A disturbing message from God.
1. (1-4) Belshazzar’s great, blasphemous feast.
Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
a. Belshazzar the king: When we come to Daniel 5, Nebuchadnezzar is no longer the king of Babylon. How did it pass from Nebuchadnezzar to Belshazzar? The ancient historian Berosus gives us the following order of events:
· Nebuchadnezzar died after a 43-year reign.
· His son, Evil-Merodach (described in 2 Kings 25:27-30 and Jeremiah 52:31-34) ruled for only two years when he was assassinated by his brother-in-law Neriglassar, because his rule was arbitrary and licentious.
· Neriglassar (mentioned as Nergalsharezer in Jeremiah 39:3, 13) ruled for four years until he died a natural death.
· His son, Laborosoarchod, only a child and of diminished mental capacity, ruled for only nine months when he was beaten to death by a gang of conspirators.
· The conspirators appointed Nabonidus, one of their gang, to be king. He ruled until Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon.
b. Belshazzar the king: For a long time, historians and archaeologists knew that Nabonidus was said to be the last king of Babylon, not Belshazzar (who was Nabonidus’ eldest son). The solution to this so-called discrepancy was apparent when evidence was uncovered indicating not only Belshazzar’s association with Nabonidus on the throne, but also demonstrating that during the last part of his reign Nabonidus lived in Arabia and left the conduct of the Kingdom of Babylon to his eldest son Belshazzar.
i. There was no additional mention of Belshazzar, the eldest son and co-regent with Nabonidus, until the Nabonidus Cylinder was discovered in this century. It is now displayed in the British Museum.
ii. According to Babylonian records, Belshazzar became co-regent in the third year of Nabonidus’ reign (553 B.C.) and continued in that capacity till the fall of Babylon (539 B.C.).
iii. It is most likely that at the time of Daniel 5, Nabonidus had gone out to fight the Medo-Persian army and had been already captured. Those armies now surrounded Babylon, and were looking for a way into the strongly defended city.
c. Made a great feast for a thousand of his lords: Belshazzar was not afraid of the siege surrounding the city. He was confident because of Babylon’s impressive defenses and his vast supplies.
i. Conservative calculations set the dimensions of the ancient city of Babylon like this:
· The outer walls were 17 miles (27 kilometers) long.
· These walls were 22 feet (7 meters) thick and 90 feet (28 meters) high.
· The outer walls also had guard towers another 100 feet (30 meters) high.
· The city gates were made of bronze.
· A system of inner and outer walls and moats made the city very secure.
d. Which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple: Nebuchadnezzar was not the direct father of Belshazzar. Either Nebuchadnezzar was his grandfather through his mother’s side, or he was Belshazzar’s father in the sense of having previously occupied the throne Belshazzar now sat on. Either usage of the term father was accepted in ancient times.
e. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone: The scene of partying while a hostile army surrounded the city reminds us of the spirit of our present age. Many today have the idea that the best response to the seeming danger of the times is to forget about it and escape into the pursuit of pleasure.
i. In Ephesians 5:18 Paul calls drunkenness dissipation; drunkenness is a waste of resources that should be submitted to Jesus. John Trapp wrote of drinking “all the three outs” – “that is, ale out of the pot, money out of the purse, and wit out of the head.” (Trapp’s commentary on Galatians 5:21)
f. They brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem: Belshazzar was foolish enough to not only lose all semblance of self-control at this party, but also to openly mock God. He committed the sin of sacrilege, something few people are concerned with today.
i. Gathering the vessels from the Jewish temple served the purpose of reminding the partiers of a previous victory, and Belshazzar hoped it would boost morale. “As if these dung-hill deities had mastered and spoiled the God of Israel… This was blasphemy in a high degree, and therefore presently punished by God.” (Trapp)
ii. In Babylon, a large court – 56 by 170 feet – has been unearthed, decorated with Greek columns. This is probably where the feast of Daniel 5 took place.
2. (5) God writes a message on a wall.
In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
a. The fingers of a man’s hand appeared: God can and sometimes does communicate to man in unexpected and even shocking ways. Here, a hand mysteriously appeared and wrote on a wall.
b. The king saw the part of the hand that wrote: This, of course, is where we get the proverbial phrase the writing on the wall.
3. (6-9) Belshazzar’s reaction to the message, and his call for someone to interpret the message.
Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Now all the king’s wise men came, but they could not read the writing, or make known to the king its interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, his countenance was changed, and his lords were astonished.
a. The joints of his hips were loosed and his knees knocked: Daniel’s vivid description shows us that Belshazzar was terrified. His carefree partying was so shallow that it turned from merry to terrified in a moment. This shows that his conscience was active beneath his energetic partying.
i. After all, if Belshazzar could not understand the writing, why should it trouble him so? It troubled him because his own conscience testified against him.
ii. “The writing on the wall he could neither read nor understand; but his conscience had written bitter things against him, which now being held to the fire of God’s wrath become legible.” (Trapp)
b. Whoever reads the writing, and tells me its interpretation: “For the king the difficulty was not to give the ‘dictionary definition’ of the terms, but to see what significance they had for him.” (Baldwin)
c. He shall be the third ruler in the kingdom: Archaeologists have discovered why Belshazzar offered the interpreter of the dream the third place in the kingdom. The real king was Nabonidus, and his son Belshazzar ruled as second in the kingdom. Belshazzar couldn’t give away the second place in the kingdom, because he was the second in the kingdom at the time. The best he had to offer was the third place.
d. They could not read the writing, or make known to the king its interpretation: When Daniel came to interpret these words, it does not seem so hard to figure out. It may be that God deliberately put a veil over the minds of these men so Daniel would be called. Others – such as Adam Clarke – suppose that the Babylonian wise men could not read the writing because it was in Hebrew.