Belshazzar the king— The grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the Labynetus of Herodotus, and the last monarch of the Babylonian kingdom. This last king is said by Ptolemy to have reigned 17 years, and we read of the third year of Belshazzar, Daniel 8:1 but Laborosoarchod reigned only nine months. Certain it is from Jeremiah 27:6-7 that the kingdom would be continued to the son's son of Nebuchadnezzar, and from 2 Chronicles 36:20 that to him and his sons the sovereignty would be continued until the kingdom of Persia; and therefore one at least of his grandsons must have reigned in Babylon after Evil-merodach, who could not be the last king, or Belshazzar. And there is very little reason to doubt, from a review of the circumstances recorded in Scripture and by the profane historians, that the Belshazzar here meant was not the short-lived tyrant above mentioned, whose cruelties are recounted by Xenophon, and who was the daughter's son; but rather the son's son of Nebuchadnezzar, or Nabonadius the son of Evil-merodach. And this is the opinion of Jerom from Berosus in Josephus, cont. Revelation 1:20. The arguments usually adduced to settle this difficulty may be seen at large in the Univ. Hist. vol. 4: Note. p. 422, &c. as also in Dr. Prideaux, Conn. p. 1: b. 2.
Made a great feast— For the principal officers of his court. This feast was made at a time of public rejoicing; being an annual festivity, when the whole night was spent in revelling. Cyrus took this advantage to make himself master of the city, as Herodotus and Xenophon relate, and Jeremiah foretold. See Jeremiah 50:24; Jeremiah 51:29; Jeremiah 51:64. This chapter, according to the order of time, might be placed after the 7th and 8th. In the style of the Hebrews, the grandfather is frequently called father. See Daniel 5:2; Daniel 5:11; Daniel 5:13.