Daniel Chapter 4 Verses 23-27

23 And whereas the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, `Hew down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field; and let him be wet with the dew of heaven; and let his lot be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him’; 24 this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, 25 that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will. 26 And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be sure for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you; break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your tranquillity.”

Here Daniel gives the interpretation of the more ominous part of the dream.

The decree of the watcher, Daniel says in verse 24, is a decree of the Most High. This judgment, whatever it will be, is from God.

The bad news is that the king was going to lose his kingdom and his sanity until he understood the lesson that God wanted to teach him – that God rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

The guarded tree stump represents Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom during his illness.

The stump was left so that the king would know that his kingdom would not be taken away permanently. Why was this important?

If Nebuchadnezzar lost his kingdom while he was out of the picture then that would prove his point. That is, it would show that Nebuchadnezzar was the real power and that it was his genius that kept the kingdom together.

God, however, wanted to show him that the opposite was true. Nebuchadnezzar ruled and had his kingdom because it pleased God for him to.

If God could keep his kingdom together while he was out in the field living the life of an ox then God did not need a brilliant leader to hold a kingdom together.

In the ordinary course of events, any ruler suffering from such an illness would have been deposed and replaced.

History tells us that Nebuchadnezzar’s sons were worthless, and indeed were unable to retain power very long after his death.

In any event, however, it was God’s will that the kingdom would be returned to Nebuchadnezzar after he recovered – so that is what happened.

There was still a possibility that Nebuchadnezzar could avoid this misfortune if we would amend his ways and acknowledge the absolute sovereignty of God.

What did the king need to do? He needed to adopt two new policies:

He needed to renounce his sins and do what was right.

He needed to protect the poor in his kingdom and not allow them to be exploited and oppressed.

Did he do this? Perhaps he tried. The judgment was delayed for one year.

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