Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 5:16
And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and [have] a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.
16. make ] better give (R.V.); lit. interpret.
dissolve doubts ] loose knots. See on Dan 5:12.
thou shalt be clothed with purple, &c.] As Dan 5:7.
and rule as one of three in the kingdom ] See on Dan 5:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I have heard of thee … – Dan 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 Dan 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Dan 5:16
And dissolve doubts.
The Dissolving of Doubts
Doubts and questions are not peculiar to Nebuchadnezzar, but they are the common lot and heritage of humanity. We live just now in a specially doubting age. Science puts everything in question, and literature distils the questions, making an atmosphere of them. The cultivated and mature have their doubts ingrown they know not how, and the younger minds encounter their public visitations when they do not seek them. Note that the three principles sources and causes whence our doubts arise, and from which they get force to make their assault
1. All the truths of religion are inherently dubitable. They are only what are called probable, never necessary truths like the truths of geometry or of numbers. This field of probable truth is the whole field of religion, and of course it is competent for doubt to cover it in every part and item.
2. We begin life as unknowing creatures that have everything to learn. We grope, the groping is doubt; we handle, we question, we guess, we experiment, beginning in darkness and stumbling on towards intelligence.
3. It is a fact, disguise it as we can, or deny it as we may, that our faculty is itself in disorder. A broken or bent telescope will not see anything rightly. A filthy window will not bring in even the day as it is. As long as these three sources, or originating causes of doubt continue, doubts will continue, and will, in one form or another, be multiplied. I do not propose, therefore, to show how they may be stopped, for that is impossible, but only how they may be dissolved, or cleared away. The first thing to be said is negative, viz., that the doubters never can dissolve or extirpate their doubts by inquiry, search, investigation, or any kind of speculative endeavour. They must never go after the truth to merely find it, but to practice it and live by it. To be simply curious is only a way to multiply doubts; for in doing it their are, in fact, postponing all the practical rights of truth. They imagine, it may be, that they are going first to settle their questions, and then at their leisure to act. As if they were going to get the perfect system and complete knowledge of truth before they move an inch in doing what they know! And they come out wondering at the discovery, that the more they investigate the less they believe! Their very endeavour mocks them–just as it really ought. For truth is something to be lived. How shall a mind get on finding more truth, save as it takes direction from what it gets? There is no fit search after truth which does not, first of all, begin to live the truth it knows. To come to positive matter. There is a way for dissolving any and all doubts–a way that opens at a very small gate, but widens wonderfully after you pass. Every human soul, at a certain first point of its religious outfit, has a key given to it which is to be the open sesame of all right discovery. Every man acknowledges the distinction of right and wrong, feels the reality of that distinction, knows it by immediate consciousness even as he knows himself. He would not be a man without that distinction. It is even this which distinguishes him from the mere animals. Here is the key that opens everything. The only reason why we fall into so many doubts, and get unsettled in our inquiries, instead of being settled by them, as we undertake to be, is that we do not begin at the beginning. A right mind has a right polarity, and discovers right things by feeling after them. The true way, then, of dissolving doubts, is to begin at the beginning, and do the first thing first. Say nothing of investigation till you have made sure of being grounded everlastingly, and with a completely whole intent in the principle of right doing as a principle. Unreligious men are right only so far as they can be, they may not be at all right in principle. Lessons:
1. Be never afraid of doubt.
2. Be afraid of all sophistries, and tricks, and strifes.
3. Getting into a scornful way is fatal.
4. Never put force on the mind to make it believe.
5. Never be in a hurry to believe. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
These things were spoken to before, Dan 5:7,8.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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, Da 5:7 but what was no temptation or motive to Daniel, as appears by what follows:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Dan 5:16. 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 Dan 5:29.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Dan 5:16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and [have] a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.
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. Dan 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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Dan 5:16
Dan 5:16 And IH576 have heardH8086 ofH5922 thee, thatH1768 thou canstH3202 makeH6590 interpretations,H6591 and dissolveH8271 doubts:H7001 nowH3705 ifH2006 thou canstH3202 readH7123 the writing,H3792 and make knownH3046 to me the interpretationH6591 thereof, thou shalt be clothedH3848 with scarlet,H711 and have a chainH2002 ofH1768 goldH1722 aboutH5922 thy neck,H6676 and shalt be the third rulerH7981 H8531 in the kingdom.H4437
Dan 5:16
And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Belshazzar claims to have heard of Daniel. Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar grew to be close friends during the years he reigned as king of Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar died, Daniel was one of the most powerful men in Babylon and doubtless had his own house and was well provisioned for retirement. Under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was the governor of the Babylonian province (Dan 2:48). We do not know what capacity Daniel served Belshazzar but we do know from the chapter 8 that Daniel was in service to him. Belshazzar had heard of Daniel but was unfamiliar with him personally. Two things are possible here. Either Daniel was in a low enough position of service to the kingdom that he answered directly to someone in authority over him or Belshazzar was a poor enough administrator that he didn’t bother to acquaint himself with the leaders of the realm. Due to the fact that his city was overtaken the very night of this incident, it is certain that there were a great many things going on within his realm for which he was unaware. It is this Bible student’s conviction that the latter is the most logical explanation. Belshazzar devoted himself more to debauchery, revelry and self indulgence than he did in running the kingdom effectively.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
make: Chal, interpret, Gen 40:8
thou shalt: Dan 5:7, Act 8:18
Reciprocal: Gen 41:15 – I have heard Gen 41:42 – a gold chain 2Ch 26:5 – had Est 6:3 – What honour Est 10:3 – next unto king Pro 1:9 – an ornament Isa 47:13 – Let now Eze 16:11 – a chain Dan 2:6 – ye shall Dan 2:26 – Art Dan 2:48 – a great Dan 5:12 – doubts Dan 5:29 – they clothed Dan 6:2 – of
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 5:16. The king repeated a part o the report lie had heard of Daniel, then made him a proposition. If he could read the writing AND make known its interpretation, he would receive personal gifts and other rewards. (See the comments at verse 1 for the meaning of third ruler.)