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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Daniel 5:17 - 5:31
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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.
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.