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Daniel 5:5-9

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

5. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6. Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. 7. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. [And] the king spake, and said to the wise [men] of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and [have] a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. 8. Then came in all the king’s wise [men]: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. 9. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

Daniel 5:5-9 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Daniel 5:5

Theological / Devotional

Upon the plaister. If the large throne hall excavated by Koldewey in the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (see p. 798) was the scene of this feast, it is not difficult to visualize what took place at the fate fill moment described here. The hall was 56 by 171 ft. (17 by 52 m.). In the center of one of the long sides, opposite the entrance, was a niche, in which the throne may have stood. The walls were covered with white plaster made of fine plaster of Paris. We may imagine that the candlestick, or lampstand, was near the king’s seat. Lampstands with numerous oil lamps were in use at that time. Across the room from this lampstand the mysterious hand appeared and wrote on the plaster so that Belshazzar saw it. It is not explained whether the writing took the form of painted letters or was incised in the plaster.

Part of the hand. It is not stated how much of the hand was visible. The Aramaic pas, translated “part,” has sometimes been interpreted to mean “palm,” at other times to designate the hand proper below the wrist, as opposed to the lower part of the arm.

By SdaBc