Daniel 5:30 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the death of the king. He had every reason to tremble, because he was falling into the hands of the king of terrors, death itself (Daniel 5:30). That same night, while his heart was glad with wine, the attackers broke into the city and went straight for the palace. There they found the king and gave him his fatal wound. He could not find any place hidden enough to protect him, or strong enough to save him.

Ancient writers say that Cyrus took Babylon by surprise with help from two deserters who showed him the best way into the city. This had already been foretold as a time of panic for the court (Jeremiah 51:11, Jeremiah 51:39). Death comes suddenly, like a trap, on those whose hearts are filled with overeating and drunkenness.

Then the kingdom passed into other hands. We move now from the head of gold to the breast and arms of silver. Darius the Mede took the kingdom together with Cyrus, and with Cyrus’s consent, since Cyrus had conquered it (Daniel 5:31). They had been partners in war and conquest, and so they were partners in rule as well (Daniel 6:28).

The text notes Darius’s age, sixty-two years old, and for that reason Cyrus, his nephew, gave him first place. Some also think that because he was sixty-two in the last year of the captivity, he must have been born in the eighth year of it, the same year Jeconiah and the nobles were taken captive (2 Kings 24:13-15). At the very time the most deadly blow was struck, a prince had been born who would later avenge Jerusalem on Babylon and heal the wound that was now being given. This shows how deep God’s purposes are for his people, and how kind his plans are toward them.