150 until at last Nebuchadnezzar encouraged him to deliver the message of God, without fear or anxiety. Before Daniel began to interpret the dream, he, with much courtesy and affection, expressed the wish “that the evils threatened by it might fall on the enemies of the king, and not upon himself.” He then faithfully declared the true meaning of the dream. The tree represented Nebuchadnezzar, who had risen high above all the kings of the earth, and had extended his government over most of those parts of the world which were then inhabited and civilized. The seiltence pronounced by the angel signified that Nebuchadnezzar should be driven from men, and dwell with the beasts of the field, and eat grass like oxen, and be wet with the dews of heaven, until seven years had μαιειονες him. The stump of the tree, left in the earth showed that the king dom should be kept for Nebuchadnezzar, and again restored to him when he should have learned that “ the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” With the affection of a faithful subject, and the gravity of a prophet
