Chapter 4 of Sefer Daniel is an extraordinary chapter: it is written entirely as an epistle authored by Nebuchadnezzar himself. The king relates in the first person a dream he had, how the sages of Babylon could not interpret it, and how Daniel ultimately came and made its meaning known to him. In this part, we will examine the opening of the epistle and the description of the dream itself, based on the commentary of the Malbim.
Tranquility Within and Peace Without
אֲנָה נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר שְׁלֵה הֲוֵית בְּבֵיתִי וְרַעְנַן בְּהֵיכְלִי׃ - I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.
Nebuchadnezzar opens his epistle: "I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace." Sheleh is related to shalev (serene or tranquil). There is a difference between shalom (peace) and shalvah (tranquility): shalom is external, meaning that no enemies come to wage war against him; shalvah is internal, which is why people speak of having "inner tranquility." Nebuchadnezzar says: I had inner tranquility in my home, and from the outside I also had no troubles or enemies, for I was "flourishing in my palace," sitting in the royal palace thriving like a firmly planted tree, without any distress.
Why This Introduction Is Significant
חֵלֶם חֲזֵית וִידַחֲלִנַּנִי וְהַרְהֹרִין עַל מִשְׁכְּבִי וְחֶזְוֵי רֵאשִׁי יְבַהֲלֻנַּנִי׃ - I saw a dream that frightened me, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head terrified me.
"I saw a dream that frightened me, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head terrified me." The entire preface regarding his tranquility comes to dismiss a potential objection: had Nebuchadnezzar been hunted and troubled, one could have claimed that a person is shown only the thoughts of his own heart, and that someone who lives in fear all day also sees terrifying visions at night. Therefore, he prefaces by testifying that he was tranquil and flourishing, and yet a terrifying, frightening dream overcame him - a clear sign that this was a genuine prophetic vision, not the product of idle thoughts.
The Dreams of King David
This relates to what is said of King David, who never saw a good dream in all his days. The holy Zohar explains: throughout his life, David was embroiled in wars and conflicts and fleeing from enemies, never having days of tranquility. Consequently, all his dreams were of killing, blood, and warfare.
There is also another dimension to this, serving to increase his reward. The Gemara states regarding a bad dream: "The evil [in the dream] is enough for it," and regarding a good dream: "The good [in the dream] is enough for it." That is to say, sometimes a person experiences a bad dream, and the suffering seen in the dream suffices: the evil was brought upon him in a dream to spare him from harm in reality. Conversely, a wicked person is sometimes shown specifically good dreams because Heaven does not wish to bestow actual good upon him in reality, saying to him: the goodness you received in your dream is enough for you, and beyond that nothing will be given to you.
Summoning the Babylonian Sages and Why Daniel Was Not Among Them
וּמִנִּי שִׂים טְעֵם לְהַנְעָלָה קָדָמַי לְכֹל חַכִּימֵי בָבֶל דִּי פְשַׁר חֶלְמָא יְהוֹדְעֻנַּנִי׃ - Therefore I issued a decree to bring before me all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.
"And from me a decree was issued" means: A command went forth from me to bring before me all the wise men of Babylon, so that they would make known to me the interpretation of the dream. This is puzzling: Were his wise men and necromancers not already before him, that he needed to command that they be brought in? The Malbim explains: Initially, when Nebuchadnezzar saw there was no benefit in them, he ordered that they all be killed, and Daniel annulled the decree. Yet they were still considered in his eyes as deserving of death, and therefore they were not permitted to come before him. They were in Babylon, free from the death decree, but outside the palace. Now, when he needed them, he gave an order to bring them in.
בֵּאדַיִן עָלִּין חַרְטֻמַּיָּא אָשְׁפַיָּא כַּשְׂדָּאֵי וְגָזְרַיָּא וְחֶלְמָא אָמַר אֲנָה קֳדָמֵיהוֹן וּפִשְׁרֵהּ לָא מְהוֹדְעִין לִי׃ - Then the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers came in, and I related the dream before them, but they could not make its interpretation known to me.
Then the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers entered - all those who deal in dreams, celestial decrees, and supernatural matters. "And I related the dream before them" - I told my dream before them, "but they could not make its interpretation known to me" - and its meaning they did not tell me.
וְעַד אָחֳרֵין עַל קָדָמַי דָּנִיֵּאל דִּי שְׁמֵהּ בֵּלְטְשַׁאצַּר כְּשֻׁם אֱלָהִי וְדִי רוּחַ אֱלָהִין קַדִּישִׁין בֵּהּ וְחֶלְמָא קָדָמוֹהִי אַמְרֵת׃ - Until at last Daniel came before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream before him.
Until finally Daniel came before me, whose name was Belteshazzar after the name of my god (Bel was the god of Babylon), and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and I related the dream before him. And once again we must ask: Why did he not turn to Daniel immediately? Why did he have to experience disappointment once more and summon all those from whom no benefit would come?
The Supreme God and the Lower Deities
The Malbim explains: The first time, Daniel told him that the interpretation had become known to him from the Supreme God, and that Hashem wanted to make known to him what will happen in the end of days. According to their pagan worldview, the lower deities know what is happening in the present, whereas the Supreme God knows all of history - what will occur in a thousand years and in two thousand years. The dream of the image reached all the way to the end of all generations; therefore, specifically Daniel, who was connected to the Supreme God, was the right person to interpret it. But the current dream the king considered an ordinary dream, stemming from the stars and celestial constellations. Such a dream, according to his perception, Daniel would not be expected to know, for the Supreme God does not concern Himself with the petty affairs of lowly mortals and their simple dreams.
To what can this be compared? Suppose someone has an acquaintance who is an important government minister meeting regularly with the prime minister. If that person has a minor issue with the municipal council regarding garbage collection, would he turn to the minister to speak to the prime minister about it? It is completely irrelevant to him. But if there is a matter concerning the war effort, and he possesses advice that could help, he would certainly turn to him. So Nebuchadnezzar thought: The Supreme God deals with the momentous matters that concern the whole span of history, but He does not deal with petty dreams, so there is no reason to summon Daniel.
However, once he summoned the sages and saw that "the discernment of his discerning men was hidden," and those who were supposed to know did not know, he realized that this dream, too, was apparently a transcendent dream from on high, just like the first dream. This was not an ordinary dream that could be handled on a "municipal" level, but a dream originating from the Supreme God. If so, there was no choice but to call upon the man who had a direct connection to the Supreme God - namely, Daniel, in whom was the spirit of the holy gods, meaning a spirit from the Supreme God rather than from the lower deities - and from him the interpretation could come.
"Master of the Magicians": Closing Every Escape Route
בֵּלְטְשַׁאצַּר רַב חַרְטֻמַּיָּא דִּי אֲנָה יִדְעֵת דִּי רוּחַ אֱלָהִין קַדִּישִׁין בָּךְ וְכׇל רָז לָא אָנֵס לָךְ חֶזְוֵי חֶלְמִי דִי חֲזֵית וּפִשְׁרֵהּ אֱמַר׃ - Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, of whom I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and no secret is concealed from you, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation.
Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and no secret is concealed from you; relate before me the visions of my dream that I saw, and its interpretation. The king closed every escape route before him: true, according to his perception, if the dream came from a lower deity Daniel would not be expected to know it, but he addressed him as "master of the magicians," chief and minister over all the necromancers. The magicians deal with the lower deities, and you are greater than them in this realm as well, for by the power of sorcery, magic, and all those wisdoms you know more than they do. And if not that, then interpret the dream for me by virtue of the spirit of the holy gods within you, from which perspective "no secret is concealed from you" - you lack knowledge in nothing.
Knowledge from the Earlier to the Later
The king adds a reason for the difference between Daniel and the magicians: all human knowledge proceeds from the later to the earlier (from effect to cause), whereas Divine knowledge proceeds from the earlier to the later (from cause to effect). The Malbim repeats this principle in several places, and elaborates on it in Sefer Iyov as well.
How does this work? If scientists are asked what happened one hundred thousand years ago, they believe they know. And if you ask one of them: "Were you there?" he will answer that it is based on logical deduction. For example, in a stalactite cave: "I measured it for a year and saw that the stalactite grows one millimeter per year. Therefore, in ten years it grows a centimeter, in a hundred years ten centimeters, and in a thousand years a meter. If the stalactite before me is eight meters tall, then it has existed for eight thousand years."
Where lies the error? Today it grows one millimeter a year because today it is nourished only by the limestone remaining in the strata above the cave and by percolating rainwater. But it is very possible that one or two thousand years ago a stream flowed here, and that stream grew the stalactite by a meter every year, bringing it to six or seven meters; once the stream dried up, along you come, measure one millimeter a year, and draw conclusions about eight thousand years! Any deduction that proceeds from the later to the earlier is prone to error. In contrast, knowledge that proceeds from the earlier to the later has no error at all: "I was there, I saw the beginning and accompanied it to the end" - and that is absolute testimony that cannot be disputed.
Another parable illustrates the absurdity of this approach: A novice student wanted to research human growth. He observed an infant and saw that over the first and second years he doubled his weight, reaching five or six kilograms. "If so," he concluded, "at age ten he will weigh thirty kilograms, at age eleven sixty, and at age twelve one hundred and twenty! After all, I measured and tracked him in the first year!" But who told you that what you observe right now is what will happen down the line? This is deduction out of order, from the later to the earlier, and its premise is flawed.
"Tell the Visions of My Dream, and Its Interpretation"
Therefore, Nevuchadnezzar says to him: You, Daniel, do not operate like that. Your knowledge proceeds from the earlier to the later. And where did we see this? In the previous dream, when I asked the magicians to tell me both the dream and its interpretation, they told me: Tell us the dream first, and then we will provide the interpretation. That is, their conclusions must proceed from the later to the earlier. But you were able to know the dream itself beforehand, and only then state its interpretation.
Hence the precise wording of the verse: he does not merely say to him, "tell its interpretation," but rather, "tell the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation." Yet this time the king remembers what he dreamed, so why not ask solely for the interpretation? Rather, he told him: I want you to tell me both the dream and the interpretation, for I know that your knowledge proceeds from the earlier to the later, and you also know what I dreamed.
The Tree in the Dream
וְחֶזְוֵי רֵאשִׁי עַל מִשְׁכְּבִי חָזֵה הֲוֵית וַאֲלוּ אִילָן בְּגוֹא אַרְעָא וְרוּמֵהּ שַׂגִּיא׃ - And the visions of my head upon my bed: I was gazing, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was immense.
"The visions of my head" - the visions of my head and my thoughts that arose upon my bed - "I was gazing," and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. One might have thought this was a mere imaginary fantasy, for a person's head - especially at the beginning of the night when the vapors of digestion are still active in the brain - envisions all kinds of unreal dreams that stem from daytime preoccupations, impressions, and thoughts. Therefore he emphasizes, "upon my bed I was gazing" - I saw this as an actual vision, not as a figment of imagination. At first I saw a tree in the midst of the earth, as though it were sprouting right now and emerging outward, and then I saw it steadily growing and towering until its height was immense.
רְבָה אִילָנָא וּתְקִף וְרוּמֵהּ יִמְטֵא לִשְׁמַיָּא וַחֲזוֹתֵהּ לְסוֹף כׇּל אַרְעָא׃ - The tree grew and became strong, and its height reached to heaven, and its sight was to the end of all the earth.
"The tree grew" - it became great and massive in size, "and became strong" - it became exceedingly thick and robust. This was unlike ordinary trees that reach a great height, which taper and become slender as they ascend, for they could not support themselves were they so thick at such a height. Here, the king saw a powerful tree, sturdy and thick, continuously growing until "its height reached to heaven." And "it could be seen to the ends of all the earth": a slender object reaching into the heavens cannot be seen by one looking from afar; but here, because it was so massive and so high, this awe-inspiring tree was visible from every end of the earth.
עׇפְיֵהּ שַׁפִּיר וְאִנְבֵּהּ שַׂגִּיא וּמָזוֹן לְכֹלָּא בֵהּ תְּחֹתוֹהִי תַּטְלֵל חֵיוַת בָּרָא וּבְעַנְפוֹהִי יְדוּרָן צִפְּרֵי שְׁמַיָּא וּמִנֵּהּ יִתְּזִין כׇּל בִּשְׂרָא׃ - Its foliage was beautiful, its fruit abundant, and food for all was in it; under it the beasts of the field found shade, in its branches the birds of heaven dwelt, and from it all flesh was nourished.
Here the king describes the tree's nature: "Its foliage was beautiful" - its branches were lovely; "and its fruit abundant" - its produce was exceedingly plentiful ("inbeh" from the root tenuvah, the yield produced by the tree); "and food for all was in it" - so much so that its food sufficed for all creatures. "Under it the beasts of the field found shade" - beneath it the animals of the field gathered to take refuge in its shade, "and in its branches the birds of heaven dwelt" - and the birds of heaven also nested and found shelter in its branches. "And from it all flesh was nourished" - at first he saw that it possessed food potentially, in the abundance of its fruit, and then he saw that in actual reality, all flesh and all the animals of the earth were nourished by that tree.
To summarize: Nevuchadnezzar opens his letter by attesting to his inner serenity and external calm, in order to prove that the dream he beheld did not stem from his own waking thoughts, but was a genuine vision. Initially, he summoned the wise men of Babylon, who had been permitted to return and enter his presence after Daniel rescinded the decree of execution, since the king assumed this was an ordinary dream governed by lower spiritual forces. Only when they failed did he understand that the dream originated from Above, and he summoned Daniel, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. He asked him for both the dream and its interpretation, because Daniel's knowledge proceeds from cause to effect - a clear, absolute knowledge - unlike human knowledge, which deduces from effect back to cause and is susceptible to error. And the dream itself: an enormous tree, thick and reaching the heavens, visible from the ends of the entire earth, full of fruit and sustenance, with the beasts of the field sheltering in its shade, the birds of heaven dwelling in its branches, and all flesh nourished from it.