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Daniel 4:20-27 — The Dream Interpreted

Daniel interpreted the king’s dream truthfully, even though it predicted serious trouble for Nebuchadnezzar. He first made it clear that the great tree represented Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom, which had grown great, with people all over his empire depending on him for their sustenance. Then Daniel said the cutting down of the tree represented a time of trouble for the king—he would become insane and be driven away from people to live with the wild animals—and this condition would continue until “seven times” had passed by. After this the king would “acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes” (Daniel 4:25). Daniel gave a word of hope for the king by telling him that the continuance of the stump in the field meant that Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom would be restored to him when he acknowledged that “Heaven rules” (Daniel 4:26). Finally, Daniel finished with kind and loving advice to the king to renounce his sins and be kind to the oppressed. He said that perhaps if Nebuchadnezzar did this, God would show him mercy and reduce the degree of discipline that the dream had foretold.

We may think God’s warning to Nebuchadnezzar does not apply to us. After all, we are not kings of a vast empire. But listen to the words of Abraham Lincoln, written to people of America in 1863, “We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.”¹⁹

Both God’s warning to Nebuchadnezzar and the proclamation by Lincoln are as instructive for us today as for any person in the past. In any era it is necessary for us to humble ourselves, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. God tells us, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).