John Calvin Commentary Daniel 4:34

"And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth for ever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation." — Daniel 4:34 (ASV)

The Prophet again introduces King Nebuchadnezzar as the speaker. He says then, After that time had elapsed, he raised his eyes to heaven. Without doubt, he means those seven years. The fact that he then began to raise his eyes to heaven shows how long it takes to cure pride, the disease from which he suffered.

For when any vital part of the body is corrupt and decaying, its cure is difficult and tedious. So also, when pride exists in men’s hearts, gains an entrance into the marrow, and infects the inmost soul, it is not easily plucked out; and this is worthy of notice.

Then we are taught how God by His word so worked in King Nebuchadnezzar as not immediately and openly to withdraw the effect of His grace. Nebuchadnezzar profited by being treated disgracefully during those seven years or times, and by being driven from human society; but he could not perceive this at once until God opened his eyes.

Therefore, God often chastises us, invites us by degrees, and prepares us for repentance, but His grace is not immediately acknowledged. But lest I should be too long-winded, I will leave the rest until tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God (since we are nothing in ourselves, and yet we do not cease to please ourselves, and so are blinded by our vain confidence, and then we vainly boast in our virtues, which are worthless), that we may learn to put off these perverse affections. May we so submit to You as to depend upon Your pure favor: may we know that we stand and are sustained by Your strength alone: may we learn so to glorify Your name that we may not only obey Your word with true and pure humility, but also earnestly implore Your assistance, and distrusting ourselves, may rely upon Your favor as our only support, until at length You gather us into Your heavenly kingdom, where we may enjoy that blessed eternity which has been obtained for us by Your only-begotten Son — Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

I shall now continue the comments which were interrupted yesterday. From Nebuchadnezzar saying, he raised his eyes to heaven, and his intellect returned to him, we understand that for a time he was deprived of his mind. In my opinion, he is greatly astonished by feeling his own afflictions, but meanwhile, he bites the bit and is like a madman.

Some think he was a complete maniac; I do not argue about this. It is enough for me to know that he was deprived of his senses and was altogether like the beasts. But it is probable there was no intelligence remaining to cause him to feel torture at his slaughter.

Meanwhile, he did not raise his eyes to heaven until God drew him to Himself. God’s chastisements do not profit us unless they work inwardly by His Spirit, as we said yesterday. The phrase only means that he began to acknowledge God as a just judge. For while at the time he felt the sting of his own disgrace, yet as is said elsewhere, he did not regard the hand of the striker (Isaiah 9:13).

He began, therefore, to acknowledge God as the avenger of pride, after the previously mentioned time had elapsed. For those who cast their eyes down to the earth raise their eyes to heaven. As Nebuchadnezzar ought to awaken from his stupor and rise up towards God, whom he had formerly forgotten, so he also ought to prostrate himself to the earth, as he had already received the reward of his haughtiness.

He had dared to raise his head above the lot of man when he assumed to himself what was peculiar to God. He does not raise his eyes to heaven with any vain confidence, as he had formerly been intoxicated by the splendor of his monarchy; but he looked up to God, while mentally cast down and prostrate.

He afterward adds, and I blessed him on high, and praised and glorified him living for ever. This change shows the punishment to have been chiefly and purposely inflicted on King Nebuchadnezzar, since he robbed God of His just honor. He here describes the fruit of his repentance. If this feeling flowed from repentance, and Nebuchadnezzar really blessed God, it follows that he was formerly sacrilegious, as he had deprived God of lawful honor and wished to raise himself into His place, as we have already said.

From this, we must also learn what the true praise of God really is; namely, when reduced to nothing, we acknowledge and confess that all things are according to His will. For, as we shall afterward see, He is the Governor of heaven and earth, and we should esteem His will as the source of law and reason, and the final appeal of justice.

For we may sometimes celebrate the praises of God with ostentation, but it will then be mere pretense; for no one can sincerely and heartily praise Him without ascribing to Him all the properties which we shall afterward see. First of all, Nebuchadnezzar says, Because his power is eternal, and his kingdom from age to age. In the first place, he here confesses God to be an eternal King, which is a great step.

For human frailty is opposed to this perpetuity, because the greatest monarchs, who excel in power, have nothing firm. They are not only subject to chance and change, as worldly people express it—or rather, they depend upon the will of God—but they utterly fade away through their own vanity.

We see the whole world fluctuating like the waves of the sea. If there is any tranquility, in one direction or another, yet every moment something new and sudden may happen, quite unexpectedly. As a tempest arises directly in a calm and serene sky, so also we see it occur in human affairs.

Since this is so, no condition on earth is firm, and monarchs especially disturb themselves by their own turbulent agitations. This, therefore, is the perpetuity which is here proclaimed by King Nebuchadnezzar: because God as an absolute sovereign rules His own empire for Himself, and is thus beyond all danger of change. This is the first point. It now follows: