Daniel 5:7-9

7-9. This Babylonian king, like his “father,” forgetting Daniel, calls for help from the same worthless crowd of “witches” (Wyclif) and Chaldeans (see note Daniel 2:2; some ancient texts omit “Chaldeans” here) and offers, as Nebuchadnezzar had done, great rewards to the man who can explain the vision (see Genesis 41:42; Esther 8:15; Ezekiel 27:7), who also shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. That is, according to its natural meaning, “third in rank” (Kautzsch); meaning, probably, chief ruler after Nabonidus and Belshazzar. [See Introduction, III, 3, (4); 4.] The rendering “one of the board of three” is not a fit here, while Bevan’s twist, changing the word so as to make it mean that the successful interpreter should reign over the kingdom on alternate days with the king himself, is more ingenious than convincing.