The Lord is Holy and Just - Daniel 5

Introduction

The Writing is on the Wall

I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase before, “He saw the writing on the wall.” It means the end of something is coming quickly. It could be the end of a job or the end of a relationship. Either way, it means the end of an era, the end of something important. This phrase actually comes from this chapter of Daniel.

Daniel 5 opens up with the new king, Belshazzar, throwing a grand feast for all the nobles in his kingdom. The thing that makes this so bad is that he has taken the golden vessels that came from God’s temple in Jerusalem to use in this party. These are vessels set apart for God’s holy purposes. Because of this blasphemous and arrogant act, something frightening occurs to Belshazzar in the middle of his party, floating fingers begin to write upon his wall words that do not seem to have any meaning for him. He calls in his wise men and they are unable to give any interpretation. But then the queen mother comes in and reminds him of Daniel who was able to help Nebuchadnezzar on numerous occasions. This is where we pick up now in verse 13.

Read Daniel 5:13-31

Daniel 5:13–31 ESV

Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

I. God Will Not Be Mocked (vv. 1-8)

A. Belshazzar mocks God

He is throwing a massive party, while the Persian army sits outside. He may either not know about the army, or more likely than not, he knows about Darius’s army and in his pride, throws a party to show his utter contempt towards the Medes and Persians and to revel in his own strength. He is forgetting the lesson God had taught his father, Nebuchadnezzar, that any strength or glory we might have in our little corner of the world is given to us by the hand of God and that it can be just as quickly taken away.

But not only does he boast in his strength, he does something that not even Nebuchadnezzar, in his pride, ever chose to do, He brought out the Holy Vessels from the Jewish temple that Nebuchadnezzar captured and brought to Babylon.

This is hard for us to consider how awful and blasphemous this act would be.

He uses them to attribute praise to his false gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone (Blasphemy)

B. God stops Belshazzar’s blasphemous party

A human hand appears, seemingly to float, writing upon the wall

The king is now mocked

He is afraid

The KJV says in v. 6 - “the joints of his loins were loosed.” The CSB says that the king soiled himself. His dignity and respect has been destroyed in the presence of his company..

We are reminded of Paul’s words to the Galatians in Gal. 6:7

Galatians 6:7 (ESV)

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Belshazzar, in thinking that Israel’s God would not be able to see what he was doing to the holy vessels from the temple, did not realize that God is Omnipresent and Omniscient. God is not simply a tribal god relegated to one small area on the earth. He is a God who is everywhere at all times. He is also a God who is all knowing, which means He sees all.

There is nothing we can do that God does not see or know about. God will not be mocked.

Belshazzar is certainly going to reap exactly what he has sowed.

How can we mock God’s Holy name and character today?

Do you treat God’s Word as any other book, simply picking and choosing the parts you like while ignoring the parts that make you uncomfortable?

How do you live among others who know you claim the name “Christian”? Taking God’s name in vain is not just using His name as a curse word, it’s living life in such a way as to bring shame and dishonor to God among those who know and see you.

Maybe you have heard the gospel of Christ’s perfect life, death, and resurrection and continue to reject this good news or even make fun of or try to explain why God’s plan is not good enough for you.

How do you treat others who are made in God’s image? Belittling and degrading others is even worse than Belshazzar taking the holy temple vessels and utensils and making a mockery of God’s name. Perhaps its using others to advance your own career or reputation. Maybe it’s through finding your own satisfaction through the emotional or physical abuse of others or through the objectification of others for one’s own pleasure or the exploitation of the poor and marginalized.

II. God Will Bring Justice to Every Rebellious Act (vv. 17-27)

After the wise men are unable to give an interpretation to the king, the King’s mother comes in to remind him about Daniel who served in Nebuchadnezzar’s court and how he had interpreted and solved many puzzles for him as well.

Belshazzar begins by putting Daniel down and showing contempt for this foreign Jewish boy serving in the great court of the King of Babylon.

“You are THAT Daniel, one of those from Judah that my father brought over.” Don’t miss the contempt that he has for Daniel. But he does offer the same reward to Daniel that he offered to his wise men, whether reluctantly or not.

Daniel then responds that he does not want the king’s rewards. In fact, we can hear Daniel’s disdain for this king’s presumption that his rewards would be of any value at all to Daniel.

But Daniel willingly gives the interpretation of this handwriting on the wall.

He tells the king all that he has done in rebellion against God. We see again a case of pride and rebellion, just like we did with Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4. However, not only is there pride, there is a mocking of the holiness and glory of God when they take the holy vessels to get drunk with.

1. As a result, the words on the wall read as “Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin.”

A. Mene - God has numbered the days of Belshazzar’s kingdom

This word, Mene, means to count or number. It can also be pronounced as “mina” which is another word that refers to a unit of weight worth sixty units or shekels.

So God is saying that he has numbered the days of Belshazzar and those days have quickly come to an end.

Also, the word “Mene” is also similar to the word “Mede.” God might be playing a word game with Belshazzar telling him how He is bringing his kingdom to an end.

B. Tekel - is a word that means “weighed.” It is also the Aramaic equivalent to the Hebrew word for Shekel, which is a weight of one unit. So mene is 60 units, a shekel is one unit.

God is saying that He has weighed Belshazzar, as with a scale and he falls terribly short of the expected weight. He simply does not measure up with what God expects from him as someone made in the image of God and called to exercise dominion and authority over God’s creation.

C. Parsin - means to divide. It can also refer to a half-unit. So where the measurement is 60, Belshazzar weighs in at 1 unit, and even then, God is dividing him in half, so that he is not even 1, he is half.

The word Parsin or Peres is also very similar to Persian. Again, Mene and Parsin could be a word play referring to how God is bringing judgment and justice upon Belshazzar and Babylon for their arrogance and mocking of God.

2. Just as God has weighed and measured Belshazzar, God is going to weigh and measure us and bring about justice in each of our lives because God is Just.

3. Scales help to measure the equity of a situation.

They were used primarily in trading goods. In order to determine the value of goods, they would be weighed to determine how much the buyer should pay the seller.

We use this same method at the grocery store when we weigh our fruits and vegetables to determine their price, because weight determines the quantity of the food you are buying.

Scales would ensure that what the merchant is selling is equitable with what the buyer is paying. It is keeping the situation just and right.

5. The Gospel in Daniel 5:

A. God has created us in His image so that we can live for His glory and honor

All that we have has come from God, our life and breath and everything. It is for the purpose of bringing Him all glory and honor.

This is why Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 10:31

1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word for glory means weight. There is a certain weight God has called us to live our lives according to.

B. However, we have all failed to return to God what He has given to us.

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Notice the language Paul uses here in this verse. We fall short. We have been measured and found wanting! All of us are like Belshazzar, we have come up short from where we should be. For Belshazzar, it is like God is demanding his life to be a measure of 60 units, and he has only one measly unit, and nothing he can do can ever measure up to what God has demanded.

C. The bad news here for all of us is that we deserve the same fate as Belshazzar. However, there is good news for us here too:

D. Paul tells us in Romans 6:23

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because we have fallen short, the consequences of this is death. This is how the scales are made right or just once again. Eternal Death in Hell is the payment to make up for how we have failed to give all glory to God.

However, we have good news. God has made a way for the scales to be balanced by a means other than our own death.

God the Son, Jesus, came and lived the life of perfect obedience and glory to God that we were created for. His scales have been found to be perfectly balanced. However, the punishment and the numbering of our days that we deserve, He took upon Himself, so that all those who find themselves in Him will not die, but will have everlasting life. And because Jesus is God who can make the infinite payment with His perfect death, He can make payment on our behalf so we do not have to die for our sin.

The scales of our life can be brought back into balance, not by our good works, for Isaiah says they are like filthy rags themselves, but by humbling ourselves and admitting that we need of Jesus to take our place and by believing that Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection is sufficient to pay the infinite debt that we have accrued for our rebellion.

III. Do Not Presume Upon the Patience of God

Throughout the pages of Scripture, and especially here in this story, we see the offer of the Gospel and the invitation to turn from our sins and to submit our lives to the glory of God through the gift of Jesus Christ.

However, it should be noted, that there comes a time when this invitation will no longer be offered. We should be warned not to presume upon the patience of God.

Listen to Daniel’s words to Belshazzar:

Daniel 5:20–23 (ESV)

But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.

Daniel recounts what God did to Nebuchadnezzar to show him who God is and to humble him and to bring him to repentance. All of these things, Daniel says, was known to Belshazzar, but he refused to humble himself before the Lord.

Maybe Belshazzar thought that he would have just as much time to turn as his father had. There was probably a good 35 years between Daniel 1 and Daniel 4 making God extremely patient with him until he finally repented.

Belshazzar might have thought, “I’ll get around to repenting after I’ve lived my life as a powerful and glorious king. God was patient with my father, I’m sure He will be patient with me. There’s always tomorrow to turn my life around.”

However, he failed to recognize the fact that what God was doing for Nebuchadnezzar was also for the benefit of those around him as well. Belshazzar became acquainted with the power and glory of God as he observed what God was doing for Nebuchadnezzar, so he did not have the excuse of ignorance in the same way that Nebuchadnezzar had.

What does this mean for us?

We need to pay attention to what God is doing, not just in our lives, but also in the lives of others. We can say all we want that God has not done for us what He has done for others, but if you have heard and seen the working of God in the lives of those around you, you too are without excuse. You are responsible for all the knowledge of how God has worked for you or for those around you.

Do not put off to tomorrow what you can do today. I don’t know what was going through Belshazzar’s mind, but he might have thought that God would have given him just as much time as he gave to Nebuchadnezzar. But here’s the thing, God never promises us tomorrow. All we know for sure that we have is right now. We might not even have this afternoon. If God is making Himself known to you right now, then you are being called to repent right now, not tomorrow, not 35 years from now. God is long-suffering and patient with us, but there will come a time when it is too late to turn back, and no one will be able to claim that God was unjust with us. God has done infinitely more to rescue us from the penalty of our sin than He ever needed to. 2 Cor 6:2

2 Corinthians 6:2 (ESV)

For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,

and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

So do not presume upon His patience and do not ignore all that He has done for you and for those around you. Open your eyes and respond to the grace that He has poured out to you and know that God will not be mocked, everyone will reap what they sow in this life, or Christ was take our penalty if we place our faith and trust in Him.

Conclusion