Daniel Chapter 4 Verses 31-33

31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox; and seven times shall pass over you, until you have learned that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” 33 Immediately the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men, and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.

God interrupts the mighty king while the words were still in his mouth.

As McGuiggan points out, he was “bragging one moment and munching the next!”

The humor of this incident is hard to miss. Imagine for a moment how the court must have handled the visit of foreign dignitaries. (“The king can’t talk to you at the moment… He’s grazing.”)

Poor Nebuchadnezzar. After all that he did, this is what he is most remembered for. Even Shakespeare mentions him with respect to this episode. In “All’s Well That Ends Well”, the clown, after being rebuked for his ignorance of herbs, responds by saying “I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir; I have not much skill in grass.”

In verse 31, God says that the kingdom “has” departed from him. So sure was the coming judgment that God used the past tense. (We saw this in Revelation 14:8 as well – “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!”)

When God starts using the past tense, it’s time to watch out! The sky is about to fall on someone.

Verse 33 tells us the condition of Nebuchadnezzar during his insanity.

He grazed in the field like a beast.

His skin was toughened by the exposure to the extreme heat in the summer (110 to 120ϒF) with high humidity to well below freezing in the winter.

His hair, matted and coarse, looked like eagle feathers. His fingernails and toenails became like claws.

This description still points to a long period of time even if “seven times” does not mean “seven years.”

As we mentioned in our introductory comments, some have said that this description of Nebuchadnezzar is too absurd to be true. But is it really that absurd? Not at all. In fact, it is very similar to a known medical condition – boanthropy.

R. K. Harrison speaks of an encounter he had with such a person in a British mental hospital. He ate only vegetation and drank only water. His health was excellent and the only physical abnormality noticed was the length and coarseness of his hair and the thickened condition of his nails.

No Babylonian record has been found that mentions any activity by Nebuchadnezzar during the period 582 to 575. What do you think he was up to? (Perhaps he was “out standing in his field”!)

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