ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Daniel 5

Dan. 5:1–31 Daniel explains to Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon, that the writing on the wall is a message that the true God rules over all. In his own time, this true God will vindicate his name against those who defile it, no matter how powerful they are.

Dan. 5:1–4 Belshazzar was a co-regent of Babylon c. 553–539 b.c. At the center of Belshazzar’s great feast were the vessels of gold and of silver that had been taken from the Jerusalem temple by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was not literally the father of Belshazzar; Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus, with whom he shared co-regency during the closing years of the Babylonian monarchy. The word “father” in Aramaic, like Hebrew, can mean “ancestor” or “predecessor” (v. 2, esv footnote). Belshazzar wanted to emphasize his direct connection to Nebuchadnezzar, who had been the greatest of all Babylonian kings.

Dan. 5:5–9 The fingers of a mysterious hand wrote on the plaster of the palace wall opposite the lampstand, where its message could be clearly seen. The king’s response was terror: literally, the “joints of his loins were loosened.” None of the Babylonian magicians were able to interpret the writing. Anyone who interpreted the writing would be clothed with purple, an expensive color in the ancient world, and would wear a chain of gold, a mark of high rank. He would also be the third ruler in the kingdom, which may refer to being next highest to King Nabonidus and the co-regent Belshazzar.

Dan. 5:10–12 The queen most likely refers to the queen mother. She reminded Belshazzar of Daniel, whose ability to solve problems had been repeatedly demonstrated during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had appointed him chief of his wise men, because the spirit of the holy gods enabled him to answer difficult questions.

Dan. 5:13–31 Daniel alone is able to decipher the writing on the wall. It is a message from the true God, telling of the end of the Babylonian Empire.

Dan. 5:18 Daniel contrasted Belshazzar with Nebuchadnezzar, to whom the Most High God gave . . . kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. Nebuchadnezzar was given godlike powers to kill and keep alive, to raise up and to humble. Yet when he became proud, God humbled him until he confessed the power of God.

Dan. 5:23 Belshazzar knew of Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling, yet he lifted himself up . . . against the Lord of heaven by using the sacred vessels from the Jerusalem temple for an idolatrous feast.

Dan. 5:25 Daniel interpreted the writing . . . Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. The words are clearly Aramaic. They describe a sequence of weights, decreasing from a mina to a shekel to a half-shekel. Read as verbs, the sequence becomes: “Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided.” The Lord had numbered the days of Belshazzar’s kingdom and brought it to an end because he had been judged and found lacking.

Dan. 5:28 As a result of God’s judgment, Belshazzar’s kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.

Dan. 5:30–31 Belshazzar gave Daniel the promised reward, but it was an empty gift. That very night Belshazzar’s rule ended, when the Medes and the Persians entered Babylon. Belshazzar was killed and replaced as king by Darius the Mede. The identity of Darius the Mede and the exact nature of his relationship to Cyrus are not certain. Cyrus was already king of Persia at the time when Babylon fell to the Persians (539 b.c.).