Daniel Chapter 4 Verses 10-14

10 The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth; and its height was great. 11 The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. 12 Its leaves were fair and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the air dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. 13 “I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. 14 He cried aloud and said thus, `Hew down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit; let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches.

The king had dreamed of a giant tree that gave shelter and food to all the beasts and birds of the earth.

This looks like a happy dream. What was troubling the king? We are about to find out.

This beautiful tree was going to be cut down and its foliage was going to be stripped away.

The order came from “a watcher, a holy one” who “came down from heaven.” Who was this?

Although the dream was a message from God, it is possible that God was using some imagery from Babylonian mythology to make his point.

The Babylonians believed in heavenly beings whose task was to keep watch over the earth.

However, this image is not unique to Daniel.

A vision in Zechariah 1:10 speaks of those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.

The word for ‘watcher’ or ‘messenger’ occurs nowhere else in the Bible.

It does occur in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls (in a commentary on Genesis), where it is used to denote an angel.

This has caused some to believe that this is a special class of angels whose duty is to watch and patrol the earth. They would also seem to be responsible for executing the decrees of God.

One effect of cutting down the tree was that the birds and beasts that had found shelter under it would be scattered.

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