Judgment came upon Assyria and was also soon to fall upon Egypt because they were lifted up and defied God. "Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height, I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with him; I have driven him out for his wickedness." Behind these nations of the past stood, as we saw in connection with the King of Tyrus (chap. xxviii), the dark shadow of the enemy of God. He is still the master over the nations which act at the close of the times of the Gentiles. Satan's crime is that he was and is lifted up with pride. He fell because he said, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ... I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isa. xiv:13-14). And this awful being, the prince of this world, the god of this age, who domineers still over the kingdoms of this world, till he is dethroned by the coming of the Lord, has led in the past and still leads nations into ruin and ripens them for divine judgment through pride and what goes with it, defiance of God. Today our boasting, proud, lifted up and God-defiant age, an age which rejects God's best, the Gospel of His Son, is rapidly approaching the threatened judgment, a judgment far more severe than those which overtook Assyria and Egypt. The one mentioned as "the mighty one of the nations" is Nebuchadnezzar, whom God used to bring judgment upon Egypt, as we learned from the previous chapters. He was the golden head of the image which represents the times of the Gentiles, which may soon take on their final form, the ten kingdoms in the revived Roman Empire (Dan. ii). Nebuchadnezzar also became lifted up and God humbled him for seven years, as God will yet humble the nations of Christendom.[25] And the judgments of the past, upon Assyria and others is to be a warning to others "to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height" (verse 13). But who among the nations is wise and heeds the warnings of God's holy Word? See also Rom. xi:16-24, where Christendom is warned not to boast and not to be high minded. [25] See Exposition of Daniel, by A. C. G., on Dan. iii-vi. III. The Overthrow and the Consternation among the Nations as the result of Egypt's fall.