SEV Biblia, Chapter 5:1
¶ El rey Belsasar hizo un gran banquete a mil de sus príncipes, y contra todos mil bebía vino.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Daniel 5:1
Verse 1. Belshazzar the king made a great feast] This chapter is out of its place, and should come in after the seventh and eighth. There are difficulties in the chronology. After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-merodach his son ascended the throne of Babylon. Having reigned about two years, he was slain by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar. He reigned four years, and was succeeded by his son labourosoarchod, who reigned only nine months. At his death Belshazzar the son of Evil-merodach, was raised to the throne, and reigned seventeen years, and was slain, as we read here, by Cyrus, who surprised and took the city on the night of this festivity. This is the chronology on which Archbishop Usher, and other learned chronologists, agree; but the Scripture mentions only Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-merodach, and Belshazzar, by name; and Jeremiah, xxvii. 7, expressly says, "All nations shall serve him (Nebuchadnezzar,) and his son (Evil- merodach,) and his son's son (Belshazzar,) until the very time of his land come;" i.e., till the time in which the empire should be seized by Cyrus. Here there is no mention of Neriglissar nor labourosoarchod; but as they were usurpers, they might have been purposely passed by. But there remains one difficulty still: Belshazzar is expressly called the son of Nebuchadnezzar by the queen mother, ver. 11: "There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and in the days of THY FATHER light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him: whom the king NEBUCHADNEZZAR THY FATHER, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians." The solution of this difficulty is, that in Scripture the name of son is indifferently given to sons and grandsons, and even to great grandsons. And perhaps the repetition in the above verse may imply this: "The king, Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king thy father." The king thy father's father, and consequently thy grandfather. If it have not some such meaning as this, it must be considered an idle repetition. As to the two other kings, Neriglissar and labourosoarchod, mentioned by Josephus and Berosus, and by whom the chronology is so much puzzled, they might have been some petty kings, or viceroys, or satraps, who affected the kingdom, and produced disturbances, one for four years, and the other for nine months; and would in consequence not be acknowledged in the Babylonish chronology, nor by the sacred writers, any more than finally unsuccessful rebels are numbered among the kings of those nations which they have disturbed. I believe the only sovereigns we can acknowledge here are the following: 1. Nabopolassar; 2. Nebuchadnezzar; 3. Evil-merodach 4. Belshazzar; and with this last the Chaldean empire ended.
To a thousand of his lords] Perhaps this means lords or satraps, that were each over one thousand men. But we learn from antiquity that the Persian kings were very profuse in their entertainments; but it does not follow that the Chaldeans were so too. Besides, one thousand lords and their appropriate attendants would have been very inconvenient in a nocturnal assembly. The text, however, supports the common translation.
Literally, "Belshazzar the king made bread for his lords a thousand; and against the thousand he drank wine." That is, say some, he was a very great drinker.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. Belshazzar the king made a great feast , etc.] This king was not the immediate successor of Nebuchadnezzar, but Evilmerodach, ( Jeremiah 52:31), who, according to Ptolemy’s canon, reigned two years; then followed Neriglissar, his sister’s husband, by whom he was slain, and who usurped the throne, and reigned four years; he died in the beginning of his fourth year, and left a son called Laborosoarchod, who reigned but nine months, which are placed by Ptolemy to his father’s reign, and therefore he himself is not mentioned in the canon; and then followed this king, who by Ptolemy is called Nabonadius; by Berosus, Nabonnedus by Abydenus f188 , Nabannidochus; by Herodotus f189 , Labynitus; and by Josephus f190 , Naboandelus, who, according to him, is the same with Belshazzar; whom some confound with the son of Neriglissar; others take him to be the same with Evilmerodach, because he here immediately follows Nebuchadnezzar, and is called his son, ( Daniel 5:11,13,18), and others that he was a younger brother, so Jarchi and Theodoret; but the truth is, that he was the son of Evilmerodach, and grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, which agrees with the prophecy in ( Jeremiah 27:7), for though Nebuchadnezzar is called his father, and he his son, ( Daniel 5:2,11,13,18,22) this is said after the manner of the eastern nations, who used to call ancestors fathers, and their more remote posterity sons. He had his name Belshazzar from the idol Bel, and may be rendered, “Bel’s treasurer”: though, according to Saadiah, the word signifies “a searcher of treasures”, of his ancestors, or of the house of God. Hillerus translates it, “Bel hath hidden”. This king made a great feast ; or “bread” f191 , which is put for all provisions; it was great, both on account of plenty of food, variety of dishes, and number of guests, and those of the highest rank and quality. On what account this feast was made is not easy to say; whether out of contempt of Cyrus and his army, by whom he was now besieged, and to show that he thought himself quite safe and secure in a city so well walled and fortified, and having in it such vast quantities of provision; or whether it was on account of a victory he had obtained that morning over the Medes and Persians, as Josephus Ben Gorion relates; and therefore in the evening treated his thousand lords, who had been engaged in battle with him, and behaved well: though it seems to have been an anniversary feast; since, according to Xenophon and Herodotus, Cyrus knew of it before hand; either on account of the king’s birthday, or in honour to his gods, particularly Shach, which was called the Sachaenan feast; (see Gill on “ Jeremiah 25:26”) (see Gill on “ Jeremiah 51:41”) which seems most likely, since these were praised at this time, and the vessels of the temple of God at Jerusalem profaned, ( Daniel 5:2-4), this feast was prophesied of by Isaiah, ( Isaiah 21:5) and by Jeremiah, ( Jeremiah 51:39), it had its name from Shach, one of their deities, of which (see Gill on “ Daniel 1:4”) (see Gill on “ Daniel 1:7”) the same with Belus or the sun. The feasts kept in honour of it were much like the Saturnalia of the Romans, or the Purim of the Jews; and were kept eleven days together, in which everyone did as he pleased, no order and decorum being observed; and, for five of those days especially, there was no difference between master and servant, yea, the latter had the government of the former; and they spent day and night in dancing and drinking, and in all excess of riot and revelling f193 ; and in such like manner the Babylonians were indulging themselves, when their city was taken by Cyrus, as the above writers assert f194 ; and from the knowledge Cyrus had of it, it appears to be a stated feast, and very probably on the above account. According to Strabo f195 , there was a feast of this name among the Persians, which was celebrated in honour of the goddess Anais, Diana, or the moon; and at whose altar they placed together Amanus and Anandratus, Persian demons; and appointed a solemn convention once a year, called Saca. Some say the occasion of it was this; that Cyrus making an expedition against the Sacse, a people in Scythia, pretended a flight, and left his tents full of all provisions, and especially wine, which they finding, filled themselves with it; when he returning upon them, finding some overcome with wine and stupefied, others overwhelmed with sleep, and others dancing and behaving in a bacchanalian way, they fell into his hands, and almost all of them perished; and taking this victory to be from the gods, he consecrated that day to the god of his country, and called it Sacaea; and wherever there was a temple of this deity, there was appointed a bacchanalian feast, in which men, and women appeared night and day in a Scythian habit, drinking together, and behaving to one another in a jocose and lascivious manner; but this could not be the feast now observed at Babylon, though it is very probable it was something of the like nature, and observed in much the same manner. And was made “to a thousand of his lords”; his nobles, the peers of his realm, governors of provinces, etc.; such a number of guests Ptolemy king of Egypt feasted at one time of Pompey’s army, as Pliny from Varro relates f196 ; but Alexander far exceeded, who at a wedding had nine (some say ten) thousand at his tables, and gave to everyone a cup of gold, to offer wine in honour of the gods f197 ; and Pliny reports of one Pythius Bythinus, who entertained the whole army of Xerxes with a feast, even seven hundred and eighty eight thousand men. And drank wine before the thousand ; not that he strove with them who should drink most, or drank to everyone of them separately, and so a thousand cups, as Jacchiades suggests; but he drank in the presence of them, to show his condescension and familiarity; this being, as Aben Ezra observes, contrary to the custom of kings, especially of the eastern nations, who were seldom seen in public. This feast was kept in a large house or hall, as Josephus says, afterwards called the banqueting house, ( Daniel 5:10).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Belshazzar's impious feast; the hand-writing on the wall. (Dan. 5:1-9 Daniel is sent for to interpret it. (Dan. 5:10-17) Daniel warns the king of his destruction. (Dan. 5:18-31)
Dan. 5:1-9 Belshazzar bade defiance to the judgments of God. Mos historians consider that Cyrus then besieged Babylon. Security an sensuality are sad proofs of approaching ruin. That mirth is sinfu indeed, which profanes sacred things; and what are many of the song used at modern feasts better than the praises sung by the heathens to their gods! See how God struck terror upon Belshazzar and his lords God's written word is enough to put the proudest, boldest sinner in fright. What we see of God, the part of the hand that writes in the book of the creatures, and in the book of the Scriptures, should fil us with awful thoughts concerning that part which we do not see. I this be the finger of God, what is his arm when made bare? And what is He? The king's guilty conscience told him that he had no reason to expect any good news from heaven. God can, in a moment, make the hear of the stoutest sinner to tremble; and there needs no more than to le loose his own thoughts upon him; they will give him trouble enough. N bodily pain can equal the inward agony which sometimes seizes the sinner in the midst of mirth, carnal pleasures, and worldly pomp Sometimes terrors cause a man to flee to Christ for pardon and peace but many cry out for fear of wrath, who are not humbled for their sins and who seek relief by lying vanities. The ignorance and uncertaint concerning the Holy Scriptures, shown by many who call themselves wise only tend to drive sinners to despair, as the ignorance of these wis men did.
Dan. 5:10-17 Daniel was forgotten at court; he lived privately, and wa then ninety years of age. Many consult servants of God on curiou questions, or to explain difficult subjects, but without asking the way of salvation, or the path of duty. Daniel slighted the offer of reward He spoke to Belshazzar as to a condemned criminal. We should despis all the gifts and rewards this world can give, did we see, as we may be faith, its end hastening on; but let us do our duty in the world, an do it all the real service we can.
Dan. 5:18-31 Daniel reads Belshazzar's doom. He had not taken warnin by the judgments upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he had insulted God. Sinner are pleased with gods that neither see, nor hear, nor know; but the will be judged by One to whom all things are open. Daniel reads the sentence written on the wall. All this may well be applied to the doo of every sinner. At death, the sinner's days are numbered and finished after death is the judgment, when he will be weighed in the balance and found wanting; and after judgment the sinner will be cut asunder and given as a prey to the devil and his angels. While these thing were passing in the palace, it is considered that the army of Cyru entered the city; and when Belshazzar was slain, a general submissio followed. Soon will every impenitent sinner find the writing of God' word brought to pass upon him, whether he is weighed in the balance of the law as a self-righteous Pharisee, or in that of the gospel as painted hypocrite __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
בלשׁאצר 1113 מלכא 4430 עבד 5648 לחם 3900 רב 7229 לרברבנוהי 7261 אלף 506 ולקבל 6903 אלפא 506 חמרא 2562 שׁתה׃ 8355
