“While these words were still in his mouth, a voice called down from heaven, ‘O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, and you will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.” Daniel 4:31-32
The announcement came to Nebuchadnezzar in the same words he heard in his dream. This showed him that the dream was about to be fulfilled, and he would be reduced to the existence of an animal – specifically, an ox.
God could have destroyed both the King and his kingdom, but God still had a purpose to fulfill for His people and His prophet Daniel. God wanted the King to tell the whole empire what He had done for Him so that His name would be glorified among the nations. It was the privilege and responsibility of Israel to be the light to the Gentiles, but they failed miserably and started practicing the darkness of the pagan nations. So God used a pagan king to give glory to His name. “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations.” Isaiah 42:6
The form of insanity in which men think of themselves as animals and imitate the behavior of an animal has been observed. Some call it generally insania zoanthropica and more specifically in Nebuchadnezzar’s case, boanthropy, the delusion that one is an ox. There have only been about 60 cases worldwide.