Daniel 4:16

16 Su corazón sea mudado de corazón de hombre, y le sea dado corazón de bestia, y pasen sobre él siete tiempos

Daniel 4:16 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 4:16

Let his heart be changed from man's
Not as to the substance, but as to the quality: and let a beast's heart be given unto him;
from a human heart, let it be changed into a brutal one; let him be deprived of the use of reason, and have no more exercise of it than a brute has; let him be wholly governed by the animal senses, and behave and act as a beast does; be as senseless, stupid, and savage, as that: and such a heart Nebuchadnezzar had; not that his rational soul departed from him, then he must have died; but the powers of it were sadly vitiated and depraved; his understanding, imagining himself to be a beast, not a man; his judgment, in not distinguishing the actions of a beast from those of a man; his memory of things past utterly failed; he forgot what he had been, and was; his will, inclination, and fancy, were towards brutal things, and ran upon deserts, fields, and grass; and he shunned the society of men: and let seven times pass over him:
while in this condition; let him remain so long in it; not seven months, as Abarbinel, and others; nor seven half years, or three years and a half, as some in Theodoret; dividing the year into two parts, summer and winter; and suppose, that seven of these seasons passed over him before he recovered; but seven years are meant, as Jarchi, Saadiah, and Jacchiades, as the phrase is used in ( Daniel 7:25 ) ( 12:7 ) , so many years the temple of Solomon was building, which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed, and so long this madness must remain upon him: no notice is taken of this affair by Heathen writers, only Abydenus ^F14 says, that being under a divine afflatus, he foretold the destruction of the Babylonian empire by a Persian mule (meaning Cyrus), and by a Mede, and immediately, (hfanisto) , he disappeared; which some have understood of this time of his madness, which quickly followed upon this dream.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 41. p. 457.

Daniel 4:16 In-Context

14 Y clamaba fuertemente y decía así: Cortad el árbol, y desmochad sus ramas, derribad su copa, y derramad su fruto; váyanse las bestias que están debajo de él, y las aves de sus ramas

15 Mas el tronco de sus raíces dejaréis en la tierra, y con atadura de hierro y de bronce quede atado en la hierba del campo; y sea mojado con el rocío del cielo, y su parte sea con las bestias en la hierba de la tierra

16 Su corazón sea mudado de corazón de hombre, y le sea dado corazón de bestia, y pasen sobre él siete tiempos

17 Por sentencia de los centinelas se acuerda el negocio, y por dicho de los santos la demanda: para que conozcan los vivientes que el Altísimo se enseñorea del reino de los hombres, y que a quien él quiere lo da, y constituye sobre él al más bajo de los hombres

18 Yo el rey Nabucodonosor vi este sueño. Tú pues, Beltasar, dirás la declaración de él, porque todos los sabios de mi reino nunca pudieron mostrarme su interpretación; mas tú puedes, porque hay en ti espíritu del santo Dios