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Sixth Day: Review Daniel 5, concentrating on verses 25-31.

1. What words were written on the wall, and what did each word mean? (Daniel 5:25-28)

2. What happened to Daniel in Daniel 5:29?

3. When and how were the words of the inscription fulfilled? (Daniel 5:30-31)

4. Challenge: We can know that whatever God says will happen, will take place. What do you learn about this in the following verses?

Proverbs 19:21

Isaiah 14:24

Isaiah 46:10

5. Personal: Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? Do you believe that what He says will take place? Read John 10:24-29. What wonderful promise do you find in verses 28-29?

Daniel Chapters 1-6 — Lesson 6

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So who were these Babylonian kings, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, and how much time had passed between Daniel chapters 4 and 5? Daniel 5:2 refers to Nebuchadnezzar as Belshazzar’s “father,” but the Aramaic term could also mean “grandson” or “descendant” or even “successor.”²⁰ Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 b.c. and his son, Evil-Merodach, succeeded him to the throne (see 2 Kings 25:27). Just two years later, Nergal-sharezer seized the throne through a coup d’etat, which resulted in the assassination of Evil-Merodach. In 556 b.c Nergal-sharezer was succeeded by his young son, who reigned only a few months before he was overthrown by Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. Nabonidus spent most of his reign away from the kingdom on foreign expeditions, leaving his son, Belshazzar, behind to rule the empire in his place as co-regent. Nabonidus and Belshazzar co-ruled from 553 b.c. until 539 b.c. when Cyrus captured Babylon for the Medo-Persian Empire.²¹

Since King Nabonidus traveled in foreign countries most of the time, he was not in Babylon at the time the event in Daniel chapter 5 occurred. Though he is not mentioned in the Bible, his existence is implied by one of the rewards that Belshazzar bestowed on Daniel for interpreting the miraculous writing—Belshazzar made Daniel “third highest ruler” in the kingdom Daniel 5:29, implying that Belshazzar himself was second, just below his father, Nabonidus.