Daniel 4- Lessons From The Fire

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Daniel 4- Lessons From The Fire Read Daniel 4:27-37

King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a great and powerful tree that is cut down. Daniel interprets the dream as being about how the great king will be cut down and become like a beast of the field for a time. In the Old Testament the word “righteousness” means “right relationship with others.” It’s about care for others and justice requires those with power to take care of those without. Daniel states what the dream means in verse 27 by calling Nebuchadnezzar to “be kind to the oppressed” so his prosperity will continue. But... he doesn’t.

1. If those with power aren’t kind to the oppressed they become like beasts. It’s quite the imagery. It’s easy to critique those with the most power but we all have our little kingdoms. How do we become more human?

2. A dream and interpretation that seemed important to Nebuchadnezzar is forgotten 12 months later and he fulfills the dream with his own forgetting. Jewish writers leave lots of space for interpretation. Do you think Nebuchadnezzar forgot? Did he not care? Is there a difference? Does it matter?

3. Again, the author of Daniel is very visual. The great king becomes a lowly beast who’s hair is like eagle feathers and nails like the claws of a bird. The bird who soared above the tallest trees is like a grounded bird. Then at the end of the time the king “raised his eyes toward heaven and his sanity was restored.” What do you make of that phrase?

4. Twice in the last few verse the king says his sanity was restored. THEN he is returned to power and becomes greater than before. Also, the last four verses have Nebuchadnezzar speaking in first person. It’s “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” He is judged because he forgets the message. He learns a lesson and turns. But he forgets again in the next chapter. What do you think about this cycle of forgetting, remembering, repenting... over and again? Can you relate?