Daniel 4:28-33

The king's madness.

I. INSANITY IS SOMETIMES THE DIRECT RESULT AND NATURAL PENALTY OF WRONG CONDUCT . Although the physician may rightly detect here the symptoms of brain-disease, the religious teacher may go further, and see in this brain-disease the fruits of moral faults. Insanity often shows itself as much in moral as in intellectual aberration—especially in its earlier stages. In many cases it can be traced back to the indulgence of animal instincts, passions, and self-will, to the neglect of higher restraining influences.

1 . Irregular self-will tends to insanity. Nebuchadnezzar was a tyrant whose merest caprice became a law for his vast empire. If such a man has no moral principles to guide him, the inordinate indulgence of his wild will must be so contrary to the natural course of life that his mind will be in danger of losing its balance. Lunacy is often only the full development of the vice that throws off all restraints. He who would keep his mind in perfect sanity should learn to yield his will to a higher will.

2 . Inordinate self-conceit tends to insanity. The king's madness came upon him when he was elated with vanity ( Daniel 4:30 ). Insane people are commonly inclined to dwelt on their grievances or their imagined greatness, and this absurd habit may often be traced back to an over-sensitiveness or an undue elation with regard to their own worthiness. It is never healthy to think much about ourselves. Mental soundness is best secured by self-forgetting activity and concern for the interests of the large world around us. The habit of introspection and the indulgence in a too subjective religious experience are causes of religious insanity. They who incline in this direction should remember our Lord's caution ( Matthew 10:39 ).

II. WHEN BRUTAL PASSIONS HAVE BEEN THE RULING POWERS IN LIFE , THE HUMILIATION OF THE BRUTE MAY BE A REASONABLE RETRIBUTION . Nebuchadnezzar had shown himself to be governed by passions which can only be described as brutal, and yet he had been honoured with little less than Divine worship. Here was the greatest inconsistency between desert and experience. Frequently this inconsistency is preserved all through a man's life, because judgment is deferred. But whenever judgment is given, it must be expected that, while the man of spiritual character will be exalted to a state of fitting honour, the man of brutal passion will be put down to one of brutal degradation; for it is just that there should be harmony between the outer and the inner life. Perhaps this is implied in St. Paul's teaching about "the spiritual body" ( 1 Corinthians 15:44 ), which may be just the most exact expression and closest-fitting vesture of the soul. The principle of justice which underlies the fantastic Oriental doctrine of the transmigration of souls may thus be exemplified in the various ranks and orders of bodily life in the future world. He who would claim to rank as superior to the brute creation must justify his claim by a corresponding elevation of conduct.

III. THERE IS A SPIRITUAL INSANITY IN WHICH MEN RENOUNCE THE PRIVILEGES AND DUTIES OF THEIR HIGHER NATURE , AND LIVE AS IF THEY HAD NOTHING ABOVE THE ANIMAL IN THEM . The degradation of Nebuchadnezzar ends its spiritual counterpart in the voluntary behaviour of multitudes. They have human souls, yet they live as though they should perish like mere animals. They are made in the image of God, yet they act after the manner of brutes. They have spiritual faculties which they blind and deaden with animal passions. If we were not so familiar with such people, and did not all of us, more or less, share their faults, it would be difficult not to regard them as the worst of madmen. While we shudder at the calamity of Nebuchadnezzar, should we not be far more appalled at the awful depravity of so large a part of the human world which calmly accepts a fate in all moral respects its equivalent?

Daniel 4:37 (last clause)

Pride humiliated.

I. THE GREATEST PROSPERITY CONTAINS IN ITSELF NO SECURITY AGAINST THE GREATEST ADVERSITY .

1 . As all earthly things are changeable , it is foolish to place our trust in the permanence of any. Yet there is a tendency to infer that because all is well, all will remain well, as though the mere existence of prosperity were a guarantee of its permanence. This may result from a misapplication of the true principle that the future is determined by the present, and with a certain law of similarity—like producing like ( Galatians 6:7 , Galatians 6:8 ). But if so, it is forgotten that outward prosperity is a very superficial thing, and that the real life and its outgoings lie deeper and may be preparing its very opposite beneath the shallow pleasure of the hour. Therefore to assure one's self for the future, it is necessary to have some deeper and larger ground to rest upon than the mere outside aspect of affairs.

2 . Happiness depends far more upon the condition of the inner life than upon any external circumstances. Nebuchadnezzar thought himself a beast of the field. With this idea in his mind, all his resources counted as nothing in respect to his, comfort. To a blind man the world is dark. A gloomy mood throws a shadow over the brightest scene. The rich and discontented man is miserable, while the poor man will be happy so long as he is contented, because happiness depends not upon possession, but upon satisfaction. Therefore it is useless to be assured that our outward affairs are safely prosperous, unless we have also the assurance of peace of mind and inward gladness.

II. THE FITTING PUNISHMENT OF PRIDE IS HUMILIATION . There is a just and natural association of certain sins with corresponding forms of punishment; e.g. the luxurious Dives tormented with a burning tongue; the man with one idle talent deprived of his talent (cf. Hosea 8:7 ). This conception is worked out in Dante's 'Inferno.' So he who will not humble himself shall be humiliated against his will. Pride prepares its own fall

III. THIS PUNISHMENT OF PRIDE , THOUGH SEVERE , IS NOT HOPELESS . The tree is to be hewn down, but the stump and roots are to be left ( Daniel 4:15 ). So Nebuchadnezzar was to suffer only for a limited period—seven "times" ( Daniel 4:25 ). When prophets threatened the overthrow of the Jews, they promised that this should not be total—a remnant should be spared ( Isaiah 1:9 ; Jeremiah 15:11 ); nor final—the people should be restored ( Isaiah 52:1-10 ). Even the severest calamities are tempered with mercy and relieved of despair ( Amos 3:12 ; Habakkuk 3:2 ).

IV. THE OBJECT OF THE HUMILIATION OF PRIDE IS NOT VENGEANCE , BUT SALVATION . The spite which seeks pleasure in the shame of humiliated pride is itself a fruit of sinful pride, and can find no place in the heart of God. Nor is the feeling of complacency which arises in us from the contemplation of the "poetic justice" this exemplifies, a true image of God's feeling in the humbling of proud men. All God's purposes are at the root, love. He humbles the proud man because he loves him, and for his good.

1 . This humiliation is beneficial in making a man feel the folly and sin of pride.

2 . It is helpful in making him feel his own insufficiency and the need of higher grounds of confidence than are to be found in his own merits and resources. Nebuchadnezzar was led to recognize the true God, and humble himself before into with faith and worship, and thus his salvation was accomplished through his humiliation. So the salvation of mankind is effected by the humiliation of its representative Christ, and through the self-humiliation of each individual when he takes up his cross and follows Christ in the narrow path of self-denial.

HOMILIES BY H.T. ROBJOHNS