Belshazzar - UPDV Updated Bible Version

Belshazzar is the last Babylonian king named in scripture, son of Nebuchadnezzar by the narrative's own reckoning, and the figure on whose feast night the kingdom changes hands. Two scenes carry him: a dated dream of Daniel in his first year, and the long night in chapter five when the writing on the wall is read against him.

The First Year

Belshazzar enters the book as a chronological anchor for one of Daniel's revelations: "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed: then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters" (Da 7:1). The notice does nothing more than fix the date — the king is still on his throne, and the prophet is still under his administration.

The Feast

The narrative of his fall opens at scale: "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand" (Da 5:1). Mid-feast, "Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them" (Da 5:2). When the vessels are brought, the company drinks from them and praises "the gods of gold, and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone" (Da 5:4) — the act that turns the feast from extravagance into sacrilege.

The Hand and the Wall

The interruption is sudden: "In the same hour came forth the fingers of a man's hand, and wrote across from the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote" (Da 5:5). The king's body breaks down on the spot — "Then the king's countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees struck one against another" (Da 5:6) — and the wise men, summoned with rich rewards, cannot read the inscription (Da 5:7-9).

The queen names Daniel as the man who can: "There is a [prominent] man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods... whom the king Nebuchadnezzar your father, the king, [I say], your father, made him master of the sacred scholars, psychics, Chaldeans, and astrologers" (Da 5:11), the same Daniel "whom the king named Belteshazzar" (Da 5:12).

Daniel's Indictment

Brought before Belshazzar, Daniel waves off the gifts — "Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation" (Da 5:17) — and frames the writing inside Nebuchadnezzar's prior story. The earlier king had been raised high, then humbled to graze among the beasts "until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will" (Da 5:21).

The contrast is the indictment: "And you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drank wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don't see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand is your breath, and are all your ways, you have not glorified" (Da 5:22-23).

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN

The reading and interpretation are given together: "And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end; TEKEL; you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians" (Da 5:25-28).

The End of the Reign