Daniel 5:20

But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Daniel 5:20-23. But when his heart was lifted up — The expressions here have a peculiar force, in marking the haughty insolence of King Nebuchadnezzar. His authority, as mentioned in the last verse, had been raised to the highest pitch; and on that account we find here that his mind was elated, and his spirit grown obdurate in pride and arrogance; instead of his ascribing all his honours and advantages to the real giver of them, the true God, whom he had been brought to acknowledge, and to the neglect of whom, and of improving by his grandfather’s sufferings, the prophet justly and judiciously attributes Belshazzar’s fate. Thou his son, &c., hast not humbled thy heart — Thou hast not been made sensible of thy own utter weakness, and thy absolute dependance on Jehovah, the true God, who thus abased thy father in the midst of his power and pride. But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven — As if thou hadst been equal, or even superior to him in wisdom and power. He instances in four particulars: 1st, They have brought the vessels of his house before thee — To profane them in your idolatrous feasts: 2d, Thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, &c., which see not, &c. 3d, Thou hast not glorified the true God, in whose hands thy breath is, and all thy ways: yea, 4th, Thou hast highly dishonoured, affronted, and reproached him.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:18-31 Daniel reads Belshazzar's doom. He had not taken warning by the judgments upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he had insulted God. Sinners are pleased with gods that neither see, nor hear, nor know; but they will be judged by One to whom all things are open. Daniel reads the sentence written on the wall. All this may well be applied to the doom of every sinner. At death, the sinner's days are numbered and finished; after death is the judgment, when he will be weighed in the balance, and found wanting; and after judgment the sinner will be cut asunder, and given as a prey to the devil and his angels. While these things were passing in the palace, it is considered that the army of Cyrus entered the city; and when Belshazzar was slain, a general submission followed. Soon will every impenitent sinner find the writing of God's word brought to pass upon him, whether he is weighed in the balance of the law as a self-righteous Pharisee, or in that of the gospel as a painted hypocrite.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But when his heart was lifted up - See Daniel 4:30.

And his mind hardened in pride - Margin, "to deal proudly." The state of mind indicated here is that in which there is no sense of dependence, but where one feels that he has all resources in himself, and need only look to himself.

He was deposed from his kingly throne - Margin, "made to come down." That is, he was so deposed by the providence of God, not by the acts of his own subjects.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. A purely absolute monarchy (Jer 27:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which was explained before: all this Daniel minds him of to rub up his memory, that he might have the fuller blow in the application, Daniel 5:22, for the aggravation of his crime.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened it pride,.... When his heart was elated with his successes and victories, with the enlargement of his dominions, and with his grandeur and glory he had arrived unto; and his pride increased yet more, till he was strengthened and hardened in it: or, "to deal proudly" (u); and behave haughtily to God and man: or, "to do wickedly", as Jarchi interprets it; for pride and haughtiness of mind puts men, especially great men, kings and monarchs, on doing things extremely vile and wicked:

he was deposed from his kingly throne; not by his nobles and subjects, but by the hand of God, which struck him with madness, and made him unfit for government; obliged him to quit the throne, and to range among the beasts of the field, as is afterwards observed:

and they took his glory from him; the watchers, the angels, or the divine Persons that ordered the tree to be cut down to the roots, Daniel 4:14, or it may be rendered impersonally, "and his glory was taken from him" (w); his glory as a man, being deprived of his reason, and acting like a brute beast; and his glory as a king, which departed from him for a season, while he was driven from men, from his royal palace and court, and lived among beasts, and fed as they did, as follows:

(u) "ad superbe agendum", Junius & Tremellius; "ad superbiendum", Piscator, Michaelis; "ut superbe ageret", Cocceius. (w) "et gloria ejus ablata est", V. L.; "honor ejus translatus fuit", Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. was lifted up] Cf. Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 17:20; Ezekiel 31:10, &c.

and his spirit was hardened that he dealt proudly (R.V.)] ‘was hardened’ is literally was strong (i.e. stiff, unyielding): the same word (teḳaph) is used in the Targums for the Hebrew ḥâzaḳ, ḥizzçḳ ‘to be or make strong (hard)’ in Exodus 7:13; Exodus 7:22; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 9:35, &c. (of Pharaoh’s heart). Cf. Deuteronomy 2:30.

they took his glory] or, his glory was taken, according to the principle explained on Daniel 4:25.

Daniel 5:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The address, Thou, O king, is here an absolute clause, and is not resumed till Daniel 5:22. By this address all that follows regarding Nebuchadnezzar is placed in definite relation to Belshazzar. The brilliant description of Nebuchadnezzar's power in Daniel 5:18 and Daniel 5:19 has undeniably the object of impressing it on the mind of Belshazzar that he did not equal his father in power and majesty. Regarding וגו עממיּא, see under Daniel 3:4, and with regard to the Kethiv זאעין, with the Keri יעין, see under Daniel 3:3. מחא is not from מחא, to strike (Theodot., Vulg.), but the Aphel of חיא (to live), the particip. of which is מחי in Deuteronomy 32:39, contracted from מחיא, here the part. מחא, in which the Jod is compensated by the lengthening of the vowel a4. Accordingly, there is no ground for giving the preference, with Buxt., Ges., Hitz., and others, to the variant מחא, which accommodates itself to the usual Targum. form. The last clause in Daniel 5:19 reminds us of 1 Samuel 2:6-7. In Daniel 5:20 and Daniel 5:21 Daniel brings to the remembrance of Belshazzar the divine judgment that fell upon Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4). רם is not the passive part., but the perf. act. with an intransitive signification; cf. Winer, 22, 4. תּקף, strong, to be and to become firm, here, as the Hebr. חזק, Exodus 7:13, of obduracy. העדּיו, 3rd pers. plur. imper., instead of the passive: they took away, for it was taken away, he lost it; see under Daniel 3:4, and Winer, 49, 3. שׁוּי is also to be thus interpreted, since in its impersonal use the singular is equivalent to the plur.; cf. Winer. There is no reason for changing (with v. Leng. and Hitz.) the form into shewiy, part. Piel. The change of construction depends on the rhetorical form of the address, which explains also the naming of the ערדין, wild asses, as untractable beasts, instead of בּרא חיות (beasts of the field), Daniel 4:20 (23). Regarding the Kethiv עליה, see under Daniel 4:14; and for the subject, cf. Daniel 4:22 (25), 29 (32).