God’s Word for You
Daniel 5:1 Banquet
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, October 13, 2025
5:1 King Belshazzar made a huge banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.
When was Belshazzar a king? In one sense, he never quite got to be king. He was crown prince, heir apparent, and regent for his father, whose name was Nabonidus.
Don’t confuse Belshazzar’s name with Daniel’s Babylonian name, Belteshazzar. If you really get confused between these names, then think of the “T” in Daniel’s name as a cross he wore around his neck to show his faith. Of course, that’s completely anachronistic (wrong for the time) but it might help if you struggle.
Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson through the great king’s daughter, who was the wife of Nabonidus. That king, Nabonidus, was a worshiper of the moon god. When the priests of Marduk got the people stirred up in a religious revolution, Nabonidus left and spent most of his reign in a city in Arabia. The first year of that exile (or extended vacation?) was in 553 BC, and it seems as if we should reckon his son Belshazzar as regent and “king” from that year. Therefore the incident in Daniel 7, which happened “in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon” (Daniel 7:1), happened fourteen years before the events of the chapter before us.
| 605–562 | Nebuchadnezzar II |
| 562–560 | Evil-Merodach |
| 560–556 | Neriglissar |
| 556 (3 months) | Labashi-Marduk |
| 556–539 | Nabonidus |
| (553–539) | Belshazzar (regent) |
| 553 | Daniel’s dream of the four beasts Daniel (7:1-28). |
| 550 | Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat (Daniel 8:1-27). |
| 539 | Belshazzar sees the handwriting on the wall (Daniel 5:1-29) |
| 539 | Babylon captured by the Persians. Belshazzar killed (Daniel 5:30-31) |
While the historical records do not confirm the Scriptures (the Scriptures, rather, confirm the historical records) we can gain a feeling of context by such records. In 539 BC, Nabonidus returned from his time away shortly before the kingdom fell. The commander of the Persian army killed Belshazzar and exiled Nabonidus. This happened in October, the same night that the handwriting appeared on the wall of the king’s palace.
Why did Belshazzar throw this big party? The celebration was, according to Xenophon, “a time of high festival in Babylon when the citizens drink and make merry the whole night long.” Belshazzar wanted to make a big impression, probably because his father was getting old, and he expected to become king any day now, although the hand of God decreed that his father would outlive him, but neither of them would remain on the throne after this night. So the prince had collected a thousand nobles, friends and family and other people he wanted to impress or influence, and they did what they always did at this celebration. They drank themselves drunk in an all-night bash.
This passage shows us the context for what God was about to do, to this king and to his kingdom. God does not act at random, or without thought. He chose this particular night because it was going to be the ideal moment to take Babylon away from this dynasty and to hand it to the Persians. For the Persians under Cyrus would be inclined to send God’s people the Jews back to the land of Judea, and the Lord himself had inspired Jeremiah the prophet to report that this would take place after they had been in captivity for seventy years. That time was fast approaching.
Therefore we have law and gospel proclaimed here in this chapter and in this verse. The gospel was the rescue of God’s people through these events; God was working out this rescue in order to prefigure or foreshadow the greater rescue of all mankind through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ for our sins. And God was proclaiming the law by bringing down this pagan government and dynasty on account of their devotion to idols, despite his many warnings to Nebuchadnezzar and his descendants through Daniel and his companions.
God explained to his prophet what the power of his holy word can do. He gave his word to his prophet and said, “Look, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). The Word of God is powerful (Hebrews 1:3), and the Word of God is the means of grace by which he plants faith, saves, rescues, and forgives.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.