← Back to the beginning of Daniel 5
Ver. 6. Then the king’s countenance was changed.] How soon is carnal joy extinct, the gallantry of it checked with troubles and terrors! how suddenly is it put out as the fire of thorns! (Psalms 118:12 Ecclesiastes 7:6) Surely as lightning is followed with rending and roaring; and as comets, when their exhaled matter is wasted, vanish and fill the air with pestilent vapours; so is it here. So that the joints of his loins were loosed.] If a bare citation to judgment were so terrible to this jolly prince, what shall the judgment itself be “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord,” &c. And his knees smote one against another.] The writing on the wall he could neither read nor understand; but his conscience had written bitter things against him, which being now held to the fire of God’s wrath become legible, as things written with the juice of an onion are visible when brought to the fire. The wounds also of an accusing conscience pierce the members of the body. (Proverbs 17:22) The mark that God set upon Cain was, in likelihood the perpetual trembling of his hands and whole body. Tullus Hostilius, who profanely derided the devotions of his predecessor Numa, had deservedly for his gods Pavorem fear, and Pallorem. wanness, Caracalla, after the murder of his brother Geta, was so haunted with the furies of his own evil conscience, that he forbade any so much as to name him on pain of death, and was well nigh mad; so was Theodoricus the tyrant upon the sight of the fish’s head set before him, wherein he thought he saw the face of Symmachus whom he had wrongfully slain. The like befell our Richard III after the murder of his two innocent nephews; and Charles IX of France after the massacre at Paris. Lactant
Ver. 7. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers.] Daniel seemeth not to have been in any request in the days of this dissolute prince, Neither was there any courtier that would mention him, or mind the king of him till the old queen came in. Such combibones drinking buddies are unfit comforters; many of them likely were by this time bucked with wine, and then laid out to be sunned and scorned. Shall be clothed with scarlet, &c.] A troubled heart will give anything for release, as Cain, Spira, &c. And shall be the third ruler in the kingdom,] i.e., Next to myself and the queen-mother. Thus he promiseth to another a third place, who could not promise to himself any place. Spirat superbiam miser.
Ver. 8. But they could not read the writing.] Utpote caecitate et stupore pervulsi; they could not so read it as to make any good sense of it. It may be the initial letters only were set down, or else without pricks, or in a strange character, the Samaritan, or some other. The honour of the work was reserved for a better man.
Ver. 9. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled.] In the midst of his feast he was thus damped and cast into his dumps; according to that of Amos, (Amos 8:10) “I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation.” Yet find we not in him any sign of true remorse. “Whoredom and wine and new wine had even taken away his heart,” (Hosea 4:11) robbed him of himself, and laid a beast in the room.
Ver. 10. Now the queen.] The queen mother, whom Herodotus calleth Nicochris, and greatly commendeth for her wisdom and ability of speech, which in a woman is a comely ornament: (Proverbs 31:26) (1.) She was not at this riotous feast, which is an argument of her temperance; (2.) She prudently insinuateth into the king by the ordinary salutation, “O king, live for ever”; (3.) She adviseth him to bear up, and not to be too troubled; (4.) She maketh honourable mention of Daniel, cuius virtutum sola est admiratrix, and persuaded the king to make use of him by her own experience, We use to say thus women’s wits are best at a pinch. Most sure it is that women have proven sometimes more prompt for counsel than men; (Judges 13:23) and some we may find who, beside their sex, have little of a woman in them. See 2 Samuel 20:16. Herodotus maketh this Nicochris as famous as Semiramis.
Ver. 11. There is a man in thy kingdom.] Once famous for his oracles, and highly promoted by thy grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. Thus this old queen speaketh of ancient things. She was not therefore Belshazzar’s wife, as Porphyry scoffingly objected, but his mother at least, if not his grandmother. In whom is the spirits.] See on Daniel 5:10. The king, I say, thy father.] This was a check to Belshazzar for neglecting so worthy a person as Daniel, whom his grandfather had so highly honoured.
Ver. 12. Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, &c.] Very excellent is the grace of the Spirit in godly hearts, (Colossians 1:29) neither can natural conscience do less than stoop and strike sail to the image of God in whomsoever. And dissolving of doubts.] Chald., Knots; that is, perplexed and obscure speeches and sentences. Now let Daniel be called.] Who will not obtrude himself, nor, like the marigold, open and shut with the sun; but, as the violet, which grows low and hangs the head downward, hiding itself also with its own leaves, so Daniel, were it not that the fragrant smell of his many virtues betrayed him to the world, would choose to live and die in his self-contenting secrecy.
Ver. 13. Then was Daniel brought in.] Wise men are never found to be unnecessarily forthputting, or overly forward to express themselves. They know qui bene latuit bene vixit; et qui bene tacuit, bene dixit; and when they must speak, use as few words as may be, and as direct to the point. Art thou that Daniel.] Daniel had deserved of the Babylonian state to have been better known of Belshazzar, and better respected; but this is the world’s wages. Which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, &c.] What needed all this? he never learned it surely of his queen mother. She had spoken all good of Daniel, and inminded the king of another both office and name. He only takes notice of Daniel’s captive condition, and vaunts of his grandfather’s victory, moving this insolent and unseasonable question in tanta necessitate et consilii inopia, “Art thou Daniel?” &c
Ver. 14. I have even heard of thee that the spirit, &c.] This silly and shallow prince hath nothing to say but what was put into his month by his wiser grandmother; only what she discreetly concealed, viz., that Daniel was one of the captives, &c., hoc unum commemorat gloriosus rex, that he blurts out, in a way of upbraiding. Oecolamp.
Ver. 15. But they could not show the interpretation of the thing.] They could not read nor interpret it. Such as seek to sorcerers are worthy to lose their labour, as a punishment of their folly. Suidas testifieth that the citizens of Alexandria in Egypt devised and decreed that astrologers should pay a certain tribute to the State out of their gettings, and that it should be called the fool’s tribute, because none but fools and light fellows would resort to such for direction.
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. (Daniel 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.
Ver. 17. Let thy gifts be to thyself.] Honours, pleasures, riches, “ Haec tria pro trino numine mmadus habet. ” But as Moses, by the force of his faith, overcame them all, (Hebrews 11:24-27) so did Daniel here, throwing off the offers of them, and answering the king’s proud speech with a grave invective, which he beginneth somewhat abruptly, not without indignation, as having to deal with a wicked and desperate man, rejected of God. Ministers must carry in them a retired majesty, saith one, toward the persons of wicked men. (2 Kings 3:14)
Ver. 18. O thou king, the most high God gave Nebachadnezzar.] See here the necessary and profitable use of history, which hath its name, saith Plato, παρα το ισταναι τον ρουν, from stopping the flux and overflow of impiety in others; “ Exemplo alterius qui sapit, ille sapit. ” Domestic examples are most prevalent; as not to profit by them is a great provocation, and yet all too common. (Psalms 49:14) Lamech was nothing bettered by Cain’s punishment, but the contrary. Jude inveigheth against such as made no use of Sodom’s ruin; this was a just presage and desert of their own. And kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour.] His offences were much increased by these many obligations.
Ver. 19. Whom he would he slew.] De facto loquitur, non de iure. See the like 1 Samuel 8:10-17. [See Trapp on “1Sa 8:10”] [See Trapp on “1Sa 8:11”] [See Trapp on “1Sa 8:12”] [See Trapp on “1Sa 8:13”] [See Trapp on “1Sa 8:14”] [See Trapp on “1Sa 8:15”] [See Trapp on “1Sa 8:16”] [See Trapp on “1Sa 8:17”] Lactantius telleth of a certain tyrant, qui lucem vivis, terram mortuis denegabat, who would never let his subjects rest alive or dead. Lib. v. cap. 11.
Ver. 20. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride.] Pride is of a hardening property, causeth men to commit sin with a high hand, as Pharaoh. The increase of the spleen is the decrease of the body; so is pride of the soul, and overturneth the whole man. Evagrius noteth it for a special commendation of Mauritius the Emperor, that he was not puffed up with his preferments.
Ver. 21. And he was driven.] See on Daniel 4:22. Lege historiam, ne fias historia.
Ver. 22. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart.] It was no small aggravation of his sins not to be warned, and now he shall hear of it on both ears. The putting out of the French king’s eyes, which promised before with his eyes to see one of God’s true servants burned, who seeth not to be the stroke of God’s hand? Then his son Francis, not regarding his father’s stripe, would needs yet proceed in burning the same man. And did not the same God give him such a blow on the ear that it cost him his life? Acts and Mon., fol. 1914.
Ver. 23. But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven.] As did also Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Herod, (Acts 12:21-23) whose acts were set forth with false and flattering praises by Nicholas Damascenus, as Josephus complaineth; but so are not Belshazzar’s by holy Daniel, who yet is almost his only historiographer. And whose are all thy ways.] Chald., Thy whole journey. Antiq., lib. xvi. cap. 11.
Ver. 24. Then was the part of the hand.] Completa peccati mensura, non differtur poena, when sin is once ripe, punishment is ready. The bottle of wickedness, when once full with those bitter waters, will soon sink to the bottom.
Ver. 25. MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.] These words signify, He hath perfectly numbered, he hath weighed, and it falleth in pieces. They were the Samaritan characters, saith one, therefore the Babylonians could not read them, nor could the Jews understand them, though they knew the characters, because they understood not the Chaldee tongue as Daniel did. See on Daniel 5:8. Weemse.
Ver. 26. MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom.] He hath cast up thy reckonings, taken account of thy maladministration, and calleth for satisfaction. So he dealt with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Cum duplicarentur lateres, venit Moses, when the tale of bricks was doubled, then came Moses; and when the four hundred, or the four hundred and thirty, years of their captivity in Egypt were exactly expired, the same night were the firstborn slain. So the tyranny of the Roman emperors was numbered at the end of three hundred years after Christ, when they, sounding the triumph before the victory, had foolishly engraven upon pillars of marble these bubbles of words, Nomine Christianorum deleto qui Remp, evertebant, we have utterly rooted out the name of Christians, those traitors to the commonwealth. So, lastly, God hath numbered the Pope’s kingdom, and well-nigh finished it. Let him look to the year 1666. It is plain Satan shall be tied up a thousand years; 666 is the number of the beast; Antichrist shaft so long reign; these two together make the just number. Time has made a fool of Trapp as it has of many others. Ed.
Ver. 27. TEKEL; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.] As the former was a term taken from creditors, so this from light coin; deprehensus es minus habere, thou art not current. Others may think thee weighty enough and worthy, but God pondereth the hearts, (Proverbs 22:2) and thinketh thee fit to be refused, ut nummus reprobus so money rejected. Iupiter ipse duas aequato examine lances Sustinet. -Virg.
Ver. 28. PERES; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes.] This had been long before prophesied, Isaiah 13:17; yea, Genesis 9:25; and now Ham’s posterity felt his father’s curse. Nimrod, the founder of Babylon, came of Ham, Madai or the Medes were of Japhet, and Elam or the Persians of Shem. God’s forbearances are no acquittances. Let all wicked ones look to it. What is Mene but death? Tekel but judgment? Peres but hell or utter separation from God? and all to be passed through by their poor souls if timely course be not taken. Hear this, all ye drunkards, who glory in drinking the three outs &c.
Ver. 29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel.] No nay, but they would do it; and he at length admitted it, partly that he might not seem to slight the king’s courtesy and to be disaffected, and partly that thereby he might be the better known to the Persians for the comfort of God’s poor people. And put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation, &c.] All this the king commanded to be done, out of an admiration of Daniel’s divine wisdom, and that he might be dicti sui dominus, as good as his word; but not a word hear we of his repentance, such was his stupidity; nor doth Daniel exhort him to it, because he saw him to be past feeling, and knew that the decree was gone forth.
Ver. 30. In that night was Belshazzar…slain.] By Gaddatha and Gobrya, two of Cyrus’s commanders, who had been wronged by Belshazzar (as Xenophon also testifieth), and now took revenge on him, after that they had betrayed the city, and brought in Cyrus’s army. So fell that famous Babylon: fuit Ilium et inyen, gloria Teucrorum. Xenoph. Cyrop., lib. vii.
Ver. 31. And Darius.] Called by Ctesias, Δαριαιος, which comes near to Dariaves, as the Chaldee here calleth him. He is thought to be the same with Cyaxares, son of Astyages, and uncle to Cyrus. Being about threescore and two years old.] Born the same year, say the Rabbis, wherein Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and destroyed it. So Augustine was born the same day in Africa that Pelagius was in Wales, say chronologers, by a wise and watchful providence of God for the good of his Church. Sedar Olam.