Nebuchadnezzar's Fall (part 2)

Nebuchadnezzar is said to have engaged in sin, and implored by Daniel to “do right.”  He is further encouraged to break away from his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.  Here, not only does Daniel provide a rather overt definition of sin and wrong in the eyes of the Creator God, but he is essentially informing the king that he has engaged in the exact same types of activities (calling it sin) that landed the covenant people of which Daniel is part (Judah/Israel) in the position of subservience to Babylon as part of their God’s judgment upon them.  

Nebuchadnezzar, and presumably Israel, were guilty of sin, and the nature of this sin is announced in Nebuchadnezzar being instructed to show mercy to the poor.  Essentially, he was going to experience judgment in much the same way as had Israel, and for much the same reason---failing to live up to covenant obligations, having acknowledged the Creator God of Israel, and presumably having come to an understanding of being raised up by that God for a specific purpose.

So what were the circumstances under which these things that Daniel had told the king were going to take place were brought about?  Well, “he happened to be walking around the battlements of the royal palace of Babylon” and “uttered these words: ‘Is not this the great Babylon that I have built from a royal residence by my own mighty strength and for my majestic honor?’” (4:29-30)  By the way the narrative is constructed, it appears that Nebuchadnezzar had forgotten the dream and Daniel’s warning (or perhaps come to disregard it), as well as His proclamation concerning the signs, might, wonders, kingdom, and authority of Daniel’s God. 

Consequently, the Creator God’s response to this statement is swift, as the author reports that “While these words were still on the king’s lips, a voice came down from heaven: ‘It is hereby announced to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you!  You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals.  You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms  and gives them to whomever He wishes’.” (4:31-32)  As the God of Israel apparently did not see fit to waste any time in executing this judgment (He was less lenient and patient towards this king than He had been toward His people), we learn that “in that very moment this pronouncement upon Nebuchadnezzar came true” (4:33), being fulfilled completely. 

What’s the point of going through this story?  What is to be learned from it?  Does it merely show forth the power of the Creator God and the effects of human pride?  Of course it does, but it goes beyond that.  This story fits within the scope of the larger and all-encompassing narrative of the Scriptures that serves to reveal the nature and character of the One about whom these Scriptures speak.  For example, there is a tremendous symmetry between this story of the king of Babylon and the that of the tower of Babel. 

Could one not look at the tower of Babel, from the book of Genesis, and see humanity---in the wake of the Creator God’s great proclamation of His own power that had presumably been demonstrated by means of the flood, building their tower and saying “is this not the great tower that we are building by our own strength and for our majestic honor,” doing so in defiance of the Creator God, as they dared Him to send another flood upon the earth?  Naturally, the correlations between this story of Nebuchadnezzar and the story of the Scriptures goes far beyond that.  In fact, it reaches back to the beginning---to the creation.   

Justified By Faithfulness (part 3)

In turn, the people of the Creator God would point to their covenant-making-and-keeping God as the source of all blessing, bringing Him glory through reflecting His glory into the world, and causing all peoples and all of creation to desire the blessings of His covenant as well.  It would be communicated and understood that these blessings could be had by submitting to the requirements of the covenant and thereby joining with the covenant people.  This submission to and adherence to the requirements of covenant would confer a positive covenant status.  Therefore, a person would be justified.  That person would be looked upon, by the Creator God, as being righteous.  That person would have received his or her justification.  

What were the additional requirements that were put upon the Creator God’s covenant people in association with the law that was delivered to them with a charge to keep?  The requirements are summed up quite nicely and succinctly in the twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus.  There the covenant God says, “You must not make for yourselves idols, so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before it, for I am the Lord your God.  You must keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary.  I am the Lord” (26:1-2). 

So to break it down to basics, and realizing that the requirements of the law were expected to be kept (and probably could be met), the covenant people of the Creator God (reiterating here) are instructed to avoid idolatry, to keep the Sabbaths (feasts/set times), and to reverence His sanctuary (tabernacle and temple).  Following that, for the remainder of the same chapter, their God outlines curses and blessings to be experienced for either obedience or disobedience to these basic principles.  This can be observed again in the later chapters of Deuteronomy.  This repetition is far more extensive, though it comes without a repetition of the three fundamental issues that prefaced the Levitical presentation.  There, the Creator God simply speaks of following His commandments that He had delivered to those that had been charged to carry out His will in and for the world.             

It must be said that, in each instance, the covenant that is set forth by the Creator God is based upon a belief in that God, in His power to perform, and in His faithfulness to carry out these covenants.  This belief, naturally, is set within a trust in that God.  Adam is presented as one that did not believe.  He is shown to be one that was faithless in regards to the first covenant.  With the Scriptural record as it is, one is left only to wonder at Adam’s response to the second covenant.  However, as Adam would begin to experience the corruption of his physical body as it moved towards the inevitable and promised death, along with the labor and toil with which he had to deal throughout his life because of the curse that was said to be placed upon the ground, it can be imagined that he was moved to a position of trusting belief in the God of covenants. 

Noah, in contrast to Adam, is said to have been righteous, somehow believing in the word of the Creator God before the promised flood would come, so it is reasonable to presume that he believed his God and took Him at His word, with this being especially so after the promise had come to pass.  It is said that Abraham believed God, and that this was counted for him as “righteousness” or “justification.”  As it would ultimately be the case for Israel and renewed Israel post-Christ, it was his belief that brought Abraham into a positive covenant standing, as this was the mark of the Creator God’s covenant with Him (though circumcision would be added).  This can basically be said to be true of Isaac and Jacob as well. 

Justified By Faithfulness (part 2)

Moving forward to Noah, one finds the actual first use of the word “covenant” (at least in terms of an English translation of Scripture).  The Creator God is reported to have judged the earth with a worldwide flood.  This actually allows an observer to see the two-fold nature of judgment.  In one sense, the judgment brought destruction, in that the God of creation destroyed all but eight people.  In the other sense, the positive side of judgment can be considered, as the same God’s judgment liberated the world (albeit temporarily) by purging from what was said to have become the overwhelming wickedness of man, and its effects, that had abounded upon it. 

So yes, the judgment of the covenant God can be both destructive and liberating, and every attempt should be made to see what type of judgment is being presented when read about in the Scriptures.  Following the flood, the Creator God is said to have made a covenant with Himself, with a man (Noah) presumably standing as witness, that He would never again bring about His judgment with a worldwide flood.  As there have been no additional worldwide floods, the history of mankind sets itself forth as clear demonstration that the Creator God has been faithful to this covenant.  Thus, the Creator God is righteous (faithful to His covenants).      

The next covenant to be found in Scripture was the one that is reported to have been struck with Abraham.  In that story, the Creator God entered into history and chose a man for Himself to bear the light of His glory to the world, to represent Him to all nations, and to be the progenitor of a people that would do the same.  The one that would eventually be known as the God of Israel (and often as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) said to Abraham (paraphrasing), “I will do this, and you will do that, and this will be the result.”  Additionally, his God gave to him (Abraham) the sign of the covenant, which was circumcision.  This covenant would be passed along through Abraham’s son Isaac, on to Isaac’s son Jacob, and on to Jacob’s progeny, which came to become known as the nation of Israel. 

In each instance, the passing along of the covenant included the Creator God’s foundational (again, paraphrased) statement of “I will do this, and you will do that, and this will be the result.”  With the nation of Israel itself, in its receipt of their God’s law at Mount Sinai following their exodus from Egypt, their God expanded and expounded upon what it was that He was requiring of His covenant holding, light-bearing and glory-reflecting people, asking them in no uncertain terms to take measures to dramatically set themselves apart from the peoples that they were going to encounter in the land that had been promised to Abraham and to them. 

These additional expectations were put in place because, presumably hearkening back to His covenant with Abraham, the Creator God desired to bless all peoples through His covenant people.  “Blessing” was a major component of the Abrahamic covenant.  This blessing of all peoples would be accomplished because the covenant God of creation was going to bless His covenant people if they fulfilled their end of the covenant.  If they fulfilled their end of the covenant by meeting the requirements that were set forth (primarily the issues of being circumcised, reverencing the sanctuary, keeping the Sabbaths, and not worshiping other gods), this would mean that they were “justified” before God.  They would be in right standing in relation to the covenant.  They would be considered to be righteous, and all peoples would then be able to see the blessings upon God’s covenant people and in turn be drawn to those same people.