The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 5:1-9
Blasted merriment. All merriment is not forbidden. Banqueting is not in itself a sin. Jesus Christ himself honoured with his presence a marriage festival, and contributed, by miracle, the wine for the occasion. On the restoration of the prodigal son, a banquet was prepared, while music and dancing were the fitting exponents of the father's joy. God is not a foe to rational pleasure. He gives both the capacity and the occasion for joyful hilarity. But when excess of wine inflames the carnal... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 5:1-4
The downward road. "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand "( Daniel 5:1 ). The history of the fall of Babylon must form the background of any homiletical treatment of this chapter (see the histories; and the Exposition above). The clearing up of the difficulty of this portion of Scripture, of the seeming discrepancy between Daniel's statements and the records of secular history, by the discovery of clay cylinders,... read more