“READING THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.” JAMES 5: 1-31.
DANIEL 5: 1-4, 5-6, 22-28, 30-31.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO DANIEL 5.
The Life Impact of this lesson is designed to help us live for another world in this world by examining how secularized we have become and whether we are glorifying God with our life, and then deciding how our life could better honor and glorify God.
Part of God’s instructions to Moses for constructing the tabernacle included fashioning plates, dishes, pitchers, bowls, utensils, and other implement of pure gold for use in ceremonies.
Solomon also made gold furnishings for the temple. There were at least 5,400 articles of gold and silver made, and probably more.
These utensils were consecrated as holy to the Lord and strictly for use in worshiping the God of Israel. Only priests who were ceremonially clean could touch the holy things. Any one else who touched them would die.
Why was God so strict and severe about how these vessels were to be handled? The reason is God is holy, and He wanted His people to take His holiness seriously. When used in worship, the vessels represented God’s call to His people to holiness in worship and life.
The English word sacred refers to things associated with God and/or things holy. Secular refers to things of this world. The biblical terminology for that which is sacred is the Hebrew gadosh (and related words) and the Greek agois (and related words).
These words refer to that which is “set apart” to God. The biblical terminology in the N.T. for secular are the words kosmos (“worldly”) and epigeios. None of these words is in Daniel 5, but the king and his guests drank wine at a drunken feast using the gold and silver vessels their armies had taken from the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.
This was a secular, profane use of what had been set apart as sacred and holy to the Lord. Some people in our society have no respect for anything sacred or holy, and thus they live only for things of this world. This approach to life is sometimes called “secularism” or “secular humanism.” But even for many others, their definition of sacred is not broad enough to cover all that God has set apart for human needs and God’s glory. For example, marriage is more than a secular contract; it is a divine commitment. The same is true of parenthood and all aspects of family life.
One of the biblical truths rediscovered by the Protestant Reformation is that daily work---when done consistently with divine purposes---is a sacred calling. Thus the secularization of our society is broader than a mere disregard or disrespect for God, the church, the Bible, and godly living. It also includes failing to recognize God and His gifts in the more commonplace aspects of our lives.
The events recorded in Daniel 1-4 pertained to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who expanded and united the Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C. after ruling 43 years.
The ensuing years of Babylonian history till its overthrow by Cyrus in 539 B.C. were marked by progressive deterioration, intrigue, and murder.
Skipping over the reigns of several kings we find the King Nabonidus came to the throne in 556-539 B.C. He appointed his eldest son, Belshazzar as his coregent. Nebuchadnezzar is referred to as Belshazzar’s father in Daniel 5: 2, 11, 13, 18 in the sense that he was his ancestor or predessor. This explains why Belshazzar was called king, and why he exercised kingly authority even though his father Nabonidus actually held the throne.
PLEASE READ DANIEL 5: 1-4.
Belshazzar’s irreverence toward the God of Israel stands in marked contrast to how Nebuchadnezzar humbled himself in Ch. 4. Belshazzar knew the stories about how Nebuchadnezzar came to respect and eventually worship God in Daniel 2-4. (See Dan. 5:22), which makes his defiance all the more troubling. Belshazzar did not care one bit about desecrating things that were holy. He had no idea who he was mocking or the danger he was in.
Belshazzar’s attitude and actions characterize those who take no thought for what is sacred. When people cast off restraint and all fear of God, the result is arrogance, brashness, defiance, irreverence, and a willingness to defile what is holy. Allow the Lord to search your heart and reveal whether you treat the things of God with reverence or trivialize them.
We want to ask Belshazzar, “is there nothing you consider sacred? You have taken the vessels that were set apart for the worship of the one true God, and you and your drunken guests have desecrated these holy vessels by drinking from them at your pagan, drunken orgy.”
People today do things comparable to what Belshazzar did. We want to ask them, “is there nothing sacred for you?” They take the sacred things designed for God’s glory and human needs and they misuse and abuse them.
One way to describe this condition is to call it the secularization of society. The purely secular person lives as though there is no God and, therefore, nothing is sacred. The Bible gives some examples of people like this. Esau is called a “profane person” in Hebrew 12: 16. He traded his birthright for a bowl of stew. He was a man of the world.
The merchants of Amos 8: 4-6 were secular men. They were impatient when holy days interrupted their business, in which they sold inferior goods at inflated prices. The rich farmer of Luke 12:16-21 was a secular man.
The writer in Dr. Hobbs commentary wrote that one Easter morning he was driving to church. He passed a filling station owned by the husband of one of the church members. Invitations to church were rejected and ignored by this man. Now there he sat outside his place of business, while his wife and children joined the many who were headed toward the place of worship of the risen Lord. For him, however, it was just another day. As I saw him, I wondered if there was anything sacred in his life.
Some of those who claim to honor sacred things actually dishonor the truly sacred things. Jeremiah 7 condemns people who committed serious sins and then came to the temple, thinking that attendance at the temple covered their sins. The Lord accused them of trying to use the temple the way robbers use their hideouts. They go out and sin; then they come to the temple where they claim to be safe.
When the Lord called Moses, he used a burning bush. As Moses drew near, the Lord told him to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. Then He called Moses to a mission to help people. Some people never think of the ground on which they stand as being holy. They have no sense of the presence of the holy God or of a calling to meet the needs of people. They limit what is holy to certain times and places. They fail to see God calling them to be set apart by and for Him.
Many people restrict their definition of holy and sacred to the religious professionals, who form the clergy. Martin Luther and other reformers emphasized that every calling is a sacred calling. Daily work is a holy calling. Failing to see this is to miss what God considers sacred and holy.
PLEASE READ DANIEL 5: 5-6.
At that moment in vs. 5 implies there was suddenness to what happened next. Nothing about the drunken orgy could have been pleasing to God. However, now they were using the cups and vessels from God’s temple to toast their false gods. Suddenly, God had enough. He is the One who said, in Isa. 42:8 “I will not give My glory to another or my praise to idols, and in Ps. 96:4 “He is feared above all gods.”
Fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began writing. The hand wrote on the plaster of the king’s palace wall. Interestingly, this phrase has entered into common usage as an idiom, “the handwriting on the wall,” which describes a sign that something dreadful is about to happen.
Archeologists have uncovered the palace in Babylon where the events of this night likely took place. The walls of the large banquet room in it were covered with white “chalk” or “plaster” compound containing gypsum. Against such a white background, everyone present could have seen the hand.
The bodiless hand was writing over against the candlestick, next to the lamp stand, therefore, it was easy to see. The king was not the only one who saw it. Later, when Daniel arrived, the message written by the hand was clearly visible.
Belshazzar was very drunk by this time, but the hand writing on the wall attracted his attention and he was terrified---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. This expression means that his legs gave way. They became like liquid, a symptom of extreme panic
Anyone who has been suddenly and seriously frightened knows these feelings. From the Bible’s point of view, the handwriting on the wall was designed to convict him of his sins. Some people claim that they would repent if God revealed Himself as clearly as He did in ancient times. God does not cause most of us to see a literal hand.
God does not cause most of us to see a literal hand writing on the wall, but He does give us moments of truth when we can see things as they are.
In an instant the party came crashing to a halt. Gold and silver goblets dropped everywhere. Musicians set down their instruments. Dancing girls stopped twirling. Waiters stopped serving. Gasps were heard all over the hushed room as everyone stared in shock at the words on the wall. All sorts of horrifying thoughts must have been going through the king’s mind at that moment. Perhaps he knew he crossed a line when he toasted his gods with the gold and silver vessels of Israel’s God. Perhaps he realized that he had offended God with his actions.
PLEASE READ DANIEL 5: 22-28.
God named a new sin and added it to the other sins of which Belshazzar was guilty. Belshazzar failed to learn the lessons of history. He knew the story of what happened to Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4. He knew how the haughty king had taken credit for all his accomplishments. He knew pride was his downfall. He knew he became insane and lived like an animal until he looked up and God restored him. When Daniel arrived, he added to the list of Belshazzar’s sins the sin of pride. Belshazzar knew what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar because of his great pride, but he had learned nothing from this.
He was guilty not only drunkenness, blasphemy, and idolatry but also of egotistical pride.
He was so proud that he used the sacred temple vessels to drink wine at the feast. Pride is a besetting sin for sinful humanity. It sets people up in positions that cause them to sin against God in basic ways.
The last part of vs. 23 is a description of the consequences of the sin of pride. “You have not glorified the God who holds your life-breath in His hand and who controls the whole course of your life.” What a description this is of how God gives and controls our life’s breath and its course.
The folly of sin is its failure to recognize these realities. In our pride we think we control our life’s breath and its course.
Vs. 24 says that the purpose of the handwriting on the wall was to reinforce these truths. Daniel saw the words that had been written. They were not in some foreign or unknown tongue. Everyone in the room—the king, his guests, his advisors, his mother---all recognized the words, but they did not understand what they meant or how they were to be interpreted.
The words were MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. The three terms were meaningful to readers of Hebrew and Aramaic and did not represent some strange tongue, as they do for most modern readers. For the king the difficulty was, not to give the dictionary definition’ of the terms, but to see what significance they had for him.
Suddenly the king flew into action. He called for his wise men and promised great reward to the one who could interpret the message. No one could explain what was written, so he grew terrified and his nobles were baffled.
The king and his guests raised such a commotion that the “queen mother” came to the banquet hall. Who was she? She was not one of the wives of Belshazzar because they were already at the feast. The king had followed the example of Nebuchadnezzar in seeking an interpretation from ”the mediums, Chaldeans, and astrologers. None of them could interpret the writing on the wall.
The queen was probably the queen mother (the wife of Nabonidus, the mother of Belshazzar, and possibly the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar). She reminded the distraught king how Daniel had come to Nebuchadnezzar’s aid when he needed someone to explain his dreams She recommended that the king call for Daniel, who was by now nearly 85 years old.
Today too often society and even churches cast off the elderly, but the elderly often have very important things to say if people will ask and listen. Belshazzar was ready to listen.
King Belshazzar asked Daniel to explain the meaning of the writing and offered him reward for his help. Daniel was willing interpret the writing, but he rejected the gifts. He had doubtless been called to this hall countless times in his decades of service to the kings of Babylon.
Daniel probably had many pleasant memories of watching the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar slowly grow to respect, fear, and worship the one true God. How disappointing it must have been for him as an elderly man to see Belshazzar’s brashness and arrogance. Belshazzar spent the night drinking out of the gold vessels of Daniel’s God, and now he wanted Daniel’s help.
Daniel had no comfort whatsoever to offer Belshazzar. He clearly saw God’s judgment in what the hand wrote on the wall, and this was no time for gentle pastoral assurances.
Daniel told Belshazzar about how Nebuchadnezzar learned humility before God. He recounted how Nebuchadnezzar was once proud and arrogant, and how God took away his sanity and drove him from his throne until he acknowledged that the “Most High God is ruler over the kingdom of men.”
Belshazzar proved to be exactly opposite of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel accused him of four acts of defiance. First, You…have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.
Belshazzar knew about Nebuchadnezzar’s experiences with Daniel’s God. In fact, Belshazzar was likely already a high government official by the time of the events of chapter four, so he probably witnessed Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling first hand. Many gods were worshiped in Babylonian society, but the God of the Jews was very famous in Babylon. Yet, Belshazzar refused to treat Him with reverence
The second accusation Daniel made was, “You have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven.” Ignoring God is bad enough, but publicly insulting Him is outrageous. When people do this, it is as if they think God cannot hear or will not take offense.
Third, You praised the gods…which do no see or hear or understand. His insolence was compounded by foolishness. The gods he thought existed and to whom he drank were nothing. The God he challenged and mocked was the only God that was real.
Fourth, You have not glorified the God who holds your life-breath in His hand and who controls he whole course of your life. When you profane the name of God and speak and act wickedly, you forget that the God you mock gave you the breath you curse His name with. You do not see that you stand in the palm of His hand when you shake your fist at Him, or that He, not you, rule your destiny. Because of Belshazzar’s defiance Daniel declared, “Therefore, He sent the hand, and this writing was inscribed.”
Belshazzar was unwilling to humble himself before God, and now it was too late. Judgment had come. Daniel displayed great courage in the face of a king who could have had him put to death for his denunciations.
I hope you never have to announce God’s judgment on someone, but there are times when God’s servant has no choice. When someone deliberately chooses wickedness with no sign of turning back you cannot seek to comfort them or soft pedal God’s wrath.
You must tell them that the path they have chosen will most certainly end in destruction. God is glorified when He is merciful, and His grace is magnified. However, do not forget that He is equally glorified when He judges the wicked, and His justice is maintained. Such declarations, when God wants them made, are not merely hell-fire preaching or delivering a negative message. They are the truth, whether the wicket listen or not.
Daniel saw the words that had been written. They were not in some foreign or unknown tongue. Everyone in the room—the king, his guests, his advisors, his mother---all recognized the words, but they did not understand what they meant or how they were to be interpreted. The words were MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
The three terms were meaningful to readers of Hebrew and Aramaic and did not represent some strange tongue, as they do for most modern readers. For the king the difficulty was not to give the dictionary definition of the terms, but to see what significance they had for the him.
Here is the message that the hand wrote on the wall: MENE means “numbered.” TEKEL means “weighed.” PARSIN means “divided.” The words were a divine evaluation and pronouncement of judgment on Belshazzar’s kingship over Babylon.
MEME, means that God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. The repetition of the word MENE signaled that judgment was certain. God decreed that Belshazzar’s evil reign was about to end. Just because God operates on His own timetable does not mean He will not eventually bring down the wicked on the day He has appointed.
TEKEL means that you have been weighed in the balance and found deficient. The phrase “weighed in the balance” has made its way into popular usage and means, “judged” or “evaluated.” The word for deficient means “lacking in moral worth.” Israel was once accused of the same in 2 Kings 17: 15 when they followed “worthless idols and became worthless themselves.” “You become what you worship.”
PERES, means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Peres is simply the singular form of parsin in vs. 25. The idea of the word divided is that the kingdom was about to be “broken into pieces, dissolved, or destroyed.” The phrase “Medes and Persians” does not refer to two separate empires, but rather two peoples that eventually made up the one Persian Empire, often referred to as the Medo-Persian Empire in its early years. These three words signified the past, present, and future for Belshazzar.
During the past Belshazzar had been given time to honor God, but he had not done so. Therefore, in the present he was judged and condemned. The judgment would fall that very night. His time had run out. The handwriting may have offered one last chance to repent, but Belshazzar had not done so. He tried to honor Daniel and failed to honor God.
PLEASE READ DANIEL 5: 30-31.
Daniel prophesied Babylon’s fall to the Medo-Persians in Belshazzar’s third year in Dan. 8. However, he gave little information about how they conquered the city, especially how they penetrated the massive 40-foot high by 25-foot wide double walls.
The Greek historians Herodotus and Xenophon tells us that they diverted water from the Euphrates River into a marsh, significantly lowering its water level. The river ran under the city walls and through the city. With the water level low, the army was able to wade into the city and seize it from within while the banquet was in progress.
Belshazzar was killed that very night and Darius the Mede received the kingdom.
In Daniel 1-4 we have four stories about Nebuchadnezzar. In each one, he is challenged by the Lord, and in spite of delays he eventually praised God. Thus in a sense the four stories have happy endings.
This is not the case in Ch. 5. It ends with judgment on Belshazzar. In a single night he lost everything---his kingdom, his throne, and his life because he treated what was sacred with contempt. Darius inherited all that formerly belonged to Belshazzar.
Please understand the truth that Belshazzar rejected. God is the Lord and the One who controls
the outcome of your life. No one is the captain of their own destiny. You can pretend that you are in control and defy God all you want, but He weighs each person in the balances. The saddest tragedy for anyone would be to come up deficient on God’s scales.
God is able to humble and overthrow even the most arrogant person who defies him. As God’s servant you may be called upon to pronounce God’s judgment against the wicked.
If you refuse to humble yourself and insist on trivializing the things of God, He will eventually put a stop to it. If you have been stubbornly defying God, you still have an opportunity to humble yourself, but your opportunity will not last forever.
Proud people may scoff at God’s warnings, but not forever. Job 36:6 says that “God does not keep the wicked alive.” Judgment will come for them one day.
NEXT SUNDAY WE BEGIN AN 8 WEEK STUDY OF “THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT” FROM MATTHEW 5 THROUGH 7. THE STUDY THEME IS “HANDBOOK 101.”
A.V. DAUGHERTY altav@swbell.net or http://www.theweeks/av/