Welcome back to my study/review of The Book of Daniel. If you missed the previous parts of this study, you can find them HERE.
Daniel 5:6-12
6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” 8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.
10 The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. 11 There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, 12 because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”
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Daniel (the book) covers the portion of the Babylonian captivity, wherein the Babylonians were the ones in charge, in less than five full chapters. For the most part, we see a similar story told, multiple times.
- Something unexplainable happens
- The Babylonian wise men / magicians / sorcerers are unable to explain.
- Daniel *does* explain.
- Daniel is placed in a position of rulership, as a consequence.
The first time this occurs is the dream about the image, which Daniel has to reveal and then explain. The second time this occurs, Daniel is told the dream, but then interprets the King’s dream about the tree. Now Daniel is sought to explain something that was more than merely a dream – it was witnessed by an audience.
Does it signify anything that these mysteries are each somewhat less hidden each time? Perhaps. We have gone from Daniel being tasked to reveal and unspoken dream to Daniel being tasked to interpret something witnessed by an audience. Let’s look at the commentary notes, starting with The Pulpit Commentaries:
Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The Septuagint differs in a somewhat important degree from the Massoretic text, “And his countenance was changed, and fears and thoughts troubled him.” In this clause not improbably φόβοι and ὑπόνοιαι are double renderings of רעין. “And the king hasted and rose up, and looked at that writing, and his companions round about him (κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ) boasted.” It is clear that the text from which the Septuagint had repeated the verb בֶהַל (bebal), which means originally “to hasten,” and had the word “king “after it, if the Septuagint Aramaic were the original, we can easily understand how the word repeated might be omitted by homoioteleuton. While קם could easily be read קט after the square character had got place, קם could not in the script of the Egyptian Aramaic papyri be easily read קם. consequently we are inclined to look on the reading of the Septuagint here as being the primitive one. The king, according to this verse, saw the handwriting, but not till he rose did he see what was written. This representation of the succession of events is natural, whereas the statements about his loins being loosed is mere amplification. The last clause storms to be a misreading of the clause which appears in the Massoretic at the end (which see). The first word seems to have been misread heberren, and thus a meaning is violently given to the other parts of the clause. The probability is in favour of the Massoretic reading here, Theodotion and the Peshitta agree with the Massoretic text. The omen of a hand appearing to write on the wall of the palace was one that might easily cause the thoughts of the king to trouble him. Much more was the omen of importance when the king saw that the hand which had appeared to write had actually left certain words written. It was but natural that the brightness of the king’s countenance should depart from him when he saw the hand. thus awfully coming out of the darkness, and writing, and that his knees should smite one upon another when what was written gleamed upon him from the wall before him. He might well be sure that the message so communicated would be laden with fate. Fear is naturally the first emotion occasioned by any mysterious occurrence; and then Babylon was, in all likelihood, being pressed by the advance of Cyrus. If he had any suspicion of the treachery that had sapped the power of his father, his apprehensions would be all the greater.
As is the custom of TPC, when discussing Daniel, the note points out some textual differences between the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text. As we’ve discussed previously, the commentary was written prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which then added yet another layer to the translation / interpretation situation.
In short though, I think all translations agree in the main that the King became very afraid. The commentary speculates, and it makes sense for it to do so, that the advance of Cyrus may have added to this fear. Continuing on to verse 7, looking next at the note from Ellicott’s Bible Commentary:
(7) The astrologers.—It is worthy of notice that on this occasion the magicians (the chartummim) do not appear. We must either suppose that they are included under the general term “Chaldeans,” or that the king in his terror forgot to summon them. The “wise men” spoken of (Daniel 5:8) were the body over which Daniel was president—a post which it appears. from Daniel 8:27, he held at this time. It is needless to discuss why Daniel did not come in at first.
The third ruler.—See Excursus C. Those who adopt another view of Belshazzar maintain that a triumvirate existed at this time similar to that in the days of Darius the Mede (Daniel 6:2), and that the king promises to raise to the rank of “triumvir” the person who could interpret the vision successfully. It may be noticed that the form of the ordinal “third,” both here and in Daniel 5:16; Daniel 5:29, is very peculiar, and that in the last two passages it resembles a substantive rather than an adjective.
I would interject here to anyone reading that they remember our notes from previous sections regarding the current (as of Ch. 5) Babylonian rulership situation. Modern archaeology has proven the existence of Belshazzar (whose existence having been previously been unproven had been an argument against the historicity of the Book of Daniel) and has learned that his father was Nabonidus. The historical records tell us that Belshazzar ruled during the life of Nabonidus. We also know from historical records that Nabonidus likely went insane for several years during his reign – perhaps the event that led to the elevation of his son. As a result, there were two rulers within the Babylonian Empire at this time.
Perhaps “the third” is an offer to elevate someone to the same level? It fits. Continuing on, still in Ellicott:
(8) Then—i.e., after the king had addressed the wise men whom he had summoned. But why could not they read an inscription which Daniel deciphered at first sight? It has been conjectured (1) that the character was old Semitic, or one which the wise men did not know; (2) that the language of the inscription was unknown to them; (3) that the words were written in vertical columns, and the wise men endeavoured to read them horizontally. The only true explanation is to be found in the supernatural character of the inscription, and in the inspiration of Daniel. In this way God asserts Himself against the false wisdom of the heathens.
Sometimes the understanding (or lack) is supernatural. Sometimes the action is supernatural. Sometimes it’s one, the other, or both. We don’t really know why Daniel succeeded here, and the others did not, except that divine intervention is at play.
Continuing to verse 9, now back again in TPC:
Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied. This verse presents signs also of being a repetition. The last clause appears to be the original form of the mysterious clause at the end of the sixth verse according to the Septuagint; the word mishtabsheen, which occurs here, seems to have been read mishtabhareen, from שַׁבְהַר (shab’har), “to be glorious,” in the ittaphel; this becomes “to boast one’s self,” as in the Targum of Proverbs 25:14, also the Peshitta of the same passage; also 2 Corinthians 12:1. And this is the word used by Paulus Tellensis to translate καυχῶνται. The Septuagint has a verse here that has no equivalent in the Massoretic text, “Then the king called the queen about the sign, and showed her how great it was, and that no one had been able to declare to the king the interpretation of the writing.” This verse avoids the repetition we find in the Massoretic text, and explains the presence of the queen in a much more plausible way than the received text does. In the Massoretic text it is the noise and tumult that pierces the women’s apartments, and brings out the queen-mother; though not impossible, this is unlikely. The action of the king, as given in the Septuagint, is very probable. The wise men are baffled by this mysteriously appearing inscription. What is to be done? Belshazzar calls his mother, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, as she at least possibly was, to see if she knows anything in the past that might be a guide in such a matter. He not only shows her the sign, the inscription, but shows how great it was, by telling of the hand that had come out of the darkness, and had written it. Theodotion and the Peshitta agree with the Massoretic text. While the repetition is obvious, it is also true that the failure of all the wise men in Babylon to read the writing, as the Massoretic text has it, would increase the trouble of the king, and this trouble would naturally spread to the courtiers.
Verse 9 is a repeat of verse 6, thematically. Belshazzar sought aid from the Babylonians and ended up in the same place where he began. As is the case in stories like these, someone other than the King remembers Daniel. Thematically, Daniel bears strikingly similar story patterns to those found in Genesis with Joseph and Pharaoh. The cupbearer suggests Joseph the Pharoah. The Queen here remembers Daniel.
Continuing in TPC:
Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet-house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: 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, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. No one can fail to feel the presence of rhetoric here, especially in the last verse, which, we may remark, has no equivalent in the Septuagint. We see the rhetorical character of these verses more clearly when we consider the ineptitude of the special powers ascribed to Daniel to meet the present difficulty. Interpretation of dreams was a common attribute ascribed to wisdom in the East of old, as it is yet. But this was not a dream, and therefore the qualification was not to the purpose; still less to the purpose are the attributes that follow. Showing of hard sentences. Giving riddles that nobody could read was an evidence of wisdom all over the East (see Josephus, 8.5. 3; besides Talmudic stories of Solomon). This, however, is not a case of competition in riddles; above all, there is no opportunity of one giving riddles in return. “Dissolving of doubts” is the solving of these riddles. These qualities, which the queen-mother, according to the Massoretic text, ascribes to Daniel, might make him delightful as a boon companion, but were not at all to the purpose in the matter troubling the king. The version of the Septuagint is much briefer, and, it seems to us, much more satisfactory, “Then the queen reminded him concerning Daniel, who was of the captivity of Judaea, and said to the king, The man was understanding, wise, and excelling all the wise men of Babylon, and there is a holy spirit in him, and in the days of the king thy father, he showed difficult (ὑπέρογκα) interpretations to Nebuchadnezzar thy father.” This has every sign of having been translated; thus the phrase, Ἐμνήσθη πρὸς αὐτὸν περὶ τοῦ Δανιήλ, which we have rendered, “reminded him concerning Daniel.” This use of πρὸς after μιμνήσκω is unknown in classic Greek. In Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ it is accusative of person; in Plato, ‘Laches,’ 200 D, it is dative of person; in ‘Legg.,’ 3:688, it is accusative of person. It is, however, exactly parallel with Genesis 40:14, Μνησθήσῃ περὶ ἐμοῦ πρὸς Φαραὼ. Πρὸς represents אֶל in the Hebrew; in the Targum of Onkelos and in the Peshitta this is translated by קְדָם; in Paulus Tellensis it is rendered by .ל Moreover, according to the Massoretic text, Belshazzar asks Daniel if he is” that Daniel which art of the captivity of the children of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?” The queen-mother had said nothing, according to the verses before us as given in the Massoretic recension, of Daniel being a Jew. According to the Septuagint, the queen-mother tells him whence Daniel is. Theodotion agrees with the Massoretic text, save that it inserts “watchfulness” instead of “light,” and omits the repetition of “thy father.” The Peshitta is also substantially at one with our received text. One of the great difficulties which commentators have found in this part of the incident is how Belshazzar could be ignorant of Daniel. Various means have been adopted to get over the difficulty. One is that Daniel was away from Babylon up to this time (Jephet-ibn-Ali). Archdeacon Rose is certain he must have known about him. The explanation of this is as recumbent on the opponents of the authenticity of Daniel as on its defenders, for they—the latter—declare it the work of one author, and it has had powerful effect on people: it must be artistically written if it is not a record of facts. No artist in fictitious narrative would present to his readers so obvious a difficulty. We learn now what was the probable reason of Belshazzar’s ignorance of Daniel. Nabu-nahid, a usurper, was at variance with the whole clergy, as we may call them, of Babylon, and most likely Daniel acted with the others, and possibly, as far back as the revolution in which Evil-Merodach perished, had been away from the court. It is the height of unfairness of any one to press the name here given to Nebuchadnezzar, “my father.” That title was very loosely used among the Babylonians and Assyrians. Jehu is called “the son of Omri,” although he had swept the race of Omri off the face of the earth. So Dr. hugo Winckler, in his ‘ Untersuchungen zur Attorientalischen Geschichte,’ p. 53, note, says, “This word ‘son’ after the name of a Chaldean prince, is only to be taken in the sense of belonging to the same dynasty.” Had the phrase used been that “Nebuchadnezzar slept with his fathers, and Belshazzar his son reigned in his stead,” something might have been said for the view maintained by all critics, that the author thought Belshazzar the son of Nebuchadnezzar. How can the critics assert this, and yet, as does Professor Bevan, maintain this author intimate even with the minutest portions of Jeremiah, Kings, and Chronicles? If so, how is it that he did not know that both Kings and Jeremiah asserted Nebuchadnezzar to have been succeeded by Evil-Merodach? This information occupies too prominent a place in both books for him to have been ignorant of it. We can only understand his action in thus putting down Belshazzar as the son of Nebuchadnezzar by assuming his acceptance of usage. The critics cannot explain it. Those who maintain the traditional view may do so by saying that Daniel, writing at the time, knowing the real state of matters, the claim of Belshazzar to be descended from Nebuchadnezzar, the fact that Evil-Merodach had been killed, simply relates facts. Had he been inventing history, and acquainted with the holy books, and all the information they conveyed to everybody, he would of necessity have spent some pains in explaining how his history came to differ so much from what one could draw from the Books of Kings and Jeremiah. The two accounts of Saul’s meeting with David are not comparable with this, as we find the reason of the contradiction in the coalescence of two different accounts.
The note provides an explanation for what should be a pretty obvious question. Why didn’t anyone think of Daniel in the first place? And why of all people was it the queen who finally did?
If we imagine that we’re dealing with a King who was too young to remember Daniel’s previous actions, and that perhaps the Queen was actually the Queen-mother, then this exchange makes a lot of sense. It might also have been the case that among the proud Babylonians, Daniel might not have been a highly desirable topic of conversation. His existence and his previous actions provide a dramatic challenge to a lot of the beliefs that undergird their entire society – namely their own supremacy and the supremacy of their gods. It might be easier to ignore him, at least until an occasion (such as this one) wherein ignoring him is no longer viable.
We can also look a bit deeper here and evaluate Babylonian society to some degree, in light of its relationship with Daniel. After the healing of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabonidus?) the God of Daniel was proclaimed to be Most High. Was that proclamation put into any kind of wider action or change to how things are done locally? It seems not and we can guess that with some confidence based upon the fact that Belshazzar appears not to even know who Daniel is.
Daniel will remind the local royals of who he is and explain their judgment. Pretty soon after that, Daniel will be in the service of the Medo-Persian Empire.