the last king of Babylon, and, according to Hales and
others, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. v, 18. During the period
that the Jews were in captivity at Babylon, a variety of singular events
concurred to prove that the sins which brought desolation on their
country, and subjected them for a period of seventy years to the
Babylonish yoke, had not dissolved that covenant relation which, as the
God of Abraham, Yahweh had entered into with them; and that any act of
indignity perpetrated against an afflicted people, or any insult cast
upon the service of their temple, would be regarded as an affront to the
Majesty of heaven, and not suffered to pass with impunity, though the
perpetrators were the princes and potentates of the earth. Belshazzar
was a remarkable instance of this. He had an opportunity of seeing, in
the case of his ancestor, how hateful pride is, even in royalty itself;
how instantly God can blast the dignity of the brightest crown, and
reduce him that wears it to a level with the beasts of the field; and
consequently how much the prosperity of kings and the stability of their
thrones depend upon acknowledging that “the Most High ruleth in the
kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” But all these
awful lessons were lost upon Belshazzar.
The only circumstances of his reign, recorded, are the visions of the
Prophet Daniel, in the first and third years, Dan. vii, 1; viii, 1; and
his sacrilegious feast and violent death, Dan. v, 1–30. Isaiah, who
represents the Babylonian dynasty as “the scourge of Palestine,” styles
Nebuchadnezzar “a serpent,” Evil Merodach “a cockatrice,” and Belshazzar
“a fiery flying serpent,” the worst of all, Isaiah xiv, 4–29. And
Xenophon confirms this prophetic character by two atrocious instances of
cruelty and barbarity, exercised by Belshazzar upon some of his chief
and most deserving nobles. He slew the only son of Gobryas, in a
transport of rage, because at a hunting match he hit with his spear a
bear, and afterward a lion, when the king had missed both; and in a fit
of jealousy, he brutally castrated Gadatus, because one of his
concubines had commended him as a handsome man. His last and most
heinous offence was the profanation of the sacred vessels belonging to
the temple of Jerusalem, which his wise grandfather, and even his
foolish father Evil Merodach, had respected. Having made a great feast
for a thousand of his lords, he ordered those vessels to be brought
during the banquet, that he, his princes, his wives, and his concubines,
might drink out of them, which they did; and to aggravate sacrilege by
apostasy and rebellion, and ingratitude against the Supreme Author of
all their enjoyments, “they praised the gods of gold, silver, brass,
iron, and stone, but the God in whose hand was their breath, and whose
were all their ways, they praised or glorified not.” For these
complicated crimes his doom was denounced in the midst of the
entertainment; a divine hand appeared, which wrote on the plaister of
the wall, opposite to the king, and full in his view, a mysterious
inscription. This tremendous apparition struck Belshazzar with the
greatest terror and agony: “his countenance was changed, and his
thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and
his knees smote against each other.” This is one of the liveliest and
finest amplifications of dismay to be found throughout the sacred
classics, and infinitely exceeds, both in accuracy and force, the most
admired of the Heathen; such as “_et corde et genibus tremit_,” of
Horace, and “_tarda trementi genua labant_,” of Virgil.
Unable himself to decypher the writing, Belshazzar cried aloud to bring
in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, promising that
whosoever should read the writing, and explain to him its meaning,
should be clothed with scarlet, have a chain of gold about his neck, and
be the third ruler in his kingdom. But the writing was too difficult for
the Magi; at which the king was still more greatly troubled. In this
crisis, and at the instance of the queen mother, the Prophet Daniel was
sent for, to whom honours were promised, on condition of his explaining
the writing. Daniel refused the honours held out to him; but having with
great faithfulness pointedly reproved the monarch for his ingratitude to
God who had conferred on him such dignity, and particularly for his
profanation of the vessels which were consecrated to his service, he
proceeded to the interpretation of the words which had been written, and
still stood visible on the wall. They were, _Mene, Tekel, Upharsin_.
“This is the interpretation of the thing, _Mene_, ‘God hath numbered thy
kingdom and finished it;’ _Tekel_, ‘thou art weighed in the balances and
art found wanting;’ _Peres_, ‘thy kingdom is divided, and given to the
Medes and Persians.’” In that very night, in the midst of their mirth
and revelling, the city was taken by surprise, Belshazzar himself put to
death, and the kingdom transferred to Darius the Mede. If the character
of the hand-writing was known to the Magi of Babylon, the meaning could
not be conjectured. Perhaps, however, the character was that of the
ancient Hebrew, or what we now call the Samaritan; and in that case it
would be familiar to Daniel, though rude and unintelligible to the
Chaldeans. But even if Daniel could read the words, the import of this
solemn graphic message to the proud and impious monarch could only have
been made known to the prophet by God. All the ideas the three words
convey, are _numbering_, _weighing_, and _dividing_. It was only for the
power which sent the omen to unfold, not in equivocal terms, like the
responses of Heathen oracles, but in explicit language, the decision of
the righteous Judge, the termination of his long suffering, and the
instant visitation of judgment. See BABYLON.
others, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. v, 18. During the period
that the Jews were in captivity at Babylon, a variety of singular events
concurred to prove that the sins which brought desolation on their
country, and subjected them for a period of seventy years to the
Babylonish yoke, had not dissolved that covenant relation which, as the
God of Abraham, Yahweh had entered into with them; and that any act of
indignity perpetrated against an afflicted people, or any insult cast
upon the service of their temple, would be regarded as an affront to the
Majesty of heaven, and not suffered to pass with impunity, though the
perpetrators were the princes and potentates of the earth. Belshazzar
was a remarkable instance of this. He had an opportunity of seeing, in
the case of his ancestor, how hateful pride is, even in royalty itself;
how instantly God can blast the dignity of the brightest crown, and
reduce him that wears it to a level with the beasts of the field; and
consequently how much the prosperity of kings and the stability of their
thrones depend upon acknowledging that “the Most High ruleth in the
kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” But all these
awful lessons were lost upon Belshazzar.
The only circumstances of his reign, recorded, are the visions of the
Prophet Daniel, in the first and third years, Dan. vii, 1; viii, 1; and
his sacrilegious feast and violent death, Dan. v, 1–30. Isaiah, who
represents the Babylonian dynasty as “the scourge of Palestine,” styles
Nebuchadnezzar “a serpent,” Evil Merodach “a cockatrice,” and Belshazzar
“a fiery flying serpent,” the worst of all, Isaiah xiv, 4–29. And
Xenophon confirms this prophetic character by two atrocious instances of
cruelty and barbarity, exercised by Belshazzar upon some of his chief
and most deserving nobles. He slew the only son of Gobryas, in a
transport of rage, because at a hunting match he hit with his spear a
bear, and afterward a lion, when the king had missed both; and in a fit
of jealousy, he brutally castrated Gadatus, because one of his
concubines had commended him as a handsome man. His last and most
heinous offence was the profanation of the sacred vessels belonging to
the temple of Jerusalem, which his wise grandfather, and even his
foolish father Evil Merodach, had respected. Having made a great feast
for a thousand of his lords, he ordered those vessels to be brought
during the banquet, that he, his princes, his wives, and his concubines,
might drink out of them, which they did; and to aggravate sacrilege by
apostasy and rebellion, and ingratitude against the Supreme Author of
all their enjoyments, “they praised the gods of gold, silver, brass,
iron, and stone, but the God in whose hand was their breath, and whose
were all their ways, they praised or glorified not.” For these
complicated crimes his doom was denounced in the midst of the
entertainment; a divine hand appeared, which wrote on the plaister of
the wall, opposite to the king, and full in his view, a mysterious
inscription. This tremendous apparition struck Belshazzar with the
greatest terror and agony: “his countenance was changed, and his
thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and
his knees smote against each other.” This is one of the liveliest and
finest amplifications of dismay to be found throughout the sacred
classics, and infinitely exceeds, both in accuracy and force, the most
admired of the Heathen; such as “_et corde et genibus tremit_,” of
Horace, and “_tarda trementi genua labant_,” of Virgil.
Unable himself to decypher the writing, Belshazzar cried aloud to bring
in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, promising that
whosoever should read the writing, and explain to him its meaning,
should be clothed with scarlet, have a chain of gold about his neck, and
be the third ruler in his kingdom. But the writing was too difficult for
the Magi; at which the king was still more greatly troubled. In this
crisis, and at the instance of the queen mother, the Prophet Daniel was
sent for, to whom honours were promised, on condition of his explaining
the writing. Daniel refused the honours held out to him; but having with
great faithfulness pointedly reproved the monarch for his ingratitude to
God who had conferred on him such dignity, and particularly for his
profanation of the vessels which were consecrated to his service, he
proceeded to the interpretation of the words which had been written, and
still stood visible on the wall. They were, _Mene, Tekel, Upharsin_.
“This is the interpretation of the thing, _Mene_, ‘God hath numbered thy
kingdom and finished it;’ _Tekel_, ‘thou art weighed in the balances and
art found wanting;’ _Peres_, ‘thy kingdom is divided, and given to the
Medes and Persians.’” In that very night, in the midst of their mirth
and revelling, the city was taken by surprise, Belshazzar himself put to
death, and the kingdom transferred to Darius the Mede. If the character
of the hand-writing was known to the Magi of Babylon, the meaning could
not be conjectured. Perhaps, however, the character was that of the
ancient Hebrew, or what we now call the Samaritan; and in that case it
would be familiar to Daniel, though rude and unintelligible to the
Chaldeans. But even if Daniel could read the words, the import of this
solemn graphic message to the proud and impious monarch could only have
been made known to the prophet by God. All the ideas the three words
convey, are _numbering_, _weighing_, and _dividing_. It was only for the
power which sent the omen to unfold, not in equivocal terms, like the
responses of Heathen oracles, but in explicit language, the decision of
the righteous Judge, the termination of his long suffering, and the
instant visitation of judgment. See BABYLON.