The Ammonites too, were put down for ever by
Nebuchadnezzar, and he came home puffed up with the pride of conquest.
Then came another warning dream, of a tree, great and spreading, the
rest and stay of bird and beast, till a watcher and a holy one came down
and bade that it should be cut down, and only a stump to be left, to be
wet with the dew of Heaven until it should recover. It was no wonder
that Daniel was astonished for one hour ere he explained the vision, which
bore that the great conqueror should lose his reason, be chased from
the haunts of men, and live like the beasts, with hair like eagle's
feathers, and nails like eagle's claws. Nebuchadnezzar does not seem to
have punished him for thus revealing the will of God; and time went on,
while the city grew more magnificent under the builder's hand, till at
last, in the pride of his heart, the king made his boast, "Is not this
great Babylon that I have builded, for the house of the kingdom, and for
the honour of my majesty?"
That moment, the watcher cried from Heaven, and sense and strength fled
from the mighty Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men, and lived seven
years among the beasts of the field, till for one year, reason was
mercifully restored to him, and he made the best use of it in publishing
to all the world the story of his pride and of his fall, and with all
his heart honouring the King of Heaven, whose works are truth, and His
ways are judgment.
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