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BELSHAZZAR
Babylonian king who was co-regent with Nabonidus in the final days of the Babylonian Empire. His name means “Bel protect the king.” Daniel identifies him as the son of Nebuchadnezzar (Dn 5:2, 11, 13, 18), though in fact he was the natural son of Nabunaid (Nabonidus). The seeming discrepancy arises from the fact that in Hebrew literature “father” may signify “ancestor” or “predecessor,” and “son” may designate “descendant” or “successor in office.” Some have concluded that Belshazzar’s mother was a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and that Belshazzar was therefore the grandson of the great Babylonian. Clearly his father, Nabunaid, was the son of a nobleman and the high priestess of the moon god at Haran. Nabunaid had usurped the throne in 555 BC.
A greater difficulty in the biblical text is the fact that Daniel presents Belshazzar as the king of Babylon when it fell to the Persians, whereas secular historical records picture Nabunaid as the last king of the Babylonian Empire. Critical scholars have therefore questioned Daniel’s accuracy. Inscriptions have now been found, however, which make it clear that Belshazzar’s father entrusted the rule of the capital to him and was out of the city for over 10 years campaigning in Arabia. Religious concerns also took Nabunaid out of Babylon during part of his reign. When Cyrus invaded the Babylonian Empire, Nabunaid marched east to meet him but fled before Cyrus’s advancing armies. Later he returned to Babylon and surrendered to the Persians after the city had already fallen to Cyrus. Thus he was out of the city when the Persians overcame the royal forces there under the command of Belshazzar, the crown prince and co-regent.
While Nabunaid’s armies were being routed by the Persians, Belshazzar was giving a sensual feast for the leaders of Babylonian society. Half drunk, he called for the gold and silver vessels from the Jerusalem temple to be brought in for use in a deliberate act of sacrilege. Immediately handwriting appeared on the wall, his doom was announced, and Persian armies entered the city without a fight (October 12, 539 BC). They did so by diverting the waters of the Euphrates so the river would no longer serve as a moat around the city and its defenses could be easily breached. See Daniel, Book of; Babylon, Babylonia.