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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 5
Belshazzar and his revelers drink from the vessels of the temple—A
hand writes upon the wall, telling of his downfall—Daniel interprets
the words and reproves the king for pride and idolatry—That night
Babylon is conquered.
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1 BELSHAZZAR the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine,
commanded to bring the golden and silver avessels which his
father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in
Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines,
might drink therein.
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3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
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5 ¶ In the same hour came forth fingers of
a man's hand, and wrote aover against the candlestick upon
the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of
the bhand that wrote.
6 Then the king's
acountenance was changed, and his thoughts
btroubled him, so that cthe joints of his
loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
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7 The king cried aloud to bring in the
aastrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers.
And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon,
Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof,
shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his
neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
8 Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.
9 Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.
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10 ¶ Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:
11 There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom
is the aspirit of the holy gods; and in the days of
thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods,
was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I
say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans,
and soothsayers;
12 Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and
knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard
sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the
king anamed Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he
will shew the interpretation.
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13 Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?
14 I have even heard of thee, that the spirit
of the agods is in thee, and that light and
understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.
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15 And now the wise men, the
aastrologers, have been brought in before me, that they
should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof:
but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing:
16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst
make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the
awriting, and make bknown to me the
interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a
chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the
kingdom.
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17 ¶ Then Daniel answered and said before
the king, Let thy agifts be to thyself, and give thy
rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known
to him the interpretation.
18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.
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20 But when his aheart was
lifted up, and his bmind hardened in pride, he was
cdeposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory
from him:
21 And he was driven afrom
the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling
was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his
body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God
ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever
he will.
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22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not
humbled thine hearta, though thou
knewest all this;
23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord
of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and
thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them;
and thou hast praised the agods of silver, and gold, of
brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God
in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast
thou not glorified:
24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
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22a thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not
humbled thine heart Often we think that we must be warned of God
directly, but often we are expected to use our common sense, knowledge,
understanding, experience and such impression as the Spirit of Christ, our
conscience has upon us. Belshazzar had grown up, seen the workings of his
father's kingdom, known of his father's fate, understood the sacred nature of
the items taken from the temple in Jerusalem and so forth, but with all this
his own personal pride out weighed his own 'wisdom' in the matter and against
his own conscience he had called for and defiled the sacred things in that
pride which places oneself above all else falsely. In such case warning enough
was given and the justice was to be carried out swift and almost immediately
that very night.
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25 ¶ And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
26 This is the interpretation of the
thing: aMENE; God hath bnumbered thy
kingdom, and finished it.
27 aTEKEL; Thou art
bweighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
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28 aPERES; Thy kingdom is
divided, and given to the Medes and
bPersiansa.
29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they
aclothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of
gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should
be the third ruler in the kingdom.
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28a Thy kingdom is divided, and given to
the Medes and Persians The Medes and the Persians had entered into
an aliance of sorts. It is a misunderstanding concerning this 'aliance' which
thwarts many a historian's take upon the situation. The actual aliance WAS
NOT between the king of the Medes and the king of the Persians, but rather
between the 'tribal Lords' of the six Mede tribes and the 'king' of the
Persians, who was Cyrus. This 'aliance' had first worked to unseat the king
of the Medes who had by then become Astyages, son of Cyaxares. Cyaxares was
the father-in-law to Cyrus and it was actually Astyages who was so captured
by his own dissatisfied nobles or tribe Lords of the six tribes, but this
was done with the backing of Cyrus and thus the Mede-Persian alliance was
constructed. Now this 'Darius' was thus one of those trible 'war lords' and
acting as such if was this Darius the Mede who actually as the Bible records
took the kingdom (see verse 31) of Belshazzar in association with that
alliance with Cyrus who would become styled 'king of kings'. And as recorded
in Daniel 9:1, this Darius, son of Ahasuerus, was 'made [or confirmed] king
over the realm of the Chaldeans' by of course Cyrus the king of Persian, that
'king of kings' who had allowed the 'Mede tribal lords' to still rule in
association with that alliance made with Cyrus the Persian King. Now
'abridged history' does but credit Cyrus with the capture and taking of the
Babylonian kingdom considering Cyrus 'king' and 'his under lords', the Mede
tribal lords as being subject unto Cyrus and thus many a scholar becomes
confused as to just who this Darius is in the Biblical record. History records
that Cyrus was a 'just' king and a part of this comes out of the fact of
the Mede alliance which Cyrus had made with those tribal Lords.
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30 ¶ In that night was Belshazzar the king
of the aChaldeans bslain.
31 And aDarius the Median
took the kingdoma,
being about threescore and two years old.
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32a Darius the Median took the
kingdom Now many strugle to identify Darius and Cyrus, trying to
make them separate in time one from the other. What the Bible states is that
Cyrus was the King of Persia and that Darius was a Median. Darius took
Babylon at the age of 32 years old, and later it is stated that Darius was
'made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.'(Daniel 9:1) Many are
thrown thinking the Daniel account is chronological, but clearly when
'Daniel' speaks of events in Belshazzar's first and third years (chapters 7
and 8), Daniel or the compiler is writing of that which occurs before chapter
5 chronologically when Belshazzar dies and Darius enters Babylon. And who
'makes' Darius king of the realm of the Chaldeans? This seems
to speak of one higher than Darius and who else would that be but the King
of all of Persia, Cyrus, he who history label's as a 'King of kings'? There
is no reason that the 'war lord' of the medes, Darius at age 32 and Cyrus the
King of Persia are not and cannot be contemporaries.
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