23a“And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field; let it be wet with the dew of heaven, band let him graze with the beasts of the field, till seven1 times pass over him’;
24 this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king:
25 They shall adrive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you beat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven1 times shall pass over you, ctill you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and dgives it to whomever He chooses.
26 “And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that aHeaven rules.
27 Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; abreak off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. bPerhaps there may be ca lengthening of your prosperity.”
29 At the end of the twelve months he was walking1 about the royal palace of Babylon.
30 The king aspoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”
31aWhile the word wasstill in the king’s mouth, ba voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you!
32 And athey shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shallbe with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven1 times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.”
33 That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God
34 And aat the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him bwho lives forever: For His dominion iscan everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
Man has not yet learned that the heavens really do rule.
Babylon has influenced and given its character to the times, yet the Gentiles have not always dominated. The last 200 years have seen the rise and domination of the Israelitish people, with their syncretism of Christian and Babylonian concepts.
God is preparing the world for the time of the end and the return of Jesus Christ, and it is possible that the "seven times" ended in 1982. The "seven times" are found by taking the sum of the numerical values of the weights in Daniel 5:25. The sum of those figures equals the number of days in seven prophetic years, that is, 2520 years.
The number of years from 539 BC (when Babylon was defeated—the tree cut down and the band put on, but it continued to live because the roots were still in the ground) till AD 1982 is 2520. The iron band may have then been broken. Its centralization in the Israelitish nations has dominated the world to an extent never seen before under the influence of the Babylonian system.
