Daniel 5:16

_I HAVE EVEN HEARD OF THEE, THAT THE SPIRIT OF THE GODS IS IN THEE, AND THAT LIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING AND EXCELLENT WISDOM IS FOUND IN THEE._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 16. _DISSOLVE DOUBTS_] _Untie knots - unbind what is bound_. An expression used in the east to signify a _judge_ of eminent wisdom and skill....

AND I HAVE HEARD OF THEE ... - Daniel 5:11. CANST MAKE INTERPRETATIONS - Margin, “interpret.” Chaldee, “interpret interpretations.” The meaning is, that he was skilled in interpreting or explaining dreams, omens, etc. AND DISSOLVE DOUBTS - See the notes at Daniel 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....

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

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: 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, Daniel 5:7 but what was no temptation or motive to Daniel, as appears by what follows:...

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

_make_ better _give_(R.V.); lit. _interpret_. _dissolve doubts_ LOOSE KNOTS. See on Daniel 5:12. _thou shalt be clothed with_ PURPLE, &c. As Daniel 5:7. _and_ RULE AS ONE OF THREE _in the kingdom_ See on Daniel 5:7....

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 intelligent governor. See Chardin's Voyage to Persia, p. 228 and the note on Daniel 5:29....