Daniel Interprets the Tree and Calls for Repentance
Daniel is visibly troubled because the dream concerns the king he serves. He identifies Nebuchadnezzar as the great tree and announces a humiliating period in which the ruler will be driven from human society until he learns “that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”
The retained stump means the kingdom can be restored once the king learns that heaven rules. Judgment here has a disciplinary and revelatory purpose, not merely destruction.
Daniel then does something easy to miss in prophecy discussions: he gives moral counsel. He urges the king to break with sins by practicing righteousness and to show mercy to the poor. Daniel’s God is not interested only in the king’s theology of sovereignty but in how royal power treats vulnerable people.