Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which [was] in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
Ver. 2. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine.] a And was mastered by it; being now in his cups, as they say, and well whittled, "swallowed up of wine," as the prophet expresseth it. Isa 28:7 Aben Ezra rendereth it, in consilio vini, doing as the wine advised him.
Commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels.] Being intoxicated, he casteth off all care of God and man, and falleth into the sins of sacrilege and blasphemy.
Which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple.] And should have restored them hither again. We read that when Gensericus had spoiled and plundered Rome, he took the vessels of gold and silver which Titus had brought from the temple in Jerusalem, and carried them with him to Carthage; these vessels, among other spoils, Belisarius met with when he took Carthage, and carried them to Constantinople. But the good Emperor Justinian would not receive them into his treasury, but sent them again to Jerusalem to be disposed of for the good of the Church, according to the discretion of the Christian bishops who lived there. b
a Iam temulentus. - Vulgate
b The Life of Justin, by Mr Clark, 79.