John Calvin Commentary Daniel 4:33

"The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair was grown like eagles` [feathers], and his nails like birds` [claws]." — Daniel 4:33 (ASV)

The Prophet concludes what he had said: As soon as the voice had come down from heaven, Nebuchadnezzar was cast out from mankind! Some occasion for expelling him might have preceded this; but since the interpretation is uncertain, I would rather leave undetermined what the Holy Spirit has not revealed.

I only wished to touch upon this point briefly, when he boasted about the founding of Babylon through the strength of his own power; since his own nobles must have become disgusted when they saw him carried away with such great pride; or he might have spoken in this way when he thought traps were prepared for him, or when he felt some groups stirring against him.

Whatever the meaning may be, God sent forth His voice, and at that very moment He expelled King Nebuchadnezzar from human society. Hence, in the same hour, he says, the speech was fulfilled. If a long period had intervened, it might have been attributed to either fortune or other lesser causes; but when the connection between the pronouncement and its effect is so direct, the judgment is too clear to be obscured by human malice. He says, therefore, He was cast forth and fed with herbs, differing in nothing from oxen: his body was soaked in rain, since he lay out in the open air.

We ourselves are often subject to drenching showers, and in the fields are sure to encounter them; travelers also often reach their inn soaked through. But the Prophet speaks of the continuation of God’s judgment, since he had no roof to shelter him and always lay out in the fields.

Hence, he says, he was moistened by the dew of heaven until, he says, his nails became claws, and his hair like the wings of eagles. This passage confirms what has been said concerning the explanation of the 'seven times' as a long period, for his hair could not have grown so in seven months, nor could such great deformity arise. Hence this change, thus described by the Prophet, sufficiently shows King Nebuchadnezzar to have suffered his punishment for a length of time, for he could not be so quickly humbled, because pride is not easily tamed in a man of moderate station, how much less then in so great a monarch! It afterwards follows: