Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet. To come from the presence of a prince in a dress presented to the wearer as a distinction is still held a great honour in the East. Daniel was thus restored to a similar rank to what he had held under Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:48). Godly fidelity, which might be expected to bring down vengeance, as in this case, is often rewarded even in this life. The king, having promised, was ashamed before his courtiers to break his word. He perhaps also affected to despise the prophecy of his doom as an idle threat. As to Daniel's reasons for now accepting what at first he had declined, cf. note, Daniel 5:17. The insignia of honour would be witnesses for God's glory to the world, of his having by God's aid interpreted the mystic characters. The cause of his elevation, too, would secure the favour of the new dynasty (Daniel 6:2) for both himself and his captive countrymen. Under Darius, the new king, we find him first of the three presidents over the whole kingdom. Since the capture of the city by Cyrus was not until near daylight there was no lack of time in that eventful night for accomplishing all that is here recorded. The capture of the city so immediately after the prophecy of it (following Belshazzar's sacrilege), marked most emphatically to the whole world the connection between Babylon's sin and its punishment.