Daniel 5 is a continuation of Daniel 4. Chapter five covers the victory of the young descendants of God's degraded elect over the ignorance concerning the result of the debauchery before God and the insult to His holiness. What Daniel records in this chapter is based on the spiritual view for spiritual lessons. Chapter five follows chapter four to give us a clear view of certain spiritual lessons.
Daniel 5:1-4 describes Belshazzar's debauchery before God and his insult to His holiness.
Belshazzar (a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar and a king of Babylon) made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and he drank wine before them (5:1). Here we see Belshazzar's debauchery before God. Debauchery is an overindulgence in eating and drinking for an adulterous purpose.
Belshazzar, under the influence of the wine, commanded men to bring the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his forefather had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, that he, his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them and praise the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone (vv. 2-4). They took the vessels that were for God's worship in His holy temple at Jerusalem and used them in worshipping idols. That was an insult to God's holiness.