Daniel 5 – Belshazzar’s Feast
The record in Daniel chapter 2 recounts how the God of heaven revealed a certain thing to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. In the vision that was shown to him, the king saw a great metal man, which represented the successive kingdoms of men, from Babylon onwards, leading up to the final stage, where the God of Heaven would intervene and establish His kingdom, which would not be replaced, but endure for ever:
“in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Dan. 2:44).
So in this vision, the king was being taught that the kingdoms of men were but temporary – including his own – and eventually the only permanent kingdom would overthrow them, the kingdom established by the God of Heaven Himself.
But in the record of Daniel chapter 3, we read of an act of defiance on the part of the Babylonian king. Whereas the Image of chapter 2 foretold how the Babylonian empire would be replaced by another (the Silver Medo-Persian dominion), Nebuchadnezzar set up his own image – all of gold. In this, he was declaring that his golden kingdom, not the kingdom of God, would last for ever. Moreover, he called upon his subjects to bow and worship before that image that he had set up. And the record shows the brave faith of three Jewish captives, who refused to do obeisance to the image.
In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar was taught the principle that “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish” (Psa. 49:20). He experienced a bout of insanity, for 7 years, until he came to recognise the God of Heaven. So the chapter concludes with his words: “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase” (Dan. 4:37).
BELSHAZZAR
Chapter 5, which forms part of our readings for today, brings us to consider Belshazzar, a later king descended from Nebuchadnezzar. He made “a great feast” and called upon all the lord of his kingdom to indulge themselves in revelry. But in his drunkenness, he also set himself against the God of Israel:
“Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein … They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone” (Dan. 5:2-4).
In dedicating this feast to the gods of gold etc, Belshazzar was making the same error as Nebuchadnezzar. In fact, Daniel remonstrated with him, and after recounting what had happened to the former king, he said: “And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of Heaven …” (Dan. 5:22-23). So it was that the king of Babylon became lifted up in pride, against the Lord of Heaven.
It would appear that Belshazzar was the king of Babylon spoken of by Isaiah (Isa. 14:4):
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isa. 14:12-15).
This was the problem with the Babylonian kings – both Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar were lifted up in pride: “therefore hear now this, thou that are given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, That saith in thine heart, I am, and there is none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children …” (Isa. 47:8, see also verse 10). They were both “given to pleasures”, and vaunted themselves against the God of Heaven in their idolatrous feasting.
We see a similar attitude of mind in Israel of old. The record of Exodus 32 describes how that they also made themselves a golden image to worship. Even Aaron was involved, making the calf by his own hand. He sought to appease the people by compromise:
“… when Aaron saw it he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast unto Yahweh” (Ex. 32:5).
Here is a characteristic of apostasy: the combining of idolatrous principles with Divine Worship. But in the event, that is not what took place: the feasting was devoted to the idol of gold, and not to Yahweh:
“… and they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Ex. 32:6)]
Notice the main characteristic of this idolatry was the indulgence of the flesh – a feast of eating and drinking. This is the point brought out by Paul in alluding back to this event:
“neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (1 Cor. 10:7).
But notice it was only “some of them” who indulged themselves, not all. Even so in the case of Belshazzar’s idolatrous feasting, Daniel was nowhere to be found – he was not present at the party, and had to be sent for when his services as a prophet of Yahweh were required. This is the spirit of the faithful of old: they choose affliction rather than to “enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (see Moses, Heb. 11:25), yet will gladly make known the Will of the Lord to those who send for them.
FINGERS OF A MAN’S HAND
During the festivities, there appeared the fingers of a man’s hand, writing certain things upon the wall. Israel of old were taught that Yahweh brought them forth “out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand” (Ex. 43:11). Again, in the future it will be that “as I live, saith Yahweh, surely with a mighty hand, and will a stretched our arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: (Isa. 20:33). But here, the mighty Hand of God was extended with a message concerning the demise of Babylon’s king. The faithful are told: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6). But the kings of Babylon – as we saw from Isaiah 14 – instead exalted themselves against Israel’s God, as they did not recognise how that the Most High rules in the Kingdom of Men, and that he appoints over it whomsoever he will (see Dan. 5:21).
Upon seeing the fingers writing a message upon the wall, king Belshazzar was greatly troubled:
“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” (Dan. 5:6).
In this, he was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the coming defeat of Babylon:
“Thus saith Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut” (Isa. 45:1).
THE UNITED BODY OF CHRIST
By contrast to Belshazzar who lost control over his body, with his joints being lossed so that his knees knocked together, the Body of Christ is united under Christ as its head. So Paul describes the unbelievers:
“not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together increaseth with the increase of God” (Col. 2:19).
The Babylonian empire was the head of Gold in the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw, to be succeeded by other empires. But Christ is the Head (indeed, a golden head: Song 5:11), over a united body which will constitute “the ecclesia by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end” (Eph. 3:21).
Moreover, just as the wisest men of Babylon could not make known either Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, or declare the writing on Belshazzar’s wall, even so the wisest men of this age cannot receive the simplicity of the Gospel message. As Jesus himself declared asked: “Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word” (Jno. 8:43). And again, Paul declared:
“we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory” (1 Cor. 2:8).
By contrast, just as in Daniel 2, the mystery was revealed to Daniel and his brethren, we read that:
“But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:20).
By heeding the Spirit-Word, the believer can be “filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col. 1:9). This was the case with Daniel, as the king said: “I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee” (Dan. 5:14). As we said earlier, Daniel was absent from the feast and it’s associated revelry, which meant they had to send for him, to make known the meaning of the hand writing. Peter describes the believers in terms of how they were once part of these things, but have now left them behind:
“For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot …” (1 Pet. 4:3-4).
This was Daniel’s stand: in Chapter 1 of his prophecy, we learn how he refused to partake of “the king’s meat”, and here we find him refusing to participate in the king’s revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries.
The message of the writing upon Belshazzar’s wall spoke of how his kingdom was going to end:
“MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians” (Dan. 5:26-28).
So when he was weighed in the balances of God’s justice, the king was found wanting: “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” (Psa. 62:9). He was a man of high degree, but was found not to have any weight, being lighter than vanity.
The Historian Herodotus wrote of Babylon’s downfall:
“owing to the great size of the city, the outskirts were captured without the people in the centre knowing anything about it. There was a festival going on, and they continued to dance and enjoy themselves until they learned the news the hard way”
THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT
We have already drawn a comparison between the united Body of Christ, and the uncontrolled disunited body of Belshazzar, but there is also another comparison that ought to be noted. The Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians:
“They that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thes. 5:7-9).
Like Daniel, Messiah’s disciples do not indulge in the drunken feasts of men, held to the glorification of the flesh, and the idol of Mammon. But by contrast, there is a feast that they do partake of: a spiritual feast, styled by Jude “feasts of love” (Jude 12). This is a feast filled with spiritual delights – not of the wine of Babylon, but the bread and wine emblematic of Messiah laying down his life for his friends. They partake of a small morsel of bread, and a small sip of wine – yet the import of what they do is of tremendous significance. And in the future, there will be a spiritual feast for the nations to also partake of:
“And in this mountain shall Yahweh of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines upon the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for Yahweh hath spoken it” (Isa. 25:6-8).
This is the true feast to look forward to: not a drunken orgy in defiance of Israel’s God, but a veritable feast of delightful provisions made by Him for their benefit, and His Glorification. We must therefore not enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season like those all around us, but hold fast to the principles of Truth, whereby we might be saved. True believers are united as one around the table of the Lord, a single body controlled by Messiah as it’s head. And the faithful brethren long for the coming destruction of the latter-day Babylonian system (cp. Rev. 17-19), and the establishment of a kingdom that shall truly have no end.
Christopher Maddocks
