Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Daniel 5

Dan 5:2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden 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.

father

Nebuchadnezzar was "father" of Belshazzar in the biblical sense that David is called "father" of Jesus (Luk 1:32). Belshazzar was probably a grandson.

Dan 5:5 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.

In the same hour

Luk 12:19, 20; 1Th 5:2, 3.

Dan 5:6 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.

his thoughts troubled him

Cf. Isa 21:1-4.

Dan 5:7 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.

astrologers

Isa 47:13.

Dan 5:9 Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

countenance

Chald. brightnesses. Dan 5:6.

Dan 5:11 There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

thy father

Or, grandfather. See Dan 5:2. [above]

Dan 5:12 Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.

doubts

Chald. knots.

Dan 5:18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:

God gave Nebuchadnezzar

Dan 2:37, 38.

Dan 5:23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:

lifted up thyself against the Lord

Num 14:41; Job 9:4.

the vessels of his house

Exo 40:9; Num 18:3; Isa 52:11; Heb 9:21.

hast thou not glorified

Rom 1:21; 3:23.

Dan 5:28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

given to the Medes

Foretold, Isa 21:2. Cf. Dan 5:31, and Dan 9:1.

Dan 5:31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

Darius the Median took the kingdom

The biblical order of the monarchs of Daniel's time, and of the period of the captivity and restoration of Judah, is as follows:

1. Nebuchadnezzar (B.C. 604-561) with whom the captivity of Judah and the "times of the Gentiles" (Scofield Luk 21:24, note; Rev 16:14, note) began, and who established the first of the four world-monarchies (Dan 2:37, 38; 7:4).
2. Belshazzar (prob B.C. 556), the Bel-shar-uzzar of the inscriptions, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, and son of the victorious general Nabonidus. Belshazzar seems to have reigned as viceroy.
3. Darius the Mede (Dan 5:31; 6:1-27; 9:1). Concerning this Darius secular history awaits further discoveries, as formerly in the case of Belshazzar. He has been conjectured to be identical with Gobryas, a Persian general. This Darius was "the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans" (Dan 9:1) "Ahasuerus," more a title than a name, the equivalent of the modern "Majesty," is used in Scripture of at least four personages, and is Persian rather than Median. That Darius the Mede was the "son" (or grandson) of an Ahasuerus proves no more than that he was, probably through his mother, of the seed royal not only of Media, but also of Persia. There is but one Darius in Daniel. (See Dan 9:1.)
4. Cyrus, with whose rise to power came fully into existence the Medo-Persian, second of the world-empires (Dan 2:39; 7:5). In Daniel's vision of this empire in "the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar" (Dan 8:1-4) the Median power of Darius is seen as the lesser of the two horns of the ram; the Persian power of Cyrus, under whom the Medo-Persian power was consolidated, as the "higher" horn which "came up last." Under Cyrus, who was prophetically named more than a century before his birth (Isa 44:28 - 45:1-4), the return to Palestine of the Jewish remnant began (Ezr 1:1-4). See Scofield Dan 11:2, marg. ref.