The leaves thereof were fair
Or "branches" F9, as some; and design either the provinces belonging to his empire, which were very large and flourishing; or the governors of them under him, as Saadiah, who made no small and contemptible figure; his princes were altogether kings: and the fruit thereof much;
great revenues from all parts of the empire were brought to him: and in it was meat for all;
the produce of the several countries, and the trade carried on in them, brought in a sufficient livelihood to all the inhabitants: the beasts of the field had shadow under it;
the inhabitants of the several Heathenish nations under him, and even those that were most savage, were protected in their lives and properties by him; so princes should be a screen, a protection to their subjects: and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof;
which Saadiah interprets of the Israelites, in opposition to the foreign nations, comparable to the beasts of the field: and all flesh was fed of it;
all his subjects shared in the good things his victorious arms brought into his empire; all enriched, or however made comfortable, and had a sufficiency of food and raiment; so that there was no reason to complain of him as oppressive to his subjects.