Godel derives from gadal (H1431, to be great). It can describe God's incomparable greatness (Deuteronomy 3:24) or human arrogance and overreaching — the very pride that leads to a fall. The same word holds both the height of divine majesty and the danger of human inflation.
The godel of God is the foundation of biblical doxology. "How great is your godel!" cries Moses after witnessing the Exodus. But when humans claim godel for themselves — as Nebuchadnezzar famously did — it leads to judgment. The lesson of Daniel 4 is the lesson of godel: God alone is truly great, and He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The theology of greatness runs from the towering king reduced to an animal all the way to the servant Christ who became the greatest by becoming least.