Daniel 5:13

Art thou that Daniel? This clause may also be translated, “You are that Daniel” (RSV). If this is the correct rendering, the salutation suggests that Belshazzar was acquainted with Daniel’s origin, but that he had had no official intercourse with him. This much seems clear, Daniel was no longer the president of the magicians at the king’s court (ch. 2:48, 49).

It seems that with the passing of Nebuchadnezzar, the policy for which Daniel had stood had come into disfavor at the court of Babylon, and that, as a result, he was retired from public service. Belshazzar and his predecessors evidently knew all about God’s dealings with Nebuchadnezzar (ch. 5:22), but had deliberately rejected the latter’s policy of acknowledging the true God and cooperating with His will (chs. 4:28-37; 5:23). The fact that Daniel later entered the service of Persia (ch. 6:1-3) implies that his retirement during the closing years of the Babylonian Empire was not due to ill-health or old age. His bitter censure of Belshazzar (ch. 5:22, 23) is evidence of the king’s hostility toward the principles and state policy that Daniel represented. Daniel’s disapproval of official Babylonian policy may have been one of the factors that led the first rulers of the Persian Empire to favor him.