Daniel 5:6

Then the kings countenance changed,.... Or, "his brightness" (l); his ruddy countenance, his florid looks, his gay airs; all his jollity and mirth, that appeared in his face, were changed into

Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

His cheerful countenance was turned to paleness, fear and horror had quite blasted the majesty of his face, like an eclipse of the sun. So soon can the terrors of God shake the loftiest cedars; it is like an earthquake in the bowels. Thus can God terrify the tyrants of the earth, that he who hath the heart of a lion shall utterly melt away. Thus can the Lord spoil the mad mirth of drunken atheists in a moment; when they are in their cups, oh how valiant are they! as the king of Syria, ,19, &c.

Daniel 5:6 Then the king’ s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. Ver. 6. Then the king’ s countenance was changed.] How soon is carnal joy extinct, the gallantry of it checked with troubles and terrors! how suddenly is it put out as the fire of thorns! Surely as lightning is followed with rending and roaring; and as comets, when their exhaled matter is wasted, vanish and fill the air with pestilent vapours; so is it here. So that the joints of his loins were loosed.] If a bare citation to judgment were so terrible to this jolly prince, what shall the judgment itself be "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord," &c. And his knees smote one against another.] The writing on the wall he could neither read nor understand; but his conscience had written bitter things against him, which being now held to the fire of God’ s wrath become legible, as things written with the juice of an onion are visible when brought to the fire. The wounds also of an accusing conscience pierce the members of the body. The mark that God set upon Cain was, in likelihood the perpetual trembling of his hands and whole body. Tullus Hostilius, who profanely derided the devotions of his predecessor Numa, had deservedly for his gods Pavorem fear, and Pallorem. wanness, Caracalla, after the murder of his brother Geta, was so haunted with the furies of his own evil conscience, that he forbade any so much as to name him on pain of death, and was well nigh mad; so was Theodoricus the tyrant upon the sight of the fish’ s head set before him, wherein he thought he saw the face of Symmachus whom he had wrongfully slain. The like befell our Richard III after the murder of his two innocent nephews; and Charles IX of France after the massacre at Paris. Lactant

(6) The king’s countenance was changed.—The effect of the vision on the king changes his whole expression to that of alarm instead of drunken mirth.

Verse 6. The king's countenance was changed] Here is a very natural description of fear and terror. 1. The face grows pale; 2. The mind becomes greatly agitated; 3. Pains seize on the lower part of the back and kidneys; 4. A universal tremor takes place, so that the knees smite against each other; 5. And lastly, either a syncope takes place, or the cry of distress is uttered, Daniel 5:7: "The king cried."

6. countenance] lit. brightness (i.e. healthy freshness and colour): cf. Daniel 4:36. So Daniel 5:9-10; Daniel 7:28. Cf. the Targum (Onk.) of Deuteronomy 34:7, ‘And the glorious brightness of his face was not changed.’ was changed] i.e. grew pale through fear. If the text be correct, the word used can be rendered only ‘was changed for him’ (hence R.V. in him); but the construction which this rendering presupposes, though found occasionally in Hebrew[256], is doubtful in Aramaic. Probably was changed is right, though two letters in the Aram. should be omitted. [256] Ges.-Kautzsch, § 117. 4, Rem. 3.his thoughts alarmed him] Cf. Daniel 4:19. ‘Troubled’ is altogether too weak. the joints of his loins were loosed, &c.] He trembled violently, and could not stand firm. Cf. Od. xviii. 341 λύθενδʼ ? ὑπὸγυῖαἑκάστηςΤαρβοσύνῃ.

Then the king’s countenance was changed - The word rendered “countenance” is, in the margin, as in Daniel 5:9, “brightnesses.” The Chaldee word means “brightness, splendor” (זיו zı̂yv), and the

6. The ruddy “brightness” (Aramaic) of the king’s face, flushed with wine, turns white, like the plaster on which his doom is being written; his loins grow weak and his knees smite together with fear.