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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comJamieson Fausset Brown Commentary - Daniel 4:1 - 4:1
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Dan 4:1-37. Edict of Nebuchadnezzar containing his second dream, relating to himself.
Punished with insanity for his haughtiness, he sinks to the level of the beasts (illustrating Psa 49:6, Psa 49:12). The opposition between bestial and human life, set forth here, is a key to interpret the symbolism in the seventh chapter concerning the beasts and the Son of man. After his conquests, and his building in fifteen days a new palace, according to the heathen historian, Abydenus (268 b.c.), whose account confirms Daniel, he ascended upon his palace roof (Dan 4:29, Margin), whence he could see the surrounding city which he had built, and seized by some deity, he predicted the Persian conquest of Babylon, adding a prayer that the Persian leader might on his return be borne where there is no path of men, and where the wild beasts graze (language evidently derived by tradition from Dan 4:32, Dan 4:33, though the application is different). In his insanity, his excited mind would naturally think of the coming conquest of Babylon by the Medo-Persians, already foretold to him in the second chapter.
Peace - the usual salutation in the East, shalom, whence “salaam.” The primitive revelation of the fall, and man’s alienation from God, made “peace” to be felt as the first and deepest want of man. The Orientals (as the East was the cradle of revelation) retained the word by tradition.