Daniel 5.23-Daniel Rebukes Belshazzar For Exalting Himself Against The Lord Of Heaven And Committing Blasphemy And Idolatry
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 22, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 5:23-Daniel Rebukes Belshazzar For Exalting Himself Against The Lord Of Heaven And Committing Blasphemy And Idolatry
Lesson # 164
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. 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. 16 But I myself personally heard concerning you that you are able to provide interpretations as well as solve difficult problems. Now, if you are able to read aloud the inscription as well as cause its interpretation to be made known to me, you will be clothed with a purple robe as well as a golden chain around you neck. Indeed, you will rule as third over the kingdom. 17 Then Daniel responded and said in the presence of the king, “Please, keep your gifts for yourself or please give your rewards for another. However, I will read aloud the inscription to the king as well as cause the interpretation to be made known to him. 18 As for you, O king, the Most High God gave to Nebuchadnezzar, your great-grandfather a kingdom, yes a great kingdom as well as honor, yes, great honor. 19 Indeed, because of this greatness, which He gave to him, each and every person belonging to the nations, ethnicities as well as language groups was in state of trembling, yes in a state of fear from being in the presence of him. He was characterized as putting to death whomever he desired whereas he was characterized as sparing whomever he desired. He was also characterized as promoting whomever he desired while on the other hand he was characterized as demoting whomever he desired. 20 However, when his mind was in a state of arrogance, namely, his attitude was obstinate so that he was proud, he was ordered to be removed from his royal throne so that honor was taken away from him. 21 Specifically, he was driven away from members of the human race. For his benefit, his mind was even transformed into the mind of a wild animal so that his dwelling place was among the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like cattle. Furthermore, his body was continually drenched with the dew from heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God was the sovereign authority over mankind’s realm so that He can establish over it whomever He desires. 22 However, as for you, his great-grandson, you by no means humbled your heart even though you are well acquainted with all this.” (My translation)
Daniel 5:23 “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.” (NASB95)
“But you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven” stands in contrast to the statement at the end of verse 22, which records Daniel telling Belshazzar that he by no means humbled his heart even though he was well acquainted with God punishing his great-grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar for his great pride and arrogance.
Therefore, the contrast is between Belshazzar humbling himself as a result of being aware that God punished Nebuchadnezzar for his pride and arrogance with that of Belshazzar exalting himself against the Lord ruling the heavens despite this knowledge.
“You have exalted yourself” is composed of the second person masculine singular hitpaʿʿal (Hebrew: piel) middle perfect form of the verb rûm (רוּם) (room), which means “to lift up” referring to Belshazzar “being arrogant” against the Lord ruling the heavens.
“Against the Lord of heaven” is composed of the preposition ʿǎl (עַל) (al), “against” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun mā∙rē(ʾ) (מָרֵא) (maw-ray´), “the Lord of” which is modified by the masculine plural noun šemǎ∙yin (שְׁמַיִן) (shaw-mah´-yin), “heaven.”
The noun mā∙rē(ʾ) means “Lord” in the sense of one who has authority to rule over others and describes the God of Israel as one who has authority over the inhabitants of the first, second and third heavens.
The noun šemǎ∙yin is functioning as a genitive of subordination indicating that Belshazzar caused himself to become arrogant against the Lord “ruling over” the inhabitants of the first, second and third heaven.
The noun mā∙rē(ʾ) is the object of the preposition ʿǎl which means “against” since it functions as a marker of opposition meaning that Belshazzar caused himself to become arrogant “against” the Lord ruling the heavens and expresses Belshazzar’s hostility towards God.
“And they have brought the vessels of His house before you” is epexegetical meaning that it explains specifically in detail how Belshazzar caused himself to become arrogant against the Lord ruling the heavens.
“The vessels of His house” refers to the various articles pertaining to the worship of the Lord in Solomon’s temple.
“And you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them” presents the result of the vessels from God’s house being brought into the presence of Belshazzar.
“And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand” took place simultaneously with the previous statement which records Belshazzar and his guests drinking wine.
“But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified” does not mark a contrast since this would indicate a contrast between Belshazzar praising gods composed of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone with not glorifying the God who has power over the king’s very breath as well as each and every one of his ways.
There is no contrast between worshipping the pagan gods and not honoring God.
Rather, this statement is a result clause indicating that Belshazzar never honoring God is the direct result of the king praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
“You have not glorified” is composed of the emphatic negative particle lā(ʾ) (לָא) (law), “not” which is negating the meaning of the second person masculine singular paʿʿel (Hebrew: piel) active perfect form of the verb hǎḏǎr (הֲדַר) (had-ar´), “you have glorified.”
The verb hǎḏǎr means “to honor” referring to honor in the sense of public recognition that the Most High receives from men and angels and its meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative particle lā(ʾ), which means “never.”
Together, these two words denote that Belshazzar “never honored” the God who created and sustained him.
“In whose hand are your life-breath” denotes that God holds Belshazzar’s very life or existence in His hand.
“And all your ways” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל) (kole), “all” and then we have the feminine plural construct form of the noun ʾǎrǎḥ (אֲרַח) (o´-rakh), “ways” which is modified by the second person masculine singular pronominal suffix -ḵ (־ךְ), “your.”
This time the conjunction wa is a marker of result indicating that each and every one of Belshazzar’s ways belong to God as a result of God holding his very life in His hand.
The noun ʾǎrǎḥ means “ways” in the sense of the course of one’s life, or in other words the direction of one’s life and it is modified by the singular construct form of the noun kōl, which means “all” expressing totality and is used in a distributive sense meaning “each and every.”
Not translated is the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh), and its object is the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), which means “Him” referring to God.
The preposition lĕ is marker of possession but not in a literal sense indicating the relationship between each and every one of Belshazzar’s ways and God.
Therefore, Daniel is telling Belshazzar that each and every one of his ways “belongs to” or are “attributed to” or “originate from” God.
Daniel 5:23 “Instead, you caused yourself to become arrogant against the Lord ruling the heavens. Specifically, the vessels which are from God’s house were brought into your presence. Consequently, you, yourself along with your nobles, your wives as well as your concubines drank wine excessively with them while you, praised the gods composed of silver as well as gold, bronze, iron, wood and in addition stone, which never see as well as never hear likewise, never communicate. Thus, you never honored the God who holds your life in His hand so that every one of your ways originates from Him.” (My translation)
Daniel continues his rebuke of Belshazzar here in verse 23 by listing five charges against the king.
The first summarizes the others.
The first is that Belshazzar caused himself to become arrogant against the Lord who rules the inhabitants of the first, second and third heavens.
Daniel then explains in detail how the king did this.
He first ordered the sacred vessels which were from God’s house to be brought to the banquet hall.
These articles were from Solomon’s temple and were confiscated by Nebuchadnezzar who in turn stored them in the treasury of the god Marduk.
Belshazzar ordered these vessels to be brought to the banquet he was throwing for his nobles in order that he and his nobles, as well as his wives and concubines could drink their wine with these vessels.
They not only drank with them but got drunk doing so.
These two actions of ordering the vessels to be brought to the banquet and drinking wine excessively with them demonstrated Belshazzar’s arrogance toward God.
They also constituted committing sacrilege as well as blasphemy.
Then Daniel charged Belshazzar and his guests with idolatry.
He rebukes the king for praising the gods of the Babylonians while drinking wine with the sacred vessels and getting drunk.
Daniel describes these gods as composed of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
He says that they never see, hear or speak.
This stands in stark contrast with the God of Israel who spoke to Nebuchadnezzar in two dreams and by delivering Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from his power.
The God of Israel also deposed Nebuchadnezzar from power for seven years after warning him in a dream whose interpretation was communicated to the king by Daniel.
The God of Israel also employed an unattached hand to communicate with Belshazzar his impending doom.
The last charge in verse 23, which Daniel communicates to Belshazzar is that he never honored God as a result of praising his gods.
Daniel describes God as holding Belshazzar’s life in His hand, i.e. power so that each and every one of the king’s ways originated from God.
The entire course of the king’s life originated from God because He held the king’s life in His power.
There is a bit of a wordplay with this description since the God who held Belshazzar’s life in His “hand,” caused an unattached hand to appear writing a message for the king on one of the walls of the banquet hall.
This description of the God of Israel stands in stark contrast to the lifeless idols which Belshazzar and his guests worshipped and praised.
They should have been worshipping the God of Israel since they were created by Him and their existence is directly attributed to Him.
All of Belshazzar’s actions described here in Daniel 5:23 were deliberately against the God of Israel.
In fact, his knowledge of how God punished his great-grandfather Nebuchadnezzar for his great pride and arrogance serves to make Belshazzar’s actions here especially hideous.
He blatantly disrespects God.
This verse makes clear that Belshazzar was volitionally responsible and accountable to God.
The king’s actions demonstrate his total depravity, which he shares with the entire human race.