Daniel 5:10

Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: NOW THE QUEEN, BY REASON OF THE WORDS OF THE KING ... CAME INTO THE BANQUET HOUSE - the queen-mother, or grandmother, Nitocris, had not been present until now. She was wife either of Nebuchadnezzar or of Evil-merodach; hence, her acquaintance with the services of Daniel. She completed the great works which the former had begun. Hence, Herodotus attributes them to her alone. This accounts for the deference paid to her by Belshazzar. See my note, . Compare similar rank once given to the queen-mother of Asa, Maachah, among the Hebrews, ....

Here Daniel relates the occasion of his being brought before the king, as the reader and interpreter of the writing. The queen, he says, did this. It is doubtful whether it was the wife of King Belshazzar, or his grandmother. She was probably an old woman, as she refers to events in the time of King Nebuchadnezzar This conjecture has no sufficient foundation, and hence it is better to suspend our judgment than to assert anything rashly; unless, as we before saw, his wife was at table with him. As far as we can gather the words of the Prophet with certainty, we must diligently notice them, and thus convict the king of ingratitude, because he did not admit Daniel among the magi, Chaldeans, and astrologers. The holy man had no wish to be reckoned in that company; he would have deserved to lose God’s prophetic spirit had he thus mingled with impostors; and he is clearly to be distinguished f...

10-17 Daniel was forgotten at court; he lived privately, and was then ninety years of age. Many consult servants of God on curious questions, or to explain difficult subjects, but without asking the way of salvation, or the path of duty. Daniel slighted the offer of reward. He spoke to Belshazzar as to a condemned criminal. We should despise all the gifts and rewards this world can give, did we see, as we may by faith, its end hastening on; but let us do our duty in the world, and do it all the real service we can....

Verse Daniel 5:10. _THE QUEEN - CAME_] This is generally allowed to have been the _widow_ of Nebuchadnezzar; if so, she was the queen _Amiyt_, daughter of _Astyages_, sister of _Darius_ the Mede, and aunt of _Cyrus_, according to _Polyhistor_, cited by _Cedrenus_. See _Calmet._ Others think that _Nitocris_ was the person who is said to be queen when Cyrus took the city; and is stated to have been a lady of eminent wisdom and discretion, and to have had the chief direction of the public affairs. She was the mother of _Labynithus_; and, if this be the same as _Belshazzar_, she must be the person here introduced....

NOW THE QUEEN - “Probably the queen-mother, the Nitocris of Herodotus, as the king’s wives were at the entertainment.” - Wintle. Compare Daniel 5:2. So Prof. Stuart. The editor of the “Pictorial Bible” also supposes that this was the queen-mother, and thinks that this circumstance will explain her familiarity with the occurrences in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. He says, “We are informed above, that the ‘wives and concubines’ of the king were present at the banquet. It therefore seems probable that the ‘queen’ who now first appears was the queen-mother; and this probability is strengthened by the intimate acquaintance which she exhibits with the affairs of Nebuchadnezzars reign; at the latter end of which she, as the wife of Evil-Merodach, who was regent during his father’s alienation of mind, took an active part in the internal policy of the kingdom, and in the comp

EXPOSITION DANIEL 5:1 BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. In regard to this chapter the peculiar state of the Septuagint text has to be noted. At the beginning of the chapter there are three verses which seem to be either variant versions of the Septuagint text, or versions of a text which was different from that from which the Septuagint has been drawn. Throughout the chapter, further, there are traces of doublets. Most of these variations occur in the Syriac of Paulus Tellensis. DANIEL 5:1 BELSHAZZAR THE KING MADE A GREAT FEAST TO A THOUSAND OF HIS LORDS, AND DRANK WINE BEFORE THE THOUSAND. AS WE have just indicated, there are two versions in the Septuagint of several verses in this chapte

NOW THE QUEEN, BY REASON OF THE WORDS OF THE KING AND HIS LORDS, CAME INTO THE BANQUET HOUSE,.... Not the wife of Belshazzar, as Porphyry would have it; but rather the queen mother, as Jacchiades, the widow of Evilmerodach his father, whose name was Nitocris; and is spoken of, by Herodotus q, as a very prudent woman; and as this seems to be by her words and conduct: though Josephus r says it was his grandmother, she who had been the wife of Nebuchadnezzar; and of this opinion were some mentioned by Aben Ezra; whose name was Amyitis; and it appears, by what she says afterwards, that she was well acquainted with affairs in his time; and, being an ancient woman, might be the reason why she was not among the ladies at the feast in the banqueting house; but came into it, without being sent for, on hearing the consternation and distress the king and his lords were in, and the moanful despairin...

CHAPTER 5 BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST _ 1. Belshazzar's licentious feast (Daniel 5:1)_ 2. The writing on the wall (Daniel 5:5) 3. Forgotten Daniel (Daniel 5:10) 4. The message of Daniel (Daniel 5:17) Daniel 5:1. This feast of wickedness and blasphemy needs no further annotations. But it shows the great decline morally in the great Babylonian empire. Nebuchadnezzar, no doubt, had handled the golden vessels of the house of the Lord most carefully. He had stored them away, fearing to misuse them. The grandson sent for these vessels to drink

DANIEL 5. Belshazzar, who is represented as king of Babylon, makes a great feast, using the vessels which his father had brought to Babylon from the Temple at Jerusalem. During the feast the fingers of a man's hand are seen, writing on the wall. _Daniel_ explains the handwriting and tells the king that his days are numbered and that his kingdom is to be given to the Medes and Persians. That night the king is murdered and Darius the Mede assumes the throne. The motive of the chapter is again quite plain. Nebuchadnezzar's act of sacrilege has its parallel in the profanation of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes; and the fate of Belshazzar is depicted as an encouragement to the persecuted Jews of the Maccabean age. The chapter raises some very serious historical difficulties (see notes on Daniel 5:1 and Daniel 5:31

NOW THE QUEEN... CAME INTO THE BANQUET HOUSE. The wives and concubines were already there, but the queen only came on account of hearing of the awful portent. This convinces us that the queen was not the wife of Belshazzar at all, but his mother and the wife of king Nabonedus, his father, who was besieged at Borsippa. This accounts for her familiarity with the character of Daniel, of whom Belshazzar seemed to have no knowledge. Daniel was now an old man; during the long reign of Nebuchadnezzar he had been. prominent figure, but under such frivolous princes as his successors Daniel had fallen into obscurity....