In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
That very night the feast ended, the writing on the wall came true, and the empire of Babylon changed hands. Commentators read the verse on three levels: the end of one proud man, prophecy fulfilled to the letter, and a sample of how God deals with world powers.
Daniel had told Belshazzar, hours earlier, what the writing meant. What makes his death so severe is that he was not ignorant. He knew how God had dealt with his father, and he insulted God anyway.
But was this ignorant desecration? No — it was boasting against the God of Israel. They praised the gods of gold, of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In their eyes even a piece of wood or a stone counted for more than God. Did that godless Belshazzar know no better? Had he never heard of God's ways with his father? No — "And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this." That same night he was slain. Judgment did not delay its avenging blow on one who so boldly insulted God.
Verse 29 and verse 30 sit side by side. The king rewards Daniel and makes him third ruler. That only makes sense if he expects the kingdom to go on.
He has been saying that my kingdom is coming to an end, says the king, but I do not believe it. Blow the trumpet, put a gold chain round Daniel's neck, and proclaim that I have decided he shall be the next man to me in the kingdom — my kingdom is still to go on. So he thought, and so he acted. But we read, "That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed." The man was plainly an unbeliever, despite the clear warning he had and the testimony of God in the writing on the wall.
Prophecy had already named the man who would take Babylon, and the open gates he would find.
Scripture prophesied the fall of Babylon. It says that Cyrus was God's shepherd, and that He had taken hold of him to subdue nations. God would loosen the belts of kings, to open the double doors before him. The gates would not be shut. The bronze gates would be broken and the iron bars cut through (Isaiah 45:1-2). The suddenness of the attack is mentioned too: "ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing" (Isaiah 47:11). We also find that it was on the night of Belshazzar's revelry that the king was slain.
The city thought itself safe behind its walls. But the attackers went under them, not through them.
The river Euphrates ran right through the centre of the city, guarded by great bronze gates, so that no one could enter by water. Cyrus, the Persian leader, used a very simple trick. The Euphrates bends near Babylon, so he cut a new bed for the water a few miles upstream. When darkness came, he opened the sluices and turned the river into this new channel. The riverbed was then practically dry where it passed Babylon. The Persian troops marched quietly along it, under the bronze gates, and took the city.
For a long time critics treated this verse as proof that Daniel was unreliable. No record of Belshazzar existed outside the Bible.
Years ago, learned critics claimed that the book of Daniel was largely legendary and written several centuries after the events it described. They regarded Belshazzar as an imaginary figure, since they found no reference to him in surviving records. Later, however, archaeologists dug in these ancient ruins and found his name on a clay tablet. That shattered this claim, like many other unbelieving claims. It appears that, following an ancient custom, he shared the kingship with his father. His father was away at the time, so in practice he was king in Babylon just as it fell to the rising power of Medo-Persia.
The verse also settles a question of prophecy. Daniel had told the king his kingdom would go to the Medes and Persians. Verses 30 and 31 record the handover.
Daniel gave Belshazzar the meaning of the final word: "PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." So the Medo-Persian kingdom was to follow that of the Chaldeans. And that is how it turned out, for we read in verses 30 and 31: "That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom." This is perfectly plain and conclusive. We are not left to guesswork — not even to the testimony of secular history. The second great Gentile empire was that of the Medes and Persians.
The fall is not only history. It carries weight for prophecy too.
God thus judged the first of the kingdoms of the Gentiles, and this was the monarchy of Babylon. The event was of the highest importance for history, and of no less weight for prophecy. The moral features that marked Belshazzar's rule will reappear in the future Babylon spoken of in Revelation.
Wolston presses it on anyone who assumes there is always time later:
But, you say, some men turn to the Lord on their deathbed. I do not deny it. But who gives you the assurance? You may spend your life in the service of sin, living only for this world and neglecting eternity. Who tells you that you will still be able to turn to the Lord at the last hour and have everything settled? Take warning: Belshazzar died that night, and you may die this night.
- Knowledge: God did not judge Belshazzar for ignorance. He knew how God had dealt with his father, and he defied Him anyway.
- Refusal: His last royal act was to promote Daniel to third ruler. He never believed the kingdom was finished.
- That night: God did not postpone the sentence. The warning and its fulfilment fell inside the same evening's feast.
- Precision: Scripture named the conqueror, the dry river channel and the open gates in advance. A clay tablet later confirmed even the king's name.
- Pattern: The first Gentile empire ended here. Commentators see its pride as a preview of the Babylon of Revelation.
And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, [being] about sixty-two years old.
One line ends an empire. Belshazzar dies in the night, and the kingdom of Babylon passes to a Mede. Two questions follow at once. Who was this Darius? And why does Scripture record his age?
Scripture reports the handover without drama. Yet it closes the first of the great world powers in this book.
The king makes much of the messenger, but apparently pays little heed to the message. Nevertheless, on that night the judgment fell. Belshazzar is slain, and Darius the Mede takes the kingdom. So the Babylonian Empire comes to its end, and the second great world power — the Medo-Persian — begins to run its course.
Another writer connects this night to a prophecy spoken before Cyrus was born:
In the opening verses of Isaiah 45, the prophet speaks to Cyrus on God's behalf, though Cyrus had not yet been born. The details given in those verses came true in a striking way, as the book of Daniel records — though Darius the Mede is the conqueror named there. He commanded the Medo-Persian army, but the rising power of Cyrus the Persian lay behind him.
Some have tried to make Darius and Cyrus the same man. One writer answers that, then points to what matters more:
Some people, lost in the hopeless confusion of the so-called histories of the past, try to prove that Darius and Cyrus are the same man. But the Scripture story is clear. Darius took the kingdom, and Cyrus is later found holding it. And do not forget that the importance of the story lies in its moral and prophetic teaching. Happy are those who trust the word of God without question, and whose hearts are ready and open to receive its teaching.
Daniel read the writing while the party was still in full swing. Nothing in the room suggested the city was about to fall.
Nothing showed it at the time. Nothing in sight made it even look likely. I point this out, because it is one more proof of how completely false that rule is — the rule that we must wait until a prophecy comes true before we can understand it... Did God put that writing on the wall that night to convince unbelievers? Clearly not. It was His last solemn warning before the blow fell. Daniel gave the interpretation before the Persians broke into the city, when there was not a sign of ruin and everyone was laughing and celebrating.
The new king was old, and he could not do as he pleased:
We see that dynasty, the one the head of gold stands for, set aside when King Belshazzar died. The kingdom passed to the Median Darius, a man close to the ordinary limit of human life. From what we are told of him, he does not seem to have been an evil man, or such a slave to the idolatry of the nations around him — though he was far from having the forceful character of the head of gold. It could not be said of him, "whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive." He seems to have been just as bound by the laws of the kingdom as the lowest of his subjects. He was not entirely a ruler with absolute power.
God weighs one man and a whole kingdom by the same measure:
God permits sin, and even allows its reign, yet He keeps it in check. It deserves His condemnation, and He must punish it, both in the individual and in the whole. For the individual: "you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting." For the whole: "your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." "That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom." With individuals, "whatever one sows, that will he also reap." With nations, the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He will.
One night's judgment on one city points forward:
God thus judged the first of the kingdoms of the Gentiles, and this was the monarchy of Babylon. The event mattered greatly in history, and it mattered just as much as prophecy. The moral marks of Belshazzar's rule will show up again in the future Babylon that Revelation speaks of.
The same warning reaches anyone counting on more time:
Take warning, Belshazzar died that night, and you may die this night.
- Warned — God gave His last warning while the feast was still bright and no army was in sight.
- Weighed — God found one man wanting, and his kingdom too. He deals with people and with empires alike.
- Withdrawn — That same night the head of gold ended and the Medo-Persian empire began its course.
- Weaker — Darius was old and bound by the kingdom's laws. He held real power, without the free hand of the head of gold.
- Waiting — Babylon's sudden fall marks a judgment still ahead, and warns anyone who counts on another night.