In the Book of Daniel, Chapter Four is narrated, after the events of the chapter, by a much-changed Nebuchadnezzar. In the internal sense, the story shows both the Lord's mercy in leading us, and also the depths of despair to which we sink before we willingly open our minds to the Lord and pray for His leadership.

At the beginning of the story, Nebuchadnezzar's idleness imitates the sense of complacency when things seem to be going right, when no temptations darken our skies, and essential selfishness asserts itself once again. Our mind is its house, its palace. We come into this state after a temptation or battle against our sense of selfishness, when we put the struggle aside and rest on our laurels. We are oblivious to the fact that regeneration is an ongoing state, that one temptation succeeds another, and that once conscience has been established in our thought processes, it will not be too long before the lethargy of selfishness is challenged.

While Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in his house, he had a disturbing dream, one unknown to him. As before when he did not understand his dreams, he called the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers, who, once again, could not interpret the dream.

Often we feel that we face the same temptations over and over again. We might wonder if we will ever regenerate. This is because we fall into a state of selfishness, represented by the king at rest. But when we encounter resistance to that selfishness, we turn back to all our old thought patterns to help us.

Eventually, Nebuchadnezzar called Daniel to tell him his dream. As he recounts the story after the seven years of illness, he uses the words he had spoken before. He addresses Daniel as Belteshazzar, because that is how he saw him before the temptation. Even so, he recognized the presence of the Spirit of the Holy God within him, acknowledging Daniel's power to explain dreams and give interpretations.

The king's second dream took the image of a great tree, planted in the earth, so high it could be seen from the ends of the earth. This parallels the image of the great statue, whose head was gold. As we saw earlier, this image represents the initial state of perfection, followed by a decline as a person turns away from this ideal. The statue shows how self love takes dominance in our lives if unchecked, and brings us into a final state of spiritual destruction.

In this new dream, the tree in the midst of the earth is a reference to the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden of Eden. Both trees symbolize wisdom. The Tree of Life represented the perception the Most Ancient people had from love (Arcana Coelestia 103), but Nebuchadnezzar's tree is from the love of self and the different perceptions people have when motivated by that love (Apocalypse Explained 1029:6).

But when Nebuchadnezzar saw the tree in his dream, it was lovely. Everything in the dream which normally has a good and beautiful significance, instead takes on a negative meaning. The leaves and flowers, which should have been a picture of guiding truths (Arcana Coelestia 9553), represent the opposite, as the falsities which mislead us. We saw how the king called his false guides: the magicians, soothsayers, astrologers, and Chaldeans.

The birds represent the false thoughts from selfishness (Arcana Coelestia 5149). These give credence to selfishness, to justify it and find new ways to express it. So the tree takes on an intellectual picture of the selfish mind. But the mind is made up of both intellect and emotion. There were also beasts sheltering under the tree representing the things we care about.

When selfishness rules in us, just as Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon, all the lesser loves take their cue from this leading love. Thus the beasts of the field, were drawn to the tree for food and shelter.

After this scene is set, Nebuchadnezzar sees "a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven." The introduction of the indescribable watcher is the turning point in the dream, marking the beginning of the end for this marvel reaching up to heaven.

In a state of selfishness, we are spiritually asleep, just as Nebuchadnezzar was asleep when he dreamed. But the Lord never sleeps. Truth in our minds is always vigilant, looking for ways of bringing itself to our consciousness to lead us out of our selfish state. Just as everything seemed right in Nebuchadnezzar's world, he became aware of a watcher—the truth.

In an instant, the king's serenity was changed: a force greater than himself commanded the destruction of the tree, and there was nothing he could do about it. These words make it clear just how vulnerable our selfish states are. At their height, they seem so powerful, but in the face of truth they are shown for the sordid little nothings they are. Truth has the power to expose evil, and we should not be afraid to allow it to do so in our own lives. To stand indicted of selfishness is not the end of life, as it may feel, but the beginning of a new life of liberation.

But we still need some sense of self. There is nothing wrong with being concerned with our own well-being; it is vital to our lives. Selfishness is a part of us, but it needs to be kept under control, subordinated to the higher loves of serving the Lord and our neighbor.

This is why the watcher did not order the complete destruction of the tree: the stump is all that is left of a rampant selfishness, the bands of iron and brass represent thoughts and feelings which originate in selfishness, which can be used to keep it under control (Apocalypse Explained 650:32).

Finally, with the tree destroyed, Nebuchadnezzar himself had to be changed. The watcher commanded that the king is given the heart of an animal for seven years. In substance abuse recovery programs, it is said that an addict cannot change until they hit rock-bottom—when they realize the full necessity of change. In spiritual life, this rock bottom is a point at which we almost lose our humanity, we are so dominated by selfishness, greed and the lust of dominion that we lose our ability to think rationally. We become animals. The difference between humans and animals is our ability to think and act in freedom. Self-love destroys that freedom, thus destroying all humanity within us.

In this prophesy, we see a descent: from man, to beast, to ox. People are human because they are created in the image and likeness of the Lord. Thus human beings have the ability to think and act according to reason. This is the essence of our humanity (Arcana Coelestia 477, 2305, 4051, 585, 1555). When these are in tune with truth and goodness from the Lord, then we are truly human, because the image of the Lord is in us.

So again, we see this slide from an ideal to a lesser state: from man, the king became a beast. From rationality and freedom, he entered slavery. This fall appears earlier in the Word: when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they were cast out.

Finally he was told that he would eat grass like oxen. In a positive sense, oxen represent our affections (Arcana Coelestia 5198, 5642, 6357), or our love of the things of this world. But the opposite meaning of 'ox' is the perversion of goodness (Arcana Coelestia 9083), and the affection for injuring others (Arcana Coelestia 9094).

This humbling of the king represents the proper use of the love of self, and shows that the Lord does not eradicate it, because it is the foundation of true relationships with other people and the Lord Himself. But before it can become useful, selfishness needs to be converted into a humbled love of self, and we must return from the ox state.

As Daniel explained the meaning of the dream, he offered the king counsel: 'break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.' This is the next step in spiritual awareness. Seeing our selfishness, coupled with an increased awareness of the Lord, we reach the point where thoughts must become actions. At first glance, the concept of 'sins and iniquities' may seem redundant. But in the Word, pairs of synonymous words reflect two internal senses: the celestial and the spiritual (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 80). The celestial relates broadly to goodness, and the spiritual to truth. Together they make one.

Daniel's advice to Nebuchadnezzar is to repent. Repentance is the only way out of the quicksand of selfishness. The Lord taught that we should love one another as He loves us (John 13:34, John 15:12). To love ourselves alone, and to wish to control others is not in keeping with the Lord's teachings. The only solution is to listen to the voice of our conscience and allow ourselves to be guided by the truth.

In spite of everything, Nebuchadnezzar's pride was not reduced. As he walked around his palace, his heart was filled with pride: 'is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?'

A selfish person believes that everything they own or have accomplished is by their own power. There is no place for God or anyone else. When people do not listen to the Lord's teachings and reject His counsel, there is nothing the Lord can do but allow the person to reap the consequences of their choice.

The king remained in this ox-state until seven times passed over him, which illustrates that the Lord leaves us in this state until it runs its course. Sometimes it takes us a lifetime to see how our selfishness hurts others, and ourselves. Yet the Lord never leaves us. The promise of the root of the tree, bound with bands of iron and bronze is always there. The Lord works unceasingly to bring our selfishness under control until it can serve the higher loves of our neighbor and the Lord Himself.

Forgiveness begins in the recognition that we are in sin. In his ox-like state, Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to heaven. Eyes represent understanding (Arcana Coelestia 2975, 3863), and to lift them to heaven is to lift our understanding to the truths the Lord has given us. The king had been given some truths in his dreams and in the interpretation of them. He knew from Daniel's advice that he needed to repent and change his ways. As he did so, his understanding and appreciation of the Lord grew. He realized how small he was in the grand scheme of things. The inflated ego of selfishness was deflated by the recognition that all things had been given to him by the Lord.

His story is our story. We each build our empires in one way or another. We hold the power of life and death over others in a figurative sense—do we not decide who we like and dislike, who is admitted out our 'inner circle' and who is beyond the pale? The warnings the Lord gave to Nebuchadnezzar apply to us, and like the king, we can also ignore them. The consequences in our lives are the same, as we are reduced to a merely animal-being, wet with the dew of heaven.

Yet can we hear the Lord's voice calling, for unless we do, we will remain in that state. Can we lift our eyes to heaven and search for the truth leading to the greatest declaration one can make, provided it is done with the heart and not with the lips:

Now I … praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and his ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase.

595. And the rainbow above his head, signifies the interior things of the Word. This is evident from the signification of the "rainbow," as being Divine truth such as the Word is in the spiritual sense (of which presently); and from the signification of "above the head," as being what is interior; for "above" and "higher" signify within and interior, as can be seen from this, that in heaven when interior is said higher is meant; for the heavens of the angels who are interior or interiorly wise appear also above the heavens of the angels who are more external or externally wise. For this reason the three heavens are distinguished from one another by their height, the inmost or third heaven appearing above the middle or second heaven, and this above the ultimate or first.

[2] "Higher" signifies interior, because when higher and lower things are together, that is, form what is simultaneous, as in the head of man, they exist together in such an order that those things that had in successive order existed above are placed within, and those that had in successive order existed below are placed without. This is why higher things signify interior things, and lower things signify exterior things. This may be illustrated to the comprehension by the idea of a surface, in the center of which are things purer, and in the circumferences things grosser; things higher and lower form such a surface when they are let down into one and make what is simultaneous. From this it can also be seen, what is signified by the "angel," spoken of just above, "encompassed with a cloud," since for the same reason and from the same idea, "to be encompassed" means by what is without and below.

[3] A "rainbow" signifies interior Divine truth, such as the Word is in the spiritual sense, because the light of heaven, like as the light of the world, according to its incidence upon objects and its modification in them, presents variegations of color and also rainbows; these it has also sometimes been granted me to see in the angelic heaven (as may be seen described in Arcana Coelestia 1623-1625). But the rainbows that appear in the angelic heaven differ from the rainbows that appear in the world, in that the rainbows of heaven are from a spiritual origin, while the rainbows of the world are from a natural origin; for the rainbows of heaven are from the light that arises from the Lord as a sun, and as that sun is in its essence the Lord's Divine love, and the light therefrom is Divine truth, the variegations of light which are presented as rainbows are variegations of intelligence and wisdom with the angels. From this it is that rainbows there signify the form and beauty of spiritual Divine truth. But the rainbows of the world are from a natural origin, namely, from the sun of the world and its light; therefore they are merely modifications and consequent variegations of light by waters that fall from a cloud. And because there are like appearances of color in the spiritual world as in the natural world, and because these correspond, therefore the rainbows of the world have a similar signification as the rainbows of heaven, namely, spiritual Divine truths in their form and beauty; these truths are such as those of the Word in the spiritual sense.

[4] "Rainbows" have a similar signification in Ezekiel:

Above the expanse that was over the head ¹ of the cherubim was the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as of the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as it were the appearance of a living coal like the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins and upward; but from the appearance of his loins even downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about, as the appearance of a rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain so was the appearance of the glory round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah (Ezekiel 1:26-28).

As the "cherubim" signify providence and guard that the Lord be not approached except through the good of love, there appeared a throne, and upon the throne the appearance of a man; "throne" signifying the universal heaven, and the "man upon the throne," the Lord Himself; "the appearance of a living coal, like the appearance of fire from the appearance of his loins and upward," signifies celestial Divine love, which reigns in the higher heavens, for the higher heavens are represented by the upper part of the body, from the loins upward, to which they correspond, for these heavens constitute that part in the Greatest Man, which is heaven; "fire like a living coal" signifies that love, so do the "loins," for the "loins" correspond to the marriage of good and truth, which those have who are in the higher heavens; this is why heaven is called a "marriage," and the Lord is called the "bridegroom" and "husband," and heaven and the church the "bride" and "wife." "From his loins downward he appeared like the brightness of fire which was like a rainbow" signifies the spiritual Divine love, which reigns in the lower heavens, for the region of the body from the loins down to the soles of the feet corresponds to that love; and because that love proceeds from celestial Divine love it is called "fire and its brightness;" Divine truth from the Divine good of love is what is bright and presents the appearance of a rainbow. This makes evident also that the translucence of spiritual Divine truth through natural Divine truth is what produces that appearance in the heavens, and consequently that is what it signifies (as was said above; but this can be more clearly understood from what is said on Heaven in the work on Heaven and Hell; that from the Lord's Divine Human it represents One Man, n. 59-86; on the Correspondence of all Things of Heaven with all Things of Man, n. 87-102; and in the Arcana Coelestia, on the correspondence of the loins, n. 3021, 4280, 4462, 5050-5062).

[5] "The bow in the cloud" or the rainbow, has a similar signification in the book of Genesis:

God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I give between Me and you and every living soul that is with you, unto the generations of an age. I have given My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall be in clouding Myself with a cloud over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living soul in all flesh; and the waters shall no more be for a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I see it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul in all flesh that is upon the earth (Genesis 9:12-17).

Unless it is known that there is a spiritual sense in every particular of the Word it may be supposed that the bow in the cloud, which is called a rainbow, appears for a sign that the earth shall no more be destroyed by a flood, and yet that bow exists from causes in nature, and is produced mediately when rays of light from the sun pass through the watery particles of rain from a cloud, which shows that like bows or rainbows existed before the flood. For this reason, in consequence of the correspondence between spiritual and natural things, such rainbows as are seen from the earth by men mean such rainbows as are seen by angels in the spiritual world, all of which arise from the light of heaven and its modification in the spiritual-natural sphere there, and thus from spiritual Divine truth, and its translucence in natural Divine truth; for all light in heaven is spiritual, and in its essence is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord. From this it can be seen that "the bow in the cloud or rainbow" signifies spiritual Divine truth translucent through natural Divine truth, and there is such a translucence with those who are being reformed and regenerated by the Lord by means of Divine truth and a life according to it. In the heavens also this very translucence appears as a rainbow. "The sign of a covenant" signifies the Lord's presence and conjunction with such, for "covenant" signifies conjunction. This sign was given because the "flood," by which the human race was then destroyed, signifies the direful falsities of evil, from which the posterity of the Most Ancient Church perished. The restoration and the establishment of a new church, called the Ancient Church, by Divine truth conjoined to spiritual good, which in its essence is charity, are what rainbows representatively manifest in heaven and thence signify in the world. (But as these words involve more arcana than can be explained briefly, see for a detailed explanation of them Arcana Coelestia 1031-1059.)

Notas de rodapé: