Deeper Reflection
Nebuchadnezzar is the main character in Daniel 1 to 4. Nebuchadnezzar, together with God, is mentioned in all the four chapters, while Daniel is not mentioned in chapter 3 and Daniel’s three friends not in chapter 4. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned briefly in Daniel 5 in the post-Nebuchadnezzar period (Dan 5:18-21). From one perspective, we see in Daniel 1 to 4 Nebuchadnezzar’s spiritual journey with God in three parts. Daniel 1 to 4 shows “a progressive sharpening” of Nebuchadnezzar’s “awareness of the God who is dealing with him”³⁶ , which climaxes with his personal testimony in Daniel 4. Do you see in your life a progressive sharpening of your awareness of the God who is dealing with you, such that you can say, “I have grown to know God personally better and deeper”?In Daniel 2, God visited Nebuchadnezzar in a nightmare that troubled him and gave him insomnia (v.1). But Nebuchadnezzar did not know that it was a divine visitation with a divine purpose. Nebuchadnezzar became a helpless king: he was “anxious to understand the dream” (v.3), but no one could interpret it for him (vv.26-27). But through Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar met the God who reveals, who “has made known” to him His plan of world history (v.28). Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged God as “a God of gods and a Lord of kings” (v.47). But this “can hardly be taken as an acceptance of monotheism”³⁷ .Divine revelation does not necessarily always lead people to know God. God must open our eyes to see Him (Lk 24:31-32). But are we like Zaccheus, doing our utmost to see Jesus (Lk 19:3-6)?

³⁶ Christopher J. H. Wright, Hearing the Message of Daniel: Sustaining Faith in Today’s World (Zondervan, 2017), 88 ³⁷Ernest C. Lucas, Daniel, Apollos Old Testament Commentary (Apollos, IVP, 2002), 80