What historical evidence supports the events described in Daniel 5? Text of Daniel 5:20 “But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.” Historical Framework • Event: Babylonian banquet the night the city fell to the Medo-Persians. • Date: 16 Tishri (12 October) 539 BC on the Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7, BM 35382). • Chronology: In a Usshur-style timeline this occurs 3 ,465 years after Creation (4004 BC). • Principal figures: Belshazzar, son of Nabonidus; co-regent and de facto king in Babylon. Belshazzar Attested by Archaeology 1. Nabonidus Cylinder, Ur, room 19, British Museum BM 91128: “And as for me, Nabonidus king of Babylon, save me from sin with Bel-shar-utsur, my firstborn.” 2. Verse Account of Nabonidus (BM 38299): names Bel-shar-utsur as provisioning troops while Nabonidus is in Tema. 3. Persian Period contract tablets (e.g., CT 56, 436): date formula “Year 13 of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, Bel-shar-utsur, the king’s son.” Long denied by critics, these finds (first published 1854–1924) vindicate Daniel’s claim that Belshazzar existed and exercised royal authority. Why Daniel Offers “Third Place” (5:16, 29) Cuneiform contracts reveal co-regency: Nabonidus (1), Belshazzar (2). The highest vacant honor was, naturally, “third ruler.” No other ancient source explains this otherwise puzzling detail. The Fall of Babylon—External Records • Nabonidus Chronicle: “In the month Tashritu, when Cyrus fought at Opis… on the sixteenth day Ugbaru, governor of Gutium, and the army of Cyrus entered Babylon without a battle.” • Cyrus Cylinder (BM 90920): Cyrus attributes victory to Marduk’s displeasure with Nabonidus, echoing the divine-judgment theme of Daniel 5. • Herodotus, Histories 1.191; Xenophon, Cyropaedia 7.5-7: describe a night assault during a feast, the Euphrates diverted—cohering with Daniel’s same-night demise of the king. Darius the Mede Identified • Ugbaru (Gubaru), governor of Gutium, installed by Cyrus and titled “king” in Babylonian government lists (cf. ABC 7, lines 20-22). • Alternately, “Darius” may be honorific Old Persian “dārayavahush—Holder,” applied to Cyrus’s senior general. Both options satisfy the data without conflicting with Daniel’s notice of an aged ruler (5:31; 6:1). Nebuchadnezzar’s Arrogance & Humbling (Context of 5:20) • East India House Inscription (BM 91,000): Nebuchadnezzar boasts of temple projects “in pride of my heart.” • Prayer of Nabonidus (4Q242, DSS) mirrors Daniel 4’s humbling motif, confirming a known tradition of monarchs who exalted themselves and were struck by disease until they “honored the Most High God.” Daniel 5 cites that precedent as God’s warning to Belshazzar. Prophetic Consistency with Earlier Scripture Isaiah 13:17-22; 21:9 and Jeremiah 51:11-64 foresee a surprise Persian assault and Babylon’s sudden fall—exactly fulfilled in the events Daniel records. The harmony underscores a single, sovereign Author behind the prophets. Archaeological Corroborations of a Royal Feast • Akkadian “akītu” and “ḫanû” festivals involved lavish late-year banquets; tablets from Nabonidus’s reign (Strassmaier, Nr. 10) mark one on 14-16 Tishri—the very window in which the Chronicle dates the conquest. • Ostracon NBC 4897 records emergency grain allocations to “palace bakers” days before the city fell—suggesting hurried preparation for an exceptional banquet. Cultural Detail: Handwriting on the Wall Apotropaic hand-shaped amulets and disembodied-hand omens (CAD Š 2:54) show the Babylonian milieu would have interpreted a divine hand as portentous, making Daniel’s scene historically credible rather than fanciful. Theological Emphasis in the Historical Evidence Every line of data converges on one conclusion: God rules history and humbles proud rulers. Daniel’s contemporaneous fulfillment validates the broader biblical claim that “He removes kings and establishes them” (Daniel 2:21). Summary Archaeology (cylinders, chronicles, tablets), classical historians, Dead Sea manuscripts, and the prophetic coherence of Scripture together form a robust, multi-disciplinary chain of evidence that the banquet of Belshazzar, the writing on the wall, and Babylon’s overnight fall occurred precisely as Daniel 5 reports. The humbling of Nebuchadnezzar in 5:20 is not a moralistic fable but a documented warning substantiated by contemporaneous Mesopotamian tradition. The historical record therefore powerfully supports the veracity of Daniel 5 and, by extension, the sovereignty of the living God who orchestrates kingdoms and calls every human heart to repentance. |
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