Commentary - Daniel 5:29-31

Bird's-eye view

In these closing verses of Daniel 5, we witness the violent collision of two kingdoms, two realities. The first is the gaudy, temporary, and ultimately pathetic kingdom of Belshazzar. The second is the eternal, sovereign, and absolute kingdom of the Most High God. The events described are not simply a regime change in ancient Babylon; they are a dramatic exhibition of God's total authority over the affairs of men. Belshazzar, having been weighed and found wanting, attempts one last, futile act of kingly authority by rewarding Daniel. But the currency of his kingdom has already been devalued to nothing. God's judgment, once pronounced, is not slow. The transition from Belshazzar's drunken feast to his death is jarringly swift, demonstrating that the Lord of Heaven does not need to consult with earthly timetables. The chapter concludes with the seamless transfer of power to Darius the Mede, an event that appears to be a mere political consequence but is, in reality, the direct fulfillment of God's decree written on the wall. This is history as it truly is: God pulling the strings, raising up kings and putting them down, all for His own glory.

Outline

Context In Daniel

This passage is the dramatic climax of the fifth historical narrative in the first half of Daniel. Each of these stories (Dan. 1-6) serves to illustrate the central theme of the book: the unshakeable sovereignty of God over all earthly empires. In chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a succession of kingdoms, and Daniel reveals that God is the one who sets up kings and removes them. In chapter 3, God delivers His servants from the fiery furnace. In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar is personally humbled until he acknowledges God's rule. Chapter 5 now serves as a stark counter-example. Belshazzar, unlike his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar, did not learn the lesson. He knew what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 5:22) but chose to defy the God of Heaven anyway. Therefore, the judgment that falls is not corrective, but final. These verses are the execution of the sentence that Daniel has just read from the wall. They are the historical punctuation mark at the end of God's declaration against pride and blasphemy.

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

Daniel 5:29

Then Belshazzar said the word, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now would be the third powerful ruler in the kingdom.

Belshazzar, having heard the grim news of his kingdom's demise, proceeds with the promised payment. This is a staggering display of spiritual blindness. It is like a man on the gallows attempting to write a check. The honors are bestowed, but what are they worth? Purple robes and gold chains are the currency of a kingdom that has, for all intents and purposes, already ceased to exist. The proclamation making Daniel the third ruler is issued by a king whose authority has evaporated. Belshazzar is a ghost, going through the motions of power. He is trying to maintain the facade of control, perhaps to save face before his lords, or perhaps because he is so spiritually obtuse that he cannot grasp the immediacy of the threat. He thinks he is rewarding a prophet, but he is actually decorating a man who will serve the next king. This act is the last gasp of pagan pretense. The world always offers its rewards, but they are hollow and temporary, especially when offered in the very shadow of God's righteous judgment. Daniel, for his part, had already told the king to keep his gifts (Dan 5:17), but he receives them here, likely because refusing them would have been a pointless act of defiance against a man who was about to meet his Maker.

Daniel 5:30

That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

There is no gap between the sentence and the execution. God's justice does not dawdle. The text is blunt, stark, and final. "That same night." The party was not even over. The wine was likely still on the breath of the lords when the enemy soldiers came through the gates. Belshazzar, who had lifted himself up against the Lord of heaven, is unceremoniously dispatched. The title "the Chaldean king" is included here almost as an epitaph, a reminder of the glory that was, and which was snuffed out in an instant. This is not presented as a tragedy, but as a simple statement of fact. This is what happens when men, and particularly rulers, defy the living God. He holds their breath in His hand (Dan 5:23), and He can withdraw it at any moment. The historical records tell us that the city of Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians with very little fighting, which fits the biblical account perfectly. While Belshazzar and his court were drunk on wine and arrogance, the kingdom was being taken from him. This is a permanent warning against the pride of man. God's patience has a limit, and His judgment, when it comes, is terrifyingly swift.

Daniel 5:31

So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.

The transfer of power is seamless. One king is struck down, and another "received" the kingdom. The word suggests a simple handing over, as though the kingdom were a package being delivered. And in a very real sense, it was. God, the sovereign ruler of all, had decreed the transfer, and it happened just as He ordained. The Medes and Persians did not conquer Babylon by their own might alone; they were instruments in the hand of God, fulfilling the judgment He had pronounced. The mention of Darius's age lends historical weight to the account. This is not a myth or a fable; it is a record of God's direct intervention in the flow of human events. A new Gentile power is now in place, and God's prophet, Daniel, freshly adorned with the purple of the old regime, is perfectly positioned to continue his service under the new one. This demonstrates God's providential care for his people even in the midst of great political upheaval. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but the purposes of God move forward without interruption. Darius the Mede is now on the throne because God put him there, just as Belshazzar was on the throne until God removed him.

Key Issues

The Sovereignty of God in History

This passage is a textbook case of God's sovereignty in action. It's one thing to affirm in a systematic theology that God is sovereign over the nations. It is another thing entirely to see it unfold with such brutal clarity on the stage of history. Belshazzar thought he was the master of his own feast, his own kingdom, his own destiny. He was wrong on all counts.

God's sovereignty means that He does not simply react to human choices; He ordains whatsoever comes to pass. The writing on the wall was not a prediction of what might happen; it was a declaration of what was about to happen because God had willed it. The invasion of the Medes and Persians was not a lucky break for them, or an unlucky one for Belshazzar. It was the tool God used to execute His judgment. As Daniel makes clear throughout this book, God gives the kingdoms of men to whomever He will (Dan 4:17). This is a foundational truth for the Christian. It means that no earthly ruler, no matter how powerful or blasphemous, operates outside of God's control. Their reigns have set boundaries, and their pride will eventually be brought low. History is not a random series of events; it is the unfolding of God's eternal decree.

Application

The story of Belshazzar's fall is not just ancient history; it is a perpetual word to us. First, we must see the utter vanity of living for the world's approval and rewards. Belshazzar offered Daniel purple, gold, and power. What good are such things when your soul is required of you that very night? Christians are called to seek a heavenly reward, an eternal weight of glory that makes the world's trinkets look like the cheap party favors they are.

Second, we must cultivate a healthy fear of the Lord. Belshazzar's great sin was that he knew what God had done to Nebuchadnezzar, yet he did not humble his heart. He sinned against the light. We who have the completed Word of God have been given far more light than Belshazzar ever had. To know God's commands, to have seen His power in the Scriptures, and then to live in arrogant defiance is to place oneself in a position of great peril. We must not trifle with God.

Finally, this passage ought to give us a profound sense of peace and stability. We may live in tumultuous times. We see arrogant rulers who mock God and His law. But we know who is actually in charge. The kingdom of God, that stone cut without hands, is at this moment filling the earth. Empires that seem all-powerful are, in God's sight, already weighed, measured, and numbered. Our task is not to despair at the headlines, but to be faithful servants of the true King, just as Daniel was. Our loyalty belongs to the one whose kingdom will never be given to another.