But I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations, and dissolve doubts. 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 before the king, “Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
“You, king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty. Because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed whom he wanted to, and he kept alive whom he wanted to. He raised up whom he wanted to, and he put down whom he wanted to. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. He was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals’, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will.
“You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, or hear, or know; and you have not glorified the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways. Then the part of the hand was sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed.
“This is the writing that was inscribed: ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.’
“This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE: God has counted your kingdom, and brought it to an end.
TEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.
PERES: your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28 First of all, Daniel here rejects the proffered gifts.…
First of all, Daniel here rejects the proffered gifts. We do not read of his doing so before; he rather seemed to delight in the honors conferred by King Nebuchadnezzar. We may inquire into the reason for this difference. It is not probable that the intention, feeling, or sentiments of the Prophet were different. What then could be his intention in allowing himself to be previously ennobled by Nebuchadnezzar, and by now rejecting the offered dignity? Another question also arises. At the end of this chapter we shall see how he was clothed in purple, and a herald promulgated an edict, by which he became third in the kingdom. The Prophet seems either to have forgotten himself in receiving the purple which he had so magnanimously rejected, or we may ask the reason why he says so, when he did not refuse to be adorned in the royal apparel. With respect to the first question, I have no doubt of his desire to treat the impious and desperate Belshazzar with greater asperity, because in the case of King Nebuchadnezzar there still remained some feelings of honor, and hence he hoped well of him and treated him more mildly. But with regard to King Belshazzar, it was necessary to treat him more harshly, because he had now arrived at his last extremity. This, I have no doubt, was the cause of the difference, since the Prophet proceeded straight forward in his course, but his duty demanded of him to distinguish between different persons, and as there was greater pertinacity and obstinacy in King Belshazzar, he shews how much less he deferred to him than to his grandfather. Besides, the time of his subjection was soon to be finished, and with this end in view he had formerly honored the Chaldean empire.
As to the contrast apparent between his reply and his actions, which we shall hereafter see, this ought not to seem absurd, if the Prophet had from the beginning borne his testimony against the king’s gifts, and that he utterly re-jeered them. Yet he does not strive very vehemently, lest he should be thought to be acting cunningly, for the purpose of escaping danger. In each case he wished to display unconquered greatness of mind; at the beginning he asserted the king’s gifts to be valueless to him, for he knew the end of the kingdom to be at hand, and afterwards he received the purple with other apparel. If he had entirely refused them, it would have been treated as a fault and as a sign of timidity, and would have incurred the suspicion of treason. The Prophet therefore shews how magnificently he despised all the dignities offered him by King Belshazzar, who was already half dead. At the same time he shews himself intrepid against all dangers; for the king’s death was at hand and the city was taken in a few hours — nay, in the very same hour! Daniel therefore did not reject this purple, she wing his resolution not to avoid death if necessary. He would have been safer in his obscurity, had he dwelt among the citizens at large, instead of in the palace; and if he had resided among the captives, he might have been free from all danger. As he did not hesitate to receive the purple, he displays his perfect freedom from all fear. Meanwhile he, doubtless, wished to lay prostrate the king’s foolish arrogance, by which he was puffed up, when he says, Let thy gifts remain with thee, and give thy presents to another! I care not for them. Because he so nobly despises the king’s liberality, there is no doubt of his desire to correct the pride by which he was puffed up, or at least to wound and arouse his mind to feel God’s judgment, of which Daniel will soon become both the herald and the witness. It now follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18, 24, 25, 27 Before he read the writing, he declareth to the…
Before he read the writing, he declareth to the king his great ingratitude toward God, who could not be moved to give him the glory, considering his wonderful work toward his grandfather, and so showeth that he doth not sin of ignorance but of malice.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–28 Dan 5:16 And I have heard of thee, that…
Dan 5:16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known 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.
Ver. 16. And I have heard of thee.] As far off as he maketh it, Belshazzar could not be so ignorant of Daniel, as he would seem to be, since he understood punctually the dreams, honours, and troubles of his grandfather. {Dan 5:22} But this he took for a piece of his silly glory, to make it very strange, as if he had never heard of Daniel till now.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28 These things were spoken to before, Dan 5:7,8.
These things were spoken to before, Dan 5:7,8.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–28 And I have heard of thee,.... That is, by…
And I have heard of thee,.... That is, by the queen, which he repeats for the sake of observing what she had said of him, and which gave him encouragement to send for him:
that thou canst make interpretations; of dreams, and of things hard to be understood:
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and dissolve doubts; untie knots, solve difficulties, and answer hard and intricate questions:
now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof; that which is upon the wall before thee, and which the wise men of Babylon could not:
thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom; the same reward he had proposed to the astrologers and soothsayers, Dan 5:7 but what was no temptation or motive to Daniel, as appears by what follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv24, 26, 27, 28 From him - From that God whom thou hast…
From him - From that God whom thou hast despised.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25 Verse 16. Dissolve doubts] Untie knots - unbind what…
Verse 16. Dissolve doubts] Untie knots - unbind what is bound. An expression used in the east to signify a judge of eminent wisdom and skill.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 24 Dan 5:18-19. O thou king — Before Daniel reads…
Dan 5:18-19. O thou king — Before Daniel reads the writing, he judges it proper to remind the king of God’s dealings with Nebuchadnezzar, his progenitor, and of those remarkable instances of divine providence, both in mercy and in judgment, which were intended to be an instructive lesson, as to all princes that should hear of them, so especially to all the descendants of that great monarch. He also, with great fidelity and seriousness, sets Belshazzar’s profane conduct before him, that he might be humbled and brought to repentance. The most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, &c. — His great power, and vast extent of empire, were the gifts of God to him, and were not acquired by his own policy or bravery, or those of his generals and armies. Grotius explains the different terms of this verse thus: A kingdom, that is, a widely-extended empire; majesty, or magnificence among his subjects; glory from his victories; and honour from the enlargement of the city, the building of its walls, temple, and palace. And for the majesty that he gave him — For the vast power, riches, and victorious hand which he gave him; all people, nations, &c., trembled and feared before him, &c. — We have here a strong picture of the absolute and independent power of these princes; they regarded their subjects only as slaves. Xerxes, having assembled the great men of his kingdom, when he had determined to undertake the war against Greece, said to them, “I have assembled you that I might not seem to act solely by my own counsel; but remember that I expect obedience, not advice from you.” — Calmet.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv16–28 And I have heard of thee ... - Dan…
And I have heard of thee ... - Dan 5:11.
Canst make interpretations - Margin, “interpret.” Chaldee, “interpret interpretations.” The meaning is, that he was skilled in interpreting or explaining dreams, omens, etc.
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And dissolve doubts - See the notes at Dan 5:12.
Now, if thou canst read the writing ... thou shalt be clothed with scarlet ... - This was the reward which at the first he had promised to any one that was able to do it, and as all others had failed, he was willing that it should be offered to a Jew.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 28 Difficult. Literally, "things which are tied," or perplexing. (Haydock)…
Difficult. Literally, "things which are tied," or perplexing. (Haydock) --- The Persians still used the like expressions, to imply an intelligent governor. (Chardin.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 Not inconsistent with Dan 5:29. For here he declares…
Not inconsistent with Dan 5:29. For here he declares his interpretation of the words is not from the desire of reward. The honors in Dan 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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv17, 24, 25 17-23. According to our text (the Greek is shorter)…
17-23. According to our text (the Greek is shorter) Daniel refuses to recognize his equality with the Babylonian Magi by accepting the presents which had previously been promised to them (Dan_5:7), though afterward he accepts them (Dan_5:29). His speech is abrupt (as Dan_3:16) and sharp, with an intimation that Belshazzar himself needs gifts rather than he, and there may be a touch of irony in the opening words which offer to Belshazzar his coveted position as the son of Nebuchadnezzar, followed by a strong emphasis upon the fact that if that great king of the world, who had all power over all nations, was humbled by Jehovah, his little “son,” who reigned only over one palace, which was even now surrounded by a conquering army (see note Dan_5:1-4 and Introduction, III, 4), need not expect a less punishment when he sacrilegiously lifts himself up against the Lord of heaven.
With the wild asses — This expression is not found in Dan_4:32-33, but by a slight change the text may read “with the herds.” (Compare Dan_5:3-4; Psalms 119; Psalms 116; Psalms 117; Jer_10:23.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28 16. make] better give (R.V.); lit. interpret.
16. make] better give (R.V.); lit. interpret.
dissolve doubts] loose knots. See on Dan_5:12.
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thou shalt be clothed with purple, &c.] As Dan_5:7.
and rule as one of three in the kingdom] See on Dan_5:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 (17) Let thy gifts be to thyself.—Daniel refused the…
(17) Let thy gifts be to thyself.—Daniel refused the king’s offer of reward at first, but afterwards accepted it. In this way he showed his determination to speak the truth without any respect to fee, gift, or reward. (Comp. the conduct of Elisha, 2Ki_5:16; 2Ki_8:9.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 23, 24, 25 The dissolving of doubt.
The dissolving of doubt.
have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts," etc. A most important subject (not growing exegetically out of the passage, nevertheless) is suggested by the text, which is admirably treated by Horace Bushnell, in "Sermons on Living Subjects." For the sake of any who may not have access to the book, we give a brief outline, for the most part in Bushnell"s words.
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I THE PREVALENCE OF DOUBT. The prevalence of doubt is exhibited and illustrated at considerable length. "Science puts everything in question, and literature distils the questions, making an atmosphere of them.
II CAUSES OF DOUBT. "They never come of truth or high discovery, but always of the want of it.
1. All the truths of religion are inherently dub/table. They are the subjects of moral evidence, not of absolute demonstration.
2. We begin life as unknowing creatures that have everything to learn.
3. Our faculty is itself disorder; e.g. a bent telescope; a filthy window.
III THE DISSOLUTION OF DOUBT.
1. Counsel negative. Not "by inquiry, search, investigation, or any kind of speculative endeavour. Men must never go after the truth to merely find it, but to practise it and live by it.
2. Counsel positive. Bushnell asserts and illustrates at length that man has universally the absolute idea of right and its correlative wrong; and then enforces, with power and manifoldness of illumination, this: "Say nothing of investigation till you have made sure of being grounded everlastingly, and" with a completely whole intent, in the principle of right doing as a principle. " (No condensation can give any idea of the grasp and fatness with which this is exhibited and applied.)
IV THE RESULT. A soul thus won to its integrity of thought and meaning will rapidly clear all tormenting questions and difficulties. They are not all gone, but they are going. " "The ship is launched; he is gone to sea, and has the needle on board.
V SUPPLEMENTARY DIRECTION.
1. Be never afraid of doubt.
2. Be afraid of all sophistries and tricks and strifes of disingenuousargument.
3. Getting into any scornful way is fatal.
4. Never settle upon any thing as true, because it is safer to hold it than not.
5. Have it as a law never to put force on the mind or try to make it believe.
It spoils the mind"s integrity.
6. Never be in a hurry to believe; never try to conquer doubts against time. "One of the greatest talents in religious discovery is the finding how to hang up questions and let them hang without being at all anxious about them What seemed perfectly insoluble will clear itself in a wondrous revelation." And here is a thought: "It will not hurt you, nor hurt the truth, if you should have some few questions left to be carried on with you when you go hence, for in that more luminous state, most likely they will soon be cleared, only a thousand others will be springing up even there, and you will go on dissolving still your new sets of questions, and growing mightier and more deep-seeing for eternal ages. R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28 And dissolve doubts.
Dan_5:16
And dissolve doubts.
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The Dissolving of Doubts
Doubts and questions are not peculiar to Nebuchadnezzar, but they are the common lot and heritage of humanity. We live just now in a specially doubting age. Science puts everything in question, and literature distils the questions, making an atmosphere of them. The cultivated and mature have their doubts ingrown they know not how, and the younger minds encounter their public visitations when they do not seek them. Note that the three principles sources and causes whence our doubts arise, and from which they get force to make their assault
1. All the truths of religion are inherently dubitable. They are only what are called probable, never necessary truths like the truths of geometry or of numbers. This field of probable truth is the whole field of religion, and of course it is competent for doubt to cover it in every part and item.
2. We begin life as unknowing creatures that have everything to learn. We grope, the groping is doubt; we handle, we question, we guess, we experiment, beginning in darkness and stumbling on towards intelligence.
3. It is a fact, disguise it as we can, or deny it as we may, that our faculty is itself in disorder. A broken or bent telescope will not see anything rightly. A filthy window will not bring in even the day as it is. As long as these three sources, or originating causes of doubt continue, doubts will continue, and will, in one form or another, be multiplied. I do not propose, therefore, to show how they may be stopped, for that is impossible, but only how they may be dissolved, or cleared away. The first thing to be said is negative, viz., that the doubters never can dissolve or extirpate their doubts by inquiry, search, investigation, or any kind of speculative endeavour. They must never go after the truth to merely find it, but to practice it and live by it. To be simply curious is only a way to multiply doubts; for in doing it their are, in fact, postponing all the practical rights of truth. They imagine, it may be, that they are going first to settle their questions, and then at their leisure to act. As if they were going to get the perfect system and complete knowledge of truth before they move an inch in doing what they know! And they come out wondering at the discovery, that the more they investigate the less they believe! Their very endeavour mocks them--just as it really ought. For truth is something to be lived. How shall a mind get on finding more truth, save as it takes direction from what it gets? There is no fit search after truth which does not, first of all, begin to live the truth it knows. To come to positive matter. There is a way for dissolving any and all doubts--a way that opens at a very small gate, but widens wonderfully after you pass. Every human soul, at a certain first point of its religious outfit, has a key given to it which is to be the open sesame of all right discovery. Every man acknowledges the distinction of right and wrong, feels the reality of that distinction, knows it by immediate consciousness even as he knows himself. He would not be a man without that distinction. It is even this which distinguishes him from the mere animals. Here is the key that opens everything. The only reason why we fall into so many doubts, and get unsettled in our inquiries, instead of being settled by them, as we undertake to be, is that we do not begin at the beginning. A right mind has a right polarity, and discovers right things by feeling after them. The true way, then, of dissolving doubts, is to begin at the beginning, and do the first thing first. Say nothing of investigation till you have made sure of being grounded everlastingly, and with a completely whole intent in the principle of right doing as a principle. Unreligious men are right only so far as they can be, they may not be at all right in principle. Lessons:
1. Be never afraid of doubt.
2. Be afraid of all sophistries, and tricks, and strifes.
3. Getting into a scornful way is fatal.
4. Never put force on the mind to make it believe.
5. Never be in a hurry to believe. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v17 Dan 5:17 - Dan 5:31.
Daniel
MENE, TEKEL, PERES
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Dan 5:17 - Dan 5:31.
Belshazzar is now conceded to have been a historical personage, the son of the last monarch of Babylon, and the other name in the narrative which has been treated as erroneous-namely, Darius-has not been found to be mentioned elsewhere, but is not thereby proved to be a blunder. For why should it not be possible for Scripture to preserve a name that secular history has not yet been ascertained to record, and why must it always be assumed that, if Scripture and cuneiform or other documents differ, it is Scripture that must go to the wall?
We do not deal with the grim picture of the drunken orgy, turned into abject terror as ‘the fingers of a man’s hand’ came forth out of empty air, and in the full blaze of ‘the candlestick’ wrote the illegible signs. There is something blood-curdling in the visibility of but a part of the hand and its busy writing. Whose was the body, and where was it? No wonder if the riotous mirth was frozen into awe, and the wine lost flavour. Nor need we do more than note the craven-hearted flattery addressed to Daniel by the king, who apparently had never heard of him till the queen spoke of him just before. We have to deal with the indictment, the sentence, and the execution.
I. The indictment.
Daniel’s tone is noticeably stern. He has no reverential preface, no softening of his message. His words are as if cut with steel on the rock. He brushes aside the promises of vulgar decorations and honours with undisguised contempt, and goes straight to his work of rousing a torpid conscience.
Babylon was the embodiment and type of the godless world-power, and Belshazzar was the incarnation of the spirit which made Babylon. So Daniel’s indictment gathers together the main forms of sin, which cleave to every godless national or individual life. And he begins with that feather-brained frivolity which will learn nothing by example. Nebuchadnezzar’s fate might have taught his successors what came of God-forgetting arrogance, and attributing success to oneself; and his restoration might have been an object-lesson to teach that devout recognition of the Most High as sovereign was the beginning of a king’s prosperity and sanity. But Belshazzar knew all this, and ignored it all. Was he singular in that? Is not the world full of instances of the ruin that attends godlessness, which yet do not check one godless man in his career? The wrecks lie thick on the shore, but their broken sides and gaunt skeletons are not warnings sufficient to keep a thousand other ships from steering right on to the shoals. Of these godless lives it is true, ‘This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings,’ and their doings, and say and do them over again. Incapacity to learn by example is a mark of godless lives.
Further, Belshazzar ‘lifted up’ himself ‘against the Lord of heaven,’ and ‘glorified not Him in whose hand was his breath and whose were all his ways.’ The very essence of all sin is that assertion of self as Lord, as sufficient, as the director of one’s path. To make myself my centre, to depend on myself, to enthrone my own will as sovereign, is to fly in the face of nature and fact, and is the mother of all sin. To live to self is to die while we live; to live to God is to live even while we die. Nations and individuals are ever tempted thus to ignore God, and rebelliously to say, ‘Who is Lord over us?’ or presumptuously to think themselves architects of their own fortunes, and sufficient for their own defence. Whoever yields to that temptation has let the ‘prince of the devils’ in, and the inferior evil spirits will follow. Positive acts are not needed; the negative omission to ‘glorify’ the God of our life binds sin on us.
Further, Belshazzar, the type of godlessness, had desecrated the sacrificial vessels by using them for his drunken carouse, and therein had done just what we do when we take the powers of heart and mind and will, which are meant to be filled with affections, thoughts, and purposes, that are ‘an odour of a sweet smell, well-pleasing to God,’ and desecrate them by pouring from them libations before creatures. Is not love profaned when it is lavished on men or women without one reference to God? Is not the intellect desecrated when its force is spent on finite objects of thought, and never a glance towards God? Is not the will prostituted from its high vocation when it is used to drive the wheels of a God-ignoring life?
The coin bears the image and superscription of the true king. It is treason to God to render it to any paltry ‘Cæsar’ of our own coronation. Belshazzar was an avowed idolater, but many of us are worshipping gods ‘which see not, nor hear, nor know’ as really as he did. We cannot but do so, if we are not worshipping God; for men must have some person or thing which they regard as their supreme good, to which the current of their being sets, which, possessed, makes them blessed; and that is our god, whether we call it so or not.
Further, Belshazzar was carousing while the Medes and Persians were ringing Babylon round, and his hand should have been grasping a sword, not a wine-cup. Drunkenness and lust, which sap manhood, are notoriously stimulated by peril, as many a shipwreck tells when desperate men break open the spirit casks, and go down to their death intoxicated, and as many an epidemic shows when morality is flung aside, and mad vice rules and reels in the streets before it sinks down to die. A nation or a man that has shaken off God will not long keep sobriety or purity.
II. After the stern catalogue of sins comes the tremendous sentence.
Daniel speaks like an embodied conscience, or like an avenging angel, with no word of pity, and no effort to soften or dilute the awful truth. The day for wrapping up grim facts in muffled words was past. Now the only thing to be done was to bare the sword, and let its sharp edge cut. The inscription, as given in Dan 5:25, is simply ‘Numbered, numbered, weighed and breakings.’ The variation in Dan 5:28 {Peres} is the singular of the noun used in the plural in Dan 5:25, with the omission of ‘U,’ which is merely the copulative ‘and.’ The disjointed brevity adds to the force of the words. Apparently, they were not written in a character which ‘the king’s wise men’ could read, and probably were in Aramaic letters as well as language, which would be familiar to Daniel. Of course, a play on the word ‘Peres’ suggests the Persian as the agent of the breaking. Daniel simply supplied the personal application of the oracular writing. He fits the cap on the king’s head. ‘God hath numbered thy kingdom . . . thou art weighed . . . thy kingdom is divided’ {broken}.
These three fatal words carry in them the summing up of all divine judgment, and will be rung in the ears of all who bring it on themselves. Belshazzar is a type of the end of every godless world-power and of every such individual life. ‘Numbered’-for God allows to each his definite time, and when its sum is complete, down falls the knife that cuts the threads. ‘Weighed’-for ‘after death the judgment,’ and a godless life, when laid in the balance which His hand holds, is ‘altogether lighter than vanity.’ ‘Breakings’-for not only will the godless life be torn away from its possessions with much laceration of heart and spirit, but the man himself will be broken like some earthen vessel coming into sharp collision with an express engine. Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the same night in which it was carried out in act; we see it long before, and we can read it. But some of us are mad enough to sit unconcerned at the table, and go on with the orgy, though the legible letters are gleaming plain on the wall.
III. The execution of the sentence need not occupy us long.
Belshazzar so little realised the facts, that he issued his order to deck out Daniel in the tawdry pomp he had promised him, as if a man with such a message would be delighted with purple robes and gold chains, and made him third ruler of the kingdom which he had just declared was numbered and ended by God. The force of folly could no further go. No wonder that the hardy invaders swept such an Imbecile from his throne without a struggle! His blood was red among the lees of the wine-cups, and the ominous writing could scarcely have faded from the wall when the shouts of the assailants were heard, the palace gates forced, and the half-drunken king, alarmed too late, put to the sword. ‘He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v17 The Interpretation and the Fulfilment
The Interpretation and the Fulfilment
v. 17. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards, the presents which he intended as a fee to Daniel, to another, the prophet of Jehovah rejecting everything which might afterwards be construed as having influenced him in his message; yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the interpretation, as an act of loyalty to both the earthly ruler and the heavenly Sovereign; for he intended to speak without reservation, no matter whether the result would please or displease the king.
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v. 18. O thou king, the formal and solemn address bringing out the importance of the message from the outset and placing its entire import into direct relation to the king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor, far above that enjoyed by Belshazzar;
v. 19. and for the majesty that He gave him, the imperial authority and supremacy which he enjoyed, all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him, were in a constant state of fear and trepidation lest they incur his displeasure; whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive, being the absolute master of life and death; and whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put down, for both the advancement and the demotion of the subjects of his realm were matters of his whim.
v. 20. But, that is, in spite of this unexampled position of power, when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, so that he thought he could deal proudly, with an utter disregard of the will of the Lord, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him, as related in chapter 4;
v. 21. and he was driven from the sons of men, excluded from their society, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses, this picturesque item being added for the sake of further embellishment of the narrative; 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, that is, until he gave all honor and glory to the true God alone. The lesson of this story is now driven home.
v. 22. And thou, his son, or grandson, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, not having profited by the example of his relative, though thou knewest all this,
v. 23. but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, in blasphemous pride; and they have brought the vessels of His house, of the Temple of Jehovah, the one true God, before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know, Cf Deu 4:28; Psa 115:5 ff. ; Psa 135:15 ff. ; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, the one Creator and Ruler of the universe hast thou not glorified, as was the solemn duty resting upon him.
v. 24. Then was the part of the hand, the outstretched fingers of the writing hand, sent from Him, and this writing was written, to announce the doom which was now inevitable.
v. 25. And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, literally, "numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided. "
v. 26. This is the interpretation of the thing, of the writing on the wall: Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it, that is, the duration of Belshazzar’s kingship, of his reign, was now determined, brought to the end assigned to it.
v. 27. Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances, namely, in those of God’s righteousness and justice, his character analyzed according to the demands of God’s holiness, and art found wanting, below weight in moral worth and capacity.
v. 28. Peres: Thy kingdom is divided, severed, cut into two pieces, and given to the Medes and Persians, the Lord Himself making the division.
v. 29. Then commanded Belshazzar, in accordance with his promise, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, with royal purple, 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, next in power to Nabonidus and Belshazzar. Even if this proclamation was made in the banquet hall only, it reached the representatives of the entire kingdom who were there assembled.
v. 30. In that night was Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, slain, namely, when his city was taken by the victorious armies of the enemy, who took the city as the result of a ruse.
v. 31. And Darius, the Median, took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. We have evidence from secular sources also that Darius, the Mede, whose other name was Gobryas, received from Cyrus, his overlord, the kingdom of Belshazzar, the Chaldean, which constituted a small part of the empire of the Persians at that time. As is indicated in this story, the hand of God has often interfered with the blasphemous works of the unbelievers, so that all their laughter was turned to the bitterest sorrow. And all God’s judgments here in time are but faint preambles introducing the last great Day of Judgment with its condemnation of the godless.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17, 20, 22, 25 Let your gifts be for yourself, and
Let your gifts be for yourself, and
"I do not want your gifts, so"
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all peoples, nations, and languages
This phrase uses the word "all" as a generalization that represents a large number. AT: "a great number of people, of different nations and languages" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
peoples, nations, and languages
Here "nations" and "languages" represent people from different nations who speak different languages. See how you translated this in Daniel 3:4. AT: "people from different nations and who speak different languages" (See: Metonymy)
trembled and feared him
These words mean basically the same thing and emphasize the intensity of the fear. AT: "were very afraid of him" (See: Doublet)
He put to death those he wanted to die
This phrase does not mean King Nebuchadnezzar put people to death himself, but rather those he commanded. AT: "Nebuchadnezzar commanded his soldiers to kill those he wanted to die" (See: Metonymy)
He raised up those he wanted
"He raised up those he wanted to raise up"
wanted ... wished
These words here mean the same thing.
he humbled those he wished
"he humbled those he wished to humble"
translationWords
Daniel
king
Most High
Nebuchadnezzar
kingdom
honor
majesty
people group
nation
fear
humble
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28 5:17 Daniel interpreted the writing but required no pay…
5:17 Daniel interpreted the writing but required no pay from the wicked king (cp. Gen 14:21-24; 2 Kgs 5:15-16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.