The man who was the golden head of the statue didn’t care about the rest of the image. Future kingdoms didn’t exist in his mind. In fact, he went out and built his own 90-foot statue. However, if he had sat down and thought about that “Rock,” he would have realised that something greater than the power of any and all the kingdoms of this world was going to bring it all down.
Nebuchadnezzar did acknowledge the glory of the God of Daniel but didn’t make Him his own. If he had, he would never have seen himself as anything other than a servant of God—like Daniel. Thus, he found out the hard way that to attribute the glories of Babylon to himself was to denigrate the God of heaven. For that he was punished.
I have always been amazed that Nebuchadnezzar was able to remain the king of Babylon despite becoming a madman. Now, there have always been plenty of mad, despotic leaders over the centuries, but this one took to the fields as if a wild animal. Such was the fear and terror-motivated loyalty of Nebuchadnezzar’s court that they wouldn’t dear change or challenge anything. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of Nebuchadnezzar’s wrath for crossing him while feigning madness.
Nebuchadnezzar arose from his madness and gave glory to God. How long this lasted we don’t know. God could use Daniel to interpret dreams and offer godly leadership, but he couldn’t believe for Nebuchadnezzar.
God was truly gracious to Israel by raising up men like Daniel while they were in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams and suspended sanity were gifts sent from God to utilise the divine gifts given to Daniel for Israel’s sake.
Nebuchadnezzar was indeed a great man in history. But his dreams of grandeur were but pieces in God’s grand scheme of salvation.
John Staiger
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