In chapter 5 the iniquity
of the head of the Gentiles with respect to the God of
Israel reaches the highest point, and assumes that
character of insolence and contempt which is but the
effort of weakness to conceal itself. In the midst of the
orgies of a great feast to his lords and courtiers
Belshazzar causes the vessels of the temple of God, which
Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem, to be
brought, that he and his guests might drink therein; and
he praises the gods of gold and of silver and of stone.
The madness of the king puts the question between the
false gods and Jehovah the God of Israel. Jehovah decides
the question that very night by the destruction of the
king and of all his glory. The warning which God gives
him is interpreted by Daniel. But, although subject to
the king, Daniel does not treat him with the same respect
that he had for Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar had taken the
place of an insolent enemy to Jehovah, and Daniel answers
him according to God's revelations of his doom, and to
the ostentatious manifestation which the king made of his
iniquity, magnifying his own gods and insulting Jehovah.
Accordingly the warning was no longer remedial and left
no room for repentance. It announced judgment; and the
very annunciation sufficed to destroy all the insolence
of the impious king. For he had neglected the warning
given him by the history of Nebuchadnezzar. This
narrative gives us the last character of the iniquity of
the sovereign power of the Gentiles, in opposition to the
God of Israel, and the judgment which falls in
consequence upon the monarchy of which Babylon was the
head, and to which Babylon had given its own character.
For, whatever may have been the longsuffering of God, and
His dealings in other respects towards the monarchy of
the Gentiles, as the power to which He committed
authority in the world, all was already lost for these
empires, even in the days of Babylon.
Daniel 5 Bible Commentary
John Darby’s Synopsis
In chapter 5 the iniquity of the head of the Gentiles with respect to the God of Israel reaches the highest point, and assumes that character of insolence and contempt which is but the effort of weakness to conceal itself. In the midst of the orgies of a great feast to his lords and courtiers Belshazzar causes the vessels of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem, to be brought, that he and his guests might drink therein; and he praises the gods of gold and of silver and of stone. The madness of the king puts the question between the false gods and Jehovah the God of Israel. Jehovah decides the question that very night by the destruction of the king and of all his glory. The warning which God gives him is interpreted by Daniel. But, although subject to the king, Daniel does not treat him with the same respect that he had for Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar had taken the place of an insolent enemy to Jehovah, and Daniel answers him according to God's revelations of his doom, and to the ostentatious manifestation which the king made of his iniquity, magnifying his own gods and insulting Jehovah. Accordingly the warning was no longer remedial and left no room for repentance. It announced judgment; and the very annunciation sufficed to destroy all the insolence of the impious king. For he had neglected the warning given him by the history of Nebuchadnezzar. This narrative gives us the last character of the iniquity of the sovereign power of the Gentiles, in opposition to the God of Israel, and the judgment which falls in consequence upon the monarchy of which Babylon was the head, and to which Babylon had given its own character. For, whatever may have been the longsuffering of God, and His dealings in other respects towards the monarchy of the Gentiles, as the power to which He committed authority in the world, all was already lost for these empires, even in the days of Babylon.