"Those that walk in pride He is able to abase."--_Daniel 4:37._
GREAT Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a strange dream. He
thought he saw a great tree with spreading branches and fine leaves,
making a sweet shelter, where all the creatures came and stood, and
the birds nestled in the boughs; but while he was admiring it there
came a holy one down from heaven, and said the tree was to be cut down,
and only the stump left in the tender grass of the field, and that it
should be bound with iron, and wet with the dew of heaven till seven
years had passed over it.
When Nebuchadnezzar woke he was troubled, and was sure the dream had a
meaning, and he sent for the prophet Daniel to tell him what it was.
Daniel was so sorry, that at first he could hardly bear to speak; but
at last he told the king that it was himself, Nebuchadnezzar, that the
tree meant.
He was great and mighty, and countries and people were shadowed over
by his power; but soon he would have a fall--he would lose his senses,
and his man's heart would be like a beast's heart, and he would be
driven out of his palace, and he would eat grass like an ox, and his
body would be wet with the dew of heaven, and his hair would be long
like eagles' feathers, and his nails like eagles' claws, till seven
years had passed by; and then he would recover his senses, and know and
understand again, and he would come back to his kingdom again. Then he
would know and own that the Lord of Heaven is the true God.