The Madness of

KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR

History and the Bible tell how God brought an arrogant dictator down to size.

'Iam Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, the exalted prince, the wise, the pious, the chief son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon... To Marduk, my lord, I made supplication: Oh, eternal prince, lord of all being, guide in a straight path the king whom thou lovest... Thou hast created me, entrusting me with dominion over all people.'

This royal proclamation was discovered by archaeologists in the ruins of Babylon. It was likely delivered at a temple dedication ceremony for Marduk, the chief deity of Babylon's religion. While he had Marduk's attention, Nebuchadnezzar added for good measure, 'By thy command, merciful Marduk, may the temple which I have built endure for all time...From the horizon of heaven to the zenith, may I have no enemies.'

Marduk, a figment of pagan imagination, wasn't listening. The Creator God of the Universe was. He decided to teach this arrogant emperor a lesson of humility. Here is what happened.

History's greatest builder

Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful man of his day. His father, Nabopolassar, gained control over southern Mesopotamia in 625 BC, establishing the Neo-Babylonian, or Chaldean, empire. Nineteen years later, with help from neighbouring Medes, the Chaldeans destroyed Nineveh, bringing an end to the empire of their arch-rivals, the Assyrians. The smaller countries in the region welcomed this, because the Babylonians, though by no means perfect, were a definite improvement over terrible 'Tyrants of the Tigris'.

After his father's death in 605 BC. Nebuchadnezzar consolidated the empire and embarked on an unprecedented building program. He built or rebuilt cities, repaired temples, constructed canals and aqueducts, quays and reservoirs. The scope and grandeur of his work was unmatched in history except for possibly the works of one or two of the greatest Egyptian pharaohs.

At excavation sites throughout his vast realm, whose heartland comprised much of present day Iraq, archaeologists have unearthed many bricks bearing Nebuchadnezzar's name. It is interesting that Iraq's present ruler (article was written in 1999) Sadam Hussein has been restoring the site of Babylon. He has also inscribed many of the bricks with his name.

Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon became the showplace of the ancient world. Travellers of the time marvelled at its wide, arrow-straight boulevards, the city's massive brick walls. The outer perimeter, approximately eleven miles (18km) in length, was so wide that a four-horse team could turn around on the roadway on top of it.

These walls, together with the terraced 'hanging gardens' which contained plants and trees from all over the empire - a Kew Gardens of its day -were considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Babylon was the political and commercial capital of the Empire. It was also a great religious center. One ancient source recorded that in the city were '55 chapels of Marduk, 300 chapels for the earthly deities, 600 for the heavenly deities, [and] 180 altars for the goddess Ishatar.' The major boulevards were often named after the gods. But Marduk was the greatest of all. Or so thought Babylon's emperor.

Then, at the height of his power, this great world ruler encountered another, and far more potent, religious force.

Face-to-Face with another god

Nebuchadnezzar, so full of self-importance, did not realise that even he was only an instrument in the hands of the one true God.

God had used Nebuchadnezzar to bring an end to the Kingdom of Judah, the remnant survivor of the once powerful Kingdom of Israel. (Israel, remember, was a confederation of 12 tribes. The northern ten tribes had been taken into captivity by Assyria over a century earlier.) Nebuchadnezzar launched three campaigns into Palestine, culminating in the complete destruction of Jerusalem and its fabled temple in 587 BC and the exile of the educated elite of the population.

However, after achieving his military aims, Nebuchadnezzar became what might be called an 'enlightened despot'. He enlisted promising talent into government service regardless of nationality. Deportees from conquered Judah were no excpeption. That is how four particularly bright young men - Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah - were drafted into an intensive training program covering all aspects of Babylonian history, language and literature.

At the conclusion of this three year immersion course, the students were examined by the king himself, according to the first chapter of the biblical book of Daniel. The four young men from Judah - given the new Babylonian names of Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - must have impressed him. He founded them, 'ten times better' in all matter of wisdom and understanding than all the magicians, astrologers and sorcerers in his service.

What Nebuchadnezzar did not perceive was that the four trainees had help. 'To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.' That was exactly what the superstitions Nebuchadnezzar valued most.

The stage was being set for a dramatic confrontation between the world's mightiest ruler, and the ruler of heaven and earth. God was about to put the proud pagan and king, wedded to the gods of his own culture, through a training program of his own.

He did it in three remarkable lessons described in the chapters two through four of Daniel.

Lesson one

One night, Nebuchadnezzar was shaken by a vivid dream. He saw a great human image, made of various levels of metal. The head was gold, the torso silver, the lower body was brass and the legs were made of iron. The feet were a brittle mixture of clay and iron. A stone marked the image on its toes, toppling it. The stone then grew to replace the statue, eventually filling the earth.

In the morning, he summoned his wise men - and on pain of death - demanded they tell him the details of the dream. They couldn't of course, thus sealing their death warrants.

At the last moment, Daniel was brought before the throne. He asked for one day's grace, to which Nebuchadnezzar agreed. Daniel and his friends fervently asked God's intervention - their lives, too, were on the line. God revealed the mystery to Daniel, and when he came again before the throne, Daniel told his delighted, if astonished master that 'this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than any one else,' but that 'there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets.'

Daniel then explained the meaning of the strange multi-metal colossus. It signified a succession of empires. the image's eventual destruction, by the stone that then grew to fill the earth symbolised a Godly kingdom that would replace all the worldly empires, and would never be destroyed. The statue's head of fine gold, continued Daniel, represented Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. His was the first empire, but only the first. Babylon would eventually fall - Nebuchadnezzar's prayer to Marduk not withstanding.

Awestruck by Daniel's ability to both describe the dream and give its meaning, the king fell prostrate before his surprised subordinate. 'Truly your God is the God of god's, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets,' he exclaimed. In gratitude, he appointed Daniel ruler over the capital district province.

The King had begun to understand. God had his attention. Daniel's God was the supreme God, definitely a notch higher than all the others in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar still had a long way to go.

Lesson two

In the centuries since Nebuchadnezzar's vision, many scholars have examined this dream. In the light of history, some fascinating interpretations emerge, as one ancient Empire gave way to another. But Nebuchadnezzar knew none of this. He used people opening their remarks to him with servile, 'O King, live forever.' The knowledge that he and his Babylon were only the head of gold was not good news. So it's probably no coincidence that after his dream Nebuchadnezzar decided to construct his own image - all of gold.

The structure towered perhaps 100 feet over the plain southeast of the capital (where archaeologists have discovered what appear to be the remains of a giant pedestal). The king summoned his officials from throughout the empire to attend the dedication ceremony. At a given signal, all assembled were to fall down and worship the image. Anyone disobeying the order would be thrown into the blazing furnace.

You probably know what happened next - it is one of the best known stories in the Bible. The faithful Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to participate in the idolatry, and were cast into the 'fiery furnace'. But not a hair on their heads was singed.

Nebuchadnezzar watched incredulously as the three men walked about unharmed inside the inferno. He also saw a fourth figure who 'looks like a son of the gods'. Through the ages this story has inspired Christians to rely of God's presence in their own 'fiery trials'.

After they emerged unscathed, Nebuchadnezzar shouted: 'Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

He promoted the three to higher posts in the capital province, and decreed that anyone saying anything against their God would be hacked to death. He was making progress, although he was still blinded by his own power and self importance. Nebuchadnezzar saw himself as the 'protector' of this life-preserving deity. He still had a way to go.

Lesson three

Time passed. The Babylonian monarch had another dream. He revealed its content to his wise men, but as before, only Daniel could interpret it. Nebuchadnezzar seen an enormous tree 'whose height reached to the heavens'. In the dream, the tree was chopped down, but rather than being uprooted totally, its stump was strapped with iron and bronze bands so that it would not decay.

Then, as often happens in dream sequences, the focus suddenly shifted, this time to a man who was 'drenched with the dew of heaven'. He would be given the mind of an animal and was to become an outcast, condemned to eat grass like cattle for 'seven times'.

] Daniel immediately saw the significance of this dream, but hesitated to explain the terrifying message. But Nebuchadnezzar insisted on knowing. Daniel reluctantly explained that the tree represented the king himself, whose greatness has grown until it reached the sky, like the stepped towers, or 'ziggurats' the Babylonians were long famous for building, ever since the infamous Tower of Babel.

This greatness however, would soon come crashing down, and the king would be driven from his throne to live like an animal for seven years until he acknowledged that 'the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives to anyone he wishes.'

Fortunately there was light at the end of the tunnel. The stump of the tree with its roots was left in place. This meant that Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom would be restored to him once he acknowledged God's supremacy. Daniel even held out hope that the king could prevent such a fate by renouncing his sins and by showing mercy to the oppressed poor in his kingdom immediately.

He didn't. One year later, the still pride-filled monarch was walking on the roof of his palace in Babylon. 'Is this not great Babylon that I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?' he mused. Perhaps Nebuchadnezzar was gazing down on the nearby Ishtar Gate which he had renovated, and the magnificent Processional Way leading up to it which he created by expanding his palace grounds northward. Even as he wallowed in self-congratulations, he was struck down with the prophesied insanity and driven into the wilderness.

A Lesson learned but ignored

For Nebuchadnezzar, the story had a happy ending. Seven years later, humbled under the hand of God as few men ever have been, the king was restored to the throne and became even greater than before. But he was a changed man. He made another royal proclamation. preserved for posterity this time not on stone, but in the Bible: 'to the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world,' the humbled monarch said - it was his pleasure to tell them what the 'most High God' had done for him in learning the great lesson that 'those who walk in pride he is able to humble.'

Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by a series of weak rulers. Then, in 539 BC, the forces of the rival Persian Empire infiltrated Babylon's formidable defenses, and the city fell. The Persians held power for about 200 years, before being supplanted by the Greeks, who in turn gave way to the Romans. And thus it has continued to this day. History is peppered with cruel and arrogant despots who flaunt their power, and hold their people captive to their vanity.

One of the greatest themes of the Bible is that these 'kingdoms of this world' will not last forever. The stone that struck the image on its toes in Nebuchadnezzar's dream represented the Kingdom of God - the kingdom of which Jesus Christ is King. That his kingdom will triumph over all evil was the 'good news' that he brought - and it is especially good news to those who suffer under ruthless and corrupt governments. But Jesus is no respecter of persons. He died for all mankind - yes, even those who seize power or misuse it. But let them learn from the testimony of Babylon's humbled ruler, and the words of the King of the Kingdom of God: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.'