The Leaves and Fruit of the Tree - Daniel 4:12

In the book of Daniel, Daniel shared how King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and after calling upon his magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers who were unable to tell him what his dream meant, Nebuchadnezzar said, “Thus were the visions of my head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth” and in chapter four and verse twelve of his book Daniel shared how Nebuchadnezzar said, “the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much” where we read,

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 verse reads, “The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all:” Daniel began with the words, “the leaves thereof” or “the leafage and foliage belonging to the tree” “were fair” which means “existed as beautiful”, “and the fruit thereof much”  or “and the fresh, young and greening fruit was exceedingly abundant ”, “and in it was meat for all” which means “and within the tree existed as food on behalf of each and every person”. Daniel shared how King Nebuchadnezzar described the foliage of the “tree” as beautiful, and the “fruit” on the “tree” was so abundant, it provided food for everyone.

The verse goes on to say, “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.” Daniel continued with the words, “the beasts of the field” which means “and the animals within the open plains” “had shadow under it” or “were covered with the shade of the tree”, “and the fowls of the heaven” which means “and the birds within the sky” “dwelt in the boughs thereof” or “lived, abode and inhabited the branches of the tree”, “and all flesh” which means “and each, every and the whole of fleshly bodies or mankind” “was fed of it” or “were provided food and nourishment from the tree”. Daniel shared how King Nebuchadnezzar said the animals were covered with the shade of the “tree”, the birds lived in the branches of the “tree” and the “tree” provided food for everyone.

When we consider the words in this verse, we learn through Daniel more about King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. He provided details such as the beauty of the “tree’s” foliage and abundant “fruit” which supplied everyone with food. The animals in the plains were covered by the shade of the “tree”, and the birds were lodging in the branches of it. In fact, the “tree” was so amply supplied that every animal and person was given food from it. What a “tree” this was, and we shall see more about King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in our next verses. For now let us imagine such a beautiful and abundantly supplied “tree” that enabled every person and animal to benefit from it. God is able to appoint such things, and when He sent His Son Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of everyone and raised Him from the grave after three days, He made the way through faith and belief in Him for us to be forgiven of our sins and granted everlasting life with Him. This is a beautiful provision, it is so abundantly supplied that all are welcome to come to Jesus and receive the provision of salvation from our Almighty God.  

Next time Daniel shares how Nebuchadnezzar shares about, “a watcher and an holy one”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".