UNDERSTANDING THE FALL
DANIEL CHAPTERS 2-5

The principles of the fall of man begin in Daniel Chapter 2:

And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. (2:1-3)

After searching through his discerners of dreams and wise men, his attention was brought to Daniel as one who could give the interpretation to his dream: "Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven" (2:19).

Daniel then gave the interpretation:

As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. (2:29-37)

After perhaps thinking of what Daniel had said, the king responded as most men would have: "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon" (3:1). Then he commanded his herald to proclaim:

To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. (3:4-6)

After the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego incident, the next scene has the king resting at home: "I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me" (4:4,5).

Daniel was called in to give him the interpretation:

This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. (4:24-26)

The narrative of the fall continued:

All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of 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? While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. (4:28-31)

When Nebuchadnezzar fell from the glory, the honor, and the brightness of the kingdom that God had given to him, his heart, the inner most essence of his being, was changed from the heart of a man to the heart of a beast. The thinking processes of his mind changed. The base of his understanding, his soul, shifted completely. He lost the capacity to observe, to comprehend, and to enjoy the glory, the honor, and the brightness of his existence. He became driven by the simple motivations and drives of an animal. Although he was still king of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, he experienced life as a lowly beast of the fields.

The story of the fall of Nebuchadnezzar is the story of every man. It seems that every man in the course of experiencing life loses sight of the simple truth that God gives and rules the domain in which he lives. God directs the course of events that transpires in every man’s life. When any man perceives, as Nebuchadnezzar, that the world of his existence has been built by the might of his personal power for his glory and honor, he, too, will fall from the glory, the honor, and the brightness of the kingdom given by God. When man toils at experiencing life (attempting to control the times and the seasons of life), it has been predetermined by God that man will struggle in life. He that seeks to save his life will lose it. He will fall from the wonder of human existence to act like a beast of the fields.

When man acts like a beast, he attempts to live life in the nature of the beast. He becomes animalistic in his motivations to experience life. All the complexities of intellect, emotions, and will that enable man to observe, to comprehend, and to enjoy the kingdom given of God are reduced to three simple drives that dominate his thinking. The nature of the beast puts man into the bondage of survival, procreation, and territorial rights. Becoming like a beast of the fields, man’s primary purpose in life becomes simply to survive. Every thing that transpires in life is designed by the man who attempts to control his life, to perpetuate his personal existence. He is driven continually to hunt for food and for shelter, for things that will meet his basic needs to survive. This hunt for things dominates his life.

Becoming like a beast of the fields, man’s motivation for survival is fueled by his procreative drives. He becomes consumed not only to perpetuate his existence by fathering and mothering children but by the greater urge to create life. The beastly ability and motivation to perpetuate its kind becomes in fallen man the hunger to create the happenings of life itself. Man becomes consumed with the notion that he can make life happen.

Becoming like a beast of the fields, the drive for survival will force man to protect the things and the happenings that he perceives is his life. He will become territorial. He will mark the domains of his survival, the places where he experiences his life. He marks them because he must protect them. He thinks they are his rights. He becomes controlled by the drive to preserve his existence.

When man falls from the glory and wonder of the kingdom given by God, there is nothing else he can experience but the world of the nature of the beast. Working to make life happen by the exercise of his own thinking, he becomes beastly in all of his relationships. When the world he has created by his own effort is threatened, he will attack with malice, guile, deceit, jealousy, and defamation. He will strike out to destroy all that appears to challenge his survival. Having his heart changed from the heart of a man to the heart of a beast, there is nothing else he can do but attempt to protect the domain which he has created to give purpose and meaning to life. He has fallen from the kingdom given by God to a domain that is now controlled by the nature of the beast. He must have his thinking changed and be set free from the bondage of animalistic desires and behavior.