Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 5:26
This [is] the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
26. finished it ] completed it, given it its full and complete measure of time. Cp. the cognate adj. in Gen 15:16 (‘full,’ ‘complete’).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This is the interpretation of the thing – It may seem not to have been difficult to interpret the meaning of the communication, when one was able to read the words, or when the sense of the words was understood. But, if the words are placed together, and considered in their abstract form, the whole communication would be so enigmatical that the interpretation would not be likely to occur to anyone without a Divine guidance. This will appear more clearly by arranging the words together, as has been done by Hales:
| MENE, number, | MENE, number, | TEKEL, weight, | (PERES) (division) | UPHARSIN, division. |
Or, as it is explained more accurately by Berholdt and Gesenius:
| Mene, Numbered, | Mene, Numbered, | Tekel, Weighted, | Upharsin. Divided. |
From this arrangement it will be at once seen that the interpretation proposed by Daniel was not one that would have been likely to have occurred to anyone.
Mene – mene’. This word is a passive participle from menah – to number, to review. – Gesenius, Lex. The verb is also written mena’ – Buxtorf, Lex. It would be literally translated numbered, and would apply to that of which an estimate was taken by counting. We use now an expression which would convey a similar idea, when we say of one that his days are numbered; that is, he has not long to live, or is about to die. The idea seems to be taken from the fact, that the duration of a mans life cannot usually be known, and in the general uncertainty we can form no correct estimate of it, but when he is old, or when he is dangerously sick, we feel that we can with some degree of probability number his days, since he cannot now live long. Such is the idea here, as explained by Daniel. All uncertainty about the duration of the kingdom was now removed, for, since the evil had come, an exact estimate of its whole duration – of the number of the years of its continuance – could be made. In the Greek of Theodotion there is no attempt to translate this word, and it is retained in Greek letters – Mane. So also in the Codex Chisianus and in the Latin Vulgate.
God hath numbered thy kingdom – The word which is used here, and rendered numbered – menah – is the verb of which the previous word is the participle. Daniel applies it to the kingdom or reign of the monarch, as being a thing of more importance than the life of the king himself. It is evident, if, according to the common interpretation of Dan 5:30, Belshazzar was slain that very night, it might have been applied to the king himself, meaning that his days were numbered, and that he was about to die. But this interpretation (see Notes) is not absolutely certain, and perhaps the fact that Daniel did not so apply the word may be properly regarded as one circumstance showing that such an interpretation is not necessary, though probably it is the correct one.
And finished it – This is not the meaning of the word Mene, but is the explanation by Daniel of the thing intended. The word in its interpretation fairly implied that; or that might be understood from it. The fact that the kingdom in its duration was numbered, properly expressed the idea that it was now to come to an end. It did actually then come to an end by being merged in that of the Medes and Persians.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mene, Mene; He hath numbered, or, It is numbered, it is numbered. These words are doubled for the greater confirmation, to note that the number of his sins and of his days, both of life and reign, are full. It relates to the number of the seventy years captivity now completed, or to the seventy years for the overthrow of the Babylonish empire, or the translation of it to the Medes and Persians, foretold Isa 13; Isa 14; Jer 1;, and in the dream, Dan 2:32.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. God hath fixed the number ofyears of thine empire, and that number is now complete.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
This is the interpretation of the thing,…. Or, “word” z; for they might all seem as one word; or this is the sense of the whole:
MENE; as for this word, it signifies,
God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; God had fixed the number of years, how long that monarchy should last, which he was now at the head of, and which was foretold, Jer 25:1, and also the number of years that he should reign over it; and both these numbers were now completed; for that very night Belshazzar was slain, and the kingdom translated to another people: and a dreadful thing it is to be numbered to the sword, famine, and pestilence, or any sore judgment of God for sin, as sometimes men are; so more especially to be appointed to everlasting wrath, and to be numbered among transgressors, among the devils and damned in hell.
z “sermonis”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; “verborum”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Broughtonus “verbi”, Cocceius; “illius verbi”, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Dan 5:26 This [is] the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
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. a
a Time has made a fool of Trapp as it has of many others. Ed.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
God: Dan 9:2, Job 14:14, Isa 13:1 – Isa 14:32, Isa 21:1-10, Isa 47:1-15, Jer 25:11, Jer 25:12, Jer 27:7, Jer 50:1 – Jer 51:64, Act 15:18
Reciprocal: 1Ki 1:45 – This is Est 6:13 – If Mordecai Job 14:5 – his days Psa 37:13 – his day Pro 14:32 – driven Jer 51:13 – thine Jer 51:44 – I will bring Mat 4:9 – I give
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 5:26. The lexicon definitions of the writing were given in the preceding verse. I shall now comment on Daniel’s explanation of their significance. Numbered is derived from a word that is defined, To weigh out; by implication to allot or constitute officially; also to enumerate or enroll. According to Daniels interpretation it meant that the days of the Babylonian Empire had reached the number allotted to it by the Lord and the kingdom was to be declared ended.