Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

HISTORY OF PERSIA. 8 1
he forgot God. He dreamed, as before, a dream of
a great tree, whose branches extended to heaven, but
which was cut down till there was nothing left " but
the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band
of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field 1 ."
Of this dream Daniel was again the expositor, and
prophesied how Nebuchadnezzar should, for a time,
lose his reason, and be numbered with " the beasts
that perish." "And all this," it is added, "came
upon king
Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve
months he walked in the palace of the. kingdom of
Babylon, and the king spake and said, '
Is not this
great Babylon that I have built for the house of my
kingdom, by the might of my power and for the
honour of my majesty 2 ' "
?
But the punishment of his pride was near at hand,
the narrative in the Bible adding, "While the word was
in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying,
O king, Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken the
;
kingdom is departed from thee ; they shall drive thee
from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of
the field : they shall make thee eat grass as oxen, and
seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the
Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever He will 3 ." Yet was the judgment
tempered, as are all God's judgments, with mercy,
the king himself stating, "at the end of the days,
I, king Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto
heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me,
and I blessed the Most High, and praised and
honoured Him that liveth for ever and at the
1 Dan. iv. 15.
2 Dan. iv. 28.
s Dan. iv. 31.