Daniel 5

Daniel 1–6 recounts the experiences of Daniel and his friends at the Babylonian court, and chapter 5 is one of these narratives. In Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar was humbled because of his pride and later restored. Chapter 5, set many years later, describes the last night of a later king, Belshazzar. The chapter belongs to the portion of the Book of Daniel written in Aramaic (2:4–7:28).

Outline

• Verses 1–4 Belshazzar holds a feast with a thousand of his lords, drinks from the gold and silver vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem, and praises his gods.
• Verses 5–9 The fingers of a man's hand appear and write on the wall, and the king is gripped with terror. None of the wise men can read the writing.
• Verses 10–16 On the queen's advice, Daniel is summoned. The king promises that if he interprets the writing, he will be clothed with scarlet, given a chain of gold, and made the third ruler in the kingdom.
• Verses 17–24 Daniel declines the gifts and rebukes the king for failing to humble his heart even though he knew what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar.
• Verses 25–28 Daniel interprets "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN."
• Verses 29–31 Daniel is rewarded. That night Belshazzar is slain, and Darius the Median, about sixty-two years old, takes the kingdom.

Key Verses

• Daniel 5:23, "and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified": summarizes the essence of the sin the chapter condemns.
• Daniel 5:27, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting": widely quoted as an expression of God's judgment.

People and Places

• Belshazzar: the king presented as the last ruler of Babylon.
• Nebuchadnezzar: the text calls him Belshazzar's "father."
• Daniel: his Babylonian name is Belteshazzar.
• The queen: the woman who recommended Daniel to the king.
• Darius: the Mede who took the kingdom after Belshazzar.
• Babylon: the site of the royal palace where the feast was held.
• Jerusalem: the vessels used at the feast had been taken from its temple.
• Media and Persia: the kingdoms that took possession of Babylon.

Interpretive Considerations

• Belshazzar and his "father": Babylonian inscriptions record Belshazzar as the son of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. For this reason, some interpret "father" in the text as meaning an ancestor or predecessor. A common explanation for why Daniel was offered the "third" position is that Belshazzar ruled jointly with his father.
• Darius the Mede: There is still no consensus on how to identify this figure in extrabiblical records. Proposals include a Persian general and Cyrus himself, among others.
• Date of composition: Conservative tradition regards the book as written by Daniel in the sixth century BC. Many critical scholars hold that it was written in the second century BC.
• Meaning of the words: Some interpret mene, tekel, and peres as the names of units of weight or currency. Peres sounds similar to the word for "Persia."
• Versification differences: Verse 31 corresponds to 6:1 in the Hebrew Bible.
• Connection to the New Testament: The fall of proud Babylon is often read alongside the judgment of "that great city Babylon" in Revelation 18.

In the Korean Church

The chapter is frequently used as a sermon text warning against pride and of God's judgment, and the expressions "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN" and "weighed in the balances, and found wanting" are often quoted in preaching.