Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, [and] anoint the shield.
Ver. 5. Prepare the table.] Insultat regi Balthasari, ac irridendo voces illius memorat. a Prepare the table, said Belshazzar. But more need he had to have said, Prepare the battle; set the army in array, &c. But this secure sot thought of no such matter. His destruction, though at hand, was hid from his eyes by the Lord, who
“ Auferre mentem talibus primum solet,
Caliginemque, affundit, ut ruant suas
Furenter in clades, sibi quas noxii
Accersierunt ultro, consiliis malis. ”
Watch in the watchtower. ] That we may revel the more securely.
Eat, drink. ] Etiamsi Hannibal sit ad portas; Even if Hannabal is by the gates. Feed without fear, notwithstanding the siege.
Arise, ye princes, anoint the shield,] q.d., It would better become you, O Babylonian princes, so to do - viz., to stand to your arms - to furbish your shields, for your better defence against the Medes and Persians. b Some make these words to be the watchman's warning, given upon the Persians entering the city.
a Zeged.
b Non convivandi sed pugnandi tempus est. - A Lapide.