_BELSHAZZAR'S IMPIOUS FEAST. A HAND-WRITING, UNKNOWN TO THE MAGICIANS, TROUBLETH THE KING. AT THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE QUEEN, DANIEL IS BROUGHT: HE REPROVETH THE KING OF PRIDE AND IDOLATRY, READETH AND INTERPRETETH THE WRITING. THE MONARCHY IS TRANSLATED TO THE MEDES._ _Before Christ 539._ THIS... [ Continue Reading ]
BELSHAZZAR THE KING— The grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the Labynetus of Herodotus, and the last monarch of the Babylonian kingdom. This last king is said by Ptolemy to have reigned 17 years, and we read of the _third_ year of Belshazzar, Daniel 8:1 but Laborosoarchod reigned only nine months. Certain... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILES HE TASTED THE WINE— _When he grew warm with wine._ Houbigant. The _golden_ and _silver vessels_ here spoken of, were those carried by Nebuchadnezzar from the temple of Jerusalem to the treasure-house of his god, (see chap. Daniel 1:2.) and which were there set apart for religious uses. So tha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PRAISED THE GODS OF GOLD— Here is a kind of competition, or the appearance of a triumph of the false gods over the true one, whom still Nebuchadnezzar had honoured and acknowledged, and prohibited by a solemn decree that any one should speak lightly of him. The competition appears much stronger... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE KING'S COUNTENANCE, &C.— The expressions in this verse, in a collected view, contain such a description of terror as is rarely to be met with, the dead change of the countenance, the perturbation of the thoughts, the joints of the loins become relaxed, and the knees smiting hither and thith... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY COULD NOT READ THE WRITING— Because, says Houbigant, it was written in the ancient Samaritan characters, and such as were used upon their coins; which were very unlike the Chaldean letters: for these three compendiums of three sentences, _Mene, Tekel, Peres,_ were such as were commonly foun... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE QUEEN, &C.— _Now the queen, on account of the affair which had happened to the king and his lords, came,_ &c. The word for _countenance_ at the end of the verse signifies _splendour,_ or the serenity of the face. The king's wives and concubines sat with him at the feast, Daniel 5:2 so that t... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS A MAN IN THY KINGDOM, &C.— Belshazzar certainly could not have been well acquainted with Daniel, though Nebuchadnezzar had promoted him so considerably. This argues him to have been a weak and wicked prince, according to the character which the historians gave of him; leaving the care of pu... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH ART— _Who is._... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU CANST MAKE INTERPRETATIONS— _That thou canst explain what is to be explained,_ or what stands in need of explanation. _And dissolve doubts_ is literally _to untie knots;_ a manner of speaking used to this day in the letters of the kings of Persia, to denote an expert judge, or an intellige... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THY GIFTS BE TO THYSELF— This is a compliment. He afterwards accepts what he here declines through civility. He means to say, that he was ready to do whatever the king commanded, without any respect to a recompense. See Calmet.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM HE WOULD HE SLEW— We have here a strong picture of the absolute and independent power of these princes: they regarded their subjects only as their 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 ass... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WILD ASSES— See the beautiful description of the wild ass, in Job, chap. Job 39:5, &c. Instead of _ruled,_ in the latter part of this verse, we may read _ruleth._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WAS THE PART OF THE HAND SENT— _Therefore is the hand sent from him, the fingers whereof have formed this writing._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
MENE, &C.— These words are fully explained by Daniel in the following verses. The word _Mene_ is doubled, to shew that the thing is certain and established by God; as Joseph told Pharaoh in a similar case.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEDES AND PERSIANS— The kingdom of the Medes seems to have been but of short duration: it probably had its name of Media from מדי _Madi,_ the third son of Japhet; but its first establishment into a kingdom is dated about 150 years before the reign of Cyrus. Sir Isaac Newton reckons up only five... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CLOTHED DANIEL— The _clothing_ of Daniel with scarlet was an honour of a different kind from that mentioned, chap. Daniel 2:46. We have no custom of this kind. Persons receive favours of various sorts from princes; but the coming out from their presence in a different dress, is not an honour in... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT NIGHT WAS BELSHAZZAR—SLAIN— He and all his nobles were slain together, in the midst of their feasting and revels. Xenophon relates the history thus: Two deserters, _Gadatas_ and _Gobrias,_ having assisted some of the Persian army to kill the guards and seize upon the palace, entered the room... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DARIUS THE MEDIAN TOOK THE KINGDOM— _And Darius the Mede accepted the kingdom;_ so the Syriac and Arabic versions. This Darius, in the ninth chapter, is said to be _of the seed of the Medes,_ and is supposed by the most judicious chronologers to have been the same with Cyaxares, the son of Astya... [ Continue Reading ]