Daniel 5:28

5:28 As for peres ¹  – your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel 5:1

Belshazzar Sees Mysterious Handwriting on a Wall

5:1 King Belshazzar ²  prepared a great banquet ³  for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of ⁴  them all. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 13:14

13:14 But now your kingdom will not continue! The Lord has sought out ⁶  for himself a man who is loyal to him ⁷  and the Lord has appointed ⁸  him to be leader over his people, for you have not obeyed what the Lord commanded you.”

1 Samuel 15:23

15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

and presumption is like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has rejected you as ⁹  king.”

[5:28]  ¹ sn Peres (פְּרֵס) is the singular form of פַרְסִין (pharsin) in v. 25.

[5:1]  ² sn As is clear from the extra-biblical records, it was actually Nabonidus (ca. 556-539 B.C.) who was king of Babylon at this time. However, Nabonidus spent long periods of time at Teima, and during those times Belshazzar his son was de facto king of Babylon. This arrangement may help to explain why later in this chapter Belshazzar promises that the successful interpreter of the handwriting on the wall will be made third ruler in the kingdom. If Belshazzar was in effect second ruler in the kingdom, this would be the highest honor he could grant.

[5:1]  ³ sn This scene of a Babylonian banquet calls to mind a similar grandiose event recorded in Esth 1:3-8. Persian kings were also renowned in the ancient Near Eastern world for their lavish banquets.

[5:1]  ⁴ sn The king probably sat at an elevated head table.

[5:1]  ⁵ tn Aram “the thousand.”

[13:14]  ⁶ tn This verb form, as well as the one that follows (“appointed”), indicates completed action from the standpoint of the speaker. This does not necessarily mean that the Lord had already conducted his search and made his choice, however. The forms may be used for rhetorical effect to emphasize the certainty of the action. The divine search for a new king is as good as done, emphasizing that the days of Saul’s dynasty are numbered.

[13:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to his heart.” The idiomatic expression means to be like-minded with another, as its use in 1 Sam 14:7 indicates.

[13:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “commanded.”

[15:23]  ⁹ tn Or “from [being].”