Daniel 4:23-26

“And whereas the king saw watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Hew down the tree and destroy it. Nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him.' This is the interpretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High which is come on my lord, the king. That you will be driven from men, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field, and you will be made to eat grass as oxen, and you will be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots, your kingdom will be made sure to you once you have known that the heavens do rule.”

It is stressed that this was to come about at the decree of the Most High as declared by the holy (heavenly) watcher. ‘Holy one' probably refers to the watcher, indicating his heavenly status. Nebuchadnezzar probably saw him as a minor god, Daniel as an angel of God. The people to whom the message originally went would recognise that it indicated that the gods had determined to act against Nebuchadnezzar, and especially the king of the gods, and that the watcher was a minor god. (Thus they would be in awe rather than deriding Nebuchadnezzar).

The tree, Nebuchadnezzar, is to be destroyed, but not totally. He is to be like a tree that is toppled. But the stump will be left, with its roots, bound with a band of brass and iron indicating that God will preserve him through it and restore him to his kingdom. The dream also indicated that he would be driven from the society of men and would behave like a wild beast and like the oxen, eating grass and living like a wild beast under the open skies, so that the dew fell on him. And this was to last ‘seven times'.

‘Seven times' is deliberately not specific, and the emphasis is on the seven. It is the number of divine perfection, evidence of divine activity, evidence that the experience will not be short but will endure for the time that God selects. It will occur not for ‘one' period but for ‘seven' periods (compare ‘a time, times and half a time' - Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7; and ‘a season and a time' - Daniel 7:12). It does not therefore refer to a week, or a month, or a year (otherwise why not say so?). Those are human time periods. But these are divine time periods, a period of prolonged divine activity, prolonged for the decreed divinely perfect time. (Thus the enemies of God can only prevail for ‘a time, times and half a time' unable to complete the seven, for they are not God).

The ‘band of brass and iron' has produced many interpretations, ‘something which Nebuchadnezzar would have to suffer during his madness', ‘a figure of speech for the stern and crushing sentence under which the king is to lie', ‘the bond of darkness which would overshadow the king's spirit', ‘the chain with which madmen were wont to be bound', ‘the withdrawal of free self-determination through the fetter of madness'. All may be possible. But in our view the significance is that the stump, and therefore Nebuchadnezzar, will be protected from total disintegration by divine activity.

‘The heavens do rule.' An unusual use of ‘heavens'. It symbolises the divine rule of the Most High (as in Daniel 7:9). But it also included the idea that there was a heavenly kingdom that was over earthly kingdoms. By the time of Jesus it had become commonplace to use ‘Heaven' as a synonym for God.