Nebuchadnezzar's throne room was intimidating enough. More so when someone brought him bad news, as Daniel did. [Illustration licensed from Balage Balogh at Archaeologyillustrated.com.]
When the king asked if someone could interpret a nightmare, Daniel could. But the king had to coax it out of him.
The king’s nightmare
The writer tells the story in the king's own words, as though he heard them:
"I’m Nebuchadnezzar, and I was comfortable and well off, living in my palace.But I had a nightmare that terrified me.So I issued a royal decree, ordering all sages throughout the Babylonian Empire to come to Babylon and explain this horrifying dream.They all came. I told them the dream, but they didn’t know what it meant.In time, Daniel came to see me. We call him Belteshazzar. I named him after my god. But Daniel has within him the spirit of the Holy God. I told him my dream.I said, “Belteshazzar, you’re the best of the sages. And I know you’ve got the spirit of the Holy God inside you. Because of that, you can solve any mystery. So listen to my dream and tell me what it means.I said:
Giant tree in middle of the world
Lying in my bed I saw it,
A tree thick and tall,
Growing in the middle of the world.
This tree, thick and tall,
Pushed high into the sky.
It was a sight to see,
And the whole world saw it.
Beautiful leaves laced the branches
And its fruit fed everyone.
Animals rested in its shade.
Birds nested in its branches.
Everyone and everything ate its fruit,
People and animals alike." (Daniel 4)
Standing in Nebuchadnezzar's throne room, terrified, Daniel said the dream meant the king would go made and live with the animals for time.
Some documents outside the Bible suggest the king suffered from some kind of mental illness.
Where to find more Bible maps
The Casual English Bible® has more than 900 Bible maps, many in 3D style. You can search for maps by place name, such as "Sea of Galilee."
Dedicated Bible map search engine
But you can also search for maps by Bible book, such as searching for all the maps in the book of Joshua. In addition, you can search by country, region, or era on a timeline, such as when Israel had kings or when Jesus was on earth. Here's a link to the dedicated Map Search Engine.
