The Meaning of Daniel 5:1 Explained

Daniel 5:1

KJV: Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

YLT: Belshazzar the king hath made a great feast to a thousand of his great men, and before the thousand he is drinking wine;

Darby: Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his nobles, and drank wine before the thousand.

ASV: Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Belshazzar  the king  made  a great  feast  to a thousand  of his lords,  and drank  wine  before  the thousand. 

What does Daniel 5:1 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Some older critical scholars claimed that Belshazzar was never a king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. [1] However, modern discoveries have shown that Belshazzar acted as king during his father"s frequent and prolonged absences from Babylon.
"The last actual Chaldean king, Nabonidus, "entrusted the kingship" in539 B.C. to his son Bel and the Dragon -sar-usur during his ten-year absence from Babylon, returning as the threat from Cyrus grew." [2]
Banquets the size described in this verse also drew the attack of critics. Yet the ancient historian Ktesias wrote that Persian kings frequently dined daily with15 ,000 people (cf. Esther 1). [3]
Later we shall read that Belshazzar hosted this banquet on the night the city of Babylon fell ( Daniel 5:30-31). The invading Medes and Persians, led by Ugbaru, commander of the Persian army, would have already taken the surrounding countryside, and everyone in the city would have known of their intentions. However, Babylon the city had not fallen to an invading army for1 ,000 years because of its strong fortifications. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, Babylon occupied about14square miles with a double wall system enclosing a moat between the two walls. The outer wall was87 feet thick, wide enough for four chariots to drive on side-by-side. It was350 feet high with100 gates, plus hundreds more towers that reached another100 feet above the walls. [4]
Belshazzar"s confidence in the security of his capital is evident in his banqueting and getting drunk while his enemy was at his door. His name, which means "Bel [5] has protected the king," [6] may have increased his sense of invulnerability. Herodotus also mentioned that a festival was underway in Babylon when the city fell. [7]
"With the armies of a conqueror pressing at the capital this deputy ruler took refuge in an orgy of wine." [8]

Context Summary

Daniel 5:1-16 - The Handwriting On The Wall
The name of Belshazzar has been deciphered in inscriptions found at Babylon, from which it is inferred that he was associated with his father in the kingdom, and was left to defend Babylon. He was therefore a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the word "father," Daniel 5:11, being used in the sense of "ancestor." The great walls of the banqueting hall covered with sculptures and sumptuous decorations; the tablets covered by cuneiform descriptions of the triumphs of former kings; what a feast this was with the thousand lords; the most beautiful women of the land; the concourse of magnates of religion and the state! The wine flowed in rivers, and laughter rang through the vaulted hall. Upon the table stood the vessels of the Temple, and notably the seven-branched candlestick, which cast its radiance on the wall, clearly illumining the fingers of the hand that wrote. The words, though Chaldee, may have been written in Hebrew characters. Conscience anticipated Daniel, and filled the king's heart with foreboding. The queen may have been the great Nitocris, wife of Nebuchadnezzar, the ancestor of the present king. God has His own way of bringing His people to the front when He needs them. [source]

Chapter Summary: Daniel 5

1  Belshazzar's impious feast
5  A hand-writing unknown to the magicians, troubles the king
10  At the commendation of the queen Daniel is brought
17  He, reproving the king of pride and idolatry,
25  reads and interprets the writing
30  The monarchy is translated to the Medes

What do the individual words in Daniel 5:1 mean?

Belshazzar king the made a feast great for his lords a thousand and in the presence of thousand the wine drank
בֵּלְשַׁאצַּ֣ר מַלְכָּ֗א עֲבַד֙ לְחֶ֣ם רַ֔ב לְרַבְרְבָנ֖וֹהִי אֲלַ֑ף וְלָקֳבֵ֥ל אַלְפָּ֖א חַמְרָ֥א שָׁתֵֽה

בֵּלְשַׁאצַּ֣ר  Belshazzar 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: בֵּלְאשַׁצַּר 
Sense: king of Babylon at the time of its fall; he to whom Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall.
מַלְכָּ֗א  king  the 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular determinate
Root: מֶלֶךְ  
Sense: king.
עֲבַד֙  made 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: עֲבַד  
Sense: to make, do.
לְחֶ֣ם  a  feast 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: לְחֶם  
Sense: feast, bread.
רַ֔ב  great 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: רַב  
Sense: great.
לְרַבְרְבָנ֖וֹהִי  for  his  lords 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine singular
Root: רַבְרְבָנִין  
Sense: lord, noble.
אֲלַ֑ף  a  thousand 
Parse: Number, masculine singular
Root: אֲלַף  
Sense: a thousand, 000.
וְלָקֳבֵ֥ל  and  in  the  presence 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l
Root: קֳבֵל  
Sense: front prep.
אַלְפָּ֖א  of  thousand  the 
Parse: Number, masculine singular determinate
Root: אֲלַף  
Sense: a thousand, 000.
חַמְרָ֥א  wine 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular determinate
Root: חֲמַר  
Sense: wine.
שָׁתֵֽה  drank 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: שְׁתָה  
Sense: (P’al) to drink.