The portion of Scripture covered by this lesson is but the closing part of a most interesting and instructive history, and therefore we must first gives some attention to what precedes. Nebuchadnezzar, who had brought Babylon to the highest pitch of grandeur and greatness, was dead, and his son Nabonadius, who had associated with himself Belshazzar his son, was ruling in his stead.
The 3rd chapter of Daniel, which we have already studied, and also the 2nd, show us something of how God had dealt with Babylon, and how He had revealed himself to the king. The 4th chapter, which is passed by in these lessons, recounts Nebuchadnezzar's pride and its abasement, and gives his humble acknowledgment of his sin and of the goodness and greatness of God. The time of the 5th chapter is nearly seventy years later than that of the 1st.
A Blasphemous Orgy
At the time when the events of this chapter occurred, Babylon had been besieged by Cyrus, king of Persia, commanding the combined forces of Media and Persia, for about a year. As yet nothing decisive had been accomplished. The walls of Babylon were very thick and high, and a deep and wide moat surrounded the city.
The soldiers of Cyrus had been engaged in cutting a canal round one side of the city, extending from a point on the Euphrates River above the city to a point below, as it passed through the city; but the Babylonians, feeling secure in their stronghold, with provisions laid up for many years, laughed at this sort of warfare, and gave themselves no concern.
As if to emphasize their unconcern, the people were this night celebrating with unusual hilarity a heathen festival. The king made a special feast to a thousand of his lords, drinking himself drunk in their presence, while they all "praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." (Daniel 5:4)
The vessels of the house of God were brought out, and the king's courtiers and courtesans drank wine out of them, thus wantonly insulting the God of heaven. It was a wild scene of licentious carousing, in which the king, who felt himself superior to the Majesty of the universe, allowed himself to be no true king, but a mere thing lower than the brutes.
Cowardice of Blasphemers
"In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another." (Daniel 5:5-6)
The king's conscience made a coward of him. He could boldly blaspheme the God of heaven as long as He kept silence, but when God began to manifest himself in a special manner, he trembled like a leaf in the wind. He had fancied himself a king, and could boast of his power, believing all the flatteries of his princes; but now he was revealed before them as a miserable, shrinking, trembling thing. Where was now his confidence in the gods which he had been praising?
Vain Confidence
"The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spoke, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men; but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied." (Daniel 5:7-9)
But the king's wise men were not familiar with the handwriting of God. They had not studied in His school. They had so long worshiped the work of their own hands, (Isaiah 2:8) that the hand of God was to them a hidden mystery. "[God] frustrates the tokens of liars, and makes diviners mad; [He] turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish." (Isaiah 44:25)
When He speaks, His words are so deep that all human wisdom sinks into insignificance. It was with reference to this very time that these words were written more than a hundred years before. (See the remainder of Isaiah 44, and 45:1-4)
It was now the time of punishment for the wickedness of Babylon. Long before, God had sent its people warning, and had wrought wonderfully among them; but because judgment upon their evil works was not executed speedily, their hearts were fully set to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11) This very time, and this very circumstance had been accurately foretold through the prophet, before any of the actors in the scene were born. God had said to Babylon and its rulers: "I was wroth with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and given them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; upon the ancient have you very heavily laid your yoke. And you said, I shall be a lady for ever: so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwell carelessly, that say in your heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know from whence it rises: and mischief shall fall upon you; you shall not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know. Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail. You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things that shall come upon you. Behold, they shall be as stubble." (Isaiah 47:6-14)
A Faithful Witness
The astrologers and necromancers could not prevail, and Daniel, the servant of the despised and blasphemed God of Israel, was called in to make known the mystery. To him the same rewards were offered that had tempted the astrologers to try their skill; but they were no inducement to him; yet he unhesitatingly promised to make know the writing and its interpretation.
Daniel had long been a student in the Lord's school, and he knew His handwriting, and had no trouble in deciphering it. It was a terrible message that he had to deliver, but he had no fear. He had so long been accustomed to stand before the God of heaven and earth, that he could not be abashed by the tinsel and gaudy splendor of a profligate court, nor elated by the promises of rewards offered by the ruler of a kingdom of a day.
Very plainly and forcibly he recounted to the king the history of God's dealings with his ancestors, and how the lesson had not been laid to heart. God had abased the haughty pride of Nebuchadnezzar, and the king, in a writing sent to all the world, had humbly acknowledged the God of heaven as supreme; "And you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this; But have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you, and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine in them; and you have praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified." (Daniel 5:22-23)
What a striking arraignment this was! How insignificant Belshazzar's gods must have seemed to him at that moment! Talk about wise men, when they did not know any more than to praise senseless pieces of metal, and in the same breath belittle the name of Him who gave them breath!
Emptiness
Then was the writing again placed on the wall, and these words appeared: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." (Daniel 5:25)
The words themselves were not difficult. Anybody present could have pronounced them. Literally translated, they are, "Numbered, Numbered, Weighed, Divided."
But what could they signify? "God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it." (Daniel 5:26)
Twice was this repeated, for emphasis. A most accurate account had been kept, and there was no mistake in the books. The end of the kingdom had come; it was about to fall to pieces by its own weakness. "You are weighed in the balances, and found wanting." (Daniel 5:27) "[God] weighs the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance," (Isaiah 40:12) yet "by Him actions are weighed." (1 Samuel 2:3)
His scales are wonderfully accurate, and are adapted to the greatest things as well as the least. Belshazzar had been placed in them, and had been found lighter than air. He weighed absolutely nothing. "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity." (Psalm 62:9)
That which men call "gravitation" is but the power of the presence of God, to whom alone power belongs; outside of Him there is no weight whatever; Belshazzar had rejected the Lord, and therefore when laid in the balances he went up like the fine dust.
Sudden Destruction
Only one thing remained to be said: "Your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." (Daniel 5:28)
Even then the soldiers of Cyrus were marching into the city through the river bed, the waters of which had been drained off. Sudden retribution was about to fall upon the head of the blasphemous king of Babylon. "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom." (Daniel 5:30-31)
The judgment came as a thunderbolt, yet it was not sudden; for the warning had long been given. The destruction of Babylon was not only a representation of the judgment of the last day, but was in reality the beginning of it, for the punishment then will be finished when the Lord shall appear. Even as it was in Belshazzar's day, "When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
And thus the story ends.
For Our Learning
Yet it is not ended for us. It is written for our learning, and if we have not learned it, then we are as guilty as Belshazzar was. The pride and self-confidence of the Babylonians was the cause of their fall. The very feast in which they were congratulating themselves on their safety was used by Cyrus for their complete overthrow. Trusting in their strength, they relaxed their watchfulness, and there was nothing to hinder the conqueror from marching into the very heart of the city; and even if he had been seen, the drunken lords and rulers were in no condition to repel him.
Now the same destruction that was prophesied upon Babylon is to come upon all the earth. (See Isaiah 14:24-27) Nations and kings may say, that they are well fortified against all invasion: but that is just what Belshazzar said. When God brings judgments, so that no one can know whence they come, who can be prepared against them? Only those who make the preparation of putting on Christ.
Vanity of Earthly Honors
In the very hour of his death king Belshazzar commanded that the promised rewards should be conferred on Daniel. He was clothed in purple, the royal color, a chain of gold was placed about his neck, and a proclamation was issued that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom, next to Belshazzar himself.
Daniel knew the value, or rather, the worthlessness, of these honors. The kingdom was defunct, and with it all its honors would perish. He would not have cared for them, even if it had been in the beginning of the kingdom, instead of at the close, for he served a King who could give more real and lasting rewards.
But let it not be forgotten that the rewards and honors which Belshazzar conferred that night were just as valuable as any that are ever conferred by any earthly monarch. All the kingdoms of this earth, like that of Belshazzar, are but for a day. In the sight of the Lord, all nations are "less than nothing, and vanity." (Isaiah 40:17)
Why then should anybody be elated at the thought of what kings can bestow? or seek worldly honor and preferment? The thing offered cannot be as great as the power offering it, and that is less than nothing! With what trifles men who are called wise amuse themselves? "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." (Psalm 118:8-9)--Present Truth, July 13, 1899--Daniel 5:17-31
E.J. Waggoner