Daniel 5:2 Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his . This was not prompted by disrespect nor by the evident fact that they would be short-lived. Daniel (biblical figure) - Wikipedia This would mean right about the time of his death, around 490-485 BC, since he was born around 550 BC, and lived for about 65 years. More specifically of the invasion of the Medes, Isaiah writes, Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media (Is 21:2), and continues, after describing their dismay, My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me. 266 Herodotus, History of the Persian Wars, 1:178-83. Belshazzar was entrusted with many typically royal prerogatives, such as granting privileges, commanding portions of the army, and receiving offerings and oaths, though he continued to be styled as the crown prince (mr arri, literally meaning "son of the king"), never assuming the title of king (arru). (Ugarit was a Canaanite city destroyed around 1200 BCE - the tablet containing the story is dated c. 1360 BCE.) He died about 561 and was succeeded by his son Awil-Marduk (Evil-Merodach of 2 Kings). Was Nebuchadnezzar the father of Belshazzar? - Studybuff Now these holy vessels are distributed among the crowd and used as vessels from which to drink wine. The reference to father may be construed as grandfather. As Pusey states, Neither in Hebrew, nor in Chaldee, is there any-word for grandfather, grandson. Forefathers are called fathers or fathers fathers. But a single grandfather, or forefather, is never called fathers father but always father only.263, The sacred vessels taken from Jerusalem had apparently been kept in storage without sacrilegious use from Nebuchadnezzars day until the occasion of this feast. That such a large feast should be held by a monarch like Belshazzar is not at all strange. He appears on the Bible Timeline Poster right before the fall of Babylon. [8], Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus,[9] an elderly courtier who would rise to become the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.