Daniel 5.11-The Queen Informs Belshazzar About Daniel
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday December 6, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 5:11-The Queen Informs Belshazzar About Daniel
Lesson # 152
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 5:1.
Daniel 5:1 King Belshazzar threw an enormous banquet for a thousand of his nobles. He even drank wine excessively directly in front of the thousand. 2 Belshazzar issued an order while under the influence of the wine causing the gold and silver articles to be brought in which Nebuchadnezzar, his great-grandfather caused to be confiscated from the temple, which was in Jerusalem, in order that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 3 Therefore, the gold and silver articles were brought in, which were confiscated from the temple, which was God’s house, which was in Jerusalem so that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 4 They drank wine while they praised gods composed of gold as well as silver, bronze, iron, wood and in addition stone. 5 During this time, the fingers of a human hand appeared while writing on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, directly in front of the lampstand so that the king observed the palm of the hand which was writing. 6 Then the king, his countenance was changed for him. Also, his thoughts caused him to be terrified so that his hip joints gave way resulting in his knees knocking together, one against the other. 7 The king authoritatively shouted out an order for the purpose of causing the necromancers, astrologers as well as diviners to be brought in. He declared to the city of Babylon’s wise men, “Any person who can read aloud as well as can make known its interpretation to me will be clothed with a purple robe as well as a golden chain around his neck. Indeed, they will rule as third in the kingdom.” 8 Therefore, each and every one of the king’s wise men came in but they were totally unable to read or cause the interpretation to be made known to the king. 9 Thus causing the king to be extremely terrified so that his countenance was changed on him as well as causing his nobles to be perplexed. 10 The queen entered the banquet hall because of the king’s words as well as his nobles. The queen responded and said, “O king, live forever! Please, by no means let your thoughts cause you to be terrified so that they by no means cause your countenance to be changed!” (My translation)
Daniel 5:11 “There is a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners.” (NASB95)
“A spirit of the holy gods” is composed of the feminine singular construct form of the noun rûaḥ (רוּחַ) (roo´-akh), “a spirit of” which is followed by the masculine plural noun ʾělāh (אֱלָהּ) (el-aw´), “gods” which is modified by the masculine plural adjective qǎd∙dîš (קַדִּישׁ) (kad-deesh´), “holy.”
This is the fourth time we have seen this expression (Daniel 4:8-9, 18) and in each of the three previous instances in which the expression occurs, it means “God’s Holy Spirit” rather than “a spirit of the holy gods.”
Therefore, in these three previous instances in which this expression occurs the noun rûaḥ means “Spirit” referring to the third member of the Trinity and the proper noun ʾělāh means “God” referring to the deity of the Spirit.
The adjective qǎd∙dîš means “holy” describing the Spirit’s character and nature as set apart and morally pure in the sense that He is to be distinguished from the heathen gods in that He is the true God and they are not.
In these three previous instances, this expression denotes that Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that Daniel possessed God’s Holy Spirit in him.
He is not saying that Daniel possesses the spirit of the holy gods but rather that he possesses God’s Holy Spirit.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that in Daniel 4:9, the king uses this expression to describe the basis for the fact that absolutely no mystery is too difficult for Daniel.
Now, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that Daniel’s God is a revealer of mysteries in Daniel 2:47.
Thus, the fact that the king associated the revealing of mysteries to Daniel’s God indicates that when Nebuchadnezzar uses the expression rûaḥ qǎd·dî·šînʾělā·hîn in Daniel 4:8-9 and 18 he is describing Daniel as possessing God’s Holy Spirit rather than being indwelt with a spirit of the holy gods.
Now, here in Daniel 5:11, the expression rûaḥ qǎd·dî·šînʾělā·hîn should also be translated “God’s Holy Spirit” rather than “a spirit of the holy gods” since the queen is using Nebuchadnezzar’s description of Daniel.
The queen was evidently a non-believer and thus we would not expect her to be using this expression.
She is simply using Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding of this expression as a believer in Yahweh when describing Daniel to Belshazzar.
“And in the days of your father, illumination, insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him” presents the result of Daniel possessing God’s Holy Spirit in him.
“In the days of your father” refers to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.
The noun ʾǎḇ, “father” describes Nebuchadnezzar as being Belshazzar’s great-grandfather, which is indicated by Jeremiah 27:7, Daniel 5:11 and history.
“Illumination” is the feminine singular noun nǎ∙hî∙rû (נַהִירוּ) (neh-hee-roo´), which describes Daniel as demonstrating spiritual and intellectual enlightenment with regards to the dreams/visions which Nebuchadnezzar received from God as recorded in Daniel chapters two and four.
“Insight” is the feminine singular noun śāḵ∙leṯā∙nû (שָׂכְלְתָנוּ) (sok-leth-aw-noo´), which means “insight, discernment” and describes Daniel as having the power of judgment and perceptive insight as demonstrated in the use of knowledge rather than knowing by experience.
It denotes that Daniel had the God-given ability to interpret visions and dreams which was impossible for the average human mind.
“Wisdom” is the feminine singular noun ḥā∙ḵemā(h) (חָכְמָה) (khok-maw´), which means “wisdom” in the sense of having deep understanding and keen discernment through accumulated philosophic or scientific learning.
The word describes Daniel as possessing deep understanding and keen discernment as a result of possessing God’s Holy Spirit in him.
Specifically, it describes Daniel as possessing the ability to know how to interpret dreams, to solve riddles and decipher extremely difficult problems according to how the queen describes Daniel in Daniel 5:12.
“Like the wisdom of the gods were found in him” is composed of the preposition k- (כְּ־) (kee) “like” and its object is the feminine singular noun ḥā∙ḵemā(h) (חָכְמָה) (khok-maw´), “the wisdom of” which is modified by the masculine plural construct form of the noun ʾělāh (אֱלָהּ) (el-aw´), “gods.”
The noun ḥā∙ḵemā(h) means “wisdom” and refers to God’s wisdom since the word is modified by the noun ʾělāh, which should be translated “God” rather than “gods” since it is a reference to the God of Israel without reference to a member of the Trinity.
The noun ḥā∙ḵemā(h) is the object of the preposition k, which does not means “like” but rather “in accordance with” since it is not a marker of comparison indicating that the queen is comparing Daniel’s wisdom with God’s wisdom but rather it shows the correspondence between Daniel’s wisdom and God’s wisdom.
This preposition does not mean that Daniel’s wisdom was similar to God’s but that it was in fact God’s wisdom since only a person who possesses God’s wisdom could interpret the dreams.
“And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners” is advancing upon and intensifying the queen’s previous two descriptions of Daniel.
The repetition found in the expression “King Nebuchadnezzar, your great-grandfather, your great-grandfather the king” emphasizes with Belshazzar how significant a person Daniel was and that he should summon Daniel immediately to solve the problem with the mysterious inscription since the great Nebuchadnezzar who built Babylon into a great empire relied upon him.
“Chief” is the masculine singular construct form of the noun rǎḇ (רַב) (rab), which describes Daniel as an individual whom Nebuchadnezzar had given supreme authority over his wise men.
“Magicians” is the masculine plural form of the noun ḥǎr∙ṭōm (חַרְטֹם) (khar-tome), which refers to “occultist priests” who led the Babylonians in the worship of their gods like Marduk.
“Conjurers” is the masculine plural form of the noun ʾǎš∙šāp̄ (אַשָּׁף) (ash-shawf), which refers to a necromancer who was an individual who attempted to contact the dead for the purpose of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events.
“Chaldeans” is the masculine plural form of the noun kǎś∙dāy (כַּשְׂדָּי) (kas-day), which were astrologers who studied the magnitudes, movements and constitutions of the heavenly bodies.
“Diviners” is the masculine plural peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb gezǎr (גְּזַר) (ghez-ar´), which refers to those who practice various forms of divination such as rhabdomancy, hepatoscopy, teraphim, necromancy, hydromancy, lots, and dreams.
Daniel 5:11 “There is a man in your kingdom who possesses God’s Holy Spirit in him so that during the days of your great-grandfather, illumination, discernment as well as wisdom in accordance with God’s wisdom were observed in him. Indeed, King Nebuchadnezzar, your great-grandfather, your great-grandfather the king, promoted him to be commander over the occult priests, necromancers, astrologers and diviners.” (My translation)
In Daniel 5:11, we have Daniel recording for us the queen speaking to Belshazzar and informing him with regards to Daniel’s ability to solve the problem of the mysterious inscription on one of the walls of the banquet behind the lampstand.
Belshazzar has a unique problem which cannot be solved by the greatest minds and intellects of his age since it requires a unique person to solve it for him who possesses God’s wisdom..
The mysterious inscription is directly from God and thus requires a man who possesses a relationship and fellowship with God and has been given the ability by God to read and interpret it.
This great crisis requires a godly man with supernatural power to solve.