Matthew Henry on Daniel 5:10-29
Here is, I. The information given to the king, by the queen-mother, concerning Daniel, how fit he was to be consulted in this difficult case. It is supposed that this queen was the widow of Evil-Merodach, and was that famous Nitocris whom Herodotus mentions as a woman of extraordinary prudence. She was not present at the feast, as the king's wives and concubines were (Dan 5:2); it was not agreeable to her age and gravity to keep a merry night. But, tidings of the fright which the king and his lords were put into being brought to her apartment, she came herself to the banqueting-house, to recommend to the king a physician for his melancholy. She entreated him not to be discouraged by the insu…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 5:24
Then--When thou liftedst up thyself against the Lord.
the part of the hand--the fore part, the fingers.
was . . . sent from him--that is, from God.
Adam Clarke on Daniel 5:24
Then was the part of the hand sent - This was the filling up of the cup of thy iniquity; this last act made thee ripe for destruction.
John Gill on Daniel 5:24
Then was the part of the hand sent from him,.... That is, from God: being thus reproached and blasphemed, at that very instant, and for that reason, because the vessels of his sanctuary were profaned, and idol gods were praised, and he despised; he caused part of a hand, the writing fingers of it, to appear on the wall of the king's palace:
and this writing was written; which was then upon the wall, and he points to it.
John Calvin on Daniel 5:24
Daniel 5:24
24. Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
24. Tunc a conspectu ejus missa est particula manus, [272] et scriptura haec notata fuit.
Some stress must be laid upon the adverb v'dyn, badin, "at that time," because God's wrath, or at least its denunciation, was now ripe. Daniel, therefore, shews how very patiently God had borne with King Belshazzar in not instantly talking up arms and inflicting punishment; but he now begins to come forth as a judge, and to ascend his judgment seat; for the haughtiness was now desperate, and the impiety no longer tolerable. We observe with what emphasis the word then is used; as if he had said, Thou canst not c…
