Deeper Reflection
Human greatness, like the exalted tree in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (vv.10-12), can never last forever, as the second part of the dream tells us (vv.13-17). The time will surely come for human greatness to be subject to the divine “chop down”, “cut off ”, “strip off ” and “scatter” (v.14). When Nebuchadnezzar was an exalted tree, “the beasts of the earth found shade under it” (v.12). But, as a fallen tree, Nebuchanezzar would be on his fours and “share[s] with the beasts in the grass of the earth” (v.15). Once above the beasts, but now equal with the beasts. Such tragic irony will not exist, if there is no God. But there is God, and God is there as “the Most High [who] is sovereign over all the kingdoms of the earth” (v.17, NIV).Turning things around or upside down is one of the ways that God demonstrates His sovereignty. This is seen in how Nebuchadnezzar’s “human mind” – his most important faculty, his intelligence³¹ – would “be changed” and he would “be given” a “beast’s mind” (v.16). The two verbs in the passive voice – “be changed” and “be given” – point to the Divine Passive that underscores God’s sovereignty. Perhaps, a greater significance is seen in what God replaces after what He has removed in Nebuchadnezzar: a “beast’s mind”.According to human order, only powerful people make human kingdoms. But the sovereign God who turns things upside down “sets the lowliest of people over” “human kingdoms” (v.17, CSB). Jesus of Nazareth leads the way in this divine countercultural movement (Mk 6:2-3).

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³¹ Joyce G. Baldwin, Daniel, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (IVP, 1978), 112