Extra-Biblical Evidence Supports the Contention in Chapter 4 of the Book of Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar (634 – 562 BC) Went Mad For Seven Years

 

The account of the king’s chastisement/madness/illness/exile and restoration has several parallels outside the Old Testament.

(a) The Greek writer Megasthenes (c. 300 B.C.) writes of Nebuchadnezzar announcing from his palace roof under some god’s inspiration the coming fall of Babylon to “a Persian mule,” who Nebuchadnezzar wishes might rather take himself off to some animal-like existence (see Eusebius, Parep. Ev. 9.41.6).

(b) A fragmentary cuneiform text apparently refers to some mental disorder on Nebuchadnezzar’s part, and perhaps to his neglecting and leaving Babylon (Grayson, Texts, 87-92; cf. Hasel, Andrews University Seminary Studies 19 [1981] 41-42).

(c) Josephus refers to an illness of which Nebucchadnezzar dies (Contra Apionem 1.20 [1.146]).

(d) “The Babylonian Job” (Ludlul bel nemeqi, “I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom,” J.B. Pritchard (e.d.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton: Princeton UP, rev. 1969) 596-600) testifies to chastisement by God, illness, humiliation, seeking interpretation of a terrifying dream, being thrown over like a tree, being put outside, eating grass, losing understanding, being like an ox, being rained on by Marduk, nails being marred, hair growing, and being fettered, and then to a restoration for which he praises the god (Ball, Expositor viii, 10 [1920] 235-40).

(e) In a number of inscriptions, especially from Harran, Nabonidus testifies to praying before Marduk for a long and successful reign and receiving the deity’s promise that these would be granted, and to being led by a dream to spend ten years away from Babylon in Tema in Arabia, but then to return to Babylon. Other inscriptions refer in the third person to his years away from Babylon and (with hostility) to his being punished for his “mad” neglect of Babylon’s deities (Ancient Near Eastern Texts 305-16, 560-63; Gadd, Anatolian Studies 8 [1958] 35-92; Rollig, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 56 [1964] 218-60). Nabonidus is the only known Babylonian dreamer (Oppenheim, “Dreams,” 186).

(f) The Qumran “Prayer of Nabonidus” comprises Nabonidus’s testimony to his being afflicted by God for seven years in Tema by a physical illness. He prayed to his gods for healing, but received it only after a Jewish exorcist exhorted him to honor the true God. On Nabonidus, see Saggs, Babylon, 145-52; Oppenheim, Mesopotamia, 152-53.

Source: Goldingay, John. Daniel – World Biblical Commentary Series. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, pages 83-84.

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. (Dan 4:34-37)

God's International Speech: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

I recently entered a Toastmasters International Speech Competition and I presentented "God's International Speech".

After His arrest, conviction, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, Jesus Christ says to His disciples:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:18b-20)

This command from the resurrected Jesus Christ has been followed now for the last 2,000 years. To this day, churches around the world baptize men, women, children, and cute cuddly little babies in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We live in an age of positive thinking. So I would like to point out Jesus Christ’s international speech is a much more positive international speech than the international speech given by God at the time of Noah when God sent an international flood to kill off all creatures because:

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. (Gen 6:5)

Not only was Jesus Christ prophesied by the prophets, but even the international nature of Jesus Christ’s ministry was prophesied. The prophet Isaiah, in Christian interpretation referring to Jesus Christ, says:

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isa 49:6b)

The prophet Daniel says of the Son of Man:

He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Dan 7:14)

At first, Jesus Christ’s ministry is not international, as when He sends out His twelve disciples, saying:

““Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Mt 10:5b-6)

But God’s international speech is represented by Jesus Christ going to Samaria and speaking with a Samaritan woman, and telling her:

“You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (Jn 4:22)

Jesus Christ documents that God’s international speech predates His ministry by pointing out events that took place 900 years before His incarnation. Jesus says:

“… no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” (Lk 4:24b-27)

It is in Tyre and Sidon (located in Lebanon) that a foreign woman comes to Jesus Christ to have her daughter be healed by Him and He tells her: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel,” and, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” The children in Jesus’ analogy are the Jews and the dogs are the Gentiles. But when she humbly retorts, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table,” Jesus heals her daughter (Mt 15).

God’s speech takes on an international flavour because the Romans were governing Judea at the time of Jesus Christ’s ministry and their empire spread from North Africa to Europe to the Near East. A Roman centurion comes to Jesus to have his servant healed. Jesus tells the centurion He’ll come and heal him, but the centurion replies, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Mt 8:8) Jesus Christ replies:

“Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mt 8:10b-12)

After his resurrection, Jesus Christ says to his apostles, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” (Acts 1:8b) and after this, God’s international speech reaches Greece, Turkey, and Italy, with the efforts of the Apostles Paul and Peter.

God’s international speech is later represented by the Apostle Paul who gives a speech to the Ancient Greeks at the Areopagus. When referring to the Ancient Greeks’ lack of knowledge of God, Paul says:

“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)

The book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible, announcing events at the end of the age, makes many references to the fact that God’s speech is international and applies to, “persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9, 7:9, and 13:7)

Two thousand years later, God’s international speech remains the same. Jesus Christ says:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:18b-20)