Daniel 5.15-Belshazzar Recounts To Daniel The Wise Men's Inability To Read Or Interpret Inscription
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday January 2, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 5:15-Belshazzar Recounts To Daniel The Wise Men’s Inability To Read Or Interpret Inscription
Lesson # 156
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 5:1.
Daniel 5:1 King Belshazzar threw an enormous banquet for a thousand of his nobles. He even drank wine excessively directly in front of the thousand. 2 Belshazzar issued an order while under the influence of the wine causing the gold and silver articles to be brought in which Nebuchadnezzar, his great-grandfather caused to be confiscated from the temple, which was in Jerusalem, in order that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 3 Therefore, the gold and silver articles were brought in, which were confiscated from the temple, which was God’s house, which was in Jerusalem so that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 4 They drank wine while they praised gods composed of gold as well as silver, bronze, iron, wood and in addition stone. 5 During this time, the fingers of a human hand appeared while writing on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, directly in front of the lampstand so that the king observed the palm of the hand which was writing. 6 Then the king, his countenance was changed for him. Also, his thoughts caused him to be terrified so that his hip joints gave way resulting in his knees knocking together, one against the other. 7 The king authoritatively shouted out an order for the purpose of causing the necromancers, astrologers as well as diviners to be brought in. He declared to the city of Babylon’s wise men, “Any person who can read aloud as well as can make known its interpretation to me will be clothed with a purple robe as well as a golden chain around his neck. Indeed, they will rule as third in the kingdom.” 8 Therefore, each and every one of the king’s wise men came in but they were totally unable to read or cause the interpretation to be made known to the king. 9 Thus causing the king to be extremely terrified so that his countenance was changed on him as well as causing his nobles to be perplexed. 10 The queen entered the banquet hall because of the king’s words as well as his nobles. The queen responded and said, “O king, live forever! Please, by no means let your thoughts cause you to be terrified so that they by no means cause your countenance to be changed! 11 There is a man in your kingdom who possesses God’s Holy Spirit in him. Specifically, during the days of your great-grandfather, illumination, discernment as well as wisdom in accordance with God’s wisdom were observed in him. Indeed, King Nebuchadnezzar, your great-grandfather, your great-grandfather the king, promoted him to be commander over the occult priests, necromancers, astrologers and diviners 12 because in him, in Daniel whom the king assigned him the name Belteshazzar, was found an extraordinary spirit, knowledge, discernment interpreting dreams, explaining riddles as well as solving difficult problems. Please summon Daniel right now in order to cause the interpretation to be known.” 13 Consequently, Daniel was ordered to enter the king’s presence. The king asked a question and said to Daniel, “Are you Daniel, who is one of the deported people from Judah whom my great-grandfather the king ordered to be brought from Judah? 14 Likewise I heard concerning you that God’s Spirit is in you so that illumination, discernment as well as extraordinary wisdom were observed in you.” (Author’s translation)
Daniel 5:15 “Just now the wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not declare the interpretation of the message.” (NASB95)
“The wise men and the conjurers” is composed of the masculine plural construct form of the noun ḥǎk∙kîm (חַכִּים) (khak-keem´), “the wise men” which is followed by the masculine plural form of the noun ʾā∙šǎp̄ (אַשָּׁף) (ash-shawf), “the conjurers.”
The noun ḥǎk∙kîm means “wise men” and is a reference to the two of the three groups mentioned in Daniel 5:7, namely the astrologers and diviners.
The first group is described by the noun kǎś∙dāy, “Chaldeans,” which were astrologers.
The second group is described by the participle form of the verb gezǎr, “diviners” which is actually referring to those who practiced divination.
The noun ʾā∙šǎp̄ refers to a necromancer who was an individual who attempted to contact the dead for the purpose of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events and does not refer to astrologers since the noun kǎś∙dāy refers to astrologers.
“Were brought in” is third person masculine plural hofʿal (Hebrew: hophal) passive perfect form of the verb ʿǎlǎl (עֲלַל) (al-al´), which means “to go in, to enter” and refers to the occult priests, diviners and necromancers entering Belshazzar’s presence.
The hofʿal (Hebrew: hophal) stem of this verb is causative and denotes that the occult priests, diviners and necromancers were caused to be brought into the king’s presence in the sense that they were ordered to be brought to the banquet to help the king.
“That they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me” presents the purpose of Belshazzar issuing a command for the occult priests and necromancers to be brought into his presence.
“But they could not declare the interpretation of the message” stands in contrast to the previous statement that Belshazzar ordered the wise men and necromancers to enter his presence in order to read to him the mysterious inscription as well as to make known to him its interpretation.
Therefore, the contrast is between Belshazzar ordering the wise men and necromancers into his presence in order to read the inscription and make known to him its interpretation and the inability of the wise men and necromancers to interpret this inscription for him.
Daniel 5:15 “Now at this time, the wise men, the necromancers were ordered to enter my presence in order that they could read aloud as well as to make known to me its interpretation. However, they were totally unable to cause the message’s interpretation to be made known to me.” (My translation)
In Daniel 5:15, Belshazzar recounts for Daniel the wise men’s inability to read or interpret the mysterious inscription.
The reason is that this was a personal message from the God of Israel to the king and could thus only be read and interpreted by the man of God’s choosing, who of course is Daniel.
The wise men could not interpret it since to receive the interpretation would require meeting four qualifications.
First, they would have to be a believer.
Secondly, they would have to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Thirdly, they would have to be in fellowship with God.
Lastly, God the Holy Spirit must desire to give them the interpretation.
Daniel like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego met the first three qualifications.
The book of Daniel does not give us any indication that any of the wise men became a believer while they were under Daniel’s authority.
Although this does not mean none of them became believers in Yahweh.
The Holy Spirit chose to give the interpretation to Daniel and not his three friends or any of the wise men who might have become a believer because it was His sovereign will that this would be the case.
It was pleasing to the Spirit to give the interpretation to Daniel and to no one else.
The wise men do not have the wisdom of God.
To have the wisdom of God means that one knows how to do things in a manner that is pleasing to God.
When I say “wisdom” in this context, I mean that the wise men do not have the know how to read or interpret the inscription.
They must receive this know how from God.
The Holy Spirit imparts the wisdom of God to the believer through the teaching of the Word of God who inspired the Scriptures and indwells the believer.
The believer must exercise faith in what the Holy Spirit says through the Scriptures, which demonstrates itself in obedience to the Spirit’s commands in the Word of God, which also results in an experiential knowledge of God and His ways.
Through the Word of God, the Spirit teaches the believer about the character and nature of God, the will of God and the ways of God.
The inscription on the wall of Belshazzar’s banquet hall was a message from God to Belshazzar about his kingdom and his future.
Thus to read and interpret it would require a person who has the capacity to receive communication from God.
The Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity who gives a person the ability to receive communication from God the Father.
The Holy Spirit would give Daniel the ability to interpret the inscription to Belshazzar.
This inscription was revelation from God and the purpose of this revelation was to communicate to the king the will of God for his life.
Through this inscription, God the Holy Spirit was telling Belshazzar that both his kingdom and his life were coming to an end immediately.
Unfortunately, the king’s response to this revelation was not one of repentance.
God dealings with both Nebuchadnezzar and his great-grandson Belshazzar reveal a spiritual principle, namely, that God reveals His will to men to either bless them or judge them.
The person’s response to the revelation of His will determines whether they are blessed or judged by God.
The person who exercises faith will be blessed whereas the one who does not exercise faith in this revelation will be judged.
Belshazzar is an example of someone who was judged by God because of unbelief in the revelation God had given him.
He did not exercise faith as demonstrated by his lack of repentance upon receiving the interpretation from Daniel.
He did not humble himself before God.