THE BOOK OF DANIEL
chapter 5
According to the Septuagint OLD GREEK manuscripts, kept hidden from English eyes for thousands of years until 2012!
This is a presentation of the book of Daniel with commentary to help establish the timing of the book, and historical context. I also look at the themes and usage of different words used in context. The translation is from Logos Bible Software where it is called the Lexham English Septuagint (LES - copied with permission from Logos Bible Software).
Brannan, R., Penner, K. M., Loken, I., Aubrey, M., & Hoogendyk, I., eds. (2012). The Lexham English Septuagint (Da 2:35). Lexham Press.
scripture
5 LES
5: Prologue: King Belshazzar made a great reception in the day of the dedication of his palace. He invited two thousand men. On that day Belshazzar, excited from the wine and boasting, praised all the gods of the nations that are molten and carved in his place. But to God, the most high, he did not give praise. On the same night fingers like a human came out and wrote upon the wall of his house upon the plaster opposite the lamps, “Mene Phares thekel.” Now the explanation of these words is: “Mene”: “He has been counted”; “Phares”: “He has been removed”; “Thekel”: “He has established.” 5:1 King Belshazzar held a great feast for his comrades.
5:2 And so he drank wine, and his heart became arrogant, and he said to bring in the golden vessels and the silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had brought from Jerusalem, and to pour wine into them for his friends.
5:3 And they were brought, and they proceeded to drink from them.
5:4 And then they honored idols made by their human hands, but indeed, they did not honor the everlasting God, the one who held the life-force of their breath.
5:5 At that same moment fingers came forth, as if from the hand of a man, and they wrote upon the wall of his palace, upon the plaster opposite the source of light, in the presence of the king, Belshazzar, and he saw the hand as it wrote.
5:6 And then his appearance altered, and fear and dread alarmed him. Therefore, the king acted quickly, and he arose and examined closely the writing, and with his court friends surrounding, he proceeded to boast arrogantly.
5:7 And the king shouted out with a loud voice loud to call in the enchanters and sorcerers and Chaldeans and soothsayers so that they could declare the interpretation of the writing. And they came in upon the spectacle to look at the writing, but they were not able to decipher the interpretation of the writing for the king. Then the king published an order, saying, “Any person who shows the interpretation of the writing, I will dress him with purple, and I will place on him a golden armlet and it will be given to him to have authority over a third part of the kingdom.”
5:8 And when the enchanters and sorcerers and soothsayers came in, then not one was able to explain the interpretation of the writing.
5:9 Then the king summoned the queen concerning the wonder and informed her about how great it was and that no person was able to explain to the king the interpretation of the writing.
5:10 Then the queen reminded him about Daniel, who was from the captives of the Judah.
5:11 And then she spoke to the king, “This man was skilled and wise and excelled all the wise men of Babylon.
5:12 And there is a holy spirit in him, and in the days of your father, the king, he set forth clearly interpretations of difficult things for Nebuchadnezzar, your father.”
5:13 Then Daniel was led into the king and speaking out, the king said to him,
5:16 “O Daniel, should you be able to show me the interpretation of the writing, then I will dress you with purple and I will place a golden armlet on you and you will hold the authority of a third part of my kingdom.”
5:17 Then Daniel stood before the writing, and he read it, and so he answered the king, “This is the writing: it is numbered; it has been counted; it is lifted up. So, having written, the hand set down, and this is the interpretation of them.
5:23 O king, you held a banquet for your chief friends, and you preceeded to drink wine, and the vessels of the house of the living God were brought to you, and you drank from them, you and your nobles, and you praised all the idols made by the hands of mankind, but you did not honor the living God, who holds your breath in his hand, and he gave to you your kingdom, yet you did not honor him nor did you praise him. 5:26 This is the interpretation of the writing: the duration of your kingdom is numbered; your kingdom is now ceased. 5:27 It has been cut short and finished. 5:28 He is giving your kingdom to the Medes and to the Persians.”
5:29 Then King Belshazzar dressed Daniel with purple and placed a golden armlet upon him and gave him authority over a third part of his kingdom.
5:30 Then the interpretation came upon King Belshazzar, and the kingdom was taken from the Chaldeans and was given over to the Medes and the Persians.
5:31 Then Ahasuerus, the one from among the Medes, received the dominion.
commentary
Prologue – This pagan dedication is preempted here by God crashing their party before it even gets started. What they value in a Kingdom will be checkmated by God the true King. Their valued possessions will weigh nothing, and their unilateral control of the world will be divided up into parts and given away. This is a rhyme in Hebrew “mene, mene tekel, upharshin”, and it might be “Englishized” like this, “money money won’t amount, bouncing off a balance, their kingdom will get “kinged” (check-mated)”.
1 Belshazzar – He was the 6th ruler of Babylon during the 70 years of captivity.
“King Nebuchadnezzar likely died in 562 bc. He was succeeded by a son, Evil-Merodach, who ruled from 562–560 bc (see 2 Kgs 25:27–30; Jer 52:31–34). Evil-Merodach was murdered by Neriglissar, his brother-in-law, who succeeded him. Neriglissar, also known as Nergal-Sharezer (Jer 39:3, 13), ruled from 560–556 bc. He was succeeded by his son, Labashi-Marduk, who was assassinated after two months on the throne. Labashi-Marduk was replaced by Nabonidus, who ruled from 556–539 bc. Nabonidus restored many of the Babylonian temples that had deteriorated. This work kept him absent from the capital for about 15 years. Belshazzar was the eldest son of Nabonidus. He was appointed by Nabonidus as a co-regent.” [1]
2 vessels – there had to be at least 2,000 vessels to serve his 2,000 comrads. Indeed when we look in the apocrypha it says there are 2,000 cups!
1 Esdras 2:13 (KJV Apoc)
13 And this was the number of them; A thousand golden cups, and a thousand of silver, censers of silver twenty nine, vials of gold thirty, and of silver two thousand four hundred and ten, and a thousand other vessels.
4 idols – They honored idols instead of God. That means that they will be dumb and blind just like their idols.
Psalm 115:4–8 (KJV 1900)
4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they speak not: Eyes have they, but they see not:
6 They have ears, but they hear not: Noses have they, but they smell not:
7 They have hands, but they handle not: Feet have they, but they walk not: Neither speak they through their throat.
8 They that make them are like unto them; So is every one that trusteth in them.
5 fingers – 5 fingers appeared in chapter 5 verse 5 opposite the source of LIGHT (the MENORAH was even in there!!). God is saying, “you want light do you? I’ll give you enlightenment!” and with His almighty hand he mocked their entire being and existence with a disembodied hand, He had more power and authority in His fingertips than they had in their entire existence. They could only see part of his being, but he condemned their entire body of 2,000 men right out of existence!!
6 examined – Beltashazzar examined the writing, and even though he was alarmed by the occurrence, he proceeded to BOAST about it, claiming it was some kind of blessing upon him! He’s made the wrong assumption here!
7 shouted – Why the need to shout? Wasn’t he the most powerful man in the room? Weren’t the sorceres, magicians, and soothsayers invited to the party? Maybe they were there, but just in the back of the room where they couldn’t see. Why call a magician to do the work of a linguist? Daniel was given the gift of grammar way back in chapter 1:17 : in every literature – literature is γραμματικός
grammatikos, adj., grammarian, knowing one’s letters; well-grounded in the rudiments. 4×[2]
Do you think that perhaps, grammar is critical in understanding prophecy? We must understand the subject of the prophecy, or we will be lost to its meaning.
8 enchanters, sorcerers, and soothsayers – plain old knowledge even well practiced magicians, just isn’t enough to interpret the ancient writing. Even today, the ancient paleo Hebrew is hidden in the Septuagint translation, which gives us the unique perspective of figures of speech within the prophetic context of Biblical revelation alone gives us true light and truth.
9 the queen – The king finally summons the queen regarding the incident. The Queen of Babylon, knows the truth? Perhaps, deep down, had she listened to the seed of truth, she might not have fallen.
11 skilled – the queen knows that Daniel is “skilled” or having the knowledge of an expert. 1990 ἐπιστήμων [epistemon /ep·ee·stay·mone/] adj. From 1987; GK 2184; AV translates as “endued with knowledge” once. 1 intelligent, experienced, one having the knowledge of an expert.[3]
This brings us back to Daniel 1:4, and how Daniel was “…well versed in all skills and wisdom and sound judgment and skilled in letters and language and prudent and clever and wise and having great ability and aptitude…” Basically, no one was smarter. This is the Queen of Babylon, acknowledging Daniel. It is a type for the future when God’s elect will witness again before the “queen of Babylon”, and no one will be able to argue against them.
12 set forth clearly – meaning he told them EXACTLY what the dream was about, that is to say who would rule Jerusalem until the end, or the time of the Gentiles. He did this by stating God controls the Kings, when they go out and when they go in! Or the time of the Gentiles (rule over Jerusalem).
Luke 21:24 (KJV 1900)
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
[1] McLean, J. A. (2016). Belshazzar, King of Babylon. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, L. Wentz, E. Ritzema, & W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press.
adj. adjective
[2] (2012). In The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Septuagint. Lexham Press.
adj adj: adjective
[3] Strong, J. (1995). In Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.