29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
31 The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you.
32 You
will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals;
you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until
you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men
and gives them to anyone he wishes.”
It's temping to have God saying "You didn't build that", but that would be forcing the hermeneutic a bit much.
Nebby liked God, but not as the one and only God; he was just a very potent small-g god in his eyes. God had to remind him that he wasn't the one ultimately in charge and that He can take away what He gave in the first place; that begs for a quick cite from Job on bended knee-"The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job got it even as he was tossed under the bus by God in order to show off Job's devotion.
Here, it's a lack of devotion that is getting treated with a heavy dose of enforced humility.
Comments