Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 5:24
Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
24. Then was the palm ( Dan 5:5) of the hand sent forth from before him; and this writing was inscribed ] Dan 5:5. Then is here equivalent, virtually, to hence, therefore.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then was the part of the hand sent from him – To wit, the fingers. See Dan 5:5. The sense is, that when it was fully perceived that Belshazzar was not disposed to learn that there was a God in heaven; when he refused to profit by the solemn dispensations which had occurred in respect to his predecessor; when his own heart was lifted up with pride, and when he had gone even farther than his predecessors had done by the sacrilegious use of the vessels of the temple, thus showing special contempt for the God of heaven, then appeared the mysterious handwriting on the wall. It was then an appropriate time for the Most High God, who had been thus contemned and insulted, to come forth and rebuke the proud and impious monarch.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Dan 5:24-28
And this writing was written.
Writing on the Wall at Belshazzars Feast
I. THE SCENE IN WHICH IT OCCURRED. An eastern palace.
1. It was a scene of drunkenness and revelling. The narrative makes their drinking wine a very prominent feature in this feast. The king and all around him are gay and jovial. Deluded wretches! Little did they suspect the awful doom which awaited them. Is this a scene from which to rush into the presence of God? Are these practices in which you would choose that the Judge of Heaven and earth should find you when He comes to call you to His bar?
2. It was a scene of impiety and profanity. They insulted the God of Heaven and earth. They profaned the implements of His worship. They celebrated the gods of their own hands. Scenes of drunkenness are seldom complete till God and religion have come in for a share of contempt. Little did these wretched blasphemers think how soon the God whom they despised would humble them, and avenge Himself upon them.
II. THE EFFECT IT PRODUCED. In the midst of the scene described above, there came forth fingers of a mans hand and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the kings palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. He cannot decipher one character in which it is written. Then why tremble and turn pale? It was something supernatural and therefore alarming. But why should he fear what was supernatural? If the prodigy was produced by the God of Israel, was not this the God whom he was openly defying as contemptible? And if by his own gods, was he not praising them? Then what has he to fear from either? Oh, vain attempt to resist the eternal God! What is the mightiest, the proudest boaster, when a single arrow from the Almighty smites him, when the guilt of his conscience is awakened? Guilt will speak when aroused from its slumbers by the voice of an offended God. It is too strong to be subdued, and produces effects too powerful to be concealed. It was a part of the punishment of Belshazzar to expose his own dismay to the very persons whom he had led on to sin. Thus shame was united with terror. He proclaims his own defeat at the moment when he had inspired others with the idea of victory. His lords were astonished. And thus shall all the enemies of God and Christ be ashamed. Observe also the cowardice which Belshazzar manifests. He turns pale, he trembles, he cries aloud. It was not his accustomed tone of arbitrary authority, but the hurried cry of trembling timidity. The boldest in vice are often most destitute of courage when danger comes. Mark the scoffer in affliction. Where is his courage then? And who now can afford relief to the wretched king of Babylon? In vain does he look, in vain does he cry to those around him, and to those who are under his control. How forlorn is his condition! Alas, where is the man, whom an angry God has abandoned to his fate, to look for help? Who can deliver out of His hand? Oh, what can your companions in guilt do for you when your doom overtakes you? Most of them will unfeelingly abandon you to your fate. Others will flee from you as an object of dread. And if any can be found who will still cleave to you, wretched comforters will you find them. What smile of friendship or affection can cheer while God frowns? What words of human kindness can convey peace, while the thunder of Divine wrath assails the ear?
III. THE TRUTHS IT CONVEYED. As yet the writing was neither read nor interpreted. In what character it was written does not appear. The Chaldeans understood it not. The most probable conjecture is that it was written in the form of a cypher or monogram, a mode common in eastern nations for conveying secrets. In this extremity the queen rushes into the banquet house and informs the king of Daniel. By her advice he is ordered in. He enters. And now what a scene presents itself! Alas, what unwelcome truths have good men to tell the wicked in times of trouble. How many will not be persuaded of their, danger in health and prosperity, who cry to the righteous for comfort in time of trouble. However disappointed the king, the queen, the lords may be at the language of Daniel, faithfulness to his God required him to use it. And so it is still. You, and those around you, may find the language of a man of God very different from what you expect and wish. You must be reminded of your sins and of their just desert. And now, having finished his address to the king, Daniel turns to the mysterious and terrific inscription. He first puts it into Chaldea words, and then interprets them. The event so immediately and exactly answering the prediction shows that both the reading and the interpretation were from God. This is the interpretation of the thing. Mene. The word literally means to number, or be numbered. But who has numbered? The interpretation says God hath numbered. But what has He numbered? thy kingdom, thy glory, thy life, and finished it. Oh, sinner, this will soon be your case. Your days are numbered in the decrees of Heaven, and with them your pleasures and the sources of your gratification and pride. Tekel. To weigh, or be weighed. The interpretation, Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. The law of God is the test of human actions. Peres. To divide, or be divided. Pharsin is the plural of Pares, and U, a conjunction prefixed, making Upharsin. The interpretation, Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Oh mortifying sentence! He is stript of his honours, and to aggravate his loss they are bestowed on his enemies. Thus shall the wicked be bereft of all their worldly honours, of those things in which they most delight. Death will divide them from the world, and the world from them. Their possessions shall be given to whom God pleases. (J. Carter.)
The Handwriting on the Wall
More than forty years have passed since the erection of the golden image in the plain of Dura and the subjection of the three heroic confessors to the fiery furnace.
1. This invisible hand, tracing with its pen-fingers these characters upon the wall, is but the infinite Hand that follows us, tracing day by day, though upon a page unseen by us, the record of our lives. It had followed Belshazzar from the period of his first elevation to power until now. It had traced in indelible characters the history of his idolatries, his debaucheries, and his crimes. These characters were all the darker because of the light against which Belshazzar had sinned. As Daniel reminded him of the visitation of Heaven that had fallen upon Nebuchadnezzar when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened with pride, and when, by the Divine decree, he was driven from the sons of men. And thou, his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this, but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven. They told of a wanton disregard of Gods authority and contempt of His former judgments. That jealous God, who will not give His glory to another, had not forgotten all this reckless defiance of His authority. And so with each one of us; an invisible eye marks and an invisible hand records all the sins and shortcomings of our life. In Gods book of remembrance they are written with ink that shall never fade.
2. The day is coming when the hand that now writes in invisible Characters shall trace in letters of fire over against the candlestick upon the wall of Gods great judgment-hall the characters that shall settle our eternal doom. The pallor that overspread the countenances of the king and his nobles on that awful night in Babylon was as nothing compared with the abject terror of that still more awful day when the sun shall be turned into blackness and the moon into blood. The cry that rang from the festal hall that night for the astrologers and soothsayers shall find its terrible counterpart in the cry of that great day for the mountains and the rocks to fail upon men and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. And the silence of the soothsayers in the presence of the invisible hand is but a prefiguration of that awful silence when every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world shall become guilty before God.
3. In those three words, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, as interpreted by Daniel, we have foreshadowed the three elements in the sinners final doom.
(1) The end of probation: Mene, numbered. Belshazzars kingdom had been a stewardship. The years of his stewardship are now numbered. The day of his probation is now ended. The eternal hand comes out of its obscurity to announce the fact that the day of opportunity is ever and the day of reckoning has come. And so to you and me, my dear reader, shall that day suddenly come. Deaths bony fingers shall write over against us the word Mene, numbered. It may come as suddenly and as awfully in the midst of your worldliness and gaiety as it did to Belshazzar amidst the impious revelries of his midnight feast.
(2) The sentence of condemnation: Tekel, weighed and found wanting. Little as Belshazzar dreamed of it, his life had been placed in the balance of eternal and unerring justice. It had been impartially weighed. Your best righteousnesses would be but as the small dust of the balance. As over agninst the weighty demands of Gods perfect law they would be lighter than vanity.
(3) The doom of disinheritance: Perez (Upharsin–U, and, and Pharsin, the plural form of Perez), divided. Belshazzars kingdom was taken from him and divided between the Medea and Persians. But what was the kingdom of Belshazzar compared with that kingdom forfeited by the soul which at last shall be weighed and found wanting? Oh that kingdom in the skies, that kingdom that cannot be moved, that kingdom whose capital city is one that lieth foursquare like Babylon, but the side of whose square, instead of being, like Babylons, fourteen miles, is, as measured by the angel of the Apocalypse, twelve thousand furlongs, and the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal!
4. The day of the sinners undoing shall be the day of the saints coronation. Amidst that scene of terror in Belshazzars festal hall there was one figure that stood unappalled. No terror blanched the cheek of Daniel. No sudden weakness loosed the joints of his loins. No dismay made his knees smite one against another. It was his Fathers hand that was writing; why should he fear? There was no guilty conscience in his breast responding with its Tekel to that upon the wall. What a grand character he appears, erect and self-possessed amidst the cowering throng, the light of a serene peace illuminating his face as he reads the writing that carries terror to all around! Even so shall it be in that great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, when the books shall be opened, and the dead shall be judged out of the things that are written in the books. The judgment-day shall have no terrors for those who have been the servants of Christ. Not only shall they be exempted and honoured of God, but they shall on that day receive at the hand of an ungodly world the just meed of honour and praise which has been so long withheld. So the servants of God in that final coronation-day shall receive, even from the most depraved, that tardy recognition denied them here upon the earth.
5. Repentance, long deferred, may come too late. Had Belshazzar sought the counsel of Daniel before the handwriting appeared on the wall, had he signalised his entrance upon the responsibilities of regal power by restoring the prophet to the post of influence and authority he had once so happily filled under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar–he might have escaped the impending ruin. Alas! it is now too late! Divine patience has been exhausted. Doom is sealed. And so must it be with those who wilfully postpone the great interests of the soul. (T. D. Witherspoon, D.D.)
The Hour of Doom
The events recorded in this chapter occurred in the fifty-first year of the captivity of the Jews. Let me ask you to consider the extreme minuteness of the prophecies with regard to Babylon, made one hundred and fifty years before they were accomplished. It was predicted Isa 45:1) that Cyrus, the king of Persia, should be its conqueror;and this was fulfilled, for it was the Persian troops, commanded by Cyrus, who captured the city. It was predicted (Isa 44:27) that the river Euphrates should be dried up before the city was taken; and this was fulfilled when the soldiers of Cyrus, with incredible labour, diverted it from its course, and thus laid a snare for Babylon. It was predicted (Isa 45:1) that, when the city was taken, its gates should not be shut; and this was fulfilled, for the historian records that had the gates leading from the river to the city been shut, the Persians would have been inclosed in a net, from which they could never have escaped. It was predicted (Jer 1:24) that on the night of the capture the Babylonians would be given up to intemperance: I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware thou art found and also caught Jer 51:57)—And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her captains and her rulers, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake; and this was fulfilled, for Cyrus selected the occasion of a great festival for entering the city; and Herodotus (as quoted by Dr. Keith) relates that the inhabitants were given up to revelling and dancing–that the guards were drinking before the palace when the Persians rushed upon and slew them, and that the monarch and the princes and the captains were slain at a feast.
I. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE POWER OF CONSCIENCE. In the same hour came forth the fingers of a mans hand, etc.
1. The cause of his alarm. It was the mysterious handwriting, upon the wall. We read that he made a great feast; for what purpose we are not informed, but as it seems to have been anticipated by Cyrus, it was probably some national festival. Such is the love of the human heart for self-indulgence that it will not resign the pursuit of pleasure, however great the risk that is incurred. Now, I submit that unless he had been conscious of doing a wrong act, there was nothing in such a spectacle to have produced the terror which is here described. For anything be could tell, that handwriting, whether supernatural in its origin or not, might have boded good not evil. What was there, apart from a guilty conscience, in a few letters written upon the wall, to terrify a monarch surrounded by his courtiers? Here, then, we have an illustration of the power of conscience–that mysterious monitor which God has placed within us. I ask for nostronger evidence of the universality of conscience than mens superstitious fears, and the remorse which follows the commission of crime. The most abject terror has been displayed by those who have indulged in sin, and derided religion as the device of priestcraft, proving beyond all dispute that whatever may be the hardihood of vice, it cannot anticipate the future without alarm. And this alarm is often excited by the most trifling circumstance. Belshazzar starts not at a phantom–not at some awful manifestation of Divine power–not at the clash of swords and shrieks of the wounded, which proclaim that the Persian army is at hand, but at some unintelligible characters traced on the wall. See how easily God can terrify the sinner. Happy they whose consciences are pacified by the blood of Christ, and who, having nothing to fear because reconciled to God, are anxious to avoid whatever is evil, and walk all day in the light of Gods countenance.
2. The mental distress which BelShazzar suffered. His troubled thoughts are evident by his changed countenance and trembling limbs. And this is the more remarkable, because there was everything in the circumstances in which he was placed to dissipate his alarm. He was not alone. It was not in the silence and solitude of night, it was not in the near approach of death. He was seated at the head of a sumptuous board–the princes and nobles of his empire were around him, the wine sparkled–the jest and song dispelled all thought and care. So for a season men of the world may have no anxiety with regard to the future. There are many expedients to which they can resort to prevent reflection, but conscience awakes at an unexpected moment, and they are full of anguish. It is a solemn hour when conscience awakes from its lethargy; and the longer it has slept, and the more a man has sinned against light and knowledge, the more terrible is its awakening. Why, even the heathen could compare it to a vulture gnawing the heart, and speak of the furies who pursue the wicked with their burning torch and whip of scorpions.
3. The miserable expedients to which he resorted. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers (v. 7). And was this his only resort? Has he no better device than this? Had he forgotten their inability to explain to Nebuchadnezzar his dream? I do not think he had forgotten either. The probability is, that he was ashamed or afraid to send for Daniel when those golden vessels of the temple of his God were before him, and that he clung to the hope that the astrologers might, in this instance, afford him the information he desired. And you have here a type of the wretched expedients to which men often resort to appease their conscience. Some summon to their aid new forms of worldly pleasure; some resort to intemperance; others embrace infidelity. The astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers could do nothing for Belshazzar, and worldly pleasure or sceptical doubts can never extract the sting of an accusing conscience. If you once feel that you are estranged from God, and that instead of enjoying His favour you have reason to dread His anger, you will never be happy again until you have found refuge in Christ. You may try many other things. It is probable that you will do so. You may say, I am out of health, the subject of morbid fancies, and perhaps seek a physician; but there is no medicine that can cure a wounded conscience.
II. AN ILLUSTRATION OF DANIELS FIDELITY.
1. He charges Belshazzar with neglecting providential warnings. He reminds him of the pride and punishment of Nebuchadnezzar. Now, the measure of our responsibility is always proportioned to the degree of our knowledge. Perhaps there are few families who have not received from God some solemn warnings; there are few to whom He has not spoken by His providential dispensations. But there are many who give no heed to this. There was a moments impression, but it soon subsided.
2. He charges him with rebellion against God. The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified. This verse contains a very affecting representation of our entire dependence on God. He is the God in whose hand our breath is. He it was who breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, and He it is in whom we live, and move, and have our being. There is nothing more mysterious than that principle which puts in motion all the beautiful complicated mechanism of the body. What is it? None can tell. It is not electricity, it is not galvanism, it is not the subtle ether. The pride of science is humbled before this great mystery, the mystery of life. In Gods hand is the soul of every living thing. But this is not all. It is added, And whose are all thy ways. So complete is Gods control over us, that we can do nothing apart from Him. He it is who watches over us by night and day–who keeps us in our going out and coming in–who saves us from pestilence and death. Nothing, then, can be more obvious than the duty of glorifying God. If His works praise Him, should not His creatures? Does it not become those whom He thus sustains and blesses to honour and serve Him? What is idolatry but giving to another the glory that belongs to God? And what is sacrilege but applying to an unholy purpose the gifts of God? Then how many are there against whom this charge may be brought? Of how many a man engaged in the business of life, may it be said, as he goes to his daily occupation, and never gives one thought to God–The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified. What glory does He receive from those families who never call upon His name?
III. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE SCRUTINY TO WHICH MENS CHARACTER AND ACTIONS SUBJECTED BY THE OMNISCIENT EYE OF GOD. Belshazzar had forgotten and dishonoured God, but God had not forgotten him. He had been the subject of a strict and impartial scrutiny. And this is the writing that was written–MENE, MENE TEKEL, UPHARSIN! Conjecture has been busy as to the language in which these words were written. But this is a question of little interest, and can never be decided. The words, as given by Daniel, are in the Chaldean language, and are so enigmatical that had the astrologers been able to read, they could not have interpreted them. But I have said that this narrative teaches us that we are under the inspection of God. We may succeed in baffling the search into our character and motive, of the most curious and observant of our fellowmen; but there is one glance whose scrutiny we cannot elude. Men may mistake–they often do mistake; they may fail to discover those secrets that are folded in the silence and secrecy of our hearts; but Gods eye is ever upon us. Nor can others form a correct estimate of us. They can look only upon the outward appearance. What do they know of our hearts? But how comes it to pass that we, who are so sensitive as to what is said and thought of us by our fellow-men, are so indifferent to the scrutiny of God? He is never mistaken. The result of this scrutiny reveals much that is defective in every character. We can be at no loss to understand what it was that rendered Belshazzars character so defective. It was his pride, he wanted humility; it was his ingratitude, he wanted a thankful spirit; it was his neglect of providential warnings, he wanted a more attentive consideration of Gods dealings with him: it was his idolatry, he wanted reverence for the authority and commands of God. Now, the balances in which God weighs our characters can be nothing less than His requirements and our capabilities. It is by that pure and perfect law which He has given that He judges us. Let there be no misconception; you have to deal with God, and not with man; and it is in Gods balances that your actions are weighed. Will you place in them the virtues of social life? He admits their excellence and worth, but He asks you what relation they sustain to Him? I ask you to be honest with yourselves. You can gain nothing, you will lose everything, by self-deception. The address of Daniel to Belshazzar was the last to which the monarch ever listened, and he seems to have disregarded the solemn warning. (H. J. Gamble.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 24. Then was the part of the hand sent] This was the filling up of the cup of thy iniquity; this last act made thee ripe for destruction.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is called
part of the hand, because the hand appeared parted from the rest of the body.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. ThenWhen thou liftedst upthyself against the Lord.
the part of the handthefore part, the fingers.
was . . . sent from himthatis, from God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then was the part of the hand sent from him,…. That is, from God: being thus reproached and blasphemed, at that very instant, and for that reason, because the vessels of his sanctuary were profaned, and idol gods were praised, and he despised; he caused part of a hand, the writing fingers of it, to appear on the wall of the king’s palace:
and this writing was written; which was then upon the wall, and he points to it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Some stress must be laid upon the adverb באדין, badin, “ at that time,” because God’s wrath, or at least its denunciation, was now ripe. Daniel, therefore, shews how very patiently God had borne with King Belshazzar in not instantly talking up arms and inflicting punishment; but he now begins to come forth as a judge, and to ascend his judgment seat; for the haughtiness was now desperate, and the impiety no longer tolerable. We observe with what emphasis the word then is used; as if he had said, Thou canst not complain of the swiftness of the penalty, as if God had exacted it before the time. Thou canst not here complain of God’s swiftness in punishing thee; for think and consider in how many ways, and for how long a time, thou hast provoked his anger. And with ‘regard to thy last crime, thou certainly hadst arrived at the height of impiety, when that hand appeared to thee. God, therefore, now drags thee to punishment in proper time, since he has hitherto borne with thee and thy sins. After this forbearance, what remains to prevent his destroying thee, because thou hast so proudly insulted him, and art utterly hardened, without the slightest hope of amendment.
He says also, from himself; for Belshazzar need not inquire whence the hand proceeded, it came from the presence of God; that is, This hand is a witness to the wrath of heaven; do not consider it as a specter which will vanish away, but see in this appearance a proof of God’s displeasure at thy wickedness; and because thou hast arrived at thy last extremity, thy punishment is also ready for thee. And this writing, says he, has been marked; as if he had said, The eyes of King Belshazzar were not deceived, since this was really God’s hand, being sent from his sight as a certain testimony of his wrath. He afterwards adds, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
d. TRAGEDY
TEXT: Dan. 5:24-31
24
then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed,
25
And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
26
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end.
27
TEKEL; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
28
PERES; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
29
Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
30
In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.
31
And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
QUERIES
a.
In what language were the words written?
b.
Why would the king reward Daniel for such a terrible message?
c.
What is the significance of mentioning the age of Darius?
PARAPHRASE
And then God sent the fingers to write the message upon the wall: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin! This is what it means: Mene means numbered; thus God has fixed the limit the days of your reign, and they are ended. Tekel means weighed; thus you have been weighed in the balances of God and have failed the test. Peres means divided, and thus your kingdom will be divided up between the Medes and the Persians. Somewhat grateful that the suspense was ended, and determined to keep his promise, Belshazzar made royal decree that Daniel was to be robed in purple, and that a golden chain of authority was to be placed around his neck. The king then announced that Daniel was elevated to third ruler in the kingdom. But, lo, that very same tragic night Belshazzar, the Chaldean monarch, was slain; and Gubaru (Darius the Mede) entered the city and began reigning at the age of sixty-two.
COMMENT
Dan. 5:24-28 . . . THIS IS THE WRITING THAT WAS INSCRIBED: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. The phrase sent from before him, indicates the supernatural nature of the apparitionthat is, the portion of the hand (fingers) which appeared and did the inscribing upon the wall were very plainly from some supernatural origin.
The language of the supernatural message was probably Aramaic and in the ancient alphabetic characters which we find in the oldest Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions such as the Moabite Stone, the Siloam Inscription, and the Aramaic inscriptions from Zenjerli.
1.
Mene is the passive participle of menah, to number and means not only to count, but also to fix the limit of speaking of end or finish or expiration. According to the divine principle that when men sow to the flesh they shall reap corruption, this king and his kingdoms number is up!
2.
Tekel is a passive participle, the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew root shaqal, and means to weigh. The idea is that Belshazzar has been put in the balances of God and weighed or tested to see if he balances to Gods standards. (cf. 1Sa. 2:3; Job. 31:6; Psa. 62:9; Pro. 16:2). He does not!
3.
Peres: Pharsin is the plural form of peres; u is the customary form of the conjunction and. It means to break or divide. There may be in the word peres an allusion to the word paras which means Persian. So it is revealed to Daniel that this kingdom is to be divided up and given to the Medes and the Persians.
Leupold notes, This sequence: Medes first, then Persians, indicates a point of historical accuracy that fits in beautifully with the idea of Daniels authorship of the book. The supremacy in this dual kingdom remained but a short time with the Medes and that while Daniel was still on the scene, and then passed permanently to the Persians, a fine point that a writer who lived in the Maccabean age would hardly have thought of recording. Yet the form upharsin, Persians, gives the emphasis to the much longer Persian supremacy.
Dan. 5:29-30 . . . IN THAT NIGHT BELSHAZZAR THE CHALDEAN KING WAS SLAIN . . . Daniel refused the rewards of the king before he made his revelation of the words upon the wall because he wanted to make it abundantly clear that, come what may, he was determined to declare the truth. It now being clear that he had no mercenary motives, there is no reason why the gifts should at this time be refused.
How did Belshazzar die? He was slain! But by whom? Daniel does not say. Dan. 5:30-31 may or may not be separated by an extended time, so far as we know. Actually, Dan. 5:31 should be Dan. 5:1 of the sixth chapter, and Edward J. Young so treats it. However, Boutflower believes that Jeremiah (in Jer. chapters 5051) foretells Babylons demise by strategem (Jer. 50:24); that this strategem is connected with her water-defences (5136); that the city will be taken with such surprise the reeds will be burned with fire (Jer. 51:32); that this stratagem will be executed when a great feast is going on, at which all the principal men of the land are gathered together . . . and they will be drunken (Jer. 51:39; Jer. 51:57). Now it is evident that Daniel does not give any details about the seizure of the city of Babylon by the Medes and the Persians. But Daniels silence does not necessarily contradict the trustworthy accounts of other ancient historians!
When we investigate the ancient historians (Herodotus who is believed to have visited Babylon only some 80 years after its downfall; Xenophon who wrote his history about 100 years after Herodotus visited Babylon; Berossus, a Chaldean priest who wrote a history about 300 B.C.; The Nabonidus Chronicle; and the Cyrus Cylinder) here is what we find:
a.
According to Herodotus, Cyrus (the Persian king) was a long time in preparing for the siege of Babylon, and the Babylonians advanced to meet him. Being defeated, they retreated and barricaded themselves inside their city walls. Eventually, Cyrus diverted the waters of the Euphrates so that his troops could march into the city by the bed of the stream when the water was shallow. The city fell when a festival was being celebrated.
b.
Xenophon mentions the diverting of a stream which flowed through Babylon. Then, one night when the Babylonians were observing a festival with drinking and revelry, Cyrus turned aside the course of the river and entered the city. The entrance was actually made by Gobryas (or Ugbaru), one of Cyrus generals. Bobryas entered the royal palace and slew the wicked king Belshazzar. Xenophon represents the Babylonians as being extremely hostile to Cyrus.
c.
Berossus writes that Nabonidus (father of Belshazzar and co-regent) met the approaching Cyrus and being defeated, fled to Borsippa. Cyrus then captured Babylon and tore down is walls. Nabonidus surrendered and was sent to Carmania where he lived in exile, supported by a small pension from the Persians, until he died.
d.
The Nabonidus Chronicle mentions that in the month Tishri (October) Cyrus fought and destroyed the people of Akkad at Ophis on the Tigris river; on the 14th day he captured Sippar without fighting. Nabonidus fled; on the 16th day Gobryas (Ugbaru), the governor of Gutium, and the troops of Cyrus without fighting entered Babylon. This chronicle is one of the multitudinous clay tablets found in Asshurbanipals library by Rassam and Layard and is sometimes called the Annalistic Tablet. The tablet measures 4 inches by 3 in four columns, two on the obverse and two on the reverse. The tablet is of sun-dried clay and it is no wonder that considerable portions of it are illegible. The record breaks off at a point of deep interestthe burial of Belshazzar and the installation of Gabaru as his successor (whom Whitcomb suggests was the mysterious Darius the Mede of Dan. 5:31 ff.) A translation of a portion of this chronicle may be read in Boutflower, pages 126127.
e.
The Cyrus Cylinder, written evidently by a priest of Merodach, who must have come into contact with some of the Hebrew captives at Babylon, since his style and tone of thought are Hebraistic (one of the most Hebraistic which have come from Babylonia to Assyria), also states that Cyrus entered Babylon without encounter or battle. The great theme of the Cylinder is that Cyrus is the chosen of Merodach, and that Merodach has given him the empire of Babylon.
Note now the points of agreement: (1) A preliminary battle between the Medo-Persian coalition and the Babylonians fought, according to the Chronicle at Opis; according to Herodotus fought at a short distance from the city; (2) The statement as to the death of the kings son (Belshazzar) on the night of the capture of Babylon in the Nabonidus Chronicle would seem to agree with Dan. 5:30; (3) The statement that the attack on the palace was led by Ugbaru (Gobryas), who, according to Xenophon, was one of the two leaders of the attacking party. Xenophon speaks of Gobryas as the Babylonian governor of a wide district (Gutim), who had been very badly treated by the Babylonian king and had gone over to the side of Cyrus; (4) According to the Cylinder, Cyrus held a great reception after the capture of Babylonthis agrees with the statement of Xenophon that very soon after the taking of the city Cyrus admitted to his presence the Babylonians, who flocked around him in overwhelming numbers.
Here then is a summary of the fall of perhaps the richest, most magnificent empire of antiquity. As far as we know from the Greek historians, the siege was not a bloody one. After the preliminary battle fought near Opis, the Babylonians retreated within their walls, and continued their busy commercial life, scoffing at the efforts of their beseigers, who, under pretense of raising up an earthen wall of siege encircling the city, were steadily and thoroughly preparing the strategem of diverting the river which enabled them to gain an entrance into the part of the city still unconquered. There was thus no fighting till the last fatal night, when all was sudden, sharp, and soon over. As the sequel shows, whether told by Xenophon or recorded on the Cylinder, Cyrus did his best to conciliate the inhabitants, and they for their part responded heartily to his efforts. Hence it was possible for the official documents to emphasize these facts and to represent the entry of Cyrus into Babylon as a peaceful one. And indeed it was, except for that single night of carnage, when the impious Belshazzar was slain. Cyrus then evidently crowned Cambyses, his son as co-ruler of all the Persian domain and gave him the honor of burying the slain Belshazzar while he appointed Gubaru (Darius the Mede) (see notes on Dan. 5:31)as governor of Babylon. Having set this part of his vast empire in order, Cyrus took his generals and his army off to other worlds to conquer.
Dan. 5:31 AND DARIUS THE MEDE RECEIVED THE KINGDOM . . . Who is Darius the Mede? John C. Whitcomb, Jr., in his very important book entitled Darius, The Mede, published by Eerdmans, contends that mistakes were made in translation of the Nabonidus Chronicle when two different names in this Chronicle were both translated Gobryas. One name (on line 15) was Ugbaru, the governor of Gutium, who entered Babylon with the army of Cyrus and conquered the city. On lines 1920 of the same Chronicle is the name Gubaru, who appointed satraps. In line 22 Ngbaru is said to have died. It is Mr. Whitcombs suggestion that Ugbaru was indeed Gobryas who conquered the city in the name of Cyrus, but it was Gubaru who had been appointed governor of Babylon and beyond the River, and who is one and the same person as Daniels Darius of Dan. 5:31. Gubaru (Darius) was governor of Babylon and the River beyond on the very day that Cyrus first set foot in the conquered city, which was on October 29 (seventeen days after its conquest by Ugbaru or Gobryas), and he continued in that position throughout the reign of Cyrus and through more than half the subsequent reign of Cambyses the son of Cyrus, The great prominence given to Darius the Mede (Gubaru) in the book of Daniel is more readily explained if we assume his identification with a person by the name of Gubaru whose reign extended not only over a period of three weeks (the time within which Ugbaru was dead after capturing Babylon) or even a year, but of fourteen years (539525 B.C.)!
The cuneiform signs for Ug and Gu are quite different, and could not possibly have been confused by the Persian scribe whose text (the Nabonidus Chronicle) we now possess.
Thus it is Mr. Whitcombs conclusion that there is one person in history, and only one, who fits all the Biblical data concerning Darius the Mede. He is never mentioned by the Greek historians, but appears in various sixth century B.C. cuneiform texts under the name of Gubaru.
Listed below are the various cuneiform references to Gubaru, the Governor of Babylon and the Region beyond the River, in chronological order:
539 B.C., October 29 (3rd day of Marcheswan, Accession Year of Cyrus)Nabonidus Chronicle, Col. III, Line 20.
535/534 B.C. (4th Year of Cyrus)Pohl 43, 45, 46.
533/532 B.C. (6th Year of Cyrus)Tremayne 56:5, 92.4.
532/531 B.C. (7th Year of Cyrus)Contenau 142.
531/530 B.C. (8th Year of Cyrus)Tremayne 70:5, Phol 61.
530/529 B.C. (Accession Year of Cambyses)Dougherty 103:11; Keiser 169:22; Niles & Keiser 114:15.
529/528 B.C. (1st Year of Cambyses)Strassmaier 96:3, 4, 8; Clay 20:13, 14, 15.
528/527 B.C. (2nd Year of Cambyses)Contenau 150, 152; Dougherty 120:3, 14; Tremayne 127:12, 128:19.
527/526 B.C. (3rd Year of Cambyses)Tremayne 137:22, 160:12.
526/525 B.C. (4th Year of CambysesTremayne 168:8, 172:13; Pinches Text.
525/524 B.C. (5th Year of Cambyses)Tremayne 177:9, 178:16; Contenau 168.
QUIZ
1.
In what language were the words probably written upon the wall of the kings banquet hall?
2.
What is the meaning of Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin?
3.
Describe the final conquest of the city of Babylon.
4.
Who is Darius the Mede?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(24) Then.Not only at that time, but also because of this. Daniel here expressly designates the writing as something proceeding from God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. For the hand see note Dan 5:5.
Writing Rather, engraving. The Babylonians were a scribbling people, and wrote or carved their inscriptions everywhere. (See Introduction, III, 2.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed, MENEMENETEKELUPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing:
MENE – God has numbered your kingdom and brought it to an end.
TEKEL – you are weighed in the balances and are found wanting.
PERES – your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.
‘Then’ indicates that the hand came because of the treatment of the holy vessels. The hand is clearly stated as having come from ‘before the Most High’. What it wrote would be all in one sequence as above, for there were no spaces between words. We do not know whether it was actually in Aramaic or not (if it was why could the Chaldeans not at least read it?). It is therefore pointless to consider any alternatives other than the interpretation given. Indeed transliterated it would be M’N’M’N’TKLUPRSN.
However these interpretations do depend to some extent on word play so that we can assume that in whatever language the words were given in the word play was possible. This could come about in Aramaic because only the consonants would be written and thus different readings could be obtained by using different vowels on the same consonants.
M’N’ comes from the root to ‘count’ or ‘number’, thus meaning ‘It is numbered’. Daniel interprets it as ‘God has numbered your kingdom and brought it to an end’, that is He has determined the days of its length and has thus brought it to a conclusion. The repetition of Mene confirms that the fulfilment is certain and sure. Thus Belshazzar learned that his kingdom was finished.
TKL comes from the root to ‘weigh’. Thus ‘It is weighed’. Daniel interprets it as meaning ‘you have been weighed in the balances and have been found wanting’ (compare for such weighing Job 31:6; Psa 62:9; Pro 16:2). Thus Belshazzar learned that God had passed judgment on him and that he had failed the test. He was found wanting. This was why his kingdom was finished, because morally and religiously he had proved unworthy.
PRSN comes from two possible roots, ‘peres’ meaning ‘it is divided’ (‘parsin’ is the dual or the plural), and ‘paras’ which means Persians. Daniel therefore interprets ‘your kingdom is divided (peres) and given to the Medes and the Persians (paras).’ The idea of ‘divided’ is not that the kingdom will be divided into two, but that the whole of what is in it will be split up among the invaders, and the empire would be dissolved. It is important to note that the writing according to Daniel only speaks of the Persians (PRSN – n is often redundant). Thus by ‘the Medes and the Persians’ Daniel means the Persian empire. There is no room here for the idea of two separate empires. The writing speaks of one Persian empire under Cyrus, made up of the Medes and the Persians, that will divide up among its men the spoils of Babylon, and dissolve the universality of the Babylonian empire.
This demonstrates the ancient nature of the account. At this stage it is still ‘Medes and Persians’ (compare Dan 6:8; Dan 6:12), but not for long. By the time of Esther it would be ‘Persians and Medes’ (Est 1:19. See also Dan 5:3; Dan 5:14; Dan 5:18).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Dan 5:24. Then was the part of the hand sent Therefore is the hand sent from him, the fingers whereof have formed this writing. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
There is some little difficulty to an ordinary Reader in observing, that the words of the hand writing on the wall, and the manner of Daniel’s interpreting them are not the same. The word MENE is twice! which everyone who knows anything of the Hebrew language, knows, is a common way of expressing a thing as certain. TEKEL, thou art weighed and found light: these words, are as the hand writing of the wall represented them. But the other word, UPHARSIN, differs from what Daniel made it, PERES. But when the Reader be told, that PERES is the singular number of UPHARSIN, this explains it, and removes the difficulty. PERES, He divideth it, that is, God hath done it. UPHARSIN, They divided it, that is, the Medes and Persians, as God’s ministry. As the Chaldean and the Hebrew languages had no doubt upon many occasions been thrown together, there seems to have been here a compound of both: so that it is probable Daniel had both in view; the one to the dividing the kingdom, and the other of the nation to whom it was given, that is, both the Medes and Persians. Cyrus the Persian conquered it; and Darius the Mede, a confederate prince in colleague with Cyrus, by agreement was made king over it. It doth not appear that the poor Prophet ever made a public appearance in his scarlet and gold; and indeed, from the death of the king the same night, it should seem improbable that he ever did. But what were such things then, or what are they now, but as the toys of children to the Lord’s servants!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Dan 5:24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
this writing. The Divine prophetic meaning could not be known or understood till interpreted by Daniel.
written: or graven.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Dan 5:24
Dan 5:24 ThenH116 was the partH6447 ofH1768 the handH3028 sentH7972 fromH4481 H6925 him; and thisH1836 writingH3792 was written.H7560
Dan 5:24
Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
Apparently the part of the hand which had done the writing on the wall remained in sight until Daniel arrived. That certainly would have been a chilling scene to behold.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Dan 5:5
Reciprocal: Pro 16:18 – General Pro 18:12 – destruction Jer 51:8 – howl
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 5:24. Then, because of and at the time of this abominable conduct, God sent the part of the hand. (See the comments in verse 5 about the fingers only being seen.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Dan 5:24-28. Then was part of the hand sent from him The LXX. read, , . On this account hath the joint, or part of a hand, been sent from his presence, and hath formed this writing. The reading in the Vulgate is to the same purpose. Houbigant translates the verse, Therefore is the hand sent from him, the fingers whereof have formed this writing. And this is the writing, MENE, &c. In the Arabic the three words are considered as participles, Mensuratum, Appensum, Divisum, Measured, Weighed, Divided. The words are fully explained by Daniel in the following verses. MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, &c. God hath numbered the days of thy reign, and put an end to it. The word MENE is doubled in the foregoing verse, to show that the thing was certain, and established by God, as Joseph tells Pharaoh in a like case, Gen 41:32. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, &c. The reason that an end is put to thy reign so soon is, that thou art found light in the scales of divine equity. Wicked men are often compared to silver adulterated, and alloyed with baser metals, which makes it too light when weighed in the balances: such was Belshazzar when weighed in the scales of divine justice. The same comparison is used by Homer, when Hectors fatal day approaches, Iliad, xxii, and by Virgil, at the death of Turnus, n. 12. And so Milton, in the war of the angels,
Long time in even scale The battle hung.
Par. Lost, b. 6. 50:245.
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided Or broken from thee. The word PERES signifies broken; and it also signifies the nation of the Persians, for they were called Paros, by the Chaldeans: so that this word not only signified that the Babylonish kingdom should be broken, but also by whom it should be broken. UPHARSIN, the other word in the writing, is a participle of the same verb from whence PERES is derived, and literally signifies, And they divide it. Concerning Belshazzars destruction, see notes on Isaiah 14.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:24 {m} Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
(m) After God had for such a long time deferred his anger, and patiently waited for your repentance.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Nebuchadnezzar had heard a voice from heaven while he was outdoors (Dan 4:31), but Belshazzar saw a hand from heaven indoors. Both forms of revelation have been extremely rare throughout history, but these occasions in the Book of Daniel involved leaders of the greatest nation on earth.