Reading for June 5th

Read Daniel 5.13-31 In verses 13-29: Daniel chides Belshazzar for his arrogance unlike "his father" Nebuchadnezzar, prior to interpreting the writing. The words are Aramaic nouns for units of weight: "mene," a mina, "tequel," a shekel; "parsin," a half mina. Daniel reads them as verbs: "menah," to number; "teqal," to weigh; and "peras," to divide. The root "prs" also serves as the base for the name Persia. In verse 30: Nabonidus fled Babylon at the approach of the Persian army. There is no evidence that Belshazzar was killed. In verse 31: Darius the Mede is not historical. Babylon submitted to Cyrus of Persia in 539. A Persian military commander and relative of the royal family, Darius, took the throne when Cyrus' son Cambyses was assassinated in 522 BCE. The Medes were a part of the Persian empire, and various prophecies asserted that Babylon would fall to them (Isa 13.17-22; 21.1-10; Jer 51.11, 28). Comments or Questions..