I have a question concerning Belshazzar and the Babylonian kingdom. Daniel was offered to be the third ruler of the kingdom if he could tell the interpretation of the writing on the wall. The question was asked, Were there two rulers in the kingdom at that time or was there only one king?<\/p>\n\t
“Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom<\/em>” (Daniel 5:29).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In most kingdoms, there would be the current king, the heir apparent, and then the chief counselor. After Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C., Babylon had a series of short-lived kings. Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Evil-Merodach, succeeded his father but was assassinated two years later. His brother-in-law, Neriglissar, came to the throne, but he died four years later. His infant son, Labashi-Marduk, was next in line but was assassinated. He was followed by the last king of Babylon, Nabonidus.<\/p>\n
Babylonian kings were required to attend a yearly new year ceremony and pledge their loyalty to the Babylonian god, Marduk. Nabonidus, however, chose to give loyalty to another god, the moon god Sin. This caused such an uproar in Babylon that Nabonidus left the city and put his son, the crown prince Belshazzar, in charge.<\/p>\n
This explains the third in line offer. Belshazzar was second after his father, Nabonidus, and offered to put Daniel directly under himself.<\/p>\n
A good reference source for this and other historical matters is\u00a0A Remnant Shall Return<\/em>, by Bob and Sandra Waldron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have a question concerning Belshazzar and the Babylonian kingdom. Daniel was offered to be the third ruler of the kingdom if he could tell the interpretation of the writing on the wall. The question was asked, Were there two rulers in the kingdom at that time or was there only one king? Answer:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[921,279],"class_list":["post-12737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-daniel","tag-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55652,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-establishment-of-the-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":0},"title":"The Establishment of the Kingdom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Daniel 7:13-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Few argue the importance of the Kingdom in God\u2019s plan. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is not of this world - John 18:36 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a spiritual kingdom - Luke 17:20-21 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet there remain arguments as to when it was or will be established. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60509,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-in-prophecy\/","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":1},"title":"The Church in Prophecy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jerry C. Brewer Over the period of many centuries, the process of revealing God's eternal purpose in the church was gradual. As parents impart knowledge to their children in portions and parts from infancy to adulthood, God dealt with the human race in the revelation of His eternal purpose.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92715,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-kingdom-came\/","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":2},"title":"The Kingdom Came","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton In Daniel 2:44f, the kingdom of heaven was coming. But four earthly kingdoms were on the docket to come before this very special kingdom. Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, that his kingdom would be left to the Medes and Persians (the second kingdom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34737,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-a-seventh-day-adventist-claiming-that-daniels-vision-of-the-statue-is-still-being-fulfilled\/","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":3},"title":"I have a Seventh Day Adventist claiming that Daniel’s vision of the statue is still being fulfilled","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Jeffrey, I hope all is well with you and your family. As always I find your responses very insightful and logical. I have another question based on the book of Daniel. I know there are many who claim to understand the meaning and try to interpret what it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62533,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-and-the-nations\/","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":4},"title":"God and the Nations","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: John 19:10-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How involved is God in the activities of the nations? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We know that God doesn\u2019t change, and from the teachings in the prophets of the Old Testament, we find that God was heavily involved in the governments of various nations.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30936,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/premillennialism-examined\/","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":5},"title":"Premillennialism Examined","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant One of the popular doctrines among some denominations is the idea that Christ came to the earth with the view of establishing a kingdom on the earth. But this was prevented when Satan caused Christ to be crucified, thus thwarting God's plan. The church was then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}