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Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:2

Daniel 5:2. Whiles he tasted the wine— When he grew warm with wine. Houbigant. The golden and silver vessels here spoken of, were those carried by Nebuchadnezzar from the temple of Jerusalem to the treasure-house of his god, (see chap. Daniel 1:2.) and which were there set apart for religious uses. So that this farther profanation of them, as Dr. Prideaux observes, was contrary to the rules of their own religion, and may be supposed to have been committed by Belshazzar in an excessive riot of... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:4

Daniel 5:4. And praised the gods of gold— Here is a kind of competition, or the appearance of a triumph of the false gods over the true one, whom still Nebuchadnezzar had honoured and acknowledged, and prohibited by a solemn decree that any one should speak lightly of him. The competition appears much stronger in the Alexandrine and Coptic versions, which add, "But the everlasting God they praised not." Such a wanton and sacrilegious insult deserved and called for exemplary punishment. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:6

Daniel 5:6. Then the king's countenance, &c.— The expressions in this verse, in a collected view, contain such a description of terror as is rarely to be met with, the dead change of the countenance, the perturbation of the thoughts, the joints of the loins become relaxed, and the knees smiting hither and thither or against each other, are very strong indications of horror. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:8

Daniel 5:8. But they could not read the writing— Because, says Houbigant, it was written in the ancient Samaritan characters, and such as were used upon their coins; which were very unlike the Chaldean letters: for these three compendiums of three sentences, Mene, Tekel, Peres, were such as were commonly found on their coins. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:10

Daniel 5:10. Now the queen, &c.— Now the queen, on account of the affair which had happened to the king and his lords, came, &c. The word for countenance at the end of the verse signifies splendour, or the serenity of the face. The king's wives and concubines sat with him at the feast, Dan 5:2-3 so that the person here mentioned must have been the queen-mother, whom Herodotus calls Nitocris; a lady of eminent wisdom, who had the chief direction of public affairs. See Prideaux, and... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:11

Daniel 5:11. There is a man in thy kingdom, &c.— Belshazzar certainly could not have been well acquainted with Daniel, though Nebuchadnezzar had promoted him so considerably. This argues him to have been a weak and wicked prince, according to the character which the historians gave of him; leaving the care of public business to his mother. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:16

Daniel 5:16. That thou canst make interpretations— That thou canst explain what is to be explained, or what stands in need of explanation. And dissolve doubts is literally to untie knots; a manner of speaking used to this day in the letters of the kings of Persia, to denote an expert judge, or an intelligent governor. See Chardin's Voyage to Persia, p. 228 and the note on Daniel 5:29. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:17

Daniel 5:17. Let thy gifts be to thyself— This is a compliment. He afterwards accepts what he here declines through civility. He means to say, that he was ready to do whatever the king commanded, without any respect to a recompense. See Calmet. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Daniel 5:19

Daniel 5:19. Whom he would he slew— We have here a strong picture of the absolute and independent power of these princes: they regarded their subjects only as their slaves. Xerxes, having assembled the great men of his kingdom, when he had determined to undertake the war against Greece, said to them, "I have assembled you, that I might not seem to act solely by my own counsel; but remember, that I expect obedience, not advice from you." See Calmet. read more

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