Daniel 5:8

“Then came in all the king’s wise men, etc.] The whole college of them, the persons before described; over whom, in Nebuchadnezzar’s time, Daniel was the chief of the governors, (<270248>Daniel 2:48), these came in readily, in hope of getting both riches and honour: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof; for if they could not do the former, it must be impossible to do the latter; of the reason of which, various are the conjecturesf207: as that, though these words were written in Chaldee, yet in characters, as the Samaritan or Phoenician, they did not understand; or were written without points, and so they knew not which were the proper ones…”

“The words were in such a character as to be illegible to the Chaldees, God reserving this honor to Daniel.”

“Then came in all the king’s wise men - The classes above referred to, Daniel 5:7. But they could not read the writing - The character was an unknown character to them. It may have been a character which was not found in any language, and which made the power of Daniel to read it the more remarkable, or it may have been, as suggested in the notes at Daniel 5:7, a foreign character with which they had no acquaintance, though familiar to Daniel. return to 'Top of Page'”

“5:8 As before, the Babylonian wise men were unable to interpret the omen (cp. 2:4-11; 4:7; 5:15).”

“but: Because, probably, it was written in the ancient Hebrew or Samaritan character. Dan 2:27, Dan 4:7; Gen 41:8; Isa 47:9, Isa 47:12-15 Daniel 5:9”