Daniel 4:6-19; Love Your Enemies

09/12_Daniel 04:6-19; Love Your Enemies; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20210912_dan04_6-19.mp3

We saw last time a dramatic change had happened in the heart of this monarch. God did great signs and mighty wonders for him, God extended grace to him, to humble him, to bring him to acknowledge his need, to show to him and to all the living ‘that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men’ (v.17).

Daniel 4:1 King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! 2 It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. 3 How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Testimony

Nebuchadnezzar wrote to all peoples, nations, and languages to give all glory to God Most High. He sent out his testimony, his personal story of what God had done for him.

Daniel 4:4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. 5 I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. 6 So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 7 Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation.

This sounds like a repeat of chapter 2. Except that in chapter 2 the king tested them by demanding that his magicians, the enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans reveal both the dream and its interpretation. And he threatened to tear them limb from limb if they failed to meet his demand. Here he tells them the dream, but they did not interpret it. With the dream and all their dream manuals, they ought to have been able to look up the symbols and give him an interpretation to his dream. It is unclear if this means they could not or they would not. It may be that they understood enough of the dream to realize that this was not good news for the king, and to be the bearer of bad news to a king like this was dangerous business – remember the tearing limb from limb and the superheated fiery furnace? They were out for self-promotion, or at least self-preservation, and they knew what communicating the contents of a dream like this might get them, so they could not bring themselves to tell him the truth. Whatever the reason, they again demonstrated the bankruptcy of their occult practices.

Why Not Daniel?

Daniel 4:8 At last Daniel came in before me—he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods—and I told him the dream, saying, 9 “O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation.

Here the king confesses that the god he worshiped (among others) was Bel, after whom Daniel was renamed. He had been confronted with the God of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, but as yet he had refused to repent, refused to turn from his own gods, refused to face the Most High God on his terms.

‘At last Daniel came in before me.’ The question we are compelled to ask is why?

Why did Nebuchadnezzar bring in the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers? Had he forgotten what he learned back in chapter 2 that their wisdom was powerless and bankrupt? Remember, he had tested them by demanding they give him not only the interpretation, but also the dream. Now he returns to them and even concedes to tell them the dream if perhaps they can provide him with an interpretation. Given his experience in chapter 2, why did the king not summon Daniel alone? He alone had proved able to interpret dreams, and at the end of chapter 2, the king acknowledged that Daniel’s ‘God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery’ (2:47).

We saw in chapter 3, that although Nebuchadnezzar saw four in the fiery furnace, and the fourth was like a son of the gods, Nebuchadnezzar was careful to summon only the three to ‘come out and come here’. He was not yet ready to meet God. He was not yet willing to repent.

Young writes: “With this God, Nebuchadnezzar as yet, wanted no dealings. If others can interpret the dream, he will go to them rather than to Daniel. As Calvin says, it is ‘extreme necessity’ which compels the ruler to turn to Daniel ‘and hence we gather that no one comes to the true God, unless impelled by necessity.’”

Nebuchadnezzar understood that to acknowledge Daniel’s God as the Most High God meant that he was under this God, that this God has the right to make moral demands on his life. He was willing to acknowledge him from a distance, to recognize him as a god, but he was not yet willing to deal with him directly, he was not willing to surrender to him, turn to him alone.

Nebuchadnezzar obviously remembered Daniel. He held the title ‘chief of the magicians’. He confesses ‘I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you.’ So either Daniel didn’t come immediately when summoned, or Nebuchadnezzar summoned all the other magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers, all except Daniel.

Daniel was a man of integrity, a man of character, a man of prayer. This kind of man made the pagan king uncomfortable. Don’t be surprised if you are a person of character and other people find it uncomfortable to be around you. You may not get invited to the thing that others are invited to. It might not mean that you are doing something wrong or have a holier-than-thou attitude. Someone who lives in the presence of God is a reminder of what we were made for, and our mere presence can bring conviction to unbelievers. Daniel may have been summoned out of desperation, as a last resort, after all the other wise men again proved incompetent. ‘He would never have given glory to God, unless when compelled by extreme necessity’ [Calvin].

The Dream

Daniel 4:9 “O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation. 10 The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. 11 The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.

We could easily see the connection with the dream in chapter 2, where Nebuchadnezzar was told

Daniel 2:37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.

But here is where the dream gets troubling.

Daniel 4:13 “I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. 14 He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. 17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’

Notice in verse 15 the shift between the impersonal pronoun ‘it’, referring to the tree, to the personal pronoun ‘him’. The tree is a metaphor for a man, and he will be cut down, reduced to a stump, shackled, driven insane.

No wonder the wise men of Babylon hesitated to interpret the dream!

Daniel 4:18 This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. And you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.” 19 Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him.

Daniel also hesitated, but for a very different reason. He was not concerned for himself, but for the king. The wise men were seeking self-promotion, self-preservation. Daniel’s eyes were not on himself. He was dismayed and alarmed by what this dream meant for the king.

Compassion for a Proud Enemy

Daniel 4:19 …The king answered and said, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies!

Nebuchadnezzar could see the grief this dream brought to Daniel. He had complete confidence that Daniel could tell him what the dream meant, and he encouraged him to do so without fear. Daniel’s answer? “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies!” Daniel evidently cared deeply for the king, and he wished the dream applied to the enemies of Nebuchadnezzar.

Let’s put this in context; Nebuchadnezzar was the king who crushed Jerusalem, who was responsible for uprooting Daniel and his friends and transplanting them into a foreign land and culture. We aren’t told what happened to Daniel’s parents, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that they were killed by Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers. Whatever happened to them, it seems Daniel never saw them again. In fact, Daniel never saw his homeland again. We are not told if Daniel and his friends were actually castrated, but they were put in the care of the chief of the eunuchs, and there is no record of Daniel marrying or having children, even though the prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiles in Babylon:

Jeremiah 29:5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Daniel’s people were the conquered enemies of king Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel had every reason to harbor bitterness, resentment, hatred, both personal and national toward the king.

The king was evil. You don’t become absolute ruler over the known world by being nice. In 2 Kings we read that because King Zedekiah of Jerusalem rebelled against him, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the city for a year and a half, literally starving them out. Zedekiah was captured, and brought before Nebuchadnezzar. He had Zedekiah’s sons slaughtered before his eyes, and then they gouged out his eyes and brought him in chains to Babylon.

This is the king who was ready to rip every wise man in his kingdom limb from limb and turn their homes into outhouses. And remember, this edict applied to Daniel and his friends. This is the king whose mightiest soldiers were burned to death because in a rage he had his furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, and remember, the soldiers died because they actually carried out the king’s order of throwing Daniel’s three friends into the burning fiery furnace.

How do you respond when you hear news that this evil and exceedingly proud king is about to be cut down and utterly humiliated? Your response will show what is truly in your heart. Daniel was genuinely free of any bitterness or resentment. He genuinely loved this pagan king. He was dismayed at the thought of the humiliation of the king.

How? Nebuchadnezzar certainly never apologized for the atrocities he committed against Daniel, his family, his friends, his people. How could Daniel release him from that infinite debt? How could he genuinely love and care for this evil man?

God is Sovereign and No One is Beyond Hope

Daniel knew two things. God is sovereign, and no one is beyond hope. God is sovereign. Nebuchadnezzar had done great evil. ‘Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.’ But ‘the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand’ (Dan.1:1-2). God was in control, bringing about events for his glory, and for the ultimate good of his people, and for the nations. This, by the way, is the context of the oft misquoted verse:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Daniel probably couldn’t see as clearly as we, over 2,500 years later can see, how God was at work in his circumstances, but he trusted in a God who was in absolute control over every atom in his universe, and even over the will of this evil king. This was the lesson Nebuchadnezzar was about to learn, that ‘he Most High rules the kingdom of men’. Daniel trusted in the absolute sovereignty of God.

And Daniel believed that no one is beyond the reach of God. Jeremiah had instructed Daniel and his friends to ‘seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf…’ (Jer.29:7). Daniel did not merely go through the motions of seeking the welfare of Babylon. It came from his heart. He truly cared. He cared about this hard and ruthless king. He could look the king in the eye and say ‘My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies!’

Ezekiel, a fellow exile in Babylon, prophesied that God was able to remove a heart of stone and give in its place a heart of flesh (Ezek.11:19; 36:26). Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones, and was shown that God is able to make dead things live again. Daniel recognized that if there is hope for hard and dead faithless Israel, maybe there is hope for this heard hearted pagan king.

Here’s something to think about. Daniel knew that the humiliation of the king was temporary and would serve a good purpose. It was revealed to him that it would only last for 7 years, and only ‘till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.’ Through this humiliation the king would come to know God; it was for his ultimate good, and as a testimony to the nations. But the prospect of the humbling of the king still grieved and dismayed Daniel. He truly loved the king and didn’t want to see him hurt.

Daniel here provides a great picture of what the teaching of Jesus looks like in real life.

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org