The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.
The beasts of the field had shadow under it - implying that God's purpose in establishing empires in the world is that they may be as trees, affording men "fruits" for "meat" and a "shadow" for rest (cf. Lamentations 4:20). But the world-powers abuse their trust for self; therefore Messiah comes to plant the tree of His Gospel-kingdom, which alone shall realize God's purpose (Ezekiel 17:23; Matthew 13:32, "When it (the mustard seed to which the Gospel-kingdom is compared) is grown, it ... becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof"). Herodotus (7: 19) mentions a dream (probably suggested by the tradition of this dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel) which Xerxes had-namely, that he was crowned with olive, and that the branches of the olive filled the whole earth, but that afterward the crown vanished from his head: signifying his universal dominion, soon to come to an end.