Midrash sobre Daniel 4:27

Do not believe for a moment that the righteous Daniel would have offered such advice to Nebuchadnezzar, who hated the Omnipotent One, if he had not known that Israel was wasting away from hunger as it wandered about in exile. Hence he gave this advice to him because of his concern for them, and because he knew that ultimately Nebuchadnezzar’s soul would suffer. The wicked one immediately opened his storehouses and distributed their contents to them for twelve months. However, at the end of the twelve months the wicked one forgot his dream (and stopped feeding them). While walking about his palace one day, he heard the tumultuous uproar of the poor crying before his storehouses, and He asked his servants: “What is this noise I hear?” They informed him: “The poor whom you carried into exile are pleading for food.” A wicked thought entered his heart at once: The king spoke and said: “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for a royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (ibid., v. 27). Then he added: “Were it not for the wealth I possessed, how could I have built this country?” He commanded that they be stopped, as it is written: While the word was in the king’s mouth (ibid., v. 28). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Why were you untroubled during the past twelve months? Was it not because of the righteous deeds you were performing? If this is so for the peoples of the world, how much more so for Israel! Thus saith the Lord: Keep ye justice, and do righteousness.

VIII) Let there be [for her] no escape (Jeremiah 50:29), it is written wwithin lacking, for Babylon is the seat of sovereignty and the house of royalty, and thus it says (Daniel 4:27) Is that not great Babylon, which I built to be a royal residence? And in it the kingdom of Israel sank and her kingdom was annulled, and Jeremiah told the remnant of Israel that the vengeance of Adonai would be avenged upon it in this world and in the future, so it is written Let there be no escape in this world, and continued on the margins Let there be no escape for her in the future.

R. Berechiah stated in the name of R. Helbo, who had said in the name of R. Samuel the son of Nahman: Most assuredly, the Holy One, blessed be He, judges the thoughts and the heart of man. Nebuchadnezzar praised Him in this verse just as David did in the Book of Psalms. Nebuchadnezzar said praise, and David said Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem (Ps. 147:12); Nebuchadnezzar said extol, and David said: I will extol thee, O Lord, for Thou hast raised me up (Ps. 30:2); Nebuchadnezzar said honor, and David declared: Thou art clothed with honor and majesty (ibid. 104:1). After he achieved greatness, however, he became arrogant, as it is said: Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for a royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? (Dan. 4:27). Whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked him: Wretch! Again you are boastful, as it is said: While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven: “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee” (ibid., v. 28). Hence, whenever the wicked are in trouble, they humble themselves, but when their difficulties cease, they revert to their corrupt practices. Pharaoh did likewise. When he saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he continued to sin (Exod. 9:34). The gentiles add to their sins, but in the case of Israel The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion, he will no more carry thee away into captivity; He will punish thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will uncover thy sins (Lam. 4:22).