King Belshazzar Did Not Humble Himself

“But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. Daniel 5:22-24

First Daniel delineates the charges against Belshazzar before he pronounces the judgment against him for his presumptuous sin against the Lord of heaven.

THE INSCRIPTION IS INTERPRETED

“This is the inscription that was written: mene, mene, tekel, parsin Daniel 5:25

Mene is taken from the verb menah (Hebrew manah; Babylonian manu) indicated that God had numbered (the days of) Belshazzar's kingdom and finished it (or delivered it up).

Tekel is interpreted as coming from two roots: the first, teqal, “to weigh,” and the second, qal, “to be light or wanting” (Hebrew qalal; Babylonian qalalu).

Parsin also is interpreted as coming from two roots: first, perac, “to divide” (Hebrew paras or parash; Babylonian parasu), and the second as denoting the proper name Parac, “Persia.”

WHAT THE WORDS MEAN

“Here is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Daniel 5:26-28

Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. Daniel 5:29

The king, having promised to reward Daniel, was ashamed before his courtiers to break his word and commanded that Daniel be robed as royalty. Perhaps he also hoped that Daniel would be able to appeal to his God to alter this prophecy of his doom.

THE PROPHECY FULFILLED

That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two. Daniel 5:30-31

According to historical records a man named Gubaru, a Mede, was appointed by King Cyrus to be ruler in Babylon at this time. Gubaru (Darius the Mede) was born in 601 B.C. which would make him 62 years old when he invaded Babylon. Exactly the age found Daniel 5:31.

King Belshazzar and his officials believed that Babylon with its enormous walls was impregnable. But the historians Herodotus and Xenophon confirm Daniel’s account as to the suddenness of the event and how the Babylonians successfully invaded the city without much opposition. Cyrus diverted the Euphrates river which through the middle of the city, into a new channel. Cyrus and his troops guided by two deserters, marched along the river bed into the city, while the Babylonians were carousing at an annual feast to the gods. There was no large-scale attack upon the city. In fact, many within the city were not even aware for quite some time afterwards that the city had been taken. Because the city was taken by diverting the waters of the Euphrates, the invading armed forces were able to wade under her defenses without much of a fight.