While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. – Daniel 5:2

Today's Scripture Reading (September 18, 2023): Daniel 5

Perkin Warbeck was born in 1474 C.E. Perkin was the son of Jehan de Werbecque and Katherine de Faro, although if you could have a conversation with him, that is not the story he would tell you. When he was about sixteen years old, Perkin began to say that he was the son of King Edward IV of England and his Queen, Elizabeth Woodville. Warbeck also changed his name; Perkin Warbeck was placed in the background, and the young man began claiming he was Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. The significance of the claim was that Richard of Shrewsbury was the younger brother of King Edward V. And if King Edward was dead, which was widely believed, then the throne belonged to Richard of Shrewsbury. Edward and Richard were the "Princes in the Tower," the two sons of King Edward IV. Enough people believed that Perkin really was Richard to allow him to make a couple of attempts to take the throne of England. But both failed. The reality is that, despite there being no evidence of either of the boys after their disappearance, both boys were most likely murdered by their Uncle, Richard III, who became King in their place. How long they lived in the Tower of London before their deaths is unknown, only that the two boys were never seen again.

Eventually, the charade fell through, and Perkin Warbeck was arrested and placed in the Tower of London, where the child he had pretended to be had died. After a few attempts to escape, Perkin Warbeck was hung for pretending to be Richard of Shrewsbury and trying to steal the throne from the current occupant, Henry VII of England.

The story of Belshazzar has several problems attached to it that historians have struggled to solve. Some simply believe this story to be a work of religious fiction written in the second century B.C.E., almost four hundred years after the events of the story it attempts to tell. The first significant issue contained within the tale was that Belshazzar was never King of Babylon. His father was the last king of Babylon. Some have wondered if maybe Belshazzar shared the throne with his father for a time, a common practice during this era. In fact, many of the Kings of Judah began their time on the throne by sharing it with their fathers.

But this brings us to the second major problem. Belshazzar's father was not Nebuchadnezzar; it was Nabonidus. Nabonidus's origins are highly obscured by mystery, but it is believed that he was not closely related to the House of Nebuchadnezzar. Nabonidus says of his origins,

            I am Nabonidus, the only son,

who has nobody. In my mind there

was no thought of kingship.

Nabonidus and his son have a bit of a rocky relationship, but it was Nabonidus who was the last King of Babylon, not Belshazzar. Maybe Belshazzar could be considered a Pretender, even though he was the Crown Prince of Babylon. But he would never be the King he wanted to be, regardless of how hard he tried to be that King.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Daniel 6