33 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Daniel 5 This chapter gives an account of a feast made by King Belshazzar, attended with drunkenness, idolatry, and profanation of the vessels taken out of the temple at Jerusalem, Daniel 5:1, and of the displeasure of God, signified by a handwriting on the wall, which terrified the king, and caused him to send in haste for the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Belshazzar the king made a great feast,.... 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...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The destruction of the kingdom of Babylon had been long and often foretold when it was at a distance; in this chapter we have it accomplished, and a prediction of it the very same night that it was accomplished. Belshazzar now reigned in Babylon; some compute he had reigned seventeen years, others but three; we have here the story of his exit and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine,.... As he was drinking his cups, and delighted with the taste of the wine, and got merry with it: or, "by the advice of the wine" (h), as Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret it, by a personification; as if that dictated to him, and put him upon doing what follows; and which often puts both foolish and wicked things...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem,.... That is, the servants to whom the orders were given fetched them from the temple of Bel, and brought them to the king's house; and though only mention is made of golden vessels, yet no doubt the silver ones were also brought,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They drunk wine,.... That is, out of the vessels of the temple at Jerusalem, and perhaps till they were drunk: and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone; for they had gods of all these materials; [See comments on Daniel 1:2], and these they praised by offering sacrifices unto them; or rather by singing...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, c. From heaven, as Jarchi or they came forth as if they came out of the wall: this was done by the power of God, though it might be by the intervention or means of an angel; so Josephus Ben Gorion (i) says, that an angel came and wrote what follows; and Saadiah says it was Gabriel, called a man,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the kings countenance changed,.... Or, "his brightness" (l); his ruddy countenance, his florid looks, his gay airs; all his jollity and mirth, that appeared in his face, were changed into paleness, sadness, and confusion: and his thoughts troubled him; what should be the meaning of this; perhaps he might immediately fear it presaged ruin and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers,.... Or, "with strength" (n); with a strong voice, as loud as he could; which is expressive of the fright he was in, and of his eagerness and impatience of information; laying aside all decency, and forgetting his royal majesty, like a man out of his senses, quite...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then came in all the king's wise men,.... The whole college of them, the persons before described; over whom, in Nebuchadnezzar's time, Daniel was the chief of the governors, Daniel 2:48, these came in readily, in hope of getting both riches and honour: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof; for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled,.... A second time, and perhaps more than before; since he had conceived some hope that his wise men would have informed him what this writing was, and the meaning of it; but finding that they were nonplussed by it, it gave him still greater uneasiness: and his countenance was changed in him; again; very...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house,.... Not the wife of Belshazzar, as Porphyry would have it; but rather the queen mother, as Jacchiades, the widow of Evilmerodach his father, whose name was Nitocris; and is spoken of, by Herodotus (q), as a very prudent woman; and as this seems to be by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
There is a man in thy kingdom,.... She does not say in his court; very probably, after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, perhaps in one of the former reigns, he was removed from his offices; for, had he been in one, very likely the queen would have described him by it; and this seems to receive confirmation by the question Belshazzar put to him upon...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Forasmuch as an excellent spirit,.... A superior spirit to all the wise men in Babylon for natural knowledge and political wisdom; and he had yet a more excellent spirit which she knew nothing of, and was no judge of; a spirit of real grace, and true piety and devotion: and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams; of which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then was Daniel brought in before the king,.... Proper officers being sent to seek and find him; and having fetched him from his house or apartment where he lived, which seems to have been in the city of Babylon, though not very probably at court as formerly, he was introduced in form into the king's presence; and the king spake and said unto...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I have even heard of thee,.... Very probably he had heard often of him, though he did not think fit to honour him, and use him with that familiarity his grandfather had; or however he had now just heard of him by the queen, whose encomiums of him he recites in her own words: that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now the wise men; the astrologers, have been brought in before me,.... For it seems they came not of themselves, or upon hearing his loud cry; but were sent for by him, and came by his orders, and were introduced into his presence by the proper officers: that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I have heard of thee,.... That is, by the queen, which he repeats for the sake of observing what she had said of him, and which gave him encouragement to send for him: that thou canst make interpretations; of dreams, and of things hard to be understood: and dissolve doubts; untie knots, solve difficulties, and answer hard and intricate...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Daniel answered and said before the king,.... With great freedom, boldness, and intrepidity: let thy gifts be to thyself; remain with thee; I neither want them, nor desire them; nor will I receive them on condition of reading and interpreting the writing: and give thy rewards to another; which he had promised to those that could read and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
O thou king,.... "Hear" (t), O king; so Aben Ezra supplies it; what he was about to say first, in order to prepare him for the meaning of the handwriting, and the cause of it; or, "thou knowest", as Saadiah supplies it; namely, what follows: the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom: a very large one, which reached to the ends of...