The Hand Writing on the Wall
Daniel 5
As we read through the book of Daniel in the Bible we come
across a strange little story- a Bible story- about a king and a mysterious
hand that appears out of nowhere and writes on his palace wall. The king in our
story is King Belshazzar of Babylon
and the year is 539 B.C.
King Belshazzar was the grandson of the mighty Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzar who had been the ruler of much of the known world (626
B.C-562B.C.). Belshazzar had grown up
hearing stories of how his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had lost his mind and
wandered in the fields like an animal for awhile. But then Nebuchadnezzar had learned his
lesson and God had given him back his sanity and his kingdom.
The lesson that King Nebuchadnezzar finally learned was that
he had not become a great king all by himself.
That it was God who had given him his talents and his kingdom and even
his sanity. Once Nebuchadnezzar had been a proud and arrogant king, living only
for himself, but then God had intervened.
And Nebuchadnezzar had learned to be humble and to thank God for giving
him what he had.
Belshazzar knew that God had allowed his grandfather to lose
his mind when he had forgotten God. This lesson had made a big impression on
the whole royal family. And Nebuchadnezzar had warned his grandson Belshazzar that
when he becomes king he should not make the same mistake –that he should always
remember that God has given him his kingdom and his power. Time passes by and
Nebuchadnezzar dies and finally his grandson Belshazzar takes his place and becomes
the new king of Babylon .
Our story begins in 562 B.C. in Babylon with King Belshazzar throwing a big
party. We find the king sitting in the
royal banquet hall with a thousand of his noblemen eating and drinking and
making merry. The dancing girls are entertaining the men while the palace
musicians are busy playing the lute and the harp and the lyre. The servants are
bustling about carrying in more food and refilling the wine goblets. And the king has even opened the harem doors
and invited all of his wives and concubines to come out and join in the fun.
By now the liquor is flowing and the party is getting noisy.
Several noblemen have passed out on the floor and several more are getting too
friendly with the dancing girls. King Belshazzar orders his servants to get out
the gold and silver drinking vessels and bring them in to the banqueting hall -
the gold and silver vessels that were stolen from the temple in Jerusalem . I believe
these vessels had been used in the temple in Jerusalem for worship, these vessels had been
set apart for God and now Belshazzar was profaning and mocking their original use.
But Belshazzar wants to impress his guests with the very best. And why shouldn’t he and his guests drink
wine out of these gold and silver vessels? They are important people and should
have it all.
The gold and silver vessels are passed around the palace
banqueting hall with much laughter and everyone having more drinks. The music plays on and the incense is lit as
King Belshazzar proposes a toast. “I
order you to drink to the gods of gold and the gods of silver,” he commands! More than a toast, he decides that everyone should
worship the gods of gold and silver and the gods of bronze and iron and also of
wood and stone. Clouds of smoky incense are filling the palace
hall now with a sweet smelling fragrance.
King Belshazzar staggers as he holds his drinking vessel
high in the incense filled room and bows to the gods of gold and silver. He brings in animals and kills them and sacrifices
them to the idols of gold and silver while praising these gods for giving him
his kingdom and his good fortunes. All of the guests follow the kings’ lead leaving
money and gifts before the idols and holding their golden vessels high in
praise to the gods for giving them their king.
And soon the crowd at Belshazzar’s feast is drawn into a
crazed orgy of drinking and feasting and praising and sacrificing before the
idols of gold and silver and bronze and iron and stone and wood. Their shouts
and moans grow louder and louder as the servants scurry around through the crowd
freely pouring more liquor and bringing small animals in for the guests to
sacrifice to the gods. Blood and wine are flowing freely now. The air is filled
with the slurred screams of the frenzied worshippers cutting themselves and
bleeding and falling down before their idols in worship with Belshazzar lying
prostrate on the floor in a trance before the burning altar worshipping his
idols of gold and silver.
But then just when the party is reaching its’ peak and the
drunken guests are careening around wildly worshipping before their gods of gold
and silver; everything suddenly comes to a stop! Something happens in the great hall that
causes everyone to gasp in shock! King
Belshazzar freezes in his tracks and becomes so panicky that his knees knock
together and his body shakes all over.
Right in the middle of the festivities a man’s hand has suddenly
appeared out of nowhere and the fingers of the hand began writing on the palace
wall! Scripture tells it this way. “Suddenly in the middle of the party the
fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the
lamp stand in the royal palace. “
(Daniel 5:5) The hand writes four
words on the wall: “Mene, Mene, Tekel,
Peres” And no one has any idea what these words can mean!
The party is pretty much ended. The shaken party goers slink
away from the palace and hurry back to their homes. And an upset King
Belshazzar immediately calls for his astrologers and soothsayers to come to the
palace and tell him what these words written on the wall could possibly mean.
The queen mother hears the news and drops by the palace to
see her grandson, King Belshazzar and to give him some motherly advice. She tells him to call for Daniel, as she
believes that Daniel could interpret the handwriting on the wall for him. She
reminds Belshazzar that Daniel had been helpful to his grandfather,
Nebuchadnezzar, and that the spirit of God is with Daniel.
The astrologers and soothsayers come to the palace but they
have no idea what the words on the wall mean.
And then Daniel arrives and he asks God to reveal what the message is and
what the words on the wall mean. And God
gives him the answer.
Daniel tells Belshazzar that he grew up knowing that his
grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar lost his
mind because he had become proud and had left God out of his life. But his
grandfather had gotten his sanity and his kingdom back “when he knew that the
Most High God rules in the kingdom of men.”
(Daniel 5:21b) Daniel tells
Belshazzar that he should have learned to recognize God’s authority from his
grandfather Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation.
Then Daniel turns to Belshazzar and says: “Even though you
knew all of this, you, his son (grandson), Belshazzar have not humbled your
heart. You have lifted yourself up
against the Lord of heaven. …You have
praised the gods of silver and gold and bronze and iron, wood and stone. And these do not see or hear or know, and the
God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all of your ways, you have not
glorified.” (Daniel 5: 22 -23) Daniel
says that God is displeased because Belshazzar has forgotten Him and has
worshipped other gods and also because Belshazzar is proud and arrogant.
Then Daniel interprets the meaning of each word written on
the palace wall for King Belshazzar.
“Mene” means “God has numbered your kingdom and finished it.” “Tekel” means “You have been weighed in the
balances, and found wanting.” “Peres”
means “Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and
Persians.” (Daniel 5: 26-28)
Immediately after Daniel finishes interpreting the meaning
of the words written on the wall for King Belshazzar, the Persian armies appear
outside the gates of Babylon
and they attack the city. The year is 539 B.C. and that very night the Medes
and the Persians kill King Belshazzar and destroy the great city of Babylon taking over the
mighty kingdom. After that night the mighty Babylon is no more.
The kingdom of Babylon had been a powerful influence in the ancient
world and the city of Babylon
was known for its’ architectural beauty. But all of that is gone. This powerful
kingdom was brought down because of pride. And also because the kings and the
people left God out of their lives and worshipped the gods of gold and silver
(materialism). Archeologists have discovered an unimpressive mound that they
believe was once the city of Babylon beside the Tigris River
in Iraq .
Broken fragments in the dust are all that remain now of that once exalted city
that ruled over the whole known world so long ago.
What can we learn from this short Bible story tucked away in
the book of Daniel? Perhaps we see here
that there can be an end to God’s patience with us. Scripture tells us that God does not always
strive with humans.(Genesis 6:3) The
time can arrive when God has had enough. We learn that God judged Babylon and allowed this
ancient kingdom to fall partially because the kings did not recognize God’s
authority in their lives and they did not recognize that their power and their
very life came from God. Instead they
worshipped materialism – the gods of gold and silver. Let’s be forewarned by this story from
antiquity and not make the same mistakes in our lives today that they did back
then.
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