Footnotes
1. “Herodotus gives the circumference of Babylon as sixty miles; the whole forming a quadrangle, of which each side was fifteen miles. M.
Oppert confirms this by examinations on the spot, which show an area within the walls of two hundred square miles” (Fausset’s Bible Encyclopedia, p.67). A clearer idea of the enormous extent of Babylon will be formed if we understand that it probably occupied an area nearly double the extent of modern London. It must not, however, be supposed that Babylon contained a population comparable with that of London in point of numbers. The inhabitants of the former city probably numbered l,200,000.
2. Not a mere empty threat. It was a sentence in harmony with the character and the practice of the ferocious and cruel king. “The Lord make them like Zedkiah and like Ahab, whom the King of Babylon ROASTED IN THE FIRE” (Jeremiah 29:22).
It is well for us to remember that the burning of living beings has not been confined to a distant country and a barbarous age. Some three hundred years ago, an English queen, whose name has become a proverb, caused to be roasted alive in England, during her short reign of five years and five months, no less than 277 persons; of whom fifty-five were women, and four were children.
3. Those who have stood upon the “feed” platform of a great iron-smelting furnace, and have felt the enormous pressure of the atmosphere as it rushes forward to fill up the vacuum caused by the rarefaction of the air from the furnace, and have experienced the suck or draw towards the edge of the platform which is felt when the furnace doors are thrown open, will easily understand how perilous a near approach to the mouth would be likely to prove; and how easily Nebuchadnezzar’s “mighty men” would themselves be drawn into the power of the flames, if they once ventured within the range of their attraction.
4. That the fourth was the Lord Jesus Christ — He who appeared to Abraham, and who wrestled with Jacob — has been an accepted truth with almost everyone who ministers the word. It is only fair to say that in the original the definite article is absent; and the sentence reads, “like a son of gods.”
5. It is thought by scholars that Belshazzar was admitted to a share of the sovereignty in conjunction with his father Nabonadius, in much the same way as, years previously, Nebuchadnezzar had reigned in association with his father. It has been further stated that Nabonadius had shortly before fought a battle with Cyrus, been worsted, and had taken refuge in Borsippa. Consequently, Belshazzar was acting in his father’s stead. But what a time for revelry, with a victorious enemy at the gates, and a father shut up in a beleaguered fortress! The siege of Paris going on at the same time as the investment of Metz, presents something like a modern parallel to the position of affairs.
Reverting for a moment to Nebuchadnezzar, the fact that for a time he shared in his father’s kingly authority, before becoming sole sovereign, explains some apparent difficulty as to dates. For example, Nebuchadnezzar is termed “King of Babylon,” when he first lays siege to Jerusalem (Daniel 1:1; 2 Kings 24:1; 2 Chronicles 36:6). He carries away Daniel and other captives as hostages, and returns to Babylon. He then commands that the education and training of the four young Hebrews is to be effected, and allots three years for the purpose. Three years are passed in their instruction;
and they are then admitted into the order of the magi, or wise men.
(Compare Daniel 1:5; 1:18; 2:13.) And yet, although between three and four years have elapsed since the siege of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is said to have occurred in the “second year” of his reign. There is a seeming discrepancy here. But let it be understood that the term “second year” in Daniel 2:1, refers to the time subsequent to his father’s death, during which he had reigned alone; and the difficulty is removed.
The instance of the “regency” in England, during which period the Prince Regent acted with large powers, “in all but name a king,”
although George III, still lived, will serve partially to illustrate the position of Nebuchadnezzar at one time, and of Belshazzar at another; although the parallel is by no means complete.
6. A recent writer says: “The fingers wrote over against the candlestick.” What candlestick? ‘The candlestick of gold, with the lamps thereof,’ which Solomon had made. It was there exhibited in mockery and triumph; as, ages after, its counterpart adorned the triumph of the Roman emperor, and was sculptured in bas-relief on the Arch of Titus, to be seen in Rome this very day.” — Daniel:
Statesman And Prophet, Page 160.
7. The writing was traced on the plain plaster on the walls of the banquet-room; such as, notwithstanding the then prevailing taste for ornament, is still found on the palaces of Nineveh. Those who have seen Mr. Layard’s large and magnificent drawings of Assyrian antiquities, will remember that elaborate decoration extends only to a certain height. Above that line the wall is quite plain, and is, to this day, coated with lime. — Daniel: Statesman And Prophet, Page 160.
8. “The third ruler,” mark that! Belshazzar’s father, Nabonadius, probably counting as the first; Belshazzar the associate-king, as the second; and the successful interpreter as the third.
9. From the authority with which she speaks, it has been conjectured that this was the queen-mother.
10. Here, as in several other instances, “son” is used for “grandson”; and
“father” is used for “grandfather.”
11. In interpreting, Daniel reads PERES, which is the singular form of the word of which PHARSIN is the plural. The U is the prefixed conjunction “and.” (See “Daniel: Statesman And Prophet,” pp.
171-2.)
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