Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Biblical Person · Old · Exile · -0579-01-0 – -0538-01-0

Belshazzar

Belshazzar

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Belshazzar was a Babylonian prince, known for the feast during which a mysterious hand wrote on the wall, leading to the interpretation by Daniel and the fall of Babylon.

AI-assisted summary — may contain inaccuracies.

From Wikidata

Biographical facts

Born
-0579-01-0
Died
-0538-01-0
More
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Key events

  • The Handwriting on the Wall 539 BC — Dan 5:5

Where Belshazzar appears

8 verses across 1 book.

Dan8×

Verses mentioning Belshazzar

  • Dan 5:1 — Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
  • 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 princ
  • Dan 5:9 — Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.
  • Dan 5:22 — And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
  • Dan 5:29 — Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
  • Dan 5:30 — In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
  • Dan 7:1 — In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
  • Dan 8:1 — In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.
Voices from the tradition

The Church Fathers on Belshazzar

Patristic commentary on the Scriptures that name Belshazzar.

And so the prophet, after ceasing from what lies before, teaches us the certainty of what will be with all precision, he passes again to the kingdom of the Persians and Greeks, describing another vision to us which happened and was fulfilled in his own times, in order that in this he may furnish us faithful and that he may be able to…

— Hippolytus of Rome (235) on Dan 8:1

In the same night king Belshazzar the Chaldean was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom being sixty-two years old. [Daniel 5:29-31] After the interpretation had been solved by Daniel, just as Scripture encompasses all things, in the same night the phrase was fulfilled and the kingdom of the Babylonians passed to the Medes,…

— Hippolytus of Rome (235) on Dan 5:30

"Under the influence of wine, he commanded that they bring the vessels" from the sanctuary and did not hesitate in showing them to his lords and concubines and other guests, as he intended to use them for a profane symposium. His father had taken those vessels from the temple of Jerusalem, when Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the city and…

— Ephrem the Syrian (373) on Dan 5:2

The vain king did not do that in order to give honor to Daniel for those sad omens, which he had announced to him by interpreting the writing, but he tried to catch his benevolence, as if he had understood that Daniel was extremely pleasing to God, and therefore he hoped that he would have dispelled his ruin, which the hand sent from…

Verse 1. "In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me. I, Daniel, after what I had seen at the first..." This vision came two years after the previous revelation, for the latter was beheld in the first year of Belshazzar, whereas this was beheld in the third year. And so he informs us: "...after that…

Verses 30, 31. "On that same night Belshazzar, King of the Chaldeans, was slain, and Darius the Mede succeeded to his kingdom at the age of sixty-two." Josephus writes in his tenth book of the Jewish Antiquities that when Babylon had been laid under siege by the Medes and Persians, that is, by Darius and Cyrus, Belshazzar, King of…

Up to these words the blessed Daniel has written his prophecy more in the style of a historian. First, remember at the beginning he related what happened to those captured in war, and he adds how God, the author of all, was greatly concerned about these matters. Then he tells how Nebuchadnezzar paid the penalty for his cruelty and…

— Theodoret of Cyrus (458) on Dan 7:1

This man was the son of Nebuchadnezzar but did not directly succeed him.… After Nebuchadnezzar, then, Evil-merodach ruled, and after him Belshazzar. The most divine Daniel, however, omitted mention of the former man, since he was composing not history pure and simple but prophecy—hence his not recording everything done by…

— Theodoret of Cyrus (458) on Dan 5:1

Historic voices touch this life

15 passages from 7 historic works cite verses that mention Belshazzar.