Daniel 5

18. God gave--It was not his own birth or talents which gave him the vast empire, as he thought. To make him unlearn his proud thought was the object of God's visitation on him.
majesty--in the eyes of his subjects.
glory--from his victories.
honour--from the enlargement and decoration of the city.

19. A purely absolute monarchy ( Jeremiah 27:7 ).

21. heart was made like . . . beasts--literally, "he made his heart like the beasts," that is, he desired to dwell with them.

22. Thou hast erred not through ignorance, but through deliberate contempt of God, notwithstanding that thou hadst before thine eyes the striking warning given in thy grandfather's case.

23. whose are all thy ways--( Jeremiah 10:23 ).

24. Then--When thou liftedst up thyself against the Lord.
the part of the hand--the fore part, the fingers.
was . . . sent from him--that is, from God.

25. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin--literally, "numbered, weighed, and dividers."

26. God hath fixed the number of years of thine empire, and that number is now complete.

27. weighed in the balances--The Egyptians thought that Osiris weighed the actions of the dead in a literal balance. The Babylonians may have had the same notion, which would give a peculiar appropriateness to the image here used.
found wanting--too light before God, the weigher of actions ( 1 Samuel 2:3 , Psalms 62:9 ). Like spurious gold or silver ( Jeremiah 6:30 ).

28. Peres--the explanation of "dividers" ( Daniel 5:25 ), the active participle plural there being used for the passive participle singular, "dividers" for "divided." The word "Peres" alludes to the similar word "Persia."
divided--namely, among the Medes and Persians [MAURER]; or, "severed" from thee [GROTIUS].

29. Belshazzar . . . clothed Daniel with scarlet--To come from the presence of a prince in a dress presented to the wearer as a distinction is still held a great honor in the East. Daniel was thus restored to a similar rank to what he had held under Nebuchadnezzar ( Daniel 2:48 ). Godly fidelity which might be expected to bring down vengeance, as in this case, is often rewarded even in this life. The king, having promised, was ashamed before his courtiers to break his word. He perhaps also affected to despise the prophecy of his doom, as an idle threat. As to Daniel's reasons for now accepting what at first he had declined, be witnesses for God's glory to the world of his having by God's aid interpreted the mystic characters. The cause of his elevation too would secure the favor of the new dynasty ( Daniel 6:2 ) for both himself and his captive countrymen. As the capture of the city by Cyrus was not till near daylight, there was no want of time in that eventful night for accomplishing all that is here recorded. The capture of the city so immediately after the prophecy of it (following Belshazzar's sacrilege), marked most emphatically to the whole world the connection between Babylon's sin and its punishment.

30. HERODOTUS and XENOPHON confirm Daniel as to the suddenness of the event. Cyrus diverted the Euphrates into a new channel and, guided by two deserters, marched by the dry bed into the city, while the Babylonians were carousing at an annual feast to the gods. See also Isaiah 21:5 , 44:27 , Jeremiah 50:38 Jeremiah 50:39 , 51:36 . As to Belshazzar's being slain, compare Isaiah 14:18-20 , 21:2-9 , Jeremiah 50:29-35 , 51:57 .

31. Darius the Median--that is Cyaxares II, the son and successor of Astyages, 569-536 B.C. Though Koresh, or Cyrus, was leader of the assault, yet all was done in the name of Darius; therefore, he alone is mentioned here; but Daniel 6:28 shows Daniel was not ignorant of Cyrus' share in the capture of Babylon. Isaiah 13:17 , 21:2 , confirm Daniel in making the Medes the leading nation in destroying Babylon. So also Jeremiah 51:11 Jeremiah 51:28 . HERODOTUS, on the other hand, omits mentioning Darius, as that king, being weak and sensual, gave up all the authority to his energetic nephew, Cyrus [XENOPHON, Cyropædia, 1.5; 8.7].
threescore and two years old--This agrees with XENOPHON [Cyropædia, 8.5,19], as to Cyaxares II.