He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes. He was driven away from mankindThis phrase refers to King Nebuchadnezzar's humbling experience as described in Daniel 4. The Hebrew root for "driven away" is "nadach," which implies being banished or expelled. Historically, this reflects the Babylonian king's temporary removal from his throne and society due to his pride. This serves as a powerful reminder of God's sovereignty and the consequences of human arrogance. and his mind was like that of an animal
The transformation of Nebuchadnezzar's mind to that of an animal signifies a profound humbling. The Hebrew word for "mind" here is "levav," often translated as "heart" or "inner self." This indicates a complete change in his reasoning and understanding, emphasizing the depth of his fall from grace. It illustrates the biblical theme that God can change the heart and mind of any individual, regardless of their status. He lived with the wild donkeys
This phrase paints a vivid picture of Nebuchadnezzar's condition. The wild donkey, or "pere" in Hebrew, symbolizes untamed and solitary existence. Archaeological findings suggest that wild donkeys were common in the Mesopotamian region, reinforcing the historical accuracy of this account. Spiritually, this imagery underscores the isolation and degradation that result from defying God. and ate grass like an ox
Eating grass like an ox further illustrates Nebuchadnezzar's debasement. The ox, or "shor" in Hebrew, is a domesticated animal, yet here it highlights the king's loss of human dignity and reason. This serves as a metaphor for how pride can reduce a person to a state of spiritual and moral bankruptcy, reminding believers of the importance of humility before God. and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven
The phrase "drenched with the dew of heaven" signifies Nebuchadnezzar's exposure to the elements, a stark contrast to his former life of luxury. The "dew," or "tal" in Hebrew, often symbolizes divine blessing or presence. In this context, it reflects God's continued oversight and eventual restoration of Nebuchadnezzar, illustrating that even in judgment, God's grace is present. until he acknowledged that the Most High God is ruler over the kingdom of mankind
This is the climax of Nebuchadnezzar's story, where he recognizes God's ultimate authority. The term "acknowledged" comes from the Hebrew "yada," meaning to know or recognize deeply. This acknowledgment is not just intellectual but a heartfelt submission to God's sovereignty. It serves as a powerful testament to the transformative power of repentance and the necessity of recognizing God's rule in our lives. and sets over it whom He wishes
This final phrase emphasizes God's control over earthly kingdoms. The Hebrew root "shith" for "sets" implies establishing or appointing. This reflects the biblical principle that all authority is ordained by God, as echoed in Romans 13:1. It reassures believers that despite human appearances, God is in control, appointing leaders according to His divine purpose and plan. Persons / Places / Events 1. NebuchadnezzarThe Babylonian king who was humbled by God due to his pride. He was driven away from human society and lived like an animal until he recognized God's sovereignty. 2. DanielA prophet and wise man in Babylon who interpreted the writing on the wall for King Belshazzar, recounting Nebuchadnezzar's humbling experience as a lesson. 3. BabylonThe kingdom over which Nebuchadnezzar ruled, known for its grandeur and power, but also for its pride and idolatry. 4. The Most High GodThe sovereign God of Israel, who demonstrated His power and authority over earthly kingdoms through Nebuchadnezzar's experience. 5. Wild Donkeys and OxenSymbolic of Nebuchadnezzar's state of mind and living conditions during his period of humbling, representing a departure from human dignity and reason. Teaching Points The Danger of PridePride can lead to a downfall, as seen in Nebuchadnezzar's life. We must guard our hearts against pride and remember that all we have is from God. God's SovereigntyGod is the ultimate ruler over all kingdoms and authorities. Recognizing His sovereignty brings peace and humility to our lives. The Power of HumilityHumility is a virtue that aligns us with God's will. Nebuchadnezzar's restoration came only after he humbled himself before God. Repentance and RestorationGod is merciful and willing to restore those who repent and acknowledge His authority, as demonstrated in Nebuchadnezzar's account. Learning from HistoryThe experiences of past leaders like Nebuchadnezzar serve as lessons for us today. We should learn from their mistakes and successes. Bible Study Questions 1. How does Nebuchadnezzar's experience in Daniel 5:21 illustrate the consequences of pride, and how can we apply this lesson in our daily lives? 2. In what ways does the account of Nebuchadnezzar demonstrate God's sovereignty, and how can this understanding impact our view of current world events? 3. How does the transformation of Nebuchadnezzar's heart reflect the biblical principle found in James 4:6, and what steps can we take to cultivate humility? 4. What parallels can you draw between Nebuchadnezzar's acknowledgment of God and the call to repentance found throughout Scripture? 5. How can we use the lessons from Nebuchadnezzar's life to influence our leadership or influence in our communities and workplaces? Connections to Other Scriptures Daniel 4This chapter provides the full account of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, his pride, and subsequent humbling, offering a detailed background to Daniel 5:21. Proverbs 16:18This verse speaks to the theme of pride leading to a fall, which is exemplified in Nebuchadnezzar's account. James 4:6This New Testament verse emphasizes that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, aligning with the lesson learned by Nebuchadnezzar. Psalm 103:19This verse highlights God's sovereignty over all creation, reinforcing the acknowledgment Nebuchadnezzar eventually made. People Babylonians, Belshazzar, Belteshazzar, Daniel, Darius, Micah, Nebuchadnezzar, PersiansPlaces Babylon, JerusalemTopics Acknowledged, Animal, Animals, Anyone, Appointeth, Asses, Ate, Bathed, Beast, Beasts, Body, Cattle, Cause, Dew, Donkeys, Drenched, Driven, Dwelling, Eat, Fed, Fields, Gives, Grass, Heart, Heaven, Heavens, Herb, Kingdom, Kingdoms, Mankind, Mind, Ox, Oxen, Pleasure, Power, Raiseth, Realm, Recognized, Ruled, Ruler, Rules, Ruleth, Sets, Setteth, Sky, Sons, Sovereign, Till, Wet, Whomever, Whomsoever, Wild, Willeth, WishesDictionary of Bible Themes Daniel 5:21 4460 grass
4814 dew
5267 control
5326 government Daniel 5:17-28 1443 revelation, OT Daniel 5:18-21 5003 human race, and God Daniel 5:20-21 8401 challenges Library Mene, Tekel, Peres
'Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another: yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 18. O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 19. And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureThe Scales of Judgment
There has never been a deed of persecution--there has never been a drop of martyr's blood shed yet, but shall be avenged, and every land guilty of it shall yet drink the cup of the wine of the wrath of God. And especially certain is there gathering an awful storm over the head of the empire of Rome--that spiritual despotism of the firstborn of hell. All the clouds of God's vengeance are gathering into one--the firmament is big with thunder, God's right arm is lifted up even now, and ere long the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859 "So Then they that are in the Flesh Cannot Please God. "
Rom. viii. 8.--"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is a kind of happiness to men, to please them upon whom they depend, and upon whose favour their well-being hangs. It is the servant's happiness to please his master, the courtier's to please his prince; and so generally, whosoever they be that are joined in mutual relations, and depend one upon another; that which makes all pleasant, is this, to please one another. Now, certainly, all the dependencies of creatures one upon …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Human Government.
Human governments a part of the moral government of God. In the discussion of this subject I will,-- I. Inquire into the ultimate end of God in creation. We have seen in former lectures, that God is a moral agent, the self-existent and supreme; and is therefore himself, as ruler of all, subject to, and observant of, moral law in all his conduct. That is, his own infinite intelligence must affirm that a certain course of willing is suitable, fit, and right in him. This idea, or affirmation, is law …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology Eastern Wise-Men, or Magi, visit Jesus, the New-Born King.
(Jerusalem and Bethlehem, b.c. 4.) ^A Matt. II. 1-12. ^a 1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem [It lies five miles south by west of Jerusalem, a little to the east of the road to Hebron. It occupies part of the summit and sides of a narrow limestone ridge which shoots out eastward from the central chains of the Judæan mountains, and breaks down abruptly into deep valleys on the north, south, and east. Its old name, Ephrath, meant "the fruitful." Bethlehem means "house of bread." Its modern …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Messiah Unpitied, and Without a Comforter
Reproach [Rebuke] hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. T he greatness of suffering cannot be certainly estimated by the single consideration of the immediate, apparent cause; the impression it actually makes upon the mind of the sufferer, must likewise be taken into the account. That which is a heavy trial to one person, may be much lighter to another, and, perhaps, no trial at all. And a state …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 Sovereignty of God in Administration
"The LORD hath prepared His Throne In the heavens; and His Kingdom ruleth over all" (Psa. 103:19). First, a word concerning the need for God to govern the material world. Suppose the opposite for a moment. For the sake of argument, let us say that God created the world, designed and fixed certain laws (which men term "the laws of Nature"), and that He then withdrew, leaving the world to its fortune and the out-working of these laws. In such a case, we should have a world over which there was no intelligent, …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision A. Reasons for Retiring to Galilee. ^A Matt. IV. 12; ^B Mark I. 14; ^C Luke III. 19, 20; ^D John IV. 1-4. ^c 19 but Herod the tetrarch [son of Herod the Great, and tetrarch, or governor, of Galilee], being reproved by him [that is, by John the Baptist] for Herodias his brother's wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done [A full account of the sin of Herod and persecution of John will be found at Matt. xiv. 1-12 and Mark vi. 14-29. John had spoken the truth to Herod as fearlessly …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel The Eternity of God
The next attribute is, God is eternal.' Psa 90:0. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.' The schoolmen distinguish between aevun et aeternum, to explain the notion of eternity. There is a threefold being. I. Such as had a beginning; and shall have an end; as all sensitive creatures, the beasts, fowls, fishes, which at death are destroyed and return to dust; their being ends with their life. 2. Such as had a beginning, but shall have no end, as angels and the souls of men, which are eternal …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity That Upon the Conquest and Slaughter of vitellius Vespasian Hastened his Journey to Rome; but Titus his Son Returned to Jerusalem.
1. And now, when Vespasian had given answers to the embassages, and had disposed of the places of power justly, [25] and according to every one's deserts, he came to Antioch, and consulting which way he had best take, he preferred to go for Rome, rather than to march to Alexandria, because he saw that Alexandria was sure to him already, but that the affairs at Rome were put into disorder by Vitellius; so he sent Mucianus to Italy, and committed a considerable army both of horsemen and footmen to …
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners Or, a Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ, to his Poor Servant, John Bunyan
In this my relation of the merciful working of God upon my soul, it will not be amiss, if in the first place, I do in a few words give you a hint of my pedigree, and manner of bringing up; that thereby the goodness and bounty of God towards me, may be the more advanced and magnified before the sons of men. 2. For my descent then, it was, as is well known by many, of a low and inconsiderable generation; my father's house being of that rank that is meanest, and most despised of all the families in …
John Bunyan—Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners There is a Blessedness in Reversion
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Matthew 5:3 Having done with the occasion, I come now to the sermon itself. Blessed are the poor in spirit'. Christ does not begin his Sermon on the Mount as the Law was delivered on the mount, with commands and threatenings, the trumpet sounding, the fire flaming, the earth quaking, and the hearts of the Israelites too for fear; but our Saviour (whose lips dropped as the honeycomb') begins with promises and blessings. So sweet and ravishing was the doctrine of this …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 The Life and Death of Mr. Badman,
Presented to the World in a Familiar Dialogue Between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive. By John Bunyan ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The life of Badman is a very interesting description, a true and lively portraiture, of the demoralized classes of the trading community in the reign of King Charles II; a subject which naturally led the author to use expressions familiar among such persons, but which are now either obsolete or considered as vulgar. In fact it is the only work proceeding from the prolific …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 The Harbinger
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD , make straight in the desert a high-way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. T he general style of the prophecies is poetical. The inimitable simplicity which characterizes every …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 The Greater Prophets.
1. We have already seen (Chap. 15, Nos. 11 and 12) that from Moses to Samuel the appearances of prophets were infrequent; that with Samuel and the prophetical school established by him there began a new era, in which the prophets were recognized as a distinct order of men in the Theocracy; and that the age of written prophecy did not begin till about the reign of Uzziah, some three centuries after Samuel. The Jewish division of the latter prophets--prophets in the more restricted sense of the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Meditations Before Dinner and Supper.
Meditate that hunger is like the sickness called a wolf; which, if thou dost not feed, will devour thee, and eat thee up; and that meat and drink are but as physic, or means which God hath ordained, to relieve and cure this natural infirmity and necessity of man. Use, therefore, to eat and to drink, rather to sustain and refresh the weakness of nature, than to satisfy the sensuality and delights of the flesh. Eat, therefore, to live, but live not to eat. There is no service so base, as for a man …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety The Chorus of Angels
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour and glory, and blessing! I t was a good report which the queen of Sheba heard, in her own land, of the wisdom and glory of Solomon. It lessened her attachment to home, and prompted her to undertake a long journey to visit this greater King, of whom she had heard so much. She went, and she was not disappointed. Great as the expectations were, which she had formed from the relation made her by others, …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Daniel
Daniel is called a prophet in the New Testament (Matt. xxiv. 15). In the Hebrew Bible, however, the book called by his name appears not among the prophets, but among "the writings," between Esther and Ezra. The Greek version placed it between the major and the minor prophets, and this has determined its position in modern versions. The book is both like and unlike the prophetic books. It is like them in its passionate belief in the overruling Providence of God and in the sure consummation of His …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Daniel 5:21 NIVDaniel 5:21 NLTDaniel 5:21 ESVDaniel 5:21 NASBDaniel 5:21 KJV
Daniel 5:21 Commentaries
Bible Hub |
