What historical evidence supports the events described in Daniel 5:6? Daniel 5:6 “Then the king’s face grew pale, and his thoughts so alarmed him that his hip joints loosened and his knees knocked together.” Historical Figure: Belshazzar Confirmed For centuries critics dismissed Belshazzar as a fictional name because classical lists ended the Neo-Babylonian dynasty with King Nabonidus. That objection collapsed when cuneiform texts surfaced: • Nabonidus Cylinder from Ur (British Museum BM 91128) lines 14-16—“Bel-shar-usur, my firstborn son, offspring of my loins.” • Chronicle of Nabonidus (Babylonian Chronicle Series ABC 7) obv. 3-4 records Belshazzar commanding the Babylonian army while Nabonidus lived at Teima. These discoveries demonstrate a real coregency that makes sense of Daniel’s description of Belshazzar offering Daniel “third place in the kingdom” (Daniel 5:16); Nabonidus was first, Belshazzar second. The Setting: A Royal Banquet on Babylon’s Last Night Greek and Babylonian sources independently confirm a great feast on the night Cyrus’s forces entered the city. • Xenophon, Cyropaedia 7.5.15, 26-30, depicts the Babylonians “drinking and dancing” when the Persians breached the walls. • Herodotus, Histories 1.191, says the Persians diverted the Euphrates and marched in while the residents “were engaged in a festival.” • Nabonidus Chronicle, obv. 16-18, states: “In the month of Tashritu, Cyrus entered Babylon… without battle… the people celebrated.” The convergence of Daniel, a Babylonian chronicle, and two Greek historians yields a strong triangulation of the event. Archaeological Corroboration of the Banquet Hall Between 1899 and 1917 Robert Koldewey unearthed the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II. Room IV—56 m × 17 m—matches a spacious throne-banquet hall. Its mudbrick walls were coated with a thick white plaster; an inscription names Nebuchadnezzar as builder. Such a surface would vividly display the supernatural writing (Daniel 5:5) that precipitated the reaction described in verse 6. Physiological Idiom Rooted in Ancient Near-Eastern Literature The expression “hip joints loosened” (Heb. kether kishrey motnayw) parallels Akkadian panic formulas: “the sinews of his loins gave way” (e.g., Epic of Gilgamesh IV, VIII 127). Nahum 2:10 uses the same Hebrew imagery for terror in Nineveh. These linguistic links support the authenticity of Daniel’s cultural milieu. Rapid Fall of Babylon: External Documentation • Cyrus Cylinder lines 17-19 testifies that Marduk “delivered Nabonidus into his hand” and the city fell with minimal conflict—consistent with Daniel’s same-night judgment (Daniel 5:30). • The Verse Account of Nabonidus (BM 38299) explains Nabonidus’s impiety and the people’s relief at Cyrus’s entry, paralleling Daniel’s theme of divine judgment upon hubris. Synchronization with Biblical Prophecy Isaiah 13:17-22 and 45:1, Jeremiah 51:31-39 foretell Babylon’s sudden capture by Medo-Persia and even mention the drying up of her riverbeds—mirrored in Herodotus’s river-diversion report and the chronicle’s notation that Cyrus entered “on a ford.” Daniel 5 is the historical hinge showing fulfillment within a single generation, corroborating prophetic reliability. Co-Regency Titles and Honorifics Daniel’s use of “king” (Aram. malka) for Belshazzar aligns with cuneiform practice where a crown prince functioning as military commander bore regal titles (cf. “šarru” applied to Ashurbanipal while Esarhaddon lived). Cylinder of Nabonidus from Sippar (BM 91119) backs this semantic flexibility. Extra-Biblical Jewish Testimony Josephus, Antiquities 10.11.2-4, relates the Babylonian feast and handwriting episode drawn from an older Semitic source, reinforcing early Jewish recognition of the narrative as historical, not parabolic. Summary of Evidentiary Lines • Inscriptions: Nabonidus Cylinders, Chronicle, Verse Account. • Classical historians: Herodotus, Xenophon, Berossus. • Archaeology: Koldewey’s banquet hall, river-gates, wall system. • Linguistics: Akkadian fear idioms shared with Daniel 5:6. • Textual transmission: Dead Sea Scrolls confirm early, stable wording. • Prophetic coherence: Isaiah and Jeremiah anticipate the event. Together these strands render Daniel 5:6 not a legendary embellishment but a vivid report anchored in verifiable history, demonstrating the trustworthiness of Scripture and, by extension, the God who reveals Himself through it. |
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