Daniel Chapter 5, Part 1

You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting

5^th April 2007

As we saw in the first four chapters of the book of Daniel, king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had learned to respect The Lord. Sadly, he couldn't manage to pass this on to the Babylonian kings who came after him. Our own reverence for God doesn't guarantee that our children or successors will also revere Him. Just a few years after Nebuchadnezzar's death, we read this about the degenerate king, Belshazzar:

Daniel 5:1-4
King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 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. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

The armies of the Medes and the Persians had invaded Babylonia. They were besieging Babylon itself. This was surely the greatest crisis Belshazzar had experienced. Different people react to crises in different ways. Some draw near to God, some walk away from him. Some develop a much improved prayer life, some choose sin and debauchery. Some revere His holy Name, some despise it. Belshazzar chose to disrespect God - never a wise move. He chose to treat sacred things as if they were profane.

In those days, the sacred things were gold and silver articles from the temple - in this case, goblets.In our day, they're still the precious things in God's temple. But His temple now is the church, and the precious items are individual Christian men, women and children. When we abuse these sacred things, we risk incurring God's wrath.

God saw what Belshazzar was doing - as He sees all things - and He intervened.

Daniel 5:5-6
Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.

It's from this event that we get the expression "the writing is on the wall".

Belshazzar must have known that he wasn't imagining it; this was really happening. Otherwise he wouldn't have reacted in such terror. But he didn't understand what the message meant, or who had sent it. Sometimes, God intervenes in our lives, and we don't even realise (or admit) that it's God. Belshazzar knew, though, that he needed to understand what was happening.

Daniel 5:7-9
The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."
Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.

This is reminiscent of Chapter 2, when Nebuchadnezzar (who was probably Belshazzar's grandfather) had a dream, and the magicians couldn't understand that, either. It takes a long time for a society to realise that the occult really can't help us.

Daniel 5:10-12
The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. "O king, live for ever!" she said. "Don't be alarmed! Don't look so pale! There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar your father - your father the king, I say - appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means."

(It's important here to remember that "father" in those days also meant "ancestor").

The queen was probably not Belshazzar's wife, but she would have been a member of the royal family, possibly his mother, who was probably Nebuchadnezzar's daughter. Anyway, it seems that she remembered the days of Nebuchadnezzar and remembered Daniel. Seeing that the kingdom was in crisis, she came unbidden into the king's presence to advise him to speak to one of God's people. Why do so many only turn to God's Church as a last resort?

Daniel 5:13-16
So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, "Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."

Like so many before and since, Belshazzar thought he could buy God's word (and, I suppose, His blessing) with money. For another example, see Acts 8:18-23. Daniel was having none of it. Instead, he gave Belshazzar a history lesson:

Daniel 5:17-24
Then Daniel answered the king, "You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.
"O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendour. Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes.
"But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honour the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.
Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

These are serious words. There are millions with the same attitude as Belshazzar. They have not humbled themselves. They do not honour the God who holds in His hand their lives and all their ways. And judgment will come to us all.

And then Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall. Thus he uttered words of judgement from God over both the king and the kingdom of Babylon:

Daniel 5:25-28
"This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN
"This is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

Hearing these terrible words, Belshazzar honoured his promise to Daniel, even though Daniel knew it was pointless to do so:

Daniel 5:25-28
Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

It was all over. Belshazzar could appoint whom he wanted. He could do whatever he thought best. But it wouldn't help - it was over.

Daniel 5:29-30
That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

There will be a great Day of Judgment at the end of history, when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. But also, for each of us, there's a day when God executes judgement, when we're weighed in the balance. And after judgement falls, it's too late to do anything about it.

Seek the Lord while He may be found. One day it will be too late. Honour His glorious Name. Use His sacred people well. Seek His face. Beg for His mercy. You need it.

So do we all.

Incidentally, Belshazzar is an interesting case in our willingness to believe the Bible. For some time, our own archaeology was unable to find any trace of him, and some theology books were written saying that, because we couldn't find any trace of him, it follows that he couldn't have existed, and since he never existed, it follows that the book of Daniel is not genuine history. Then, in 1854, we did find proof of his existence. See, for example, the article at http://studywell.org/articles/belshazzar.htm. When will we learn to trust the Bible and not our own limited scientific and archaeological understanding?