Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
1Belshazzar the king made a great feast to his one thousand nobles and to the one thousand [he was] one drinking the wine. 2Belshazzar said in tasting the wine to cause to bring the vessels of the gold and the silver which Nebuchadnezzar his father had brought from the temple which [was] in Jerusalem and they drank in them, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines. 3Then they brought the vessels of the gold which they brought from the temple which [was] the house of God which [was] in Jerusalem and they drank in them, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines. 4They drank the wine and they praised the gods of the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the wood, and the stone.
Up until now, in the book of Daniel, the king has been Nebuchadnezzar. By the end of chapter 4, he had been turned into a cow and was actually acknowledging that “the Most High rules in the nations of men.” Chapter 5 starts abruptly with “Belshazzar the king.” “Who is this?” our inquiring minds ask, “And what happened to Nebuchadnezzar and how did this fellow become king?”
It turns out there is some absolutely fascinating history behind all of this, and I believe that history actually serves to highlight the lessons we all can take from this chapter.
First of all, who is Belshazzar? The book of Daniel opened in about 605 BC, when the young Nebuchadnezzar took the throne upon the death of his father Nabopolassar, conquered Jerusalem, and carried Daniel, his friends, and many others, along with the vessels from the temple to Babylon. Although a proud, wicked man, Nebuchadnezzar was a brilliant administrator and an excellent king. He was “the head of gold” in the vision of chapter 2, and extended the Babylonian empire to the far reaches of what was then the known civilized world.
Upon Nebuchadnezzar’s death in about 562 BC, his son, Evil-Merodach took the throne. He is mentioned in II Kings 25:27-30 where he released Jehoiachin from prison and actually honored him. Unfortunately, after only two years, Neriglissar, who had married Evil’s sister, murdered him and usurped the throne. Neriglissar only lived four years, then was succeeded by his son Labashi-Marduk, who only reigned a few months before he was killed and a man named Nabonidus ascended the throne.
Nabonidus married a woman named Nitocris, who was actually a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar himself. Together they produced this man Belshazzar, which made him a direct grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. So this “Belshazzar the king” is actually Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. This is a fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy where he said, “All nations will serve him [Nebuchadnezzar] and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes…” (27:7).
Our Western minds might challenge this statement “him and his son and his grandson,” and ask, “Hey! What about Neriglissar, Labashi-Marduk, and even Nabonidus, Belshazzar’s father? Why aren’t they mentioned?” The answer probably is simply that they were all considered usurpers. It is very common in ancient history that usurpers were not “counted” as kings, particularly if a legitimate heir to the throne finally did appear, as in the case of our Belshazzar.
So that is how this man came to be the “Belshazzar the king,” whom we meet at the beginning of our chapter 5. What is also of interest to note is that, as this chapter occurs, his father Nabonidus is still living. However, for a variety of reasons, Nabonidus spent little time in Babylon and so had made his son his vice-regent, leaving him to be the functional king over Babylon. This will explain why, in v.11, Belshazzar offers to make Daniel “third ruler in the kingdom.” “Third” is as high as he could offer Daniel because there were already two men ruling, Belshazzar and his father.
As we read this chapter, all we see is Belshazzar throwing a drunken party. What we’re not told in Scripture is that on this very night in 539 BC, the City of Babylon is under siege by the Persians. Their king Cyrus had been pressing toward Babylon for several years. Earlier in this year of 539, Cyrus took the Babylonian city of Opis and just a few days before he took the city of Sippar, just 40 miles north of Babylon. On this particular night, the Persian army has surrounded the city.
Ancient historians claim the city was considered impregnable. Apparently, there were provisions stored within it that would have lasted 40 years. The city had double walls, something like 32 to 85’ thick, very high, and very defensible. This is likely precisely why Belshazzar is throwing a wild party and why he has 1,0000 nobles present. He is arrogantly defying the Persians. He and his nobles have holed up inside the city and think it is a joke that the Persians have surrounded it. Not only do the Babylonians think there is no need to be concerned, they can even enjoy a wild party just to spite the Persians.
And then, why does Belshazzar send for the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem? Once again, I don’t think there is any question why. There were a number of Jewish prophecies predicting the fall of Babylon. I already mentioned above Jeremiah’s prophecy that the Babylonian empire would only last until Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. Belshazzar is that grandson, and he knows it. In addition to that, in chapters 50 and 51, Jeremiah had prophesied the end of Babylon. Even more recently, Daniel, in both the visions of chapters 2 and 7, had also predicted the City’s end. Then to add to all of this, Isaiah, some 200 years earlier, had actually prophesied that Babylon would fall to a king named Cyrus (44:28 and 45:1).
Note particularly the wording of Isaiah 45:1, “This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut.” “To open doors before him.”
I would suggest without hesitation that Belshazzar and the Babylonians were all very familiar with these prophecies given by the God of the Israelites. Part of the reason for bringing the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem to begin with was that it show-cased for the Babylonians that their gods had defeated the God of Israel. This was the proof, that vessels from His temple were, in a sense, held captive, in the temples of Babylon’s gods. That’s why Belshazzar and his one thousand nobles and all of his wives and concubines, as they drink from those vessels, “praised their gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone.”
We can see that, in his arrogance, Belshazzar called for those vessels and drank from them as a very deliberate act of defiance against Israel’s prophecies and against their God.
All of this explains the background of what is going on as we read Daniel chapter 5. Now we know who is Belshazzar, this man who suddenly appears in verse 1. We also understand the reason why he has thrown a wild party and why he would commit such an act of impious desecration to actually drink from anyone’s temple vessels. The man Belshazzar refuses to believe what his grandfather learned, “The Most High rules in the nations of men.”
But he’s about to find out!
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