‘Saying, “O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy God is in you, and no secret is a problem to you, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation.” '
Daniel had by now been master (Rab) over the ‘magicians' (wise men) for many years (Daniel 2:48), and had Nebuchadnezzar's full confidence. Nebuchadnezzar knew that the spirit of the holy gods was in him, even though he may not have understood quite which god. But the fact that he mentioned the revealing of secrets may suggest that he means, correctly, the holy God who had previously revealed secrets through Daniel. So he asked him for an explanation of his visions and the dream in which they were contained.
The Dream.
‘Thus were the visions of my head on my bed, I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree was growing and was strong, and its height reached to heaven, and a view of it to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were lush and its fruit plentiful, and on it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heaven dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.'
The same idea as is found in this dream is also found in Ezekiel's parable about Pharaoh (Ezekiel 31:3-9) but large trees were a common sight, as was their use by beasts and birds for food and protection, so that any similarity is probably coincidental. Great trees provided good illustrations, and were regularly used in antiquity to illustrate royalty. Thus Nebuchadnezzar (although he would withdraw from the thought and possibly shut it out of his mind) and the magicians had both probably recognised that it spoke of Nebuchadnezzar.
The tree was in the midst of the earth, and it was of great height. It was ‘world prominent'. This could hardly mean anything other than Nebuchadnezzar. The wording is such that it suggests that during the dream the growing was seen to take place. ‘Its height reached to heaven' would remind Daniel's readers of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:4), and they would see its connection with Nebuchadnezzar as significant. The tree was conspicuous to all who were in ‘the world' i.e. his world.
It was also the great provider, providing food and protection. That is how great kings always liked to see themselves, justifying war by what they saw as their ‘benevolence' to mankind. And Nebuchadnezzar would see himself as the feeder and protector of the empire, his ‘world'.