Daniel 5.6-Belshazzar's Countenance Changed And He Was Terrified, His Legs Became Weak And His Knees Knocked When He Saw The Writing On The Wall
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 27, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 5:6-Belshazzar’s Countenance Changed And He Was Terrified, His Legs Became Weak And His Knees Knocked When He Saw The Writing On The Wall
Lesson # 147
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 5:6.
Daniel 5:1 King Belshazzar threw an enormous banquet for a thousand of his nobles. He even drank wine excessively directly in front of the thousand. 2 Belshazzar issued an order while under the influence of the wine causing the gold and silver articles to be brought in which Nebuchadnezzar, his great-grandfather caused to be confiscated from the temple, which was in Jerusalem, in order that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 3 Therefore, the gold and silver articles were brought in, which were confiscated from the temple, which was God’s house, which was in Jerusalem so that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 4 They drank wine while they praised gods composed of gold as well as silver, bronze, iron, wood and in addition stone. 5 During this time, the fingers of a human hand appeared while writing on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, directly in front of the lampstand so that the king observed the palm of the hand which was writing. (My translation)
Daniel 5:6 Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together. (NASB95)
“Then the king’s face grew pale” presents the result of the previous statement in Daniel 5:5.
This verse records that while Belshazzar and his guests were drinking wine and praising their gods, the fingers of a human hand appeared while writing on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, directly in front of the lampstand so that the king observed the palm of the hand which was writing.
Daniel 5:6 presents a four-fold description of Belshazzar’s reaction to seeing this hand writing on one of the walls of the banquet hall.
“The king’s face” is composed of the masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh´-lek), “the king’s” and then we have the masculine singular construct form of the noun zîw (זִיו) (zeev), “face” which is modified by the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), which is not translated.
The noun mě∙lěḵ means “king” and of course is used with reference to Belshazzar referring to the fact that he was governmental head of Babylon.
The noun zîw means “countenance” since it refers to the appearance of one’s face.
Here it is used of Belshazzar’s countenance.
“Grew pale” is the third person masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb šenā(h) (שְׁנָה) (shen-aw´), which means “to change” and its subject is Belshazzar’s countenance or facial appearance.
Thus, it refers to his facial appearance or countenance “changing” as a result of seeing that the hand writing on the wall was not attached to a human being.
“And his thoughts alarmed him” presents a description of Belshazzar’s reaction to seeing the unattached hand writing on one of the walls in the banquet which was in addition to the previous one that his countenance was changed.
“His thoughts” is composed of the masculine plural construct form of the noun rǎʿ∙yôn (רַעְיֹון) (rah-yone´), “thoughts,” which is modified by the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “his.”
The noun rǎʿ∙yôn is in the plural construct form and means “thoughts” in the sense of contemplation or reasoning with focus on the content of Belshazzar’s thought.
The word is speaking of Belshazzar’s train of thought in the sense that it refers to his thoughts as he contemplated the meaning and significance of the unattached hand writing on one of the walls in the banquet hall.
This indicates that Belshazzar’s thought pattern or train of thought was contemplating or reasoning about the meaning and significance of the unattached hand writing on one of the walls in the banquet hall.
“Alarmed” is the third person masculine plural paʿʿel (Hebrew: piel) active imperfect form of the verb behǎl (בְּהַל) (bĕ-hal´), which means “to cause one to be terrified.”
It denotes that Belshazzar’s thoughts “caused him to be terrified” as a result of contemplating the meaning and significance of the unattached hand writing on one of the walls in the banquet hall as well as the meaning of what this hand wrote.
The paʿʿel (Hebrew: piel stem) of the verb denotes that Belshazzar’s thoughts caused him to enter the state of being terrified.
“And his hip joints went slack” presents the result of the previous description that Belshazzar’s thoughts caused him to be terrified.
“Went slack” is the masculine plural hitpaʿʿal (Hebrew: piel) middle participle form of the verb šerā(h) (שְׁרָה) (ser-aw), which means “to become weak, to give way” and its subject is the joints of Belshazzar’s hips.
This indicates that they became weak or gave way due to the fear of seeing an unattached hand writing on the wall behind the lampstand in the banquet hall.
Leupold writes “the paralyzing effect of excessive fear seemed to dissolve his strength up to the point of the ball and socket joints.” (Leupold, H.C. Exposition of Daniel; page 221; Baker Book House; Grand Rapids, Michigan; 1949; Reprinted 1969 by Baker Book House Company)
The hitpaʿʿal (Hebrew: piel) stem of the verb denotes this unattached hand caused Belshazzar’s hip joints to enter into the state of being weak or giving way.
“And his knees began knocking together” presents the result of the previous statement that Belshazzar’s hip joints gave way or became weak.
“Began knocking” is the feminine plural peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb neqǎš (נְקַשׁ) (nek-ash´), which means “to knock together” referring to one knee knocking against the other.
Thus, it indicates that Belshazzar’s knees knocked together.
“Together” is composed of the masculine singular demonstrative pronoun dā(ʾ) (דָּא) (daw), “together” and then we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh) which is not translated and its object is the masculine singular demonstrative pronoun dā(ʾ) (דָּא) (daw), “together.”
The demonstrative pronoun dā(ʾ) is employed twice.
The first time it occurs it literally means “one” and the second time it literally means “the other.”
The preposition lĕ is joining the two and is marker of disadvantage meaning “against.”
Thus, this expression indicates that Belshazzar’s knees knocked one against the other.
Daniel 5:6 Then the king, his countenance was changed for him. Also, his thoughts caused him to be terrified so that his hip joints gave way resulting in his knees knocking together, one against the other. (My translation)
In this verse, Daniel presents to the reader a four-fold description of Belshazzar as a result of the king observing a human hand which was not attached to a human body, writing on one of the walls of the banquet hall, which was behind the lampstand.
First of all, Daniel describes the king’s countenance as changing as a result of seeing this unattached hand writing on one of the walls of the banquet hall.
This implies his face became pale as result of being stricken with fear.
He then describes the king as being terrified by what he saw, which was the cause of his countenance changing.
Daniel then describes the king’s hip joints giving way as a result of this fear meaning that his legs shook or his legs became weak.
This implies that he was standing and that he had to sit down because he was so stricken with the supernatural appearance of this unattached hand.
This in turn Daniel says resulted in the king’s knees knocking together, one against the other.
Thus, the picture Daniel is drawing for us is not very complementary of Belshazzar since he is stricken fear with fear.
At this point in the narrative, Belshazzar has learned what his great-grandfather Nebuchadnezzar learned, namely the immanency of the God of Israel.
The immanency of God means that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the lives of members of the human race, both saved and unsaved.
The appearance of this hand and the message it was writing for the king demonstrated to the king and everyone in the banquet hall that the God of Israel whose cups they were drinking with was intervening in the life of the king and those who were his guests.
Belshazzar was going to learn that he was accountable to the God of Israel and was sovereign over the king.
As was the case with Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar is also learning that the God of Israel was sovereign over him.
The term “sovereignty” connotes a situation in which a person, from his innate dignity, exercises supreme power, with no areas of his province outside his jurisdiction.
As applied to God, the term “sovereignty” indicates His complete power over all of creation, so that He exercises His will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills.
Therefore, God, from His innate dignity, exercises supreme power over the nations of the earth, with no area of planet earth outside His jurisdiction.
God’s exercises His will absolutely over the nations of the earth.