“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, 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.’” —Daniel 4:31-32
The world has been thrown into another age of great power competition. The race for dominion is on. The race to arms, intelligence and resources – oil, gold, silver, copper and elements much rarer than bronze.
The great image of international law seems flimsy, a broken-down thing once built by mighty men – mighty men who shared in a fool’s hope that by their laws might would never be allowed to make right again.
Yet, might is might, and right is right. Neither does the other make – and those who are right without might must tragically learn to suffer their fate.
Through confusion and doubt, we must tread new routes, yet for all the nimble and practical steps we take, we must first remember to humble ourselves, or be humbled, by a test of faith.
How do we unwind this ball of confusion and bring peace to our competitions for dominion over the earth? How do we build a kingdom that has no end where even the lowliest man, woman and child has worth?
Men try to unwind their confusion and competitions and bring peace with their iron laws. Yet, for all their boasts and bets, promises and threats – for all their images of glory cast in gold, silver and bronze – men of clay are nothing compared to the ways of God.
God’s unwinding builds a kingdom out of nothing, struck from a seed of stone not made by human hands. Man’s unwinding always falls into nothing, shattered by the stone seed that becomes a mountain over all lands.
The higher man climbs for the sake of his glory alone, the greater his rapid, unplanned fall and disassembly. Yet, with God, man can brave the highest summits, moving mountains with the smallest seed without fear of fall.
The phrase, “the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will,” appears three times in the fourth chapter of Daniel (4:17, 4:25, 4:32) – twice as a warning and once as a fulfillment – a teaching refrain whereby God humbles the mighty king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar.
Yet, the refrain’s lesson is not meant for Nebuchadnezzar alone.
Have not many Nebuchadnezzars, many Babylons, many mighty men and kingdoms, risen only to be humbled?
Indeed, the same refrain is echoed again in Daniel 5 to King Belshazzar, who seems to have learned nothing from his father’s own test of faith just one generation away (Daniel 5:22-23):
And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
This same refrain, this same lesson, has echoed through the millennia, reminding all proud generations of their unwinding fate – from emperors, kings and princes to the presidents running today’s great race.
How do we unwind this ball of confusion and bring peace to our competitions for dominion once again? How do we build a kingdom that has no end where even the lowliest man, woman and child is freed from the wages of sin?
Perhaps, we should learn the lesson Nebuchadnezzar learned from God’s humbling refrain (Daniel 4:33-35):
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.
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives for ever;
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing;
and he does according to his will in the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, 'What doest thou?'
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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