IS THERE SECULAR EVIDENCE?

Some have identified Nebuchadnezzar's madness with lycanthropy.  Says one one medical dictionary "LYCANTHROPY . . .from [ly'kos], lupus, wolf; [an' thropos], home,man.  This name was given to the sickness of people who believe themselves to be changed into an animal, and who imitate the voice of cries, the shapes or manners of that animal.  These individuals usually imagine themselves transformed into a wolf, a dog or a cat; sometimes also a bull, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar." (Dictionnaire des sciences  medi9cales, par une societe' de medicins et de chirurgiens, Paris 1818, Volume 29, page 246)  The symptoms of lycanthropy are similar to those of Nebuchadnezzar's demented state.  Since his mental illness was divinely decreed, however, it cannot specifically  be specifically be identified with a known disorder. 

Scholar John E. Goldingay cites several parallels to Nebuchadnezzar's madness and restoration. For instance, he states:  "A fragmentary cuneiform text apparently refers  to some mental disorder on Nebuchadnezzar's part, and perhaps to his neglecting and leaving Babylon."  Goldingay cites a document called "The Babylonian Job" and says  that it "testifies to chastisements by God, illness, humiliation, seeking interpretation of a terrifying dream, being overthrown over like a tree, being put outside, eating grass, losing understanding, being like an ox, being rained on by Marduk, nails being married, hair growing, and being fettered, and then to a restoration for which he praises the god." 

Next time: SEVEN TIMES THAT AFFECT US

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