The Crossroads of Pride - Daniel 5

Introduction

In our lives we are presented with two ways to live, this is seen frequently even in the midst of our day to day activities. When I was in speech and debate I saw a lot of people handle their success very differently. When some people would win an award you would see the genuineness in their face as they praised God, and others would brag and cheer saying that they knew they’d win from the start. In sports we see some athletes smack talk their opponents after a victory, and others who gather with the losers and pray. In ourselves when we receive a good grade or score, we might pat ourselves on the back, gloat to a friend, or we can praise God for the work he has done.

We have two ways to live, one of pride or one of humility. As we open up and read Daniel 5 let us look to these two ways of living, and ask the question of which way we should live, and how to live that way.

Context

Timeline

As we have marched throughout the book of Daniel we have seen really two main characters from the get-go, Daniel and Nebuchadrezzar.

Suddenly without warning we see that the narrative has been thrust forward from the reign of Nebuchadrezzar to the very end of the Babylonian empire. Now we are introduced to a brand new character.

Belshazzar

This new King of Babylon Belshazzar is rather mysterious. The text doesn’t provide us with much information about his history. His rule is generally undocumented, and in Daniel 5 we get a glimpse into who he is. However as we hear his story we don’t exactly see Belshazzar in a very positive light

Exposition

The Great Feast

Belshazzar gathers a thousand of the nobles and Lords together and drank wine with them.

These Lords and Nobles are the same ones discussed in Chapter 4 when King Nebuchadrezzar was restored as King. When he had his majesty and splendor brought back it was because they sought him out, and through them his greatness in the kingdom was returned to him.

So these Lords and Nobles were important for the authority of a Babylonian king. As Belshazzar gathers them all together it is akin to that of a politician in todays world gathering his lobbyists and supporters together to gain their affections in light of the coming events.

In fact for Belshazzar he had even more of a need to impress these Lords, many historians believe that the term King is rather loosely applied. Belshazzar had no family ties to Nebuchadrezzar. In fact as John J. Collins writes,

“he acted as vice-regent in Babylon while his father, Nabonidus, was absent in Teima. Nabonidus is said to have entrusted the kingship … to him.”

Paul R. House, Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. David G. Firth, vol. 23, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2018), 107.

iv. Belshazzar was a prince, he was a temporary ruler, with limited authority, and here he was trying to barder for some authority, some recognition.

So Belshazzar stands in front of these Lords, drinks of the wine which he is serving them and then decides that it is not enough. He commands that this drink needed a more special vessel, so he calls for the silver and gold vessels that his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple.

These vessels were sacred to the Israelites, they were one of the only tangible remaining relics from their Nation. This would not just be a fancy cup from another Nation but this was a blatant sign of disrespect, a reminder of their victory over Israel.

So not only did Belshazzar drink from these vessels but so did the lords, their wives, and even their concubines.

While they drank from the relics of Israel’s past, they worshipped their idols, in the ultimate symbol of disrespect.

Rising Action

The Hand Appears

Immediately, the fingers of a human hand appeared and begin to write on the wall, this hand appeared clear as day opposite of the lampstand where it was lit enough to be visible.

With his fingers still grasping the vessel, all of his thoughts turned to alarm bells. Amidst his fear he began to shake and his limbs gave way, his knees knocking together. Some translations even write that he soiled himself. This was an otherworldly level of shock.

You’ve probably been scared before, but have you ever been so shocked, so terrified, that your knees knock together and your limbs give out? Has the fear in your mind become so powerful that it overtakes your body?

The King gathers his interpreters

With his feast quickly turning into a nightmare, Belshazzar gathers all of the mediums, enchanters and astrologers. He brings in anyone who could possibly read the inscription.

The king is so desperate to interpret this mysterious symbol that he even offers a reward! He says that whoever could interpret this writing and show it to him, will be clothed in purple, given a gold chain, and even will be the third ruler, meaning the highest authority he could give after his own position as the second ruler.

And so all of these interpreters tried to read the writing on the wall but not one of them could succeed.

Now he became even more terrified and hopelessness, but as is the case with most men from time to time, he needed a woman to talk to sense into him. Now we don’t know if this is the queen as in his mother or as in his wife, but here she comes to try to help him through his bewilderment.

She came into the banquet hall and advised the king to look to a man who has great success at interpretation in the past, and that man is of course Daniel.

Notice that when both the king and the queen describe Daniel they say he has the spirit of the gods plural. They don’t recognize Daniel as someone acting on the power of God, or representing the God that they were just defaming.

Climax

1. Daniel before the king

So now that everyone else has failed, the king calls Daniel in and he explains that he is their last hope, and that if Daniel can somehow use his skills to interpret this writing, he will receive all of those gifts that were promised.

This would be huge for Daniel. Remember, Israel is in exile, they are awaiting the chance for the remnant to be restored, and Daniel becoming third in the kingdom would be huge. And of course how nice would it be to be clothed in royalty, a gold chain placed around your neck?

Yet Daniel does not accept these gifts, instead he says, “let these gifts be for yourself, and give the rewards to another.” Daniel chooses to leave the status, the wealth, and the recognition behind. His display of humility doesn’t stop there!

We have seen Daniel interpret dreams before, and now just as he did then, saying in verse 18, “O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your predecessor, kingship and greatness and glory and majesty.”

In other words, everything that you have and value, that comes not from you, not from your family, not from your position, not from your works, but it comes from God, the God of Israel, the one that you are disrespecting, and that same God is the one who gave me the power to interpret.

Daniel points back to Nebuchadnezzar, that while all his successes came from the Lord, the minute that pride crept into his life, the moment he lifted himself up, the Lord brought him back down to Earth, and stripped his glory away. The Lord giveth and taketh away.

The worst part about this whole situation is that as Belshazzar is reminded in verse 22, he knew this story well. He knew that the pride of Nebuchadrezzar was his downfall, he knew that it was only when he humbled himself was he restored, yet in his own pride he sought to commit the same sin.

All that Daniel has said thus far is to instruct the king that this is the Lord God who is giving him this message, and the message itself has not yet been read.

2. God inscribes

Just like in Exodus 31 when the ten commandments were written, these words are inscribed by the very fingers of God, and the words, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN were written out.

This writing was interpreted by Daniel, and it meant that the days of his kingdom were numbered his actions have already been weighed, there is nothing left he can do, and the end of Babylon is going to come about.

Conclusion

Daniel’s reward

All though Daniel had denied the honors of king, he needed no reward to deliver the message of God, he was bestowed the honors anyways.

The beauty is that how would it have looked if David were to have accepted these honors from the start, if we were to have desired to rule and be crowned in purple and gold, then to tell the king that he was too proud! Daniel would be a hypocrite in his own right.

The Fall of the Kingdom

So Daniel is bestowed this honor, third ruler in the kingdom, and that very night Belshazzar was killed and just as it was foretold, the Mede’s would take a part of the kingdom.

Application

The Two ways to Live

So where do we see these two ways? We see Belshazzar, proud and mighty, neglecting the authority of the Lord, disgracing Him during his banquet, and raising his heart over his brothers.

Then we see Daniel, blessed with interpretations and gifts, he could easily lord this over others, request more than what he was due. Yet, Daniel remained humble using his victories to bring glory to his creator.

Crossing the Bridge

We are not prophets, and we are not kings, but yet we are faced with the choice of how to carry ourselves daily. The constant tension of pride and humility is constant and stressful.

Many of you will experience mighty successes in your life, many of you already have. When you achieve these mighty feats, whether growing your ministry, graduating, receiving a good grade, maybe even helping lead someone to Christ, where will your heart be?

The perfect instruction of how we are to live comes through our perfect instructor of Jesus. He came to the Earth as a baby, born in a manger, and was beaten mocked and scorned, dying on behalf of broken sinners like you and me.

Belshazzar thought that he was important as a king, how much greater is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Yet Jesus did not come for the approval of the pharisees instead just as it says in Philippians 2:6-7 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” He emptied himself rather than puffing himself up.

Belshazzar serves as a warning

We will all wrestle with pride in our lives, it is natural, and so let Belshazzar be a reminder of the danger of pride. God detests the proud, and he casts judgement on the arrogant.

Overcoming Pride

So how do we overcome this pride, let Daniel be the example. In all that he did he pointed to God. When he was called in by the King to interpret this writing, he did not boast in his own gifting or abilities, but he fervently reminded them that this was done through God.

When you encounter pride in your life, the answer is not to degrade yourself, it is not to beat yourself to a pulp, we don’t see Daniel belittling himself in a means of elevating God. Recognizing the reality of our sin is not so that we hate ourselves but instead that we love God more! So fill your thoughts, your speech, your schedules, with affirmations of the most high King, that he may be exalted.

Charge

So now my brothers and sisters, we sit at a crossroads, their are two roads ahead, one of pride and one of humility. Which road will you walk on?