Nebuchadnezzar - an Enigma

As far as pagan rulers go this chap seems to hold a special place in Bible accounts. We know that as a conquering menace to all surrounding nations, he really wasn’t very nice. But then conquerors never are. It is not in their nature. He was a fine military strategist, learning his trade as Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar whilst his father Nabopolassar was still alive, famously defeating the Egyptian forces of Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish. This victory started the clock on Judah’s suzerainty to Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign. He was used by Jehovah to destroy Tyre (Ezekiel 26) for which he received no ‘wages’, subsequently being rewarded with Egypt as wages in lieu (Ezekiel 29). Of course, for Bible students his most important victory, if indeed important is the right word, was against Jerusalem, simply because the inhabitants kept revolting and misbehaving! We know that Jehovah could have stood up for his people, as he did for Hezekiah against Sennacherib, but the revolt had gone too far. The time had come! Nevertheless, there was more to Nebuchadnezzar than a marauding thug; a more practical and refined side. He reinforced the defences of his capital city. He built temples and palaces. And anyone who knows about the seven wonders of the ancient world will have heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built for his Median wife, Amytis. He was religiously devoted to Marduk, the eponymous temple eventually receiving the utensils from the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem. ‘Is this not Babylon the Great that I myself have built…’ (Daniel 4:30).
He was a military genius, boastful, arrogant, deeply religious, superstitious (Ezekiel 21:20) and very willing to humiliate and slaughter anyone who would not, or could not, fulfil his every whim (Daniel 2:5), but at the same time cultured and refined. Why would such a person, encapsulating all that Jehovah hates, be given such privileges as he had? And what were these privileges?
He was given two prophetic dreams that required the interpretative services of Daniel, through whom Jehovah revealed to the king such extraordinary information regarding the time of the end (Daniel chapters two and four). Take for instance Daniel 2:28 which says, in part, ‘But there is a God in the heavens who is a Revealer of secrets, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what is to happen in the final part of the days.’ Jehovah did not need to involve the king. He could have added these to the many visions that Daniel received that did not involve Nebuchadnezzar (although benefits came to Daniel and his companions due to way Jehovah included the king). Chapter four of Daniel is largely written by Nebuchadnezzar himself. NWT, uniquely (and sadly, in my view), puts his narrative in quotes. In this vision he was the main actor, the seven times having an immediate fulfilment upon him, long enough for his hair and nails to grow as long as birds' feathers and claws. Why these privileges?
Well, there was amongst all of this, a merciful and humble streak running through the king’s personality. King Zedekiah of Judah did not have to suffer the torture he received had he obeyed the instructions from Jehovah - ‘Jeremiah then said to Zedekiah: “This is what Jehovah, the God of armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will be spared. But if you will not surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape out of their hand.’”’ (Jeremiah 38:17, 18). Jeremiah 39:10 tells how, following the sack of Jerusalem, the poorest of the people were left behind and given vineyards and fields to cultivate. Most importantly verses 11 and 12 tell us that it was Nebuchadnezzar who personally ordered regarding Jeremiah ‘Take him and look after him; do him no harm, and grant whatever he asks of you.’ And following significant events at home, note these quotes:
(Daniel 2:47) . . . Truly your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a Revealer of secrets, because you were able to reveal this secret.
(Daniel 3:28, 29) . . . Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel and rescued his servants. They trusted in him and went against the command of the king and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. I am therefore issuing an order that any people, nation, or language group that says anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego should be dismembered, and their houses should be turned into public latrines; for there is no other god who is able to rescue like this one.
(Daniel 4:34, 35) . . . At the end of that time I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to the heavens, and my understanding returned to me; and I praised the Most High, and to the One living forever I gave praise and glory, because his rulership is an everlasting rulership and his kingdom is for generation after generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing, and he does according to his own will among the army of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth. And there is no one who can hinder him or say to him, ‘What have you done?’
(Daniel 4:37) . . . Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, am praising and exalting and glorifying the King of the heavens, because all his works are truth and his ways are just, and because he is able to humiliate those who are walking in pride.
He was never going to become a full-time worshipper of Jehovah. World conquerors just do not submit to a real higher being – they like to think that they are the pinnacle of everything. But he was extremely useful to Jehovah. At Jerusalem his military expertise was used to destroy the city and punish its wayward inhabitants, after which Judaism became nothing more than a religion; Judah was never restored as an independent nation. The Jews were exiled, not with Jehovah’s blessing, but because Jehovah allowed them to be, because Jehovah did not prevent them from being exiled. There is a difference. They chose to be exiled by ignoring Jehovah’s prophets. Of course, the Chaldeans had to pay for their violence towards God’s people, which they did, eventually.
Nebuchadnezzar himself was quite an enigma. A world leader, boastful, haughty, arrogant, violent, superstitious, occasional admirer of Jehovah, Bible writer, receiver of divine visions, useful to, and rewarded by, Jehovah. The Chaldeans did pay for their evil deeds (Habakkuk 1:5-11, 2:4-19) but quite notably, not in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. The mighty city of Babylon fell without a fight, in one night, to Cyrus the Persian in the days of Nabonidus and Belshazzar (Isaiah 45, Daniel 5). Just as Jehovah delayed the punishment of his people due to the faithfulness of some kings, notably Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:22-28), in a similar way Babylon paid for her misdeeds after the death of this king who had such a turbulent relationship with Jehovah.

As an aside, it seems remarkable that, of all ancient rulers, the reign of Nebuchadnezzar is so completely documented. There are no substantial gaps in his history and it is remarkable too that historians do not preface his dates with circa. Take the following table as an example, published in one reference work. Given his important role in Bible history and in relation to God's people, I wonder if Jehovah ensured that this would be the case?