Daniel 5

Scripture Reading:

Last Time

We Saw a Letter Written by King Nebuchadnezzar Himself

He Talks about How He had a Dream and Daniel Interpreted it for Him

It was about a Giant Tree that Represented Himself

An Angel Came Down and had the Tree Cut Down, but He Left the Stump Remaining

This Represented Nebuchadnezzar Being “Cut Down” and Given the Mind of an Animal Until He Recognized that the Most High Rules in the Kingdom of Men

Daniel Warned Him to Repent, but After a Year, He Didn’t

Then the Dream Came True and Nebuchadnezzar Went Crazy and Lived like an Animal

Then He Finally Came to His Senses and Praised the God of Heaven

Introduction

There is a More than 20 Year Gap Between Chapters 4 and 5

Nebuchadnezzar Died in 562 B.C. and Babylon Fell to the Medo-Persians in 539 B.C.

After Nebuchadnezzar’s Death, His Son Amel-Marduk Ascended to the Throne

He Reigned for 2 Years but was then Assassinated by Neriglissar

His Tumultuous Reign Lasted Only 4 Years and then He was Succeeded by His Son, Labashi-Marduk

His Reign Only Lasted 9 Months Before He was Assassinated in a Coup

Then Nabonidus Began His Reign in 556

Nabonidus was Unliked by Many in Babylon and was Absent for Much of His Reign

He Placed His Firstborn Son as a “Sort of King” Figure

His Name was Belshazzar

Daniel Chapter 5 is Very Similar to Daniel Chapter 4

An Arrogant and Blasphemous Man is Humbled by the Most High God

Nebuchadnezzar Gave Glory to God but Belshazzar Won’t

Because of that, by the End of this Chapter We are Going to See the Fall of Babylon

Daniel 5

Daniel 5:1 (NASB)

Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand.

The King’s Son is Throwing a Big Drinking Party (1,000 is Probably Fugurative)

Why?

Not Because Things Were Going Great for the Kingdom

In Fact, He was Throwing this Party Because Everything is Falling Apart

This Feast Took Place on the Night of October 12th, 539 B.C.

Just Days Earlier, the Medo-Persians had Taken Out a Different City in the Babylian Empire

Now They are on Their Way to Babylon

Belshazzar has Invited All the Nobles in Babylon to a Feast to Invoke the gods to Protect Babylon from Their Invaders

Daniel 5:2 (NASB)

When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.

All of These Vessels had Been Placed in the Temple of Marduk

This was to Give Marduk the Glory for His Victory Over the God of Israel

By Using the Vessels to Drink Out of, it Might Have Been to Remind Marduk of His Past Victories so that He Might Protect Them Now

What Belshazzar Didn’t Realize was:

Marduk Didn’t Defeat Israel

Israel’s God Defeated Israel

Side Note: Nebuchadnezzar Wasn’t the Father of Belshazzar

Could Have Been His Grandfather (If Nabonidus Married Nebuchadnezzar’s Daughter)

Or He Could be Called Belshazzar’s Father in the Sense that He was a Former King

Daniel 5:4 (NASB95)

They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

The gods They Were Worshiping are Described as Being Nothing More than the Cups They Were Drinking from

Daniel 5:5–6 (NASB95)

Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing.

Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together.

As They are Getting Drunk Off the Wine, a Hand Appeared Out of Nowhere and Started Writing on the Wall in the Light of a Lamp

In Anctient Time, in Order to Get a Count of the Casualties that Occured in Battle, They Would Severe the Right Hand of the Ones Killed

By Drinking from These Gold and Silver Vessels from God’s Temple, They Were Recalling the Defeat of Israel’s God

But this is No Lifeless, Severed Hand of a Defeated God

It is Alive and it has a Message

When Belshazzar Saw the Hand, His Face Changed Colors, His Thoughts Alarmed Him, and His Knees Started Knocking Together Out of Fear

“his hip joint went slack” Could Also be Translated “the knots of his loins were loosened”

To Put it Nicely, He Needed a Change of Clothes Afterward

There’s No Doubting that the King was in Absolute Terror

So He Called in His Many Wisemen to Read and Interpret What was Written

The One Who Could Would be Clothed in Purple, be Given a Gold Necklace, and be Given the Authority of 3rd Ruler of the Kingdom

But None of Them Could Do it

Daniel 5:10–12 (NASB95)

The queen entered the banquet hall because of the words of the king and his nobles; the queen spoke and said, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face be pale.

“There is a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners.

“This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.”

The Queen is Most Likely the “Queen Mother”

Queen Mother’s has a Lot of Influence and Power in this Time and Culture

She Walks in and Reminds Her Son of the Great Daniel of Nebuchadnezzar’s Day

Apparently Daniel Didn’t Get to Keep His High-Ranking Position After Nebuchadnezzar’s Death

So Daniel is Invited to Come Interpret the Writing

He is Offered the Same Rewards

Daniel 5:17 (NASB95)

Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him.

What He was about to Tell the King was Going to be Hard to Swallow

And Because of What the Writing Means, Daniel Knew the King had Nothing Substantial to Offer Him

Daniel Then Reminded Belshazzar of How God had Blessed Nebuchadnezzar with Unbelievable Power and Glory

But Nebuchadnezzar Became Arrogant, so God Removed His Power and Glory Until He Recognized that the Most High God is Truly in Control

Daniel 5:22–23 (NASB95)

“Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this,

but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified.

Belshazzar Knew All about the Events of Chapter 4

He Knew that Nebuchadnezzar Himself Recognized that God is in Control and How He Desires Humility

But He Instead Chose to Do the Very Opposite

Daniel 5:24–28 (NASB95)

“Then the hand was sent from Him and this inscription was written out.

“Now this is the inscription that was written out: ‘MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN.’

“This is the interpretation of the message: ‘MENĒ’—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it.

“ ‘TEKĒL’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.

“ ‘PERĒS’—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel Read the Words as Nouns but then Interprets Them as Verbs

The Noun Mene = a Mina (an Amount of Money)

The Verb = to Number

God has Numbered the Days of Babylon’s Kingdom and He is Going to Put an End to it

The Noun Tekel = Shekel (1/60th 0f a Mina)

The Verb = to Weigh

God has Examined Babylon and Found Them to be Deserving of Punishment

The Noun Upharsin (Parsin) = 1/2 Shekel

The Verb = to Divide

God was Going to Divide Babylon and Give Them Over to the Medes and Persians

So Belshazzar Kept His Word and Gave Daniel the Rewards Even Though Daniel had Denied Them Before

Daniel 5:30–31 (NASB95)

That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.

The Greek Historian Herodotus Said Cyrus Captured the City of Babylon by Redirecting the Flow of the Euphrates

The River Flowed into the City Underneath its Walls

With the Riverbed Now Dry, the Soldiers Could Walk Right in

Herodotus and Xenophon Both Note that this Took Place on a Night When Seemingly All of Babylon was Having a Drunken Party

Both Historians Claimed that Babylon Could Have Endured a Siege Lasting 20 Years with the Amount of Provisions They had Stored Up

But God, Through His Providence, Made One of the Mightiest Kingdoms in History Fall in One Night

That is the Power of the Almighty Judge

Application

The Writing’s On The Wall

This is a Common Saying that Means, “The Inevitable has Become Apparent”

Can You Guess Where that Saying Comes from?

Belshazzar had the Writing of His Judgement on the Wall

But He was Too Physically and Spiritually Drunk to See it

The Writing of Our Judgement is on the Wall

God has Told Us Many Times that We will be Judged on the Last Day

And Those Who are Condemned will Have Eternal Destruction as Their Punishment

But in Jesus, There is No Condemnation

We are Released from the Debt of Sin We’ve Collected

We are Forgiven of All Our Transgressions

We are Made Whole and Free by His Loving Grace

Belshazzar Wasn’t Given Another Night to Make Things Right

What if Tonight is Your Last Night to Repent?

Romans 2:4–5 (NASB95)

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Don’t Think Lightly of God’s Kindness, Tolerance, and Patience Toward You in Your Sin

You are Storing Up Wrath for Yourself

God is Merciful and Patient so that You will Repent

The Writing is on the Wall and God’s Judgement for You Could Come Tonight

Are You Prepared?

Are You in the Safe Arms of Jesus?

If Not, Why Not?