Daniel 4:15

Leave the stump. Compare Job 14:8; Isaiah 11:1. The ultimate sprouting of this root-stump (see Job 14:7-9) typified, as appears from a comparison of verses 26 and 36, the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar from his sickness, and not the continued supremacy of his dynasty, as some commentators have explained it. The whole passage obviously designates an individual and not a nation.

With a band. Many commentators see in this statement a reference to metal bands fastened on a root-stump, probably in order to prevent it from cracking or splitting, although such a practice cannot be demonstrated from ancient sources. The LXX makes no mention of these bands. According to that version verse 15 reads, “And thus he said, Leave one of its roots in the earth, in order that with the beasts of the earth, in the mountains of grass he might feed like an ox.” Theodotion supports the Masoretic text. Since the interpretation of the dream does not call attention to the bands, the interpretation of the figure is left to conjecture. Somewhere in verses 15, 16 there is a transition from the “stump” to what the stump represented. Some make the transition as early as in the phrase under consideration and see in the bands either physical chains such as would be necessary to bind the king in his maniacal condition (Jerome) or figurative bands, representing the restrictions that would be placed upon the monarch as a result of his illness. However, it appears more natural to apply the bands to the stump itself and to consider them as indicating the care that would be exercised in preserving it.