The Handwriting On The Wall

November 23

Daniel 5-6

Psalm 129

Proverbs 28:6-7

1 Peter 3:13-22

The Handwriting On The Wall

“Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand came out and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing.  Then the splendor of the king’s face changed, and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack, and his knees were knocking against each other.” 

Daniel 5:5-6 LSB

Belshazzar’s banquet took place on October 12, 539 BC. That night the Persian empire besieged the Babylonian capital and the Babylonian empire came to an end. During the banquet, Gobryas, the Median general, was besieging the city from outside.  They detoured a canal of the Euphrates River back into its main channel and then let the army flow under the walls of the city.  The arrogant Belshazzar was throwing a banquet while an army was approaching.  He thought the city was impenetrable and he was laughing at the enemy, but they got the last laugh.  His life and empire ended abruptly that night.   

Belshazzar threw a huge party with 1000 of his closest friends.  He made the grievous mistake of treating the holy as unholy.  Belshazzar took the silver and gold vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple when Daniel and his friends were taken into captivity.  At the time, Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan, heathen king, but when he came to the knowledge of the living and true God, he had them stored away for safe keeping.  To Belshazzar as a little boy, those things would have been off limits to him.  He wasn’t allowed to play with them.  So now, as king, he decided to bring them out to use at his party.  He was in charge now, and no one could tell him what to do.  He was defying God by taking what was sacred, set apart and using them for common, unholy purposes. He even took it one step further by worshipping the fictitious gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone,  worshipping the creation instead of the creator.

The people at this party were likely very drunk at this time.  They must have thought at first that they were tripping out.  Can you imagine?  A large hand suddenly appeared (not attached to a body) and wrote on a wall in front of everyone.  This time God did not come in a dream or a vision, He came in a hand.  He probably knew that Belshazzar was not going to heed the warning so a dream wouldn’t do any good.  He made it visible to everyone at the party and pronounced his judgment.  This was not an “if, then” judgment.  It was a “this is going to happen” judgment.  This vision was not meant as a warning but as a proclamation.  God pronounced that He had had enough.  He had watched their sin and defiance long enough and now it was over.  He wanted there to be no mistake that He was the one who was putting an end to the Babylonian empire. God took the throne from Belshazzar and gave it to the Medes and the Persians. 

Daniel preached a very pointed and powerful sermon to Belshazzar.  He spent more time on the king’s guilt than on his punishment.  He devoted more time to explaining the reason for the writing than the meaning of the writing.  God gave the kingdom to Nebuchadnezzar, but when he became filled with pride, God humbled him in a tragic way.  Nebuchadnezzar’s family was keenly aware of his period of insanity.  It was an embarrassing episode that I’m sure they would rather forget.  Belshazzar had been told about God, he knew what had happened to his grandfather and yet he failed to learn from his grandfather’s mistakes and fell into the same pattern of pride and vanity.  He even went a step further and mocked God by taking the holy vessels and using them for his unholy party.  Belshazzar committed the same sin of pride and arrogance that his grandfather had committed.  

That very night the Medes came in through the canal.  They were on the inside of the inner city before the guards knew anything was wrong.  Belshazzar was slain.  Darius the Mede became the ruler of the kingdom of silver.  Secular history gives us the details of how Babylon was brought down.  Daniel told us why.  If someone tells you that your kingdom is about to end because you are prideful and arrogant, the appropriate response would be to fall on your knees, repent and beg God to change His mind.  While Daniel did not say to him that he should repent, that would still be the appropriate reaction.  Daniel didn’t tell him how long he had before it would end.  I believe if he had repented and turned to God, God would have saved him and restored his kingdom as He did with Nebuchadnezzar.  It is always better to humble ourselves than to be humbled by God.