Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_300.lzh/6_305.TXT

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followed Neriglissar, his sister's husband, by whom
he was slain, and who usurped the throne, anti reigned
four years; he died in the beginning of his fourth year,
and left a son called Laborosoarchod, who reigned but
nine months, which are placed by Ptolemy to his
father's reign, and therefore he himself is not men-
rioned in the canon; and then followed this king, who
by Ptolemy is called Nabonadius; by Berosus, Na-
bonnedna t. b Abydenus ", Nabannidochus; by Hero-
dotus ", Labynitus; and by Josephus {x}, Naboandelus,
who, according to him, is the same with Belshazzar;
whom some confound with the son of Neriglissar;
others take him to be the same with Evil-merodach,
because he here immediately follows Nebuchadnezzar,
and is called his son, vet. 11, 13, 18. and others that
he was a younger brother, so Jarchi and Theodoret;
but the truth is, that he was the son of Evii-merodach,
and grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, which agrees with
the prophecy ia Jet. xxvii. 7- for though Nebuchad-
nezzar is called his father, and he his son, ver. 2, 11,
13, 18, 22. this is said after the manner of the eastern
nations, who used to call ancestors fathers, and their
more remote posterity sons. He had his name Bel-
shazzar from the idol Bei, and may. be rendered, Bel's
treasurer: though, according to Sandish, the word
signifies a searcher of treasures, of his ancestors, or of
the house of God. H'illerus translates it, Bel hath
hidden. This king made a great feast; or bread {y},
which is put for all provisions; it was great, both on
account of plenty of food, variety of dishes, and
number of guests, and those of the highest rank and
quality. On what account this feast was made is not
easy to say; whether out of coaterupt of Cyrus and
his army, by whom he was now besieged, and to show
that he thought himself quite safe and secure in a city
so well walled and fortitled, and having in it such vast
quantities of provision; or whether it was on account
of a victory he had obtained that morning over the
Medea and Persians, as Josephus Ben Gorion {x} relates;
and therefore in the evening treated his thousand lords,
who had been engaged in battle with him, and be-
haved well: though it seems to have been an anniver-
sary feast; since, according to Xenophon and He-
rodotus, Cyrus knew of it before-hand; either on ac-
count of the king's birth-day, or in honour to his gods,
particularly Shach, which was called the Sachaenan
feast; see the notes on Jer. xxv. 26. and li. 41. which
seems most likely, since these were praised at this
time, and the vessels of the temple of God at Jerusalem
rsrofaned, vet. 2, 3, 4. this feast was propheeled of by
aiah, ch. xxi. 5. and by Jeremiah, ch. ii. 39. it had
its name from Shach, one of their deities, of which see
the note on ch. i. 4, 7- the same w:.th Belus or the sun.
The feasts kept in honour of it were much like the
Saturnalia of the Romans, or the Purim of the Jews;
and were kept eleven days together, in which every one
did as he pleased, no order and decorum being ob-
served; and, for five of those days especially, there was
no difference between master and servant, yea, the
latter had the government of the former; and they
spent day and night in dancing and drinking, and in
all excess of riot and revelling {a}; and. in suchdike
manner the, Babyloninns were indulging themselves,
when their city was taken by Cyrus, as th,e above
writers assert {b}; and from the knowledge Cyrus had of
it, it appears to be a stated feast, and very probably
on the above account. According to Strabo {c}, there
was a feast of this name among the Persians, which
was celebrated in honour of the goddess Anais, Diana,
or the moon; and at whose altar they placed together
Amanus and Anandratus, Persian demons; and up'-
pointed a solemn convention once a year, called Saca,
Some say the occasion of it was this; that Cyrus tasking
an expedition against the Sacse, a people.in Scythia,
pretended a flight, and left his tents fd!. of all pro:
visions, and especially wine, which they finding, filled
themselves with it; when he returning upon them,
finding some overcome with wine and stupitied, others
overwhelmed with sleep, and others dancing and be-
having in a bacchanalian way, they fell into his hands,
and almost all of them perished; and taking this victory
to be from the gods, he consecrated that day to the
god of his country, and called it Sacaea; and wherever
there was a temple of this deity, there was appointed
a bacchanalian feast, in which met, and women ap-
peared night and day in a Scythian habit,. drinking
together, and behaving to one another in a .jocose and
lascivious manner; but this could not be the feast now
observed at Babylon, though it is very probable it was
something of the like nature, and observed in much
the same manner. And was made to a thousand of his
lords; his nobles, the peers of his realm, governors of
provinces, 4'c.; such a number of guests Ptolemy king
of Egypt feasted at one time of Pompey's army, as
Pliny from 'Varro relates a; but Alexander far exceeded,
who at a wedding had nine {some say ten) thousand at
his tables, and gave to every one a cup of gold, to oilier
wine in honour of the gods {}; and Pliny reports f of
one Pythius Bythinus, who entertained the whole army
of Xerxes with a feast, even seven hundred and eighty-
eight thousand men. And drank wine before the thou-
sand; not that he strove with them who should drink
most, or drank to every one of them separately, and so
a thousand cups, as Jacchiades suggests; but he drank
in the presence of them, to shew his condescension
and familiarity; this being, as Aben Ezra observes,
contrary to the custom of kings, especia!ly of the
eastern nations, who were seldom seen m public.
This feast was kept in a large house or hall, as Jo-
Sephus {g} says, afterwards called the banqueting-house,
ver. 10.
Ver. 2. Belshazzar, whilst he tasted the wine, &c.] As
he was drinking his cups, and delighted with the taste
of the wine, and got merry with it: or, by the advice

{t} Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. I. I.
{u} Apud Euseb. Evangel. I. 9. c. 41. p. 457.
{w} Clio, sive I. 1. c. 188.
{x} Antiqu. I. 10. c. 11. sect. 2.
{y} \^Mxl\^ panem, Montanus, Piscator. All food is called bread, Jar-
chi in Lev. xxi. 17.
{z} Hist. Hebr. I. 1. c. 5. p. 24.
{a} Athenaei Deipnosophist. I. 14. c. 10. ex Beroso & Ctesia.
{b} Xenophon. Cyropaedia, I. 7. c. 23. Herodot. Clio, sive I. 1. c. 191.
{c} Geograph. I. 11. p. 352, 353.
{d} Nat. Hist. 1. 33. c. 10.
{e} Plutarch. in Vit. Alexand.
{f} Ut supra.
{g} Antiqu. I. 10. c. 11. sect. 2.