Albert Barnes Commentary Daniel 4:10

"Thus were the visions of my head upon my bed: I saw, and, behold, a tree in the midst of the earth; and the height thereof was great." — Daniel 4:10 (ASV)

Thus were the visions of my head in my bed - These are the things which I saw on my bed. When he says that they were the "visions of his head," he states a doctrine which was then doubtless regarded as the truth: that the head is the seat of thought.

I saw - Margin, "was seeing." Chaldee, "seeing I saw." The phrase would imply attentive and calm contemplation. It was not a fleeting vision; it was an object which he contemplated deliberately, so as to retain a distinct remembrance of its form and appearance.

And, behold, a tree in the midst of the earth - Occupying a central position on the earth. It seems to have been by itself—remote from any forest—and to have stood alone. Its central position, no less than its size and proportions, attracted his attention. Such a tree, towering to the heavens, sending out its branches far, and affording shade to the beasts of the field and a home to the fowls of heaven (Daniel 4:12), was a striking emblem of a great and mighty monarch. It undoubtedly occurred to Nebuchadnezzar at once that the vision had some reference to himself.

Thus in (Ezekiel 31:3), the Assyrian king is compared with a magnificent cedar: Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature, and his top was among the thick boughs. Compare also (Ezekiel 17:22–24), where the high tree and the green tree refer probably to Nebuchadnezzar. See the note at (Isaiah 2:13). Compare (Isaiah 10:18–19); (Jeremiah 22:7), (Jeremiah 22:23).

Homer often compares his heroes to trees. Hector, felled by a stone, is compared with an oak overthrown by a thunderbolt.

The fall of Simoisius is compared by him to that of a poplar, and that of Euphorbus to the fall of a beautiful olive. Nothing is more obvious than the comparison of a hero with a lofty tree of the forest; hence, it was natural for Nebuchadnezzar to suppose that this vision had a reference to himself.

And the height thereof was great - In the next verse it is said to have reached to heaven.