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CHAPTER III.

DANIEL UNDER BELSHAZZAR AND DARIUS.

BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST.

"BELSHAZZAR', the king, made a great feast to a thousand (LXX. 2000) of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand," or over against the thousand. A similar feast, extending over a period of one hundred and eighty days, was made "unto all his princes and his

1 The identity of Belshazzar has long been a matter of dispute. He is called in this chapter the "son" of Nebuchadnezzar, and the latter is continually spoken of as his father (v. 2, 11, 13, 18); but Evil-Merodach succeeded Nebuchadnezzar in the kingdom (Jer. lii. 31), and the time of Babylon's capture is fixed by the same prophet in the third generation from Nebuchadnezzar-“ All nations shall serve him and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come" (Jer. xxvii. 7). To this, however, it may be answered, that in Hebrew "father denotes ancestor," and "son," descendant; and that no word is found to express "grandson." "When Evil-Merodach was dead," says Josephus, "after a reign of eighteen years, Niglissar (or Neriglissar) his son took the government, and retained it forty years, and then ended his life. And after him the succession in the kingdom came to his son Laborsordacus, who continued in it in all but nine months; and when he was dead it came to Baltasar, who, by the Babylonians, was called Naboandelus; against him did Cyrus, king of Persia, and Darius, king of Media, make war (Ant. x. 11). According to some, Belshazzar, or Naboandelus, is identical with the Nabonnedus of Berosus, or Labynetus, as he is mis-called, the Nabonadius of Ptolemy, and the Nabonedochus of Megasthenes. Others, again, have supposed that Belshazzar was the son of Nabonnedus, and associated with him in the kingly office at Babylon, where he was slain at the taking of the city by the Medes and Persians, whilst his father escaped to Borsippa. This hypothesis is thought to be supported by cuneiform inscriptions giving the name of Belshazzar, or Bil-shar-uzur, to the eldest son of Nabonnedus; and also by the circumstance that Belshazzar desired to confer upon Daniel the office of " the third ruler in the kingdom;" a position somewhat shaken by the mention in the following chapter, of the "three presidents, of whom Daniel was first," as well as rendered needless by the dignity of the Queen-Mother.

2 "Adsidentibus iis: quod non nisi diebus maxime solemniter celebratis fieri solebat alias enim rex seorsus a proceribus epulabatur.”—MAURER.

servants, the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces," by Ahasuerus (Esth. i. 3). This feast may have been made in honour of some of the gods' of Babylon, for it is said that "they drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." This banquet was distinguished from others of similar character by a deed of wanton impiety. "Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein." It is noticeable that "whiles he tasted the wine," (evv↓óvμevos añò TOû ŏivov, LXX. "jam temulentus," vulg.) immersed in one of those drunken orgies for which Babylon was famous, the sacrilegious thought occurred to him to send for the holy vessels, which his great ancestor had plundered from the temple at Jerusalem. Josephus informs us that "Nebuchadnezzar had taken them out of the temple at Jerusalem, but had not made use of them, but had put them into his own temple." Now, for the first time, they are brought from the spot where they had been kept with superstitious reverence, and are desecrated by libations poured in honour of the Babylonian deities. We may suppose the feast to have been of no ordinary kind, but one upon

1 Such festivals were probably common in Babylonia. On the cylinder of Esarhaddon he is represented as making a similar feast at Sidon to Asshur, the great god of Assyria. Nor do they appear to have been altogether unknown to the

Romans.

"Hic cum Romuleos proceres trabeataque Cæsar

Agmina mille simul jussit discumbere mensis."

Statius Silvar, 4, 2, 32.-Dɛ DOMITIANO.

which the splendour of the mightiest dynasty of the world was lavished. The purple of Tyre, the gold and silver of Jerusalem, the treasures of Nineveh, the hieroglyphs of Egypt, the panelled walls sparkling with blue and vermilion, each sculptured slab recording the deeds of "the great king, the king of Assyria," added lustre to the scene. Fair forms, moreover, gave grace and comeliness to the gorgeous festival, whose surpassing beauty yet lingers in the neighbouring regions of Syria, Circassia, and Georgia. Loud peans were chanted in honour of the "gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone;" and yet louder swelled the bacchanal as the holy vessels were produced from the depositary where piety had placed them, and lips maddened with wine shouted praise to the dumb idols "which can neither walk, nor hear, nor see, nor smell."

"In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand (the idea would seem borrowed from Ezek. ii. 9, viii. 3) and wrote over against the candlestick (the feast was made at night, v. 30) upon the plaster' of the wall, and the king saw the part (the extremity) of the hand that wrote." The words traced by these superhuman fingers are three in number; the first being repeated possibly by way of emphasis. "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" -to the Mede and to the Persian. This last word,

1 In the palace of Sennacherib, at Nineveh, chambers were discovered, whose walls were coated with plaster like those of the banqueting house at Babylon.LAYARD.

especially in its plural form PHARSIN, bearing an evident affinity to "Persians." A short message,' it is true, but one of awful significance to that impious monarch: for "in that night;" that night of wanton insult and bold defiance of the Majesty of heaven; that night of gross licentiousness and revolting intemperance; the narrative says (although the contrary is stated by Berosus) "was Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans slain."

2

This description of the taking of Babylon during a time of frantic revelry may be considered as a dramatic representation of a real fact, given with such additions as would be likely to arise after a lapse of four hundred years from the original transaction. History abundantly testifies that while this banquet was going on within the walls, the armies of the Medes and Persians, united to those of various other nations, were encamped without. These had besieged the city in vain for more than two years. From their gigantic walls, more like the bul

1 Josephus thus explains the writing-" Maneh: this, if it be expounded in the Greek language, may signify apɩoμòs, a number; because God hath numbered so long a time for thy life and thy government, and there remains but a small portion. Thekel: this signifies σralμòs, a weight; and means that God hath weighed thy kingdom in a balance, and finds it going down already. Phares: this, also, in the Greek tongue denotes кλάoμa, a fragment; God will therefore break thy kingdom in pieces, and divide it among the Medes and Persians" (Ant. x. 11). "Mane: it is numbered: Phares: it is taken away; Thekel: it is weighed. This is the interpretation of the writing :-Is numbered, the time of thy kingdom; thy kingdom ceaseth, is cut short, is acomplished; thy kingdom is given to the Medes and Persians" (LXX.). "Et hoc est scriptum quod signatum est. Numeratum, Numeratum, Pensum, et Partientis. Hæc est interpretatio verbi illius. Numeratum: numeravit Deus imperium tuum idque consummavit: certum annorum, quibus, durare deberet, numerum imperio tuo constituit, isque jam plenus est. Pensum: pensus es in trutinâ, et inventus deficiens, s. mancus, i.e., justo levior. Partitum : partitum est regnum tuum, et datum est Medo et Persæ."-MAURER.

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Ναβύννῃδος μὲν οὖν τὸ λοιπὸν τοῦ χρόνου διαγενόμενος εν ἐκείνη τῇ χώρα KATÉσTPEPE TdV BIóv." Berosus, "Cui (Nabonedocho) Cyrus, Babylone captá, Carmaniæ principatum dedit." Megasthenes apud.-EUSEB., Præp. 9-41.

warks of nature than the ramparts of men, the Babylonians derided their invaders. Such was the fertility of the soil, that to reduce the place by famine was impossible; and added to this, they had provisions stored up for twenty years. The most probable method of taking such a stronghold was by stratagem, and this was accordingly resorted to. The Euphrates, a quarter of a mile broad and twelve feet deep, ran through the centre of Babylon; a trench had been dug round the city for the purpose of blockade, and into this the waters of the Euphrates were turned, leaving the bed of the river dry. As soon as the waters had ceased to flow in their accustomed channel, Cyrus commanded his soldiers to descend into the dry bed of the river, and the troops passed by this novel route into the very heart of Babylon, thus fulfilling the words of Jeremiah, "A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up" (Jer. 1. 38), "I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry" (li. 36). The Medo-Persian soldiers, slaying some and putting others to flight, hastened to the palace, and reached it before tidings had arrived that the city was taken. So sudden and unexpected was the assault, that we are told the extreme parts of the city were in the hands of the enemy before those in the middle of it knew their danger. Another account says that Babylon had been taken three days before some parts were aware of it. The gates of the palace, which were strongly fortified, were shut. The guards before them were drinking beside a blazing light when the Persians sprang in upon them. The noise reached the ears of the king inside the palace, and not aware of the presence of the enemy, he