In 539 BC. King Nebonides, co-ruler of the Babylon empire, was outside the city with his army defending it against the mighty army of the Medes and Persians under Cyrus and Darius. The city of Babylon was considered impregnable. It’s walls were 300 feet high, eighty feet wide, surrounded by deep moats that went 35 feet into the ground. The city wall, went for 60 miles. It was well guarded by 250 guard towers with rooms for soldiers to sleep. It had 100 gates, all armored with brass. If an enemy soldier managed to climb over the wall, they faced another quarter mile of bare land before they reached the city. There was enough food warehoused for a 20 year siege, with farmland within the wall to raise more if needed. The Euphrates River flowed under the wall to provide water. While Nebonides was defending the city against its enemies, some 50 miles away his son, Belshazzar was inside the palace feasting with all the kingdom’s nobles. Neither of them knew it would be the last day of the mighty Babylonia empire. This is where we find ourselves today in Daniel 5, seeing the writing on the wall. King Belshazzar suddenly appears as the successor of King Nebuchadnezzar. He is a young man trying hard to shake off the legacy of the former king sharing a common trait with Nebuchadnezzar though. Belshazzar struggled with pride. Babylon was being attacked by the Persians as the main Babylonian army was defeated 50 miles from Babylon. Belshazzar must have known that sooner or later the attack would come, right up to his own door step. So with all that happening what does Belshazzar do? He throws a banquet! Its amazing what we do in the face of defeat, as we read in verses 1-4
1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
The wine flowed and it is as if Belshazzar wants to put on a display of his power; so, he calls up the gold goblets that Nebuchadnezzar had captured from Jerusalem. The goblets once used in the sacred ceremonies in the temple in Jerusalem were now being used by Belshazzar to offer a toast to the lifeless idols of gold silver bronze iron wood & stone, verses 5-6 when
5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.
I don’t know about you but to suddenly see a hand write on a wall
would be shocking. This wasn’t some drunken dream only Belshazzar could see, as everyone there could see this hand puts the message right next to lampstand, so this is not hidden. This divine graffiti from God so terrifies the king he calls in everyone he can to solve it. It is again as we’ve seen occur in the past these enchanters, astrologers and diviners can’t do it (not even when there is a great reward on offer to them),
as Daniel reminds us human wisdom won’t reveal the mystery.
The same way that dabbling in new age philosophies, or consulting crystals, or getting your palms read, or consulting the dead won’t answer the mysteries of life. Nebuchadnezzar’s widowed Queen takes control and orders for Daniel be brought in and give the meaning of what Belshazzar saw. Daniel is now an old man of about 80 years old. He is still the chief of the wise men, and now it is as if he’s been snubbed, looked over by the young king Belshazzar; and yet Daniel will supply the interpretation to this writing on the wall. What is more he’ll do it free of charge, as he is someone who knows what the writing on the wall means
he knows this king has nothing to give so Daniel starts with a lesson Bleshazzar should have already learnt from the past, verse 18-22
18 "O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. 19 Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. 20 But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. 21 He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes. 22 "But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. Look again at verse 25
In today’s terms it equals a dollar, a dollar, 2 cents, 50 cents. No wonder the wise men and astrologers were puzzled. Only the wise man of God - Daniel can point to their true meaning. Daniel tells Belshazzar you are numbered, weighed and divided. Belshazzar king of Babylon was appointed by God as King, now his reign had been evaluated and found wanting. So we see any power the Kingdom of Babylon had achieved
was because God had allowed it. God having judged it will now bring it to its end. Belshazzar and the Babylonians had not measured up, and now another power will come to take the throne
Like have you ever heard someone say “your days are numbered” or ‘the writing’s on the wall. These sayings take their legacy from Daniel 5, and often times when people say them they aren’t referring to God, as people say these statements thinking of some general hand of fate. We know it wasn’t fate that wrote those words on that wall, it was the hand of God, divine graffiti giving judgment on a man who had thought he was god of his life; just like our struggle is with trusting God’s judgment, as we see in in John 9:2-3 where Jesus’ disciples were quick to judge the man born blind.
2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
The disciples question was a natural one, as much as it was also a cruel one. How was it they could so automatically see this mans blindness as directly attributed to his sin. Please notice how Jesus redirects them, as Jesus gives the blind man new sight & a new life. Just as Daniel had a direct revelation from God.
During the night, at Belshazzar’s party with the writing was certainly on the wall the enemy army of the Medes & Persians completed diverting the river and advance forces walked under the wall on the river bed. Once inside, they opened the gates taking the city with hardly any resistance. Belshazzar was killed, the empire was taken over by the Medes and Persians. Babylon, the impregnable, became a Persian city. Everything happened just as Daniel had predicted. As Belshazzar thought he knew best not treating God’s things or his people with respect, God acted putting another in his place. Like the question is are we hearing the word of God as he speaks are we able to give him the glory. What is it you want to praise God for right now
Let’s pray…
David Hassan @ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 24/9/17