Page 88 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

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The particular kind of madness of which Nebuchadnezzar was the victim is called

lycanthropy—the delusion that a man has been changed into an animal.

Seven years had he now been so afflicted. Toward the last of this period, the wolf-
man had strayed somewhat from his haunts in the foothills and forests and had

returned nearer to the abodes of men and would sleep on the edges or in the midst of
fields of unharvested grain. He would pluck ears of corn from the stalks and devour
the fresh, sweet grains.

One night having thus sated his appetite, he lay down to sleep between the rows.
The early sun of a beautiful May morning awakened him. But this time it was not a
mere physical awakening to continue his degraded existence as an animal, but an
awakening of the soul and spirit as well.

From the day he had paced the roof of his palace until this very moment, his mind
had been a complete blank.

He sat upright from his couch of earth. For the first time in a heptad, his eyes
flashed intelligence. He knew, immediately who he was, but was dismayed and
perplexed as he gazed at his hands, his fingernails unbelievably long, and his palms as
calloused as the soles of his feet. His beard overspread his chest like a great hair-mat,

in which there had lodged all sorts of things. He felt behind his back and found that
his hair had grown nearly down to his waist. His body he found to be coated with the
dirt of years.

His perplexity was of short duration as awakened memory brought to mind the last
words he had heard spoken to him in an ominous, supernatural tone, “O King
Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they
shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; they

shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou
know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever
he will.”

“Ah!” he said to himself, “I understand. I have been an animal for seven years as
Jahveh revealed to me in my dream and as Daniel interpreted to me. I have been a
mad man and lived as a beast as a just punishment for my awful pride and
stubbornness, and for my refusal to yield my heart in submission to Him whose power
had been clearly and severally revealed. But His chastisement has been in mercy and

He has preserved my life, even though the great tree was hewn down to become a
stump. I bless the Most High, not only as the Revealer of Secrets, the God of Daniel,