Conclusion of A WARRIOR KING BUILDS AN EMPIRE

Nebuchadnezzar's religious devotion went particularly to Marduk, the chief god of Babylon.  The king credited Marduk with all his conquests. In Babylon, he build and beautified the temples of Marduk and numerous other Babylon deities.  The image of gold set up on the plain of Dura may have been dedicated to Marduk. And Nebuchadnezzar appears to have relied heavily on divination in planning his military moves.

Nebuchadnezzar also took pride in restoring Babylon the greatest walled city of the time.  By completing the city's massive double walls that his father had started to build, Nebuchadnezzar  made the capital seemingly impregnable.   The king repaired an old palace in the heart of the city and built a summer palace one-and-a-half miles to the north.  To satisfy the Median queen, who longed for the hills and forests of her homeland, Nebuchadnezzar reportedly build the hanging gardens-rafted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  

"Is not this Babylon the Great, that I myself have built for the royal house with the strength of my might and for the dignity of my majesty?"  Boasted the king one day as he was walking about the royal palace  of Babylon.  "While the word was yet in the king's mouth," insanity struck him.  Unfit to rule for seven years, he ate vegetation, just as Daniel foretold. At the end of that period, the kingdom was restored to Nebuchadnezzar,m who reigned until his death in 582 B.C.E. -Daniel 4:30-36. 

Next time: THEIR FAITH SURVIVED THE CRUCIBLE; Chapter Five

From the book: PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999