Daniel 5

Da 5:1-31.

BELSHAZZAR'S

IMPIOUS

FEAST; THE

HANDWRITING ON THE

WALL

INTERPRETED BY

DANIEL OF THE

DOOM OF

BABYLON AND

ITS

KING.

1. Belshazzar--RAWLINSON, from the Assyrian inscriptions, has

explained the seeming discrepancy between Daniel and the heathen

historians of Babylon, BEROSUS and

ABYDENUS, who say the last king

(Nabonidus) surrendered in Borsippa, after Babylon was taken, and had an

honorable abode in Caramania assigned to him.

Belshazzar was joint king with his father (called Minus in the

inscriptions), but subordinate to him; hence the Babylonian account suppresses the facts which cast discredit on Babylon, namely,

that Belshazzar shut himself up in that city and fell at its capture;

while it records the surrender of the principal king in Borsippa

(see my

Introduction

to Daniel). The heathen XENOPHON'S description of

Belshazzar accords with Daniel's; he calls him "impious," and

illustrates his cruelty by mentioning that he killed one of his nobles,

merely because, in hunting, the noble struck down the game before him;

and unmanned a courtier, Gadates, at a banquet, because one of the

king's concubines praised him as handsome. Daniel shows none of the

sympathy for him which he had for Nebuchadnezzar. XENOPHON confirms Daniel as to Belshazzar's end. WINER explains the "shazzar" in the name as meaning

"fire."

made . . . feast--heaven-sent infatuation when his city was at the

time being besieged by Cyrus. The fortifications and abundant provisions

in the city made the king despise the besiegers. It was a festival day

among the Babylonians [XENOPHON].

drank . . . before the thousand--The king, on this extraordinary

occasion, departed from his usual way of feasting apart from his nobles

(compare

Es 1:3).

2. whiles he tasted the wine--While under the effects of wine, men

will do what they dare not do when sober.

his father Nebuchadnezzar--that is, his forefather. So "Jesus

. . . the son of David, the son of Abraham"

(Mt 1:1).

Daniel does not say that the other kings mentioned in other writers did

not reign between Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar, namely, Evil-merodach

(Jer 52:31),

Neriglissar, his brother-in-law, and Laborasoarchod (nine months).

BEROSUS makes Nabonidus, the last king, to have

been one of the people, raised to the throne by an insurrection.

As the inscriptions show that Belshazzar was distinct from, and joint

king with, him, this is not at variance with Daniel, whose statement

that Belshazzar was son (grandson) of Nebuchadnezzar is

corroborated by Jeremiah

(Jer 27:7).

Their joint, yet independent, testimony, as contemporaries, and having

the best means of information, is more trustworthy than any of the

heathen historians, if there were a discrepancy. Evil-merodach, son of

Nebuchadnezzar (according to BEROSUS), reigned but

a short time (one or two years), having, in consequence of his bad

government, been dethroned by a plot of Neriglissar, his sister's

husband; hence Daniel does not mention him. At the elevation of

Nabonidus as supreme king, Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar,

was doubtless suffered to be subordinate king and successor, in order

to conciliate the legitimate party. Thus the seeming discrepancy

becomes a confirmation of genuineness when cleared up, for the real

harmony must have been undesigned.

wives . . . concubines--not usually present at feasts

in the East, where women of the harem are kept in strict seclusion.

Hence Vashti's refusal to appear at Ahasuerus' feast

(Es 1:9-12).

But the Babylonian court, in its reckless excesses, seems not to have

been so strict as the Persian. XENOPHON

[Cyropædia, 5.2,28] confirms Daniel, representing a feast

of Belshazzar where the concubines are present. At the beginning "the

lords"

(Da 5:1),

for whom the feast was made, alone seem to have been present; but as

the revelry advanced, the women were introduced. Two classes of them

are mentioned, those to whom belonged the privileges of "wives," and

those strictly concubines

(2Sa 5:13;

1Ki 11:3;

So 6:8).

3. This act was not one of necessity, or for honor's sake, but in

reckless profanity.

4. praised--sang and shouted praises to "gods," which being of gold,

"are their own witnesses"

(Isa 44:9),

confuting the folly of those who fancy such to be gods.

5. In the same hour--that the cause of God's visitation might be

palpable, namely, the profanation of His vessels and His holy name.

fingers of . . . hand--God admonishes him, not by a dream (as

Nebuchadnezzar had been warned), or by a voice, but by "fingers coming

forth," the invisibility of Him who moved them heightening the awful

impressiveness of the scene, the hand of the Unseen One attesting his

doom before the eyes of himself and his guilty fellow revellers.

against the candlestick--the candelabra; where the mystic characters

would be best seen.

BARNES makes it the candlestick taken from the

temple of Jerusalem, the nearness of the writing to it intimating that

the rebuke was directed against the sacrilege.

upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace--Written in

cuneiform letters on slabs on the walls, and on the very bricks, are

found the perpetually recurring recital of titles, victories, and

exploits, to remind the spectator at every point of the regal greatness.

It is significant, that on the same wall on which the king was

accustomed to read the flattering legends of his own magnificence, he

beholds the mysterious inscription which foretells his fall (compare

Pr 16:18;

Ac 12:21-23).

part of the hand--the anterior part, namely, the fingers.

6. countenance--literally, "brightness," that is, his bright look.

joints of his loins--"the vertebræ of his back"

[GESENIUS].

7. He calls for the magicians, who more than once had been detected

in imposture. He neglects God, and Daniel, whose fame as an interpreter

was then well-established. The world wishes to be deceived and shuts its

eyes against the light

[CALVIN]. The Hebrews think the words were

Chaldee, but in the old Hebrew character (like that now in the

Samaritan Pentateuch).

third ruler--The first place was given to the king; the second, to

the son of the king, or of the queen; the third, to the chief of the

satraps.

8. The words were in such a character as to be illegible to the

Chaldees, God reserving this honor to Daniel.

10. queen--the queen mother, or grandmother, Nitocris, had not

been present till now. She was wife either of Nebuchadnezzar or of Evil

merodach; hence her acquaintance with the services of Daniel. She

completed the great works which the former had begun. Hence

HERODOTUS

attributes them to her alone. This accounts for the deference paid to

her by Belshazzar.

(See on

Da 4:36).

Compare similar rank given to the queen mother among the Hebrews

(1Ki 15:13).

11. spirit of the holy gods--She remembers and repeats Nebuchadnezzar's

language

(Da 4:8, 9, 18).

As Daniel was probably, according to Oriental custom, deprived of the

office to which Nebuchadnezzar had promoted him, as "master of the

magicians"

(Da 4:9),

at the king's death, Belshazzar might easily be ignorant of his

services.

the king . . . thy father the king . . . thy father--The repetition

marks with emphatic gravity both the excellencies of Daniel, and the

fact that Nebuchadnezzar, whom Belshazzar is bound to reverence as his

father, had sought counsel from him in similar circumstances.

13. the captivity of Judah--the captive Jews residing in Babylon.

17. Not inconsistent with

Da 5:29.

For here he declares his interpretation of the words is not from the

desire of reward. The honors in

Da 5:29

were doubtless urged on him, without his wish, in such a way

that he could not with propriety refuse them. Had he refused them after

announcing the doom of the kingdom, he might have been suspected of

cowardice or treason.

18. God gave--It was not his own birth or talents which gave him the

vast empire, as he thought. To make him unlearn his proud thought was

the object of God's visitation on him.

majesty--in the eyes of his subjects.

glory--from his victories.

honour--from the enlargement and decoration of the city.

19. A purely absolute monarchy

(Jer 27:7).

21. heart was made like . . . beasts--literally, "he made his heart

like the beasts," that is, he desired to dwell with them.

22. Thou hast erred not through ignorance, but through deliberate

contempt of God, notwithstanding that thou hadst before thine eyes the

striking warning given in thy grandfather's case.

23. whose are all thy ways--

(Jer 10:23).

24. Then--When thou liftedst up thyself against the Lord.

the part of the hand--the fore part, the fingers.

was . . . sent from him--that is, from God.

25. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin--literally, "numbered, weighed, and

dividers."

26. God hath fixed the number of years of thine empire, and that number

is now complete.

27. weighed in the balances--The Egyptians thought that Osiris weighed

the actions of the dead in a literal balance. The Babylonians may have

had the same notion, which would give a peculiar appropriateness to the

image here used.

found wanting--too light before God, the weigher of actions

(1Sa 2:3;

Ps 62:9).

Like spurious gold or silver

(Jer 6:30).

28. Peres--the explanation of "dividers"

(Da 5:25),

the active participle plural there being used for the passive

participle singular, "dividers" for "divided." The word "Peres"

alludes to the similar word "Persia."

divided--namely, among the Medes and Persians

[MAURER]; or, "severed"

from thee [GROTIUS].

29. Belshazzar . . . clothed Daniel with scarlet--To

come from the presence of a prince in a dress presented to the wearer

as a distinction is still held a great honor in the East. Daniel was

thus restored to a similar rank to what he had held under

Nebuchadnezzar

(Da 2:48).

Godly fidelity which might be expected to bring down vengeance, as in

this case, is often rewarded even in this life. The king, having

promised, was ashamed before his courtiers to break his word. He perhaps

also affected to despise the prophecy of his doom, as an idle threat. As

to Daniel's reasons for now accepting what at first he had declined,

compare Note, see on

Da 5:17.

The insignia of honor would be witnesses for God's glory to the world

of his having by God's aid interpreted the mystic characters. The

cause of his elevation too would secure the favor of the new

dynasty

(Da 6:2)

for both himself and his captive countrymen. As the capture of the city

in that eventful night for accomplishing all that is here recorded. The

capture of the city so immediately after the prophecy of it (following

Belshazzar's sacrilege), marked most emphatically to the whole world

the connection between Babylon's sin and its punishment.

30. HERODOTUS and

XENOPHON confirm Daniel as to the suddenness of

the event. Cyrus diverted the Euphrates into a new channel and, guided

Babylonians were carousing at an annual feast to the gods. See also

Isa 21:5; 44:27;

Jer 50:38, 39; 51:36.

As to Belshazzar's being slain, compare

Isa 14:18-20; 21:2-9;

Jer 50:29-35; 51:57.

31. Darius the Median--that is, Cyaxares II, the son and

successor of Astyages, 569-536 B.C. Though Koresh,

or Cyrus, was leader of the assault, yet all was done in the name of

Darius; therefore, he alone is mentioned here; but

Da 6:28

shows Daniel was not ignorant of Cyrus' share in the capture of

Babylon.

Isa 13:17; 21:2,

confirm Daniel in making the Medes the leading nation in

destroying Babylon. So also

Jer 51:11, 28.

HERODOTUS, on the other hand, omits mentioning

Darius, as that king, being weak and sensual, gave up all the authority

to his energetic nephew, Cyrus [XENOPHON,

Cyropædia, 1.5; 8.7].

threescore and two years old--This agrees with

XENOPHON

[Cyropædia, 8.5,19], as to Cyaxares II.