Nebuchadnezzar: The Beast King

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on The Chosen People. 00:00:04 Speaker 2: Hear the decree of your king. 00:00:06 Speaker 3: At the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the harp, the pipe, you are. 00:00:12 Speaker 4: To fall down and worship the image I have set before you. 00:00:16 Speaker 5: Great Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. We bow to the one true God of Israel. 00:00:27 Speaker 4: Look around you. I built these towers. I gathered these armies. I have the furnace to burn you all to a crisp. There is no god here but me. 00:00:44 Speaker 1: The roar of the furnace was deafening now, a constant ravenous bellow. Heat rolled across the plain in suffocating waves, carrying the acrid tang of burning pitch. Nebuchadnezzar's eyes snapped toward the furnace. Inside, where clothes should have blackened to ash, where flesh should have been consumed in moments, the three men were walking. 00:01:12 Speaker 3: Walking. 00:01:14 Speaker 1: And then, there was a fourth figure in the flame. 00:01:19 Speaker 2: Who... who are you? 00:01:21 Speaker 1: The fourth man's eyes lit with a heavenly glow, and from his mouth, a sword appeared. 00:01:29 Speaker 2: I am. 00:01:31 Speaker 1: For the first time in years, the great king of Babylon had met someone who did not fear him more than God, and though he would not admit it, not yet, that encounter would haunt him far longer than the dream itself. The moon hung low over Babylon, casting its pale light across the palace gardens. Cypress trees swayed in the frigid night wind, their shadows shifting over the marble colonnades like restless phantoms. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled in a slow, hollow call. Inside the royal chamber, Nebuchadnezzar lay sprawled on his cedar bed. His breathing had been steady, but now it caught. The muscles in his jaw twitched, and his fingers curled slightly in the sheets. He was having another dream. It began with the earth beneath his feet, warm, fertile, alive. Before him rose a tree unlike any he had ever seen. Its trunk was thick, its bark streaked with gold-veined resin, The crown of its branches spread wider than the walls of Babylon itself, reaching upward until they touched the very vault of heaven. Its leaves were a living emerald, and its boughs, doves and ravens nested side by side. At its roots, lions slept beside gazelles. All the kingdoms of the earth seemed to find shade beneath it, and at the base of the tree, A throne. 00:03:26 Speaker 2: His throne. 00:03:28 Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar felt a satisfaction in his chest. A deep, wordless certainty that this was his kingdom. 00:03:36 Speaker 2: His reign. 00:03:38 Speaker 1: His legacy stretching into eternity. But then, a shadow fell over the sun. From above, cutting through the heavens like a blade, a voice came. The voice of the Watcher. 00:03:55 Speaker 3: Cut down the tree. Strip its leaves. Scatter its fruit. 00:04:04 Speaker 1: The sound shook the earth. The trunk splintered. Branches groaned like the cries of dying men. Birds erupted into the air, wheeling in panic. Beasts fled. Nebuchadnezzar tried to shout, but the words caught in his throat. The voice returned. Closer now, so close it felt like it was speaking inside his skull. 00:04:32 Speaker 3: Let the stump remain, bound with iron and bronze. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let his mind be changed from that of a man to that of a beast. 00:04:50 Speaker 1: The words carved themselves into him like an iron brand. Pain lanced through his head. His vision swam. 00:05:00 Speaker 6: As a beast he shall remain until seven times have passed. 00:05:07 Speaker 1: The great tree crashed to the ground, shaking the earth until the throne at its roots splintered and fell. The king woke with a strangled gasp, sitting upright, drenched in cold sweat. For a long moment, the chamber was silent, except for the pounding of his heart. His eyes darted to the corners, half expecting to see a shadow lurking there. 00:05:37 Speaker 2: He reached for the goblet. 00:05:39 Speaker 1: His hand trembled as he drank, wine spilling down his wrist. A movement at the door. The servant posted for the night shift. 00:05:48 Speaker 2: Peering in. Send for the Magi. 00:05:51 Speaker 4: Now. 00:05:53 Speaker 1: The servant bowed. and vanished into the torch-lit corridor. Nebuchadnezzar swung his legs over the bed, bare feet touching the cold marble. He rose and crossed to the window, looking out over the sleeping city. 00:06:08 Speaker 2: It was his. All of it. 00:06:11 Speaker 1: The ziggurats, the temples, the walls thick enough to stop an army. And yet the dream's voice clung to him like the smell of burning pitch. Somewhere beyond the reach of his armies, beyond the glory of his reign, there was a kingdom greater than his, and it was watching. The Magi gathered before dawn, summoned from their beds to the royal hall. Nebuchadnezzar sat on his throne, but not in his usual regal stillness. His fingers drummed the carved ebony armrest. His eyes fixed on the floor as though he were tracking something only he could see. I. 00:07:00 Speaker 2: I have dreamed a dream. It has troubled me. 00:07:05 Speaker 4: You will interpret it for me. 00:07:08 Speaker 1: There was a rustle of uneasy movement among the magi. They had done this dance before. The last time they tried to interpret his dreams, many of them were beheaded. If it weren't for Daniel, none of them would be alive. Yet, Daniel's name dare not leave their lips. To affirm his gifts would be to affirm his God, and their pride wouldn't allow that. 00:07:35 Speaker 2: O King, live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation. 00:07:45 Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar's eyes snapped up. For a heartbeat, there was something wild in them. Nebuchadnezzar clenched his fists, drew a breath, then released. His resolve was wavering. His anger, though still hot, wouldn't burn the men before him. It was an internal smolder, a flame that would only consume him. He sighed and relayed his dream to the magicians. 00:08:14 Speaker 4: This was not like other dreams. This was no figment of wine and stress. 00:08:21 Speaker 2: This one... This one came from him. The god from beyond the veil. The one who haunts me. I. 00:08:34 Speaker 2: I saw a tree. 00:08:36 Speaker 4: My tree. Cut down at a command that was not mine. I... I heard a sentence.... 00:08:45 Speaker 1: As the king relayed his dream, the magi shifted, their eyes darting to each other. None spoke. When the king was done, he buried his face in his hands. 00:08:59 Speaker 6: Speak. 00:09:00 Speaker 2: What does it mean? 00:09:02 Speaker 1: But their silence deepened. Some glanced at the floor, and others fidgeted with their belts or beads. They were afraid. No dream of such terror could mean anything good for the king. That much was clear. They dared not venture into the waters of Nebuchadnezzar's rage. 00:09:24 Speaker 2: You cannot tell me. O king, such a dream. Its words are for the gods alone. 00:09:34 Speaker 4: And they, they do not dwell with men. 00:09:39 Speaker 1: The king rose from the throne, pacing like a caged animal. The hem of his robe whispered against the stone floor, the sound quickening as his thoughts darkened. 00:09:50 Speaker 4: Then bring me the one whose God dwells with men. 00:09:54 Speaker 2: Bring me Belteshazzar. 00:09:58 Speaker 1: Daniel arrived not long after. 00:10:00 Speaker 2: After. 00:10:00 Speaker 1: He bowed low before the king, but when he rose, his eyes met Nebuchadnezzar's without fear. 00:10:09 Speaker 2: Belteshazzar, your gifts are needed once more. 00:10:13 Speaker 5: Have no gift, great king. 00:10:16 Speaker 3: I have prayer. 00:10:19 Speaker 5: And the god who hears them, tell me your dream. If the god of heaven gives me understanding, I will tell you what it means. 00:10:28 Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar leaned forward, his voice low and deliberate. 00:10:33 Speaker 2: I saw a tree in the midst of the earth. Great, strong. 00:10:39 Speaker 4: Its top reached the heavens. Its branches gave shade to the beasts and shelter. 00:10:45 Speaker 2: To the birds. All nations fed from it. And then a watcher came down from heaven. 00:10:56 Speaker 4: And cried aloud, cut down the tree, strip its leaves, scatter its fruit, but leave the stump in the earth bound with iron and bronze. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let his mind be changed from that of a man to that of a beast until seven times. 00:11:17 Speaker 2: Pass over him. 00:11:20 Speaker 1: The hall seemed to grow colder as he spoke the words. Daniel's brow furrowed. He glanced away, not in confusion, but in grief. Nebuchadnezzar caught the look. 00:11:35 Speaker 3: You. 00:11:36 Speaker 2: you know what it means? 00:11:39 Speaker 3: Yes. 00:11:41 Speaker 2: Well? 00:11:44 Speaker 4: Spit it out! 00:11:45 Speaker 2: Damn it! 00:11:46 Speaker 5: The tree, great king, is you. 00:11:50 Speaker 2: What? 00:11:52 Speaker 5: Don't act surprised. Fanged ignorance is unbecoming of you. 00:11:57 Speaker 4: Then my fate is that of the tree to be stripped away? 00:12:03 Speaker 5: Your greatness has grown. It reaches the heavens and your dominion to the end of the earth. 00:12:11 Speaker 4: As is my destiny. I am the king of Babylon. 00:12:15 Speaker 5: You are too great in your own eyes and in the eyes of men. 00:12:21 Speaker 2: Who else matters? 00:12:23 Speaker 5: The Lord matters, and he has seen you for what you are. 00:12:28 Speaker 2: And what am I? A beast! Why should I care what this God thinks of me? 00:12:37 Speaker 5: It is his people you captured, and his gold you hoard in your vaults. 00:12:42 Speaker 4: Would he judge an eagle for soaring or a lion for hunting, too? 00:12:48 Speaker 2: I do what's in my nature. 00:12:50 Speaker 5: If that eagle turned its talons on the chosen people and the lion devoured their children, then yes. 00:12:59 Speaker 4: So I should just succumb to his prodding and beg for mercy. Should I fear a god I cannot see? 00:13:06 Speaker 5: You have seen him, Nebuchadnezzar. You saw him in the flames that day. 00:13:11 Speaker 1: The king recoiled at that. Flashes back to that moment beside the furnace flooded his mind. He saw Shadrach Meshach and Abednego hurled into the flame, yet unconsumed. Nebuchadnezzar closed his eyes and remembered him, the fourth man in the flame, the one shimmering brighter than the white-hot fire. The king opened his eyes, softer now. He rubbed his temples and sighed. What does this mean, Belshazzar? 00:13:47 Speaker 5: The Most High has decreed that you will be driven from among men. You will live with the beasts of the field, eating grass like a wild ox, drenched with the dew of heaven, until you acknowledge that the Most High God rules over all the kingdoms of men and gives them to whom he wills. 00:14:07 Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar's jaw worked, but no sound came out. Daniel stepped closer, his voice urgent. 00:14:16 Speaker 5: Break off your sins by practicing righteousness. Show mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps your prosperity will be prolonged. 00:14:26 Speaker 1: For a long moment, the king simply stared at him. Then a slow smile spread, thin and cold. 00:14:35 Speaker 2: You think me a beast already, don't you, Berta Shazar? 00:14:40 Speaker 1: Daniel didn't answer. Nebuchadnezzar leaned back. the smile never touching his eyes. 00:14:48 Speaker 4: A strong arm and a sharp mind. It is how I've conquered. It is how I've won every battle. 00:15:00 Speaker 2: I will vanquish your god like any other foe. 00:15:04 Speaker 1: But as Daniel withdrew, the king's gaze followed him, and behind the steel of his pride, something restless paced. Something with claws. A year passed. The doom Daniel had spoken of faded from most minds, buried under the relentless churn of Babylon's life. Nebuchadnezzar moved among his court as he always had, issuing decrees, inspecting armies, reviewing tribute from vassal kings. Yet there were cracks in the veneer. Small at first, a shadow in his eyes when the wind caught in the palace gardens and bent the cypress trees like supplicants bowing. A sudden silence when a herd of oxen passed under the gates, their heads low as they chewed the cud. And always, in the quiet moments, he would hear it. A howling from the same wolf, followed by the voice of the watcher. 00:16:12 Speaker 3: Let his mind be changed, transformed, from that of a man to that of a beast. 00:16:23 Speaker 1: One evening, after the day's business had been concluded, Nebuchadnezzar wandered the hanging gardens. Lanterns glowed in the terraces, their light catching the wet leaves and spilling into the pools below. He stood at the highest level, the Euphrates winding in the distance, and surveyed the sprawl of Babylon. 00:16:49 Speaker 4: Is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power for the glory of my majesty? 00:16:59 Speaker 1: The words felt good in his mouth, too good. A wind rose suddenly, rattling the palm fronds. Somewhere in the dark, a low growl sounded, too deep for a dog, too near for a lion. The hairs on his arms stood on end. He turned, and for the briefest flash, he thought he saw something at the edge of the torchlight. A shape, low to the ground, shoulders hunched, eyes reflecting gold. Then, it was gone. 00:17:37 Speaker 2: Only, only shadows. 00:17:40 Speaker 1: But the growl remained in his ears. That night, the king dreamt of the tree again. Only this time, the axe didn't come from heaven. It came from his own hands. He was swinging it with inhuman strength, roaring with each blow until the trunk split and fell. When he stepped back, panting, He saw his reflection in the water pooled at the roots. It was not the face of a man. He woke with a gasp, sweat slick on his skin, the taste of dirt in his mouth. Weeks later, the king appeared at the Ishtar Gate to review an arriving tribute caravan. His court stood in orderly rows. As he walked the line of goods, ivory tusks, cedar trunks, baskets of figs, a flock of birds burst from the gate towers above, startled by something unseen. The sudden movement pulled his gaze skyward, and that's when Nebuchadnezzar saw it, the watcher from his dream. High above the crowd, suspended in air as though it were solid ground, the radiant being stared at him with eyes like molten metal. Its voice shook the air. 00:19:06 Speaker 3: Oh, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you. 00:19:17 Speaker 1: The crowd didn't react. No one else saw. No one else heard. 00:19:23 Speaker 6: You shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he wishes. 00:19:39 Speaker 1: A ringing filled the king's ears. The world swayed. Then a guttural tearing sound. the courtiers around him froze Nebuchadnezzar turned from them suddenly aware that his skin itched unbearably his joints ached and his teeth felt strange in his mouth the city walls seemed to close in the air felt too thick He walked away from the procession, the walk turning into a stagger, the stagger into a lurch, until he passed through the palace gates into the gardens, and then into the dark fields beyond. Somewhere behind him, shouts rose, torches flared, but the beast was already at the surface. The gardens were quiet at first. Palm fronds whispered in the wind, and moonlight dripped over the terraces in silver streams. Nebuchadnezzar stumbled through them, breathing hard. He clawed at the gold torque around his neck. It felt too tight. The silk at his shoulders was suffocating. 00:20:58 Speaker 2: What is happening? 00:21:03 Speaker 1: He tore the robe from his body. Somewhere behind him he heard voices, guards calling his name, sandals pounding the flagstones. Then the moon shifted behind a cloud. The shadow fell across his face, and with it came a heat in his skull as if something inside was splitting apart. His vision blurred and the colours deepened into strange, impossible hues. His breath came faster and heavier. His fingernails thickened. His spine cracked like splitting wood. Hair erupted along his arms and his chest like feathers rising from his skin. 00:21:48 Speaker 2: He dropped to all fours. 00:21:50 Speaker 1: The guards found him at the edge of the gardens. They stopped dead. A low snarl rolled from his throat, deep enough to rattle the air between them. His eyes glowed with a feral light. One guard reached for his spear. The king's head snapped toward him and the man froze. Nebuchadnezzar bolted into the night, into the wild fields beyond the city walls. The court tried to hide it at first. For weeks, proclamations went out in the king's name, signed by trembling scribes, sealed with the royal signet. They said he had taken to the country estates, that he was meditating, seeking visions, communing with the gods. But the truth whispered from servant to servant, guard to guard. The king lived in the open fields now. He slept in the tall grass, his skin blackened by sun and wind. His beard was tangled with burrs, and his eyes were ringed in red. He fed on wild herbs and roots, and his hands and feet hardened like an eagle's talons. Farmers in the outlying villages told stories of seeing him at dusk, crouched by the irrigation canals. lapping water beside the oxen. Children were warned not to wander after dark. The seasons turned, the rains came and went, the king's hair grew like eagle's feathers, his nails like the claws of a great bird. His speech was gone, replaced by guttural sounds and the occasional roar when startled. He belonged more to the beasts than to men. Daniel came only once. It was late in the seventh year, the grass high and green from the spring floods. He found the king crouched in a meadow, stripping bark from a sapling with his teeth. Daniel stopped several paces away. He did not speak at first. He simply watched. The most powerful man on earth reduced to this. 00:24:19 Speaker 5: The Most High is patient. 00:24:22 Speaker 1: The king turned at the sound of his voice. His eyes were wild, but somewhere in them, a flicker of recognition. 00:24:31 Speaker 5: Nebuchadnezzar, your sentence is almost served. The God who judged you is also the God who restores. Lift your eyes to heaven, O king. 00:24:42 Speaker 1: The beast in him hesitated. The man in him stirred. Nebuchadnezzar looked up. The clouds were breaking apart, sunlight spilling through in bright shafts. And in that light, he felt the old self. The self before the gardens, before the roar, before the madness. His humanity rose within him. The Beast King, crawling on all fours, stood on his hind legs and turned his cheek toward the sunlight peeking through the clouds. His breath, ragged and deep, began to slow and soften. He slowly dipped to his knees, claws gripping tightly at the grass and wildflowers beneath him. 00:25:32 Speaker 4: I bless the Most High and praise and honor him who lives forever. 00:25:41 Speaker 1: The air shifted. The gnawing hunger in his gut eased. The trembling in his limbs stilled. When he opened his eyes, his hands were clean, his nails blunt, his skin smooth beneath the dirt. The beast was gone. They brought him back to the palace in a covered chariot. The streets were silent as he passed. At the throne room, he stood once more before the ebony seat. The robes they draped on his shoulders were heavy, But they did not choke him. The crown they placed on his head did not burn. 00:26:22 Speaker 4: Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are right and. 00:26:33 Speaker 2: His ways just. 00:26:37 Speaker 4: And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. 00:26:44 Speaker 1: His voice carried through the marble halls, not like a man boasting of conquest, but like one who had been conquered and lived. And though the empire roared on, the king himself was quieter now, not tamed, never tamed, but marked. In the still moments, he could still feel the grass under his hands, the wind in his tangled hair, The eyes of heaven watching. This PrayDogCon production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Schellebarger and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradok, Thomas Copeland Jr., Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Lashinsky. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith. Written by Aaron Salvato, Brie Rosely, and Chris Baig. You can hear more Prey.com productions on the Prey.com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People, please rate and leave a review.