Daniel 4:37

Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. NOW I NEBUCHADNEZZAR PRAISE AND EXTOL AND HONOUR THE KING OF HEAVEN. He heaps word on word, as if he cannot say enough in praise of God. ALL WHOSE WORKS ARE TRUTH, AND HIS WAYS JUDGMENT - i:e., are true and just. How striking that the head of the ALL WHOSE WORKS ARE TRUTH, AND HIS WAYS JUDGMENT - i:e., are true and just. How striking that the head of the pagan world-power should be brought to the same confession as shall be the anthem of the redeemed! (, "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways;" .) God has not dealt unjustly or...

At the close of the edict, Nebuchadnezzar joins the ingenuous confession of his faults with the praises of God! What he says of the proud, he doubtless applies properly to himself; as if he had said, God wished to constitute me a remarkable monument of his method of humbling the proud for the instruction of all mankind. For I was inflated with pride, and God corrected this by so remarkable a punishment, that my example ought to profit the world at large. Hence I said, King Nebuchadnezzar does not simply return thanks to God, but at the same time confesses his fault, for though subdued with deserved harshness, yet his haughtiness could not be arrested by any lighter remedy. First of all he says, _I praise, extol, and glorify the king of heaven! _This heaping together of words doubtless proceeded from vehement affection. At the same time a contrast must be understood, on the principle form...

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 4:37. _NOW I - PRAISE AND EXTOL_] It is very probable that Nebuchadnezzar was a true convert; that he relapsed no more into idolatry, and died in the faith of the God of Israel. It is supposed that he lived _seventeen_ years after his restoration. But the authorized Version, which is followed in the margin, states the date of this decree to be B.C. 563, the year preceding Nebuchadnezzar's death....

NOW I NEBUCHADNEZZAR PRAISE AND EXTOL AND HONOR THE KING OF HEAVEN - Compare Daniel 2:47, and Daniel 4:1. He felt himself called on, in this public manner, to acknowledge the true God, with whose supremacy he had been made acquainted in so affecting a manner; to “praise” him that he had preserved him, and restored him to his reason and his throne; to extol or exalt him, by recognizing his sovereignty over the mighty kings of the earth, and the power to rule over all; and to “honor” him by making his name and attributes known abroad, and by using all his influence as a monarch to have him reverenced throughout his extended empire. ALL WHOSE WORKS ARE TRUTH - See...

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....

NOW I NEBUCHADNEZZAR PRAISE AND EXTOL AND HONOUR THE KING OF HEAVEN,.... Now he knew that the heavens ruled, and that there was a God and a King there, above all gods and kings; who had brought him low, and raised him up again, and to whom were owing all his present glory and magnificence, and therefore worthy of his highest praises; and which he in the most public manner gave by words before his lords and counsellors, and by writing under his own hand, by this edict and proclamation: ALL WHOSE WORKS ARE TRUTH, AND HIS WAYS JUDGMENT: everything he does in providence, and every step he takes therein, are according to truth and righteousness; he is true to his word, and righteous in his works, as he had been to him: AND THOSE THAT WALK IN PRIDE HE IS ABLE TO ABASE; not only that show it now and then, but always, and in everything; in their looks and gestures, in their talk and walk, and...

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...

I NEBUCHADNEZZAR, &C. This corresponds with verses: Daniel 4:1. See the Structure, p. 1185....