Nabonidus Cylinder ( Belshazzar : mentioned by Daniel )

Posted by Kevin McKinney : The Book of Daniel has always been surrounded by controversy and doubt. Traditional teaching tells us the Book was written by a single author, the prophet Daniel, in the sixth century B.C.. Both of these facts have come under attack by critics and scholars throughout the centuries. There are many aspects of Daniel that can be examined in order to evaluate both its accuracy and the dates in which it was written. Here the focus will be on a single issue, a Babylonian ruler named in the Book of Daniel. For many years critics believed the author of Daniel had fabricated the person of Belshazzar who was listed as a ruler of Babylon during the exile. These critics were silenced when archeologist made a major discovery almost 160 years ago in 1853.

Prior to the 1853 discovery the name of Belshazzar did not appear in any other lists of Babylonian rulers. Because of this absence, except for the Biblical text, scholars of the day assumed Belshazzar was fabricated by the author of Daniel to fit his literary purposes. This is a mistake repeated by Bible critics throughout the ages. In cases such as the Hittites, Pontius Pilate, King David and others the critics assumed since these people were only named in the Bible, they must not be real living breathing people. In each case new discoveries have proved them wrong, as is the case with the Book of Daniel.

“Belshazzar the king made a great feast…” Daniel 5:1

In 1853 archeologist unearthed a clay cylinder approximately six inches in length. This find has come to be known as the Nabonidus Cylinder. Like many discoveries, this confirmation came not as a direct statement, but as a side note of a larger text. In the case of the Nabonidus Cylinder, it was not intended to list the rulers of Babylon, but was rather a commentary on repairs made to a temple. The temple was located in UR and was dedicated to the moon-god Sin. The repairs were commissioned by the King of Babylon at the time, Nabonidus.

Previous listing of rulers of Babylon included Nabonidus and he was kinown to be the last king of Babylon. Since no previous king had been named Belshazzar, and there were no kings after Nabonidus, then the author of Daniel must have made an error in the historical data, or fabricated the name entirely. This fueled the critics arguments until the Nabonidus Cylinder clarified the confusion surrounding the rulers of the Babylon during the exile.

In addition to the information concerning the temple repairs, the cylinder also contained a prayer by Nabonidus for his son and co-regent Belshazzar. It was found the previous lists were correct but lacked the historical details recorded in the Bible which included both rulers of Babylon during the time of the writing of Daniel. This artifact confirms the reliability and accuracy of the author, but it also helps to answer another pressing concern regarding the Book of Daniel, primarily when was the text actually written.

Nabodinus, Last Great King of Babylon

Author: Grahame Johnston – Updated: 13 March 2013 | Comment

 According to information in the The Dead Sea Scrolls (see our article on this site), Nabonidus was the last great king of the Babylonian Empire. Babylon was in its renewal stage, a period of Arabian history also called the neo-Babylonian Period. During this stage Babylon was modernising its culture and as a result there was an introduction of a more liberal system where rulers lost their enthusiasm for the Empire and a subsequent lack of interest in the traditional form of government.

Archaeologist verses Administrator?

Nabonidus, as King of Babylon, paid little attention to the politics, religion, or affairs of Imperial Babylon preferring instead to travel and research the older buildings, temples, and objects of antiquity that lay in the outer most parts of his Empire. For this reason he is included in archaeology’s ‘hall of fame’ because his abandonment of his royal duties were in favour of some of the first archaeological investigations.

Feasting and Drinking

According to ancient Arab sources Nabonidus was the father of Belshazzar, who stood in as temporary ruler whenever his father was away exploring and digging up the sands of Arabia. The Hebrew Tanach records that Belshazzar and other Babylonian nobles were feasting and drinking at the palace in his father’s absence, from the looted golden booty stolen from the temple in Jerusalem, when they were required to translate an unknown script, hand-written on the wall.

The Fall of Babylon

In Aramaic the script read, “mene, mene, tekel, parsin” and only the Hebrew, Daniel, was able to translate its literal meaning of “number, weigh, divided”. Daniel’s interpretation of this was, “The empire is numbered, you have been weighed, the kingdom will be divided”. This came to pass shortly thereafter when the Persians, under King Cyrus the Great, effortlessly conquered Babylon while Belshazzar was in charge.

 Hearing of the impending attack, Nabonidus made haste to return to his capital only to find it in the hands of the Persians. Fortunately for Nabonidus, the Persian King was a merciful ruler and spared the lives of the nobles whom he had defeated. This characteristic won Cyrus favour with the peoples as a liberator from tyranny.

Worship of the Crescent Moon-God

Nabonidus ruled Babylon for 17 years until its fall in 539 BC. Although he was a neo-revisionist he still adhered to the time-honoured sacred rites of venerating celestial bodies as gods. Archaeologists have discovered a stone-carved relief depicting Nabonidus praying to the sun, Venus, and the moon-god, Allah.

The moon-god is depicted in artefacts as a crescent moon and later cultures included the addition of a star inside the crescent. Everywhere in the ancient world, archaeologists discover symbols of the crescent moon on steles, clay tablets, pottery items, amulets, seal impressions and cylinder seals themselves, official measuring weights, wall paintings, and jewellery. In ancient Babylon, the stele of Ur-Nammu has the moon-god crescent at the top of the list of gods as it was the most important.

Ur (ancient Babylon) has several examples of moon-god worship. More portable objects have been removed from their sites and are held by the British Museum in the Babylonian Room. Many small statues have been excavated and identified by inscriptions found on them as ‘daughters’ of the moon-god. Archaeologists working in modern Iraq have discovered and recorded thousands of inscriptions on walls and rocks indicating that Allah, the moon-god was regarded as the ruler of the gods at the time of Nabonidus’ reign. Archaeological evidence is overwhelming that the Allah of Islam is directly descended from the ancient moon-god deity represented in rock and picture by a crescent moon.

A cuneiform clay cylinder, discovered at the ancient temple of Shamash, records the efforts of King Nabonidus in reconstructing the moon-god temples in opposition to the existing gods.

The doom of King Nabonidus, his Empire, and the end of Babylon the Great was an inevitable certainty given his negligent disregard for matters of royal necessity. His personal diversion into archaeology may have felled his empire but his efforts have left no lasting scientific benefits for students of archaeology today. The fateful end of Nabonidus remains mistily unknown. Some speculate that he perished as a prisoner in the year after he lost his kingdom. From : ( http://www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/nabodinus.html )

Daniel.5  King James

[1] Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
[2] Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
[3] Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
[4] They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
[5] In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
[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.
[7] The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
[8] Then came in all the king’s wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.
[9] Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.
[10] Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:
[11] There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
[12] Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.
[13] Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?
[14] I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.
[15] And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing:
[16] And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.
[17] Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
[18] O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
[19] And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.
[20] But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
[21] And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
[22] And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
[23] But hast lifted up thyself against the LORD of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
[24] Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
[25] And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
[26] This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
[27] TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
[28] PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
[29] 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.
[30] In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
[31] And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.