometimes indulges the reprobate, if he sees them humbled. An example of this, sufficiently remarkable, is displayed in King Ahab. (1 Kings 21:29.) He did not cordial...

28-37 Pride and self-conceit are sins that beset great men. They are apt to take that glory to themselves which is due to God only. While the proud word was in the king's mouth, the powerful word came from God. His understanding and his memory were gone, and all the powers of the rational soul were broken. How careful we ought to be, not to do any thing which may provoke God to put us out of our senses! God resists the proud. Nebuchadnezzar would be more than a man, but God justly makes him less than a man. We may learn to believe concerning God, that the most high God lives for ever, and that his kingdom is like himself, everlasting, and universal. His power cannot be resisted. When men are brought to honour God, by confession of sin and acknowledging his sovereignty, then, and not till then, they may expect that God will honour them; not only restore them to the dignity they lost by t...

Verse Daniel 4:30. _IS NOT THIS GREAT BABYLON_] Here his heart was inflated with pride; he attributed every thing to himself, and acknowledged God in nothing. The _walls, hanging gardens, temple of Bel_, and the _royal palace_, all built by Nebuchadnezzar, made it the greatest city in the world....

THE KING SPAKE AND SAID - The Chaldee, and the Greek of Theodotion and of the Codex Chisianus here is, “the king answered and said:” perhaps he replied to some remark made by his attendants in regard to the magnitude of the city; or perhaps the word “answered” is used, as it often seems to be in the Scriptures, to denote a reply to something passing in the mind that is not uttered; to some question or inquiry that the mind starts. He might merely have been thinking of the magnitude of this city, and he gave response to those thoughts in the language which follows. IS NOT THIS GREAT BABYLON, THAT I HAVE BUILT - In regard to the situation and the magnitude of Babylon, and the agency of Nebuchadnezzar in beautifying and enlarging it, see the analysis prefixed to the notes at Isaiah 13. He greatly enlarged the city; built a new cit

EXPOSITION DANIEL 4:1 THE MADNESS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. We follow here the division of chapters which we find in our English Version, and as, indeed, in all modern versions. The Aramaic concludes the third chapter with the three verses which are placed in our version at the beginning of the fourth chapter. The arrangement of the Aramaic is followed by the Septuagint, by Theodotion, and by Jerome. The Peshitta and Paulus Tellensis follow the more logical division. Luther divides the chapters logically enough, but carries on the numbering of the verses from the preceding chapter. It is difficult to see anything that can even seem to be a reason for this division. It may indicate a suspicion of these verses at the time the chapters were divided....

THE KING SPAKE AND SAID,.... Either within himself, or to his nobles about him; or perhaps to foreigners he had took up with him hither to show the grandeur of the city: IS NOT THIS GREAT BABYLON, THAT I HAVE BUILT; he might well call it great, for, according to Aristotle c, it was more like a country than a city; it was, as Pliny d says, sixty miles in compass within the walls; and Herodotus e affirms it was four hundred and fourscore furlongs round, and such the "greatness" of it, and so beautified, as no other city was he ever knew; Jeremiah 51:58, though the king seems to have gone too far, in ascribing the building of it to himself; at least he was not the original builder of it; for it was built many hundreds of years before he was born, by Nimrod or Belus, who were the same, Gene

CHAPTER 4 THE TREE VISION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR _ 1. The king's proclamation (Daniel 4:1)_ 2. The king relates the tree vision (Daniel 4:4) 3. Daniel interprets the vision (Daniel 4:19) 4. The tree vision fulfilled, the king's abasement and his restoration, (Daniel 4:28) Daniel 4:1. This chapter is in form, at least in part, of a proclamation. This proclamation must have been written after the king had passed through the experience recorded in this chapter....

DANIEL 4. This chapter takes us again into the realm of Apocalyptic. Nebuchadnezzar dreams a fresh dream. This time he sees a gigantic tree, the top of which reached to heaven, full of leaves and fruit. Suddenly a holy one appears from heaven, and cries the command, Hew down the tree, strip off the branches, but leave the stump in the ground. That the dream refers to some individual is clear, for the holy one continues, Let his portion be with the beasts. Let his heart be changed from a man's, and _let_ a beast's heart be given unto him. Daniel, who is summoned to interpret the vision, informs the king that the dream refers to himself. He is the tree which is soon to be cut down. For his pride madness will overtake him, and his portion will be with the beasts of the field for seven years. There are two difficulties about this chapter, the one connected with the form, the other connected...

SPAKE. answered. GREAT BABYLON. The German Orient Society's excavations during recent years have shown how "great" it was. See _Records of the Past,_ vol. i, p, &c. THAT. HAVE BUILT. Everywhere this is repeated by Nebuchadnezzar on bricks, pavements, walls, &c. HOUSE OF THE KINGDOM. the royal palace....