Daniel 5

Daniel 5 ESV

King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.” Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Daniel 5 (ESV)

Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary (C1. Judgment on Belshazzar (5:1–31))

The episodes chosen demonstrate that the world’s great empires, and the kings who represent them, are all subject to the God of the exiles from Judah, who made himself known outside the land of promise as well as within it.

Be Resolute Chapter Five: Numbered, Weighed, and Rejected (Daniel 5)

The city of Babylon boasted that it was impregnable and that there was enough food stored away to feed the population for twenty years! But the Lord said that Babylon’s time had come.

Daniel 5:1 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

Old Testament (5:1-31: Belshazzar’s Feast)

5:1. Belshazzar. Belshazzar was the son and coregent of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. Nabonidus spent ten years in Teima while his son was carrying out all the royal duties in Babylon. A number of documents have been found that mention him by name. About thirty years have passed since the last chapter. Nebuchadnezzar died in 562, and the banquet of this chapter takes place in October 539.

Old Testament (5:1-31: Belshazzar’s Feast)

5:1. the banquet. The banquet is taking place in mid-October (15 Tashritu) 539. In the past few days the Persians have taken the city of Opis (fifty miles north on the Tigris) in a bloody battle and then crossed over to the Euphrates, where the city of Sippar surrendered without a fight on the fourteenth of Tashritu. It is likely that Babylon has received word of these events and that Belshazzar knows that the Persian army is on the march toward Babylon.

5:1 There is no reason to think, however, that the banquet reflects Belshazzar’s pessimism about the outcome. Babylon was a defensible city, and they believed their gods to be strong.

Daniel 5:2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.

Old Testament 5:1-31: Belshazzar’s Feast

5:2. vessels from Jerusalem. See comment on 1:2. Everyone in the ancient world understood the significance of sacred vessels. The fact that these had not been melted down suggests that they had been preserved because of their sacred character. Since the god of Babylon was seen as the conqueror, the things that belonged to the “conquered” gods would have been taken as booty into the temple of Marduk. Perhaps the use of the vessels was a way of calling to remembrance the god’s previous victories (see comment on 5:4).

Daniel 5:3 Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.

Daniel 5:4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Old Testament 5:1-31: Belshazzar’s Feast

5:4. praised the gods. Belshazzar and his administration are well aware that the empire hangs by a thread and that the next several days will be of utmost significance. They are hoping that their gods will bring victory for them as they had in the days of Nebuchadnezzar’s great conquests. To that end they are “toasting the gods” and celebrating their past victories. It is also possible, though not explicitly stated, that libations were poured out to the gods from these vessels. They are not only making their supplications to Marduk, the patron of Babylon, but to the gods of other cities of the region whose images had been gathered into Babylon during these troubled times.

Daniel 5:5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote.

Old Testament 5:1-31: Belshazzar’s Feast

5:5. the hand. A lifeless, detached hand would have suggested a defeated enemy. Casualty counts were made by cutting off the right hands of all of the dead (recall the broken-off hands of Dagan in 1 Sam 5:3–4). By drinking from the vessels the Babylonians were recalling the defeat of Yahweh (perhaps along with other gods and nations), but this is no lifeless, severed hand of a dead god at all. It is quite animated and has a message to give. The effect might be similar if the head of a decapitated victim began to speak.

Daniel 5:6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.

Daniel 5:7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

Old Testament 5:1-31: Belshazzar’s Feast

5:7. rewards offered. The purple clothing was made using expensive dye (see comment on Num 4:6 and Esther 8:15) and was worn only by royalty. The gold chain would have been an insignia of office. These are seen as royal gifts in Herodotus, where Cambyses sends them to the Ethiopian king. Being made third in the kingdom may be intended to rank Daniel only behind Belshazzar and his father, Nabonidus.

Daniel 5:8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation.

Daniel 5:9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.

Daniel 5:10 The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change.

5:10 Nabonidus’s wife, Belshazzar’s mother, identified by Herodotus as Nitocris, is more likely referred to here.

Daniel 5:11 There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers,

Daniel 5:12 because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”

Daniel 5:13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah.

Daniel 5:14 I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.

Daniel 5:15 Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter.

Daniel 5:16 But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

Daniel 5:17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.

Daniel 5:18 O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty.

Daniel 5:19 And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled.

Daniel 5:20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him.

Daniel 5:21 He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.

Daniel 5:22 And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,

Daniel 5:23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.

Daniel 5:24 “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.

Daniel 5:25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin.

5:25 The three terms, Mene, Tekel and Parsin (the ‘u’ of Upharsin of av, rv is ‘and’) were meaningful to readers of Hebrew and Aramaic and did not represent some strange tongue, as they do for most modern readers. For the king the difficulty was not to give the ‘dictionary definition’ of the terms, but to see what significance they had for him.

5:25 Here then was the king, confronted with three words indicating measures of weight, mina, shekel, half (as it might be ‘ton, hundredweight, quarter’),

5:25 Mene is explained as the past participle of a verb mĕnēʾ, ‘numbered’ or mĕnâ, ‘appointed’, a verb used in 2:49 and 3:12. Similarity of sound conveys the double idea that a destiny shapes his end and that his ‘days are numbered’. Tekel (Heb. šeqel) is taken in its verbal form to mean ‘weighed’ or ‘assessed’. The idea is present in 1 Samuel 2:3, ‘by him [the Lord] actions are weighed’ (cf. Job 31:6). Like the men whom the psalmist had in mind (Ps. 62:9), Belshazzar fails to tip the balance and reveals his lack of solid worth on God’s scales. Pērēs (Parsin is plural) is literally ‘part’, hence ‘half-mina’, and the verbal form means ‘shared’; Belshazzar’s kingdom is to be shared out between the Medes and Persians (Pārās).

5:25 5:25–28. the inscription. The words can be taken as verbs for weighing and assessing, or as nouns for the various weights that are used with the balance scales that were the ancient cash registers—necessary at every place of business.

Daniel 5:26 This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;

Daniel 5:27 Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;

Daniel 5:28 Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

5:25-28 Scales and weights were also used to depict divine evaluation and judgment (as in the Egyptian Book of the Dead).

Daniel 5:29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Daniel 5:30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

5:30 5:30. fall of Babylon. There are several ancient traditions concerning the fall of Babylon represented in Persian and Greek sources. Herodotus (see sidebar on Esther 1) tells of a siege of Babylon by the Persians that ended when Cyrus diverted the Euphrates and sent a company inside the wall where the river had flowed through.

Daniel 5:31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary b. Daniel’s Interpretation (5:13–31)

This chapter illustrates the involvement of king and kingdom in one destiny. Belshazzar’s blatant disrespect for the Most High God was all of a piece with the national character, indeed with our human condition, as it is depicted in Psalm 90. Though human days are numbered (verse 10), few number them for themselves and ‘get a heart of wisdom’ (verse 12). Belshazzar in this chapter presents a vivid picture of the fool, the practising atheist, who at the end can only brazen it out with the help of alcohol which blots out the stark reality.