Daniel 5
Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 5. I want to start today by giving you a reminder of what has happened in the first 4 chapters.
The history of the Israelites in the Bible is not a pretty one. From the days of Moses until the fall of Israel, times in which the people worshiped God and obeyed His commandments were the exception rather than the rule. Finally, after nearly continuous warnings from prophets, people God spoke to directly to warn them to change or else witness the fruit of their forsaking Him, it really happened. God raised up Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and turned the nation of Babylon into the strongest, largest, most terrifying empire the world had ever known. Syria, Phoenecia, Tyre, and even Egypt were overwhelmed and absorbed into this empire. And the tiny nation of Israel, just a dot on the map compared with some of these other nations, lost God’s protecting hand and was overtaken as well. God’s presence left the Temple made by Solomon, and the Temple was looted and destroyed.
Jerusalem also was mostly destroyed, its people driven out or captured. Many people, especially those young and strong, were taken back to Babylon as slaves. A small number of the young men, teenagers, most likely, were taken to receive special training, immersed in Babylonian culture with the purpose in part to show the other Israelites that not only was their land lost, but their ways, traditions, and religious customs were of no use either. The Babylonian’s goal was to turn these young men truly into Babylonians.
In Daniel Chapter 1 we learned that Daniel and three of his friends were among those taken for this purpose. Daniel and his friends however, chose to continue to worship God and follow His commandments as best as they could. They refused the king’s food, risking their lives, but God did not allow harm to come to them even used the confrontation as a witness to the Babylonians. Not only did no harm come to them, but they were further raised up by king Nebuchadnezzar to serve in training to become counselors directly to the king.
In Chapter 2, we saw Nebuchadnezzar’s frightening dream about the giant statue with the head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron and baked clay. We saw that the statue was smashed to pieces by a rock not cut out by human hands and we saw a great wind carry away even the dust, and then the rock turned into a mountain the filled the whole earth. Nebuchadnezzar told his advisors to tell him the dream before telling him the meaning of it so as to be sure they were not making stuff up. They couldn’t do it, and Nebuchadnezzar declared the death penalty on them all. But God showed Daniel the dream and its meaning, and he told it to Nebuchadnezzar. The head was the empire of the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar’s empire, and the other parts of the statue were later empires coming after him. We know that the rock becoming a mountain represents a time after all these empires in which Jesus returns to reign. Nebuchadnezzar, amazed and impressed, told Daniel that his God was indeed great and he raised Daniel and his friends up further in power and influence, but he himself did not choose to worship God or change his wicked ways.
In Chapter 3, we saw how Nebuchadnezzar made a giant statue all of gold and demanded that all his officials worship it. Daniel himself is not mentioned in this chapter – perhaps he was away on official business – but his three friends refused to worship the statue. In response, Nebuchadnezzar had the three thrown into a blazing furnace. God miraculously did not allow them to be harmed in any way, and Nebuchadnezzar, looking into the inferno, saw a fourth man looking like a son of the gods. He let the three out, and again he told them that they indeed worshiped a very powerful god. He even made a law prohibiting anyone to speak ill of the Hebrew god. Again, however, Nebuchadnezzar did not repent or turn to God.
In Chapter 4, as we saw last week, years later, probably 25 or more years later, Nebuchadnezzar had another dream. He told his advisors the dream but they could not interpret it. After they all failed, Daniel came in alone and again, by God’s revelation, interpreted it for the king. This time Nebuchadnezzar saw a great tree providing food and shelter for bird and beast. A messenger came and demanded the tree be cut down, branches chopped off, leaves stripped, fruit scattered, but the stump and roots were to remain. Daniel explained that the tree was Nebuchadnezzar himself. In the dream, the image of a tree morphed into that of a man, who was for 7 years to fall into some kind of sickness in which he had the mind of an animal; at the end of this time, he would look up to heaven, be healed by God, and his kingdom would be restored to him. Daniel explained, with compassion, that this to was Nebuchadnezzar, and that if he perhaps repented right now, he would be spared this horrible experience. But Nebuchadnezzar did not repent, and these things happened to him; he lived and acted just like a wild animal, and at the end of the 7 years he did turn to God, and he was a changed man. Now he himself worshiped God, and in fact, Chapter 4 is an actual letter from Nebuchadnezzar describing what happened to him and giving worship and praise to God in his own words.
This brings us up to Chapter 5. Let’s jump right in.
King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. – Daniel 5:1
The history of the Israelites in the Bible is not a pretty one. From the days of Moses until the fall of Israel, times in which the people worshiped God and obeyed His commandments were the exception rather than the rule. Finally, after nearly continuous warnings from prophets, people God spoke to directly to warn them to change or else witness the fruit of their forsaking Him, it really happened. God raised up Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and turned the nation of Babylon into the strongest, largest, most terrifying empire the world had ever known. Syria, Phoenecia, Tyre, and even Egypt were overwhelmed and absorbed into this empire. And the tiny nation of Israel, just a dot on the map compared with some of these other nations, lost God’s protecting hand and was overtaken as well. God’s presence left the Temple made by Solomon, and the Temple was looted and destroyed.
Jerusalem also was mostly destroyed, its people driven out or captured. Many people, especially those young and strong, were taken back to Babylon as slaves. A small number of the young men, teenagers, most likely, were taken to receive special training, immersed in Babylonian culture with the purpose in part to show the other Israelites that not only was their land lost, but their ways, traditions, and religious customs were of no use either. The Babylonian’s goal was to turn these young men truly into Babylonians.
In Daniel Chapter 1 we learned that Daniel and three of his friends were among those taken for this purpose. Daniel and his friends however, chose to continue to worship God and follow His commandments as best as they could. They refused the king’s food, risking their lives, but God did not allow harm to come to them even used the confrontation as a witness to the Babylonians. Not only did no harm come to them, but they were further raised up by king Nebuchadnezzar to serve in training to become counselors directly to the king.
In Chapter 2, we saw Nebuchadnezzar’s frightening dream about the giant statue with the head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron and baked clay. We saw that the statue was smashed to pieces by a rock not cut out by human hands and we saw a great wind carry away even the dust, and then the rock turned into a mountain the filled the whole earth. Nebuchadnezzar told his advisors to tell him the dream before telling him the meaning of it so as to be sure they were not making stuff up. They couldn’t do it, and Nebuchadnezzar declared the death penalty on them all. But God showed Daniel the dream and its meaning, and he told it to Nebuchadnezzar. The head was the empire of the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar’s empire, and the other parts of the statue were later empires coming after him. We know that the rock becoming a mountain represents a time after all these empires in which Jesus returns to reign. Nebuchadnezzar, amazed and impressed, told Daniel that his God was indeed great and he raised Daniel and his friends up further in power and influence, but he himself did not choose to worship God or change his wicked ways.
In Chapter 3, we saw how Nebuchadnezzar made a giant statue all of gold and demanded that all his officials worship it. Daniel himself is not mentioned in this chapter – perhaps he was away on official business – but his three friends refused to worship the statue. In response, Nebuchadnezzar had the three thrown into a blazing furnace. God miraculously did not allow them to be harmed in any way, and Nebuchadnezzar, looking into the inferno, saw a fourth man looking like a son of the gods. He let the three out, and again he told them that they indeed worshiped a very powerful god. He even made a law prohibiting anyone to speak ill of the Hebrew god. Again, however, Nebuchadnezzar did not repent or turn to God.
In Chapter 4, as we saw last week, years later, probably 25 or more years later, Nebuchadnezzar had another dream. He told his advisors the dream but they could not interpret it. After they all failed, Daniel came in alone and again, by God’s revelation, interpreted it for the king. This time Nebuchadnezzar saw a great tree providing food and shelter for bird and beast. A messenger came and demanded the tree be cut down, branches chopped off, leaves stripped, fruit scattered, but the stump and roots were to remain. Daniel explained that the tree was Nebuchadnezzar himself. In the dream, the image of a tree morphed into that of a man, who was for 7 years to fall into some kind of sickness in which he had the mind of an animal; at the end of this time, he would look up to heaven, be healed by God, and his kingdom would be restored to him. Daniel explained, with compassion, that this to was Nebuchadnezzar, and that if he perhaps repented right now, he would be spared this horrible experience. But Nebuchadnezzar did not repent, and these things happened to him; he lived and acted just like a wild animal, and at the end of the 7 years he did turn to God, and he was a changed man. Now he himself worshiped God, and in fact, Chapter 4 is an actual letter from Nebuchadnezzar describing what happened to him and giving worship and praise to God in his own words.
This brings us up to Chapter 5. Let’s jump right in.
King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. – Daniel 5:1
Let’s stop right there. King who? Now there was a long time when critics said that the Book of Daniel was flat-out wrong about Belshazzar, that there was no such king. But in the late 1800s something now called the Cylinder of Nabonidus was found, and this cylinder describes Belshazzar as king. And this is just one piece of evidence; there have been many fragments and items that have since been found that allow us to piece together the events of Chapter 5 quite well. The Bible does not record what happened between the end of Daniel 4 and the beginning of Daniel 5, but we can do this thanks to archaeological evidence.
Nebuchadnezzar died, most likely in 562 B.C. Altogether, he ruled for 43 years, including the 7 he roamed around like an animal. After Nebuchadnezzar died, the Babylonian empire began a rapid decline. His son Amel-Marduk reigned after him. All of the Babylonian kings went by many names, all derivatives of the various gods they worshipped. One of the other names for Amel-Marduk was Evil-merodach, who is mentioned in 2 Kings 25 and Jeremiah 52. In the year he became king, he released Jehoiachin former king of Judah from prison and let him eat with him at the king’s table. Unlike Daniel and his friends, he seems to have happily joined him, caring little about keeping the Law of Moses. This went on until Jehoiachin died.
Nebuchadnezzar died, most likely in 562 B.C. Altogether, he ruled for 43 years, including the 7 he roamed around like an animal. After Nebuchadnezzar died, the Babylonian empire began a rapid decline. His son Amel-Marduk reigned after him. All of the Babylonian kings went by many names, all derivatives of the various gods they worshipped. One of the other names for Amel-Marduk was Evil-merodach, who is mentioned in 2 Kings 25 and Jeremiah 52. In the year he became king, he released Jehoiachin former king of Judah from prison and let him eat with him at the king’s table. Unlike Daniel and his friends, he seems to have happily joined him, caring little about keeping the Law of Moses. This went on until Jehoiachin died.
Amel-Marduk only reigned as king of the Babylonian empire for two years. His reign ended rather abruptly because he was assassinated by his brother-in-law Neriglissar. One of Neriglissar’s many names was Nergal-sharezer. He is mentioned as a high official under Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah 39. From this passage we also learn that he was one of the officials instructed to allow Jeremiah a measure of freedom and not keep him in prison.
Neriglissar only served as king for 4 years, and then he died. Following him as king of the Babylonian empire was his son, Labashi-Marduk. He was only a small child at the time. You can see from all this how the empire is weakening from within. The head of gold on the statue is starting to show cracks.
Labashi-Marduk only reigned for about 9 months, and then he was beaten to death by a group of conspirators. The conspirators appointed Nabonidus as king. Remember the name of the cylinder? The Nabonidus cylinder; same guy.
Are you still with me? Yes, this is pretty complicated. Nabonidus was not related to Nebuchadnezzar, so he really was a usurper and had no real right to rule except by force. This meant that there were many in Babylon eager to kill him and get someone, even a distant relation of Nebuchadnezzar, back on the throne. Nabonidus knew this and so he married someone related to Nebuchadnezzar – it may have been one of Nebuchadnezzar’s daughters, or it may have been his widow. Regardless, this person he married already had a son, and in marrying this woman related to Nebuchadnezzar, he also adopted the son.And the son’s name? Belshazzar.
Are you still with me? Yes, this is pretty complicated. Nabonidus was not related to Nebuchadnezzar, so he really was a usurper and had no real right to rule except by force. This meant that there were many in Babylon eager to kill him and get someone, even a distant relation of Nebuchadnezzar, back on the throne. Nabonidus knew this and so he married someone related to Nebuchadnezzar – it may have been one of Nebuchadnezzar’s daughters, or it may have been his widow. Regardless, this person he married already had a son, and in marrying this woman related to Nebuchadnezzar, he also adopted the son.And the son’s name? Belshazzar.
Of course, this didn’t directly change Nabonidus’ status; indeed this may have made Babylonians even more eager to kill him so that his son could reign. So Nabonidus moved out of the capitol city a great distance away to Tayma, a region in the middle of Arabia (now Saudi Arabia), at least a week’s journey away across a vast desert. There he set up a new palace and declared that he would rule from there.
Now, you can’t very well run an empire so far away from its center, so Nabonidus made Belshazzar a co-king, or co-regent, and had him live in Babylon at Nebuchadnezzar’s palace. What about Nabonidus? Well, as you can imagine, he didn’t do a whole lot of actual leading out there. How could he? He was more like a prisoner in exile than a king.
Now what was Belshazzar like as co-king? Well, as has often happened in history, as a son of a leader, he made a horrible leader. (I think of one of Saddam Hussein’s sons as a good comparison to this.) Belshazzar was cruel and sadistic, and he was also totally self-absorbed. He lived for outrageous parties, parties where things went on that I won’t mention. He paid no real attention to the state of the empire and didn’t care if he was hated. His focus was pleasing his own evil and twisted desires and nothing else. Between Belshazzar and Nabonidus, in effect, what you had was an empire without any real leadership.
Meanwhile, the world was changing. A new leader was gobbling up the edges of the Babylonian empire, and his name was Cyrus. Cyrus was king of the Medes and Persians. And soon they were going beyond the edges, and Nabonidus led an army to stop them. And Nabonidus and his army were totally defeated. Nabonidus was taken captive and now truly exiled, and he remained in exile until he died.
How did this affect Belshazzar? Apparently little. He still had his lavish parties and ignored affairs of state. And the Medes and Persians continued to march until they had completely surrounded the city of Babylon. And this brings us to Daniel 5:2. (Finally!)
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. – Daniel 5:2-4
First of all, the phrase “Nebuchadnezzar his father” means, as is often the case with that use of the word father, descendant. You may recall a conversation between the Pharisees and Jesus about their “father Abraham.”
Now be sure you understand the situation – the kingdom is crumbling, so much so that your capitol city is surrounded, and what are you doing? Holding a wild party! Verse one pointed out that there were at least a thousand people at this party. The wine is flowing freely, everyone is getting drunk, and from other sources we know just how wild this party was. Let me just say that there was far worse things going on than massive drunkenness.
And then, you would think it difficult to think of anything you could do to be more foolish than you already are, but Belshazzar manages it! Despite knowing the history of Nebuchadnezzar, despite knowing his testimony of the God who made him like an animal for 7 years, despite knowing how from then on Nebuchadnezzar praised the God of the Hebrews, he takes the items from the Temple where it was said their God had actually resided as a powerful presence, a place where if anyone entered, except for the high priest once a year, they would be killed, and the high priest would be killed too if he had not properly purified himself, he has them take out those items and use them for their party! Inviting a powerful God to become furious with you while you are surrounded by a powerful army bent and getting totally drunk at the same time is not a wise thing to do!
So why did he do it? Because he was convinced that Babylon was impossible to breach. According to Herodotus, the walls were more than 80 feet thick and 300 feet high! And spaced throughout were towers that went even higher. That may be an exaggeration, but other sources confirm that there had never been a defensive wall anything close to what surrounded Babylon. And so the attitude was, “Let’s party! Let’s be so loud that they can hear us out there!” And so they did.
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. – Daniel 5:5-6
I love the detailed description. I also love this painting by Rembrandt showing this moment. The costumes may not be accurate to the time, but you can see the gold bowls and pitchers from the temple, the writing is actually Hebrew and it is correct, and I love the expressions on the people’s faces.
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. – Daniel 5:5-6
I love the detailed description. I also love this painting by Rembrandt showing this moment. The costumes may not be accurate to the time, but you can see the gold bowls and pitchers from the temple, the writing is actually Hebrew and it is correct, and I love the expressions on the people’s faces.
That word “suddenly” means literally “in the same hour.” It is as if Belshazzar challenged God to a duel, and God accepted.
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.” – Daniel 5:7
Why the third highest? Because as far as they knew Nabonidus wasn’t dead yet. So, although he was captured, Nabonidus was #1, and Belshazzar was #2.
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. The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall.– Daniel 5:8-10a
Why couldn’t they read the writing? Perhaps because it was in Hebrew, not Aramaic.That’s what Rembrandt shows in his painting, anyway. It seems reasonable to me. Scholars all agree that the queen here had to be the mother of Belshazzar. And this is why she was not present during this party; its wildness was not something she would ever dream of participating in.
O king, live forever!” 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.” – Daniel 5:10b-12
Daniel was remembered well, at least by the older generation, and he was remembered by his Hebrew name as well. He was still respected by that older generation, as was the fact that he had “the spirit of the holy gods in him,” the same phrase we saw in Chapter 4. As we mentioned last week, the word for Gods is Elohin, one of the primary names of God throughout the Old Testament. And it is a singular word for God, but it has a plural ending – in my opinion, conveying the mystery of the trinity from the very beginning. And by the way, the “Holy God” was a good name for the Babylonians to use, because the false gods they worshipped were anything but holy; they were just as wicked as men, or even more so.
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.” – Daniel 5:13-16
If you have been here through this series, you will have noticed that Daniel always comes after the so-called wise men have had their chance. One thing that strikes me about this is that he doesn’t really hang out with them; he’s never become one of them, even after all these years. He knows they are charlatans, the closest thing to them today would be a typical politician, saying what needs to be said to get votes (or in this case, the favor of the king). His whole life, he never let him get sucked into their way of life. Daniel is not a young man any longer. He was in his 70s or 80s now. And he was still walking with God.
What had happened all these years between Chapter 4 and Chapter 5? Well, he was essentially #2 at the time of Nebuchadnezzar after his 7-year stint as an animal impersonator. But after Nebuchadnezzar died, apparently Daniel fell out of favor. My guess is that he was seen as a little scary because he kept himself holy. He was definitely someone you didn’t invite to parties like this. And so he had become obscure, living a quiet life still in the king’s palace, but rarely seen and even less rarely engaged. So how did Daniel respond?
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. – Daniel 5:17
Wow! What a bold reply! He didn’t give the customary greeting, “O King, live forever,” because, as we will see, nothing could be farther from the truth. And he rejects the king’s offer in what I would think is a highly offensive manner. But he doesn’t care, because, well, he knows of the king’s wickedness and he knows what is going to happen. If you compare this greeting with the one to Nebuchadnezzar in Chapter 4, it is a huge contrast. Daniel loved Nebuchadnezzar and had always wanted the best for him, for him to come to a place of true repentance and worship of God. But with Belshazzar there was nothing to work with, and time was up.
“O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. 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 honor the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways. Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription. – Daniel 5:18-24
There are at least three great sins here: First, he knew what God had done, he knew, and yet he ignored and defied Him. Second, he blasphemed God – for that is exactly what happened when he purposely used the holy things from the temple for a most unholy purpose. And third, he worshiped false idols, that is, he committed idolatry.
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.” – Daniel 5:25-28
Now these are Aramaic words, but again, perhaps they were written in Hebrew, and that is why the “experts” couldn’t read them. The Aramaic looks completely different. Mene as a noun is a unit of money (Mina in Hebrew), but as a verb it means “numbered.” Tekel as a noun is also a unit of money (Shekel in Hebrew), but as a verb it means “weighed.” And peres as a noun is yet another unit of money, (a half-Mina or half-Shekel in Hebrew), but as a verb it means divided, and as a play on words, it also means Persia. And some scholars have noticed that this may also be an acrostic. The first letter of each word makes the word mumato which means “his execution” or “death to him!”
As for Daniel’s/God’s interpretation, it is pretty self-explanatory. Mene: Your time is up. Tekel: You don’t measure up. In those days they used scales to make sure what you were selling really weighed what it was supposed to weigh, to prevent fraud. Here God says you don’t weigh up. And Peres: Your kingdom is over and will be divided among the Medes and Persians.
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. – Daniel 5:29
Wow! Maybe not what you were expecting? What about panic, repentance, asking Daniel to pray for them? Nope. To quote a song I probably shouldn’t quote, “Let’s party like it’s 1999.” Daniel couldn’t refuse the king once he proceeded to do these things. And he didn’t care. He knew what was going to happen. But Belshazzar just kept partying on.
That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians,was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two. – Daniel 5:30-31
So how did it happen? How did Darius and his army get past the incredible walls of Babylon? Multiple ancient accounts, including those of Herodotus and Xenophon, say the same thing: They diverted the river Euphrates which ran under those walls in some way, and they marched in the darkness under those walls through the mud and right into the city. There are other sources that say it was treason from within, that people loyal to the Medes and Persians within the city opened the gates for the army. The important thing is that the city was breached, easily, while the king and his 1000 friends partied the night away. Ironically, sources say that the army waited for a night until they could hear the sounds of loud partying coming from the city. I can just imagine Belshazzar had his loud party wanting it to be so loud that the surrounding army could hear it just because he was so sure they couldn’t be overtaken!
However the army breached the city, sources agree that there was no battle. To have a battle both sides had to fight. There was no battle that night. It was an execution, mumato. God would not be mocked. The gold empire, the empire represented by the head of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, was finished. The silver empire, the empire of the upper chest and arms, had begun.
So what do we take away from Daniel 5? Obviously there are warnings against pride as well as the many sins that took place that night and the countless nights before, from drunkenness, debauchery, idol worship, blasphemy, and so on. And I am really struck by how Daniel convicts Belshazzar for quote “knowing all this,” that is, for knowing of God’s power and might through what happened to Nebuchadnezzar and yet living as he did.
But I have also thought about how all this was for the Jews, particularly for the remnant who had loved and obeyed God through all of this. What was it like for Daniel? Through no fault of his own, he had personally lived through the fall of Jerusalem as a teenager. He had lost everything, probably family members, and he was captured, taken from everything he had ever known, and brought far away to a strange, harsh, wicked place where people did not know God. He had been forced to take stand after stand for God, risking his life again and again. He had always hoped to go back to Israel, but it had not happened. He had seen hope when, finally, King Nebuchadnezzar had really surrendered is life to God. But the king’s conversion did not have great effect on the kingdom; it seemed like it had little effect as very few other people personally entered into relationships with God. And then Nebuchadnezzar had died, and the kingdom began to rapidly slide downhill, more wicked and perverse than ever, far worse than even in the early days of Nebuchadnezzar. And now Daniel was an old man, his days were coming to an end, and he was now witnessing the fall of Babylon, soon to be taken over by another tyrant that could be even worse than what they had had. It doesn’t seem fair, does it?
I don’t have easy answers to this question, but it is one that all believers face at some times in their lives. Hard things, terribly hard things, happen to everyone in this life. Some of you are going through these hard things right now. But there are two things that encourage me as I reflect on these things. The first is that God has a greater plan than we can see. Because God is holy and righteous, He deals with nations as well as with individuals. It is impossible to not deal with nations without impacting individuals. There are things that affect us because of the sins of nations. Imagine if you lived near the Fukujima nuclear plant. That’s not your fault. And I am convinced it would be equally impossible to deal with individuals without impacting nations. Why? Because nations are made up of individuals and led by individuals; that’s what they are!
The only way I could see God being logically able to deal with individuals without impacting nations is if He were to separate every human being from every other human being at earth so that they only relate to God and never to each other. But that is not God’s way, it is not His purpose. I don’t think we would be very “human” if He had done this. We learn so much about loving Him by learning to love each other. This is one reason why church, fellowshipping with one another and not being lone ranger Christians, is so important. This encourages me, because it helps me understand that love in community is so important to God that He accepts the terrible baggage, the terrible cost that comes with it, the cost of community, the pain we must face as a result of God’s greater plan. And the second thing that encourages me is that this is temporary. We too in a way are exiles in a strange land, and we too may wait our entire life to go “home.” But as believers, our “home” we will go to, in heaven, with redeemed and untainted bodies and hearts, with Jesus, forever, will make whatever we have experienced here seem minor. God will wipe away every tear, and we will be home.
So what do we take away from Daniel 5? Obviously there are warnings against pride as well as the many sins that took place that night and the countless nights before, from drunkenness, debauchery, idol worship, blasphemy, and so on. And I am really struck by how Daniel convicts Belshazzar for quote “knowing all this,” that is, for knowing of God’s power and might through what happened to Nebuchadnezzar and yet living as he did.
But I have also thought about how all this was for the Jews, particularly for the remnant who had loved and obeyed God through all of this. What was it like for Daniel? Through no fault of his own, he had personally lived through the fall of Jerusalem as a teenager. He had lost everything, probably family members, and he was captured, taken from everything he had ever known, and brought far away to a strange, harsh, wicked place where people did not know God. He had been forced to take stand after stand for God, risking his life again and again. He had always hoped to go back to Israel, but it had not happened. He had seen hope when, finally, King Nebuchadnezzar had really surrendered is life to God. But the king’s conversion did not have great effect on the kingdom; it seemed like it had little effect as very few other people personally entered into relationships with God. And then Nebuchadnezzar had died, and the kingdom began to rapidly slide downhill, more wicked and perverse than ever, far worse than even in the early days of Nebuchadnezzar. And now Daniel was an old man, his days were coming to an end, and he was now witnessing the fall of Babylon, soon to be taken over by another tyrant that could be even worse than what they had had. It doesn’t seem fair, does it?
I don’t have easy answers to this question, but it is one that all believers face at some times in their lives. Hard things, terribly hard things, happen to everyone in this life. Some of you are going through these hard things right now. But there are two things that encourage me as I reflect on these things. The first is that God has a greater plan than we can see. Because God is holy and righteous, He deals with nations as well as with individuals. It is impossible to not deal with nations without impacting individuals. There are things that affect us because of the sins of nations. Imagine if you lived near the Fukujima nuclear plant. That’s not your fault. And I am convinced it would be equally impossible to deal with individuals without impacting nations. Why? Because nations are made up of individuals and led by individuals; that’s what they are!
The only way I could see God being logically able to deal with individuals without impacting nations is if He were to separate every human being from every other human being at earth so that they only relate to God and never to each other. But that is not God’s way, it is not His purpose. I don’t think we would be very “human” if He had done this. We learn so much about loving Him by learning to love each other. This is one reason why church, fellowshipping with one another and not being lone ranger Christians, is so important. This encourages me, because it helps me understand that love in community is so important to God that He accepts the terrible baggage, the terrible cost that comes with it, the cost of community, the pain we must face as a result of God’s greater plan. And the second thing that encourages me is that this is temporary. We too in a way are exiles in a strange land, and we too may wait our entire life to go “home.” But as believers, our “home” we will go to, in heaven, with redeemed and untainted bodies and hearts, with Jesus, forever, will make whatever we have experienced here seem minor. God will wipe away every tear, and we will be home.
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