Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.
Punished with insanity for his haughtiness, he sinks to the level of the beasts (illustrating Psalms 49:6; Psalms 49:10-12). The opposition between bestial and human life set forth here is a key to interpret the symbolism in Daniel 7:1-28 concerning the beasts and the Son of man. After his conquests, and his building in fifteen days a new palace, according to the pagan historian, Abydenus (268 BC), whose account confirms Daniel, 'he ascended upon his palace-roof (see Daniel 4:29, margin, 'He walked upon the palace'), whence he could see the surrounding city which he had built, and, seized by some deity, he predicted the Persian conquest of Babylon, adding a prayer that the Persian leader might on his return be borne where there is no path of men, and where the wild beasts graze' (language evidently derived by tradition from Daniel 4:32-33, though the application is different). In his insanity his excited mind would naturally think of the coming conquest of Babylon by the Medo-Persians, already foretold to him in Daniel 2:39.
Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people ... Peace be multiplied unto you - the usual salutation in the East. 'Shalom,' whence Salaam. The primitive revelation of the fall, and man's alienation from God, made "peace" to be felt as the first and deepest want of man. The Orientals (as the East was the cradle of revelation) retained the word by tradition.