DANIEL 5
King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his fatherhad taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3 Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” 8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. – Daniel 5:1-8
DANIEL 5 THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL
According to Dr. Constable’s expository note, “Nebuchadnezzar was Belshazzar’s grandfather rather than his father, but the original language commonly used “father” in the sense of ancestor. Belshazzar came to power some nine years after Nebuchadnezzar died. The events of this chapter therefore occurred about 66 years after those in chapter 1, and about 36 years after those in chapter 4. Daniel would now have been in his 80’s when this all happened.”
We will discover later when Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall that this must have been God’s finger that actually wrote a message to the King who defiled the sacred vessels in the temple. For Belshazzar to take out these golden vessels in order to be able to use it in their feasting and worship of their gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron wood and stone is so ridiculously wicked. We witness idolatry and pride run in his blood because Nebuchadnezzar took many years before he acknowledged the one true God.
REFLECTION
- Why do you think Belshazzar took those vessels in the temple?
