Daniel 4:30

The king spake and said,.... Either within himself, or to his nobles about him; or perhaps to foreigners he had took up with him hither to show the grandeur of the city: is not this great Babylon,

The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?

Great Babylon: as to the greatness of this place, it might be well called great, for most historians and geographers make it forty-five miles about the walls, some sixty; for the height of the walls, they affirm them to be a hundred cubits, and for their thickness, such as six chariots might go abreast upon the top of them. See Bochart in his Phaleg. That I have built; which words of his are not true, as to the first foundation of Babylon; for that was done by Nimrod, or Bel, which is the same, ; but if ye speak touching the repairing and enlarging of it after Nineveh was destroyed, so Nebuchadnezzar might be said to build it, i.e. to make it so great and glorious as at last. For the honour of my majesty: the manner of proud tyrants is to engross all honour to themselves; moreover, he attributes nothing to the signal goodness of God to him, but takes all to himself. Now God, that resists the proud, presently falls upon him, and down he comes while he stood crowing and pruning his gay feathers.

Daniel 4:30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?Ver. 30. The king spake and said.] No man asking him any question, but himself trumpeting out his own praises. Ordinarily the greatest wealth is tumoured up with the greatest swelth against the Lord. Great means make great minds; yet what hath this proud prince in him of a man more than his voice and shape? Is not this great Babylon that I have built?] Why, no; it was built over a thousand years before you were born: you have only beautified and fortified it. It is God that buildeth the city. And they were your ancestors, Nimrod and Ninus, whom he made use of for that purpose. Why, then, should you rob him of his glory, and them of their right, by your arrogance? The proud man, Sejanus-like, sacrificeth only to himself, and, Polyphemus-like, setteth up himself for the sole doer. God is not in all his thoughts. And for his words, hear Nebuchadnezzar here, or Mezentius in Virgil, “ Dextra mihi Deus, et telum quod missile libro. ” - Aeneid. Or that of Grevinchovius, the Arminian, Ego meipsum discerno, atque in eo cur non mihi liceat ut de meo gloriarer? I do by my freewill make myself to differ from others, and why may not I boast of such a thing as of mine own, in answer to that of the apostle, "Who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou which thou hast not received?" Wittily doth Luther call those braggers faeces or dregs, who have much in their mouths, haec ego feci, This was my doing; and worthily is that speech of Charles V emperor commended, Veni, vidi, sed vicit Christus, beyond that of Julius Caesar, Veni, vidi, vici, because he ascribeth to Christ the honour of his conquest. For the house of the kingdom.] The palace indeed he had built, though not the city, and therein he now prideth himself. The bramble thinks it a goodly thing to reign, and hath great thoughts and words too of his shadow, and yet all is but a shadow. The Turks build no stately edifices, besides their mosques or churches, because their abode upon earth is to be but short, they say, and therefore any dwelling may serve turn. That was a memorable speech of the forementioned Charles V, to whom, when the Duke of Venice had shown his princely palace, like a paradise upon earth, and now expected that the emperor should have exceedingly praised it, all that he said to it was this, Haec sunt quae nos invitos faciunt mori. These are the things that make us loath to depart out of the world.

(30) Great Babylon.—The area of Babylon is said to have been 200 square miles. It was surrounded by walls 85 feet in width, 335 feet high. In these were brazen gates leading to various terraces which faced the river Euphrates. Within the walls the city was laid out in smaller towns, separated from each other by parks and plantations and gardens; in fact, it is stated that corn sufficient for the whole population could be grown within the walls. There were also magnificent public buildings. Nebuchadnezzar (Records of the Past, vol. v., pp. 113-135) mentions no less than eight temples which he completed, besides the huge temple of Merodach immediately across the Euphrates facing the royal palace. Walking on the flat roof of this palace, and with this grand spectacle before him, the king uttered these words. True, indeed, they were, but they show that during the twelve months which had been allotted to the king for repentance his pride remained unabated; he had not repented as Daniel had counselled him.

Verse 30. Is not this great Babylon] Here his heart was inflated with pride; he attributed every thing to himself, and acknowledged God in nothing. The walls, hanging gardens, temple of Bel, and the royal palace, all built by Nebuchadnezzar, made it the greatest city in the world.

30. spake] answered (Daniel 2:20). great Babylon] Revelation 16:19 (in a figurative sense); cf. Jeremiah 51:58. I] The pronoun is emphatic. for the house of the kingdom] for a royal dwelling-place (or residence). honour] glory (as Daniel 2:37). The ‘India House Inscription’ of Nebuchadnezzar is a fine commentary on the words here put into the mouth of the great king: see the abstract of it given in the Introduction, p. xxiv f.

The king spake and said - The Chaldee, and the Greek of Theodotion and of the Codex Chisianus here is, “the king answered and said:” perhaps he replied to some remark made by his attendants in regard

29, 30. This picture of the king walking on the roof garden of the royal palace in Babylon and praising himself for his magnificent building enterprises finds an echo in almost every one of his