Daniel 4:1-37
Deuteronomy 4:34-35
Hebrews 4:16
Ron Rhodes in his commentary on Daniel writes:
“The word “sign” often carries the idea of a miracle with a message, whereas “wonder” refers to a miracle that evokes amazement. God’s humbling of Nebuchadnezzar would be a miracle with a message. The message being that God is awesomely powerful and great, and the whole episode, including Nebuchadnezzar’s restoration would be amazing.
When Nebuchadnezzar said: “great are his signs,” it was with the recognition that signs always signal something. In this case, God performed miracles (signs) that signaled His identity as the only true God.
God’s miracles are “wonders” because they are amazing, astonishing, and unparalleled.”
Dr. Michael Heiser “Angels”
(What the Bible really says about God’s Heavenly Host)
“Watchers” is the overwhelming choice of term for the fallen sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4 in this later literature; the connection to the Akkadian MASSACRE provides a secure basis for understanding the meaning of IR to be “vigilant watchfulness.” This of course, is consistent with being wakeful and a guardian role.
John Lennox in his book quotes Peter Singer, a Princeton bio-ethicist.
“Whatever the future holds, it is likely to prove impossible to restore in full the sanctity-of-life view. The philosophical foundations of this view have been knocked asunder. We can no longer base out ethics on the idea that human beings are a special form of creation made in the image of God, singled out from all other animals, and alone possessing an immortal soul. Our better understanding of our own nature has bridged the gulf that was once thought to lie between ourselves and other species, so why should we believe that the mere fact that a being is a member of the species
“Homo Sapiens” endows its life with some unique, almost infinite value?”
“There is no reason to think that a fish suffers less when dying in a net than a fetus suffers during an abortion, hence the argument for not eating fish is much stronger than the argument against abortion. Peter Singer “Rethinking Life and Death”
“The life of a newborn baby is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog or a chimpanzee.” Peter Singer “The Life You Can Save”
John Lennox comments:
“There have been much speculation about the nature of what afflicted Nebuchadnezzar’s mind. Some have suggested a mental affliction where a person imagines himself to be an ox and behaves like it. Others have suggested a similar mental illness, where the afflicted person believes that he or she is a wolf (a disease that has no doubt fueled stories about werewolves).
Whatever it was, the text of Daniel attributes its onset to the direct intervention of God and emphasizes its behavioral aspect: Nebuchadnezzar began to live like an animal and was eventually driven out from human company.”
