Daniel 5:29 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 5:29
Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
purple · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
chain
וְהַֽמְנִיכָ֥אve.ha.mon.kha'
H2002
a necklace · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
gold
דַהֲבָ֖אda.ha.Va'
H1722
gold · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
about
עַֽל'al-
H5922
above · preposition
neck
צַוְּארֵ֑הּtza.ve.Reh
H6676
the back of the neck (as that on which burdens are boun… · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
proclamation
וְהַכְרִ֣זֽוּve.hakh.Ri.zu
H3745
to proclaim · conjunction + verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine plural
concerning
עֲל֔וֹהִיa.Lo.hi
H5922
above · preposition + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
be
לֶהֱוֵ֥אle.he.Ve'
H1934
to exist · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
third
תַּלְתָּ֖אtal.Ta'
H8531
a tertiary rank · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
ruler
שַׁלִּ֛יטsha.Lit
H7990
mighty · adjective, both genders singular absolute
kingdom
בְּמַלְכוּתָֽאbe.mal.khu.Ta'
H4437
dominion (abstractly or concretely) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular determined + particle of affirmation
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Daniel 5:7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylo…
Daniel 5:16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to m…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
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…
Belshazzar . . . clothed Daniel with scarlet--To come from the presence of a prince in a dress presented to the wearer as a distinction is still held a great honor in the East. Daniel was thus restored to a similar rank to what he had held under Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2:48). Godly fidelity which might be expected to bring down vengeance, as in this case, is often rewarded even in this life. The king, having promised, was ashamed before his courtiers to break his word. He perhaps also affected to despise the prophecy of his doom, as an idle threat. As to Daniel's reasons for now accepting what at first he had declined, compare Note, see on Dan 5:17. The insignia of honor would be witnesses for G…
Clothed Daniel with scarlet - ארגונא argevana, more probably with purple. The gold chain about the neck was an emblem of magisterial authority. It is often thus mentioned in Scripture.
John Gill on Daniel 5:29
Then commanded Belshazzar,.... As soon as he had heard the writing read and interpreted; instead of being full of wrath, as might have been expected, he orders the reward promised to be given, to show he had a regard to his word and honour, as a king; and to secure his credit with his nobles and people; and perhaps he might not understand, by Daniel's interpretation, that the destruction of him and his kingdom was so near at hand as it was; or he might put this evil day far from him, and hope it might be prevented:
and they clothed Daniel with scarlet; the king's servants by his orders: or,
that they should clothe Daniel with scarlet (a); these were his orders; but whether executed is not…
The Church Fathers
For the king, after he heard the writing and its interpretation, was grieved at what was spoken, but he commanded Daniel to be clothed in purple and to be the third position in the kingdom.
The vain king did not do that in order to give honor to Daniel for those sad omens, which he had announced to him by interpreting the writing, but he tried to catch his benevolence, as if he had understood that Daniel was extremely pleasing to God, and therefore he hoped that he would have dispelled his ruin, which the hand sent from above had signed, and Daniel himself had announced, through his intercession. But Belshazzar's efforts were pointless: on that very night Belshazzar was killed and Babylon was destroyed, and was affected by every misfortune from the Medes and the Persians, as the prophets had already foretold a long time before, and the kingdom of the Chaldeans passed to the Medes, after Darius, king of the Persians and the Medes, had assumed power.
Verse 29. "Then at the kings order Daniel was clothed with purple and a golden chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed to have authority as third ruler in the kingdom." Or else, it might be construed as having authority over a third part of the kingdom. At any rate he received the royal insignia of necklace and purple, with the result that he appeared more notable to Darius, who was to be the successor in the royal power, and all the more honorable because of his notability. Nor was it strange that Belshazzar should have paid the promised reward upon hearing sad tidings. For either he supposed that his predictions would take place in the distant future, or else he hoped he would obtain mercy by honoring the prophet of God. And if he did not obtain this boon, it was because his sacrilege toward God outweighed the honor he accorded to man.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Babel — (confusion), Bab’ylon (Greek form of Babel), is properly the capital city of the country which is called in Genesis Shinar, and in the later books Chaldea, or the land of the Chaldeans. The first…
Belshazzar — Bel protect the king!, the last of the kings of Babylon (Dan. 5:1). He was the son of Nabonidus by Nitocris, who was the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and the widow of Nergal-sharezer. When still young…
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Governor — (1.) Heb. nagid, a prominent, conspicuous person, whatever his capacity: as, chief of the royal palace (2 Chr. 28:7; comp. 1 Kings 4:6), chief of the temple (1 Chr. 9:11; Jer. 20:1), the leader of…
Daniel · .Promotion and executive authority of — .Promotion and executive authority of
Gold · Was used for: Chains — Was used for: Chains
Heathen · .Belshazzar — .Belshazzar
Proclamation · Imperial — Imperial
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Daniel 5:29
29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
29. Tunc jussit Beltsazar, et vestierunt Danielem purpura, et torques aureus super collum ejus: [277] et clamabant coram ipso quod dominaretur tertius in regno.
This order of the king may excite surprise, since he had been so sharply reproved by the Prophet. He next seemed to have lost all spirit, for he had grown pale a hundred times, and would have devoted the holy Prophet of God to a thousand deaths! How happens it, then, that he ordered him to be adorned with royal apparel, and…
Daniel rewarded, and the beginning of the fulfilment of the writing.
Belshazzar fulfilled the promise he had made to Daniel by rewarding him for reading and interpreting the writing. והלבּשׁוּ is not to be translated: (commanded) that they should clothe, - this meaning must be conveyed by the imperfect (cf. Dan 2:49), - but: and they clothed him. The command was then carried out: Daniel was not only adorned with purple and with a golden chain, but was also proclaimed as the third ruler of the kingdom. The objection that this last-mentioned dignity was not possible, since, according to Dan 5:30, Belshazzar was slain that very night, is based on the supposition that the proclamation was public…
Instead of responding to the message, Belshazzar honored Daniel. • proclaimed the third highest ruler: Daniel did not desire the honor, and in a few hours it would be meaningless. God would reward Daniel in due time (12:13).
Rashi on Daniel 5:28
Your kingdom has been broken up, etc. i.e., UFARSIN means two definitions of PEREIS; one is that your kingdom פְּרִיסַת, your kingdom has been broken up, and the second one is that it has been given to Media and Persia (וּפָּרַס).
