Daniel 5

finished it.] “MENE,” to number; that is, to fix bounds to a thing, or the period of its continuance. Wintle. The determinate number of years which God hath appointed for the continuance of thy reign, and the Babylonish monarchy, is finished. No God is said to number the months of man’s life, and to appoint him “bounds that he cannot pass,” Job xiv. 5. The word “MENE” is doubled in the foregoing verse, to shew that the thing is certain, and “established by God,” as Joseph tells Pharaoh in the like case, Gen. xli. 32. W. Lowth. 27. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.] Wicked men are often compared to silver adulterated, and alloyed with baser metals, which makes it too light, when weighed in the balances; see Jer. vi. 30; Ezek. xvii. 18. W. Lowth. “Tekel” signifies to weigh. The meaning here is, that the Almighty had weighed, or made a due estimate of, the conduct of Belshazzar, according to the just and impartial measures of his providence; and had found him light or deficient, a man of no account, unworthy of a kingdom, and a fit object of Divine vengeance. Wintle.

Daniel 5:2

2.—three presidents; of whom Daniel was first:] He had been appointed one of the principal officers of state by Belshazzar, chap. v. 29. W. Lowth.

Daniel 5:3

3.—according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.] After it is once enacted by the king, with the consent of his counsellors. W. Lowth. See the notes at Esth. viii. 11; ix. 16.

Daniel 5:9

9. Therefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.] Thus was atheism established by the law in the court, city, and empire of Babylon, for the space of one month. Bp. Horne.

Daniel 5:10

10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; &c.] He did his duty exactly according to his usual custom, as if nothing had happened, and no law had been passed, or any thing said at court about it. He would not go to any other place, where his enemies might not have found him, but

Daniel 5:28

28. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, &c.] The verb paras, from whence “peres” is derived as an appellative, signifies to divide or break: it is likewise the proper name of the Persians, who were to be sharers in the division of the Babylonish empire. “Upharsin” in the 25th verse literally signifies “and they divide.” W. Lowth. 29. — and they clothed Daniel with scarlet. The coming out from the presence of princes in a dress presented to the wearer as a mark of distinction, is an honour still practised in the East. They are conferred sometimes merely as an honour, and sometimes as an ensign of office. Harmer, Sir J. Chardin. Before CHRIST about 538. Daniel is made chief president. A conspiracy against him. about 536.

and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Daniel 5:30

30. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.] And from the next verse it appears, that the Babylonian or Chaldean kingdom expired with him.

The punishment of Nebuchadnezzar, the death of Belshazzar, and the expiration of the kingdom, may remind us of that fine passage of the wise son of Sirach, contained in Eclus. x. 12—18. Wintle.

Daniel 5:31

31. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.] This Darius is said to be of the “seed of the Medes,” chap. ix. 1; and is supposed by the most judicious chronologers to be the same with Cyaxares, the son of Astyages: him Cyrus made king of the Chaldeans, as being his uncle by his mother’s side, and his partner in carrying on the war against the Babylonians, and left him the palace of the king of Babylon, to live there whenever he pleased, as Xenophon relates. The Chaldee phrase, rendered here, “took the kingdom,” is translated “possessed the kingdom,” chap. vii. 18; and means the same with succeeding to the kingdom. W. Lowth. Josephus says, that this Darius was the son of Astyages, and that the Greeks called him by another name; what this other name, given by the Greeks to the son and successor of Astyages, was, we learn from Xenophon, who tells us it was Cyaxares. Bp. Halifax.

The judgment recorded in this chapter is a visible proof of the Divine vengeance on those, whose heart is lifted up by prosperity; on the profane and ungodly, who, instead of reverencing Him from whom they receive life, and breath, and all things, have the insolence to exalt themselves against Him; and on those, who do not improve the warnings He gives them, the afflictions

He visits them with, nor the examples He sets before their eyes. Ostercald.

Chap. VI. ver. 1.—an hundred and twenty princes.] That is, viceroys, lieutenants, or chief governours under the king. Xenophon mentions the same fact, only he ascribes the institution of these satraps, as he calls them, to Cyrus; and, no doubt, Cyrus’s uncle, Darius, called by Xenophon Cyaxares, did not appoint them without his nephew’s advice and concurrence. Parkhurst. These “princes” were according to the number of the provinces, which were subject to the Medo-Persian empire. These were afterwards enlarged to an hundred and twenty-seven by the victories of Cambyses and Darius Hystaspes. See Esth. i. 1. W. Lowth.