“SEVEN TIMES”

27. The “seven times” have long been regarded as how much time?

²⁷ Just how long were those “seven times” during which Nebuchadnezzar was mentally deranged and incapacitated for royal rulership? In the historical work entitled “Antiquities of the Jews,” produced in first-century Greek by the Jew Flavius Josephus, he treats these “seven times” as “seven years.” (Book X, Chapter X, paragraph 6) In the following century the Greek translator of the book of Daniel, namely, Theodotion, of Pontus, Asia Minor, between the years 180 and 182 C.E., translated the Hebrew expression as “seven years” (heptà étē). Other Jewish commentators understand “times” here to mean “years.” In fact, a number of modern translators render it this way. The New American Bible (Roman Catholic) reads: “Till seven years pass over him [you].” (Daniel 4:13, 20, 22, 29, NA) Similarly, A New Translation by James Moffatt and The Complete Bible​—An American Translation read “seven years.” (Also the Good News Bible, of 1976)

28. In the king’s case the years were of whose reckoning?

²⁸ So, seven Biblical lunar years would be meant, since the time decreed was from the Author of the Holy Bible, Jehovah God. Ancient inscriptions are reported as showing that there were several years in which Nebuchadnezzar did nothing. These years might well coincide with the “seven times” of his incapacitation as a mentally deranged man.

29. Was the dream’s full purpose achieved in the king’s case?

²⁹ Is that, however, all there is to the matter? There is no basis for doubt that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the heaven-high tree was prophetic, it being inspired by Jehovah God. But is the dream’s fulfillment limited to that ancient fulfillment on the person of one man, King Nebuchadnezzar, for him to learn a lesson regarding rulership? Is it through his personal experience that the purport of Jehovah’s dealing with him is achieved, namely, “that people living may know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that to the one whom he wants to, he gives it and he sets up over it even the lowliest one of mankind”? (Daniel 4:17) By setting up over the kingdom of mankind “even the lowliest one of mankind” does the Most High God set up over mankind the lowest grade of rulership over mankind? Evidently not! (Daniel 4:36, 37) For the “people living” in our momentous twentieth century, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream must have a further and more far-reaching fulfillment. It does!

30. How does the tree picture Jehovah’s universal sovereignty?

³⁰ Ancient facts certify the first fulfillment of the dream of the king of Babylon. How do the later facts establish the larger and complete fulfillment of that same dream? Well, Nebuchadnezzar, who for the time being back there was pictured by the massive tree, was ruler of the Babylonian Empire. So he symbolized rulership on a world scale, having worldwide recognition. Likewise, the “tree” that was illustrated by him stood for rulership on a scale grander than that held by the king of Babylon. At that time, what rulership or dominion was greater than that of Emperor Nebuchadnezzar, which stood without a rival on earth? Only the rulership of the one whom Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged to be “the Most High,” “the King of the heavens.” (Daniel 4:34, 37) For that reason, the heaven-high, life-sustaining tree of the dream symbolized the UNIVERSAL SOVEREIGNTY of the Most High, Jehovah God, particularly in its relationship with our earth. This Universal Sovereignty is eternal, “to time indefinite,” for all generations.

34. When was that symbolic tree chopped down, and how?

³⁴ Logically that expression of Jehovah’s Universal Sovereignty as exercised through King David and his royal successors at Jerusalem was what was pictured by the immense tree seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. In the dream, that all-dominating tree was chopped down. True to that dream, Divine Sovereignty as exercised through the line of Davidic kings at Jerusalem was chopped down, toppled, put out of operation. When? In 607 B.C.E., when Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon brought destruction upon Jerusalem and its temple and carried off its last enthroned king, Zedekiah of David’s family, into exile to die there. Jehovah himself had the symbolic tree of sovereignty chopped down, for he himself used Nebuchadnezzar as his “servant” to bring about this overthrow. Jehovah himself took the responsibility for overturning this visible expression of his sovereignty toward our earth.​—Jeremiah 25:8-11, 17-29; Ezekiel 21:22-27.

35. For what purpose was the tree stump kept in metal bands?

³⁵ At that time the bands of divine restraint as pictured by the bands of iron and copper were put around the remaining rootstock of the divine sovereignty as exercised through a royal descendant of King David. No royal sprout could come forth from this rootstock for the growing again of the divine sovereignty exercised through a Davidic king. For how long was this debased appearance of Jehovah’s Universal Sovereignty to continue? For “seven times,” which were prophetically illustrated by the “seven years” of Nebuchadnezzar’s dethronement for him to live like a beast of the field.