The Handwriting on the Wall (Daniel 5)
This sermon was preached on 1/1/2012
Because the celebration arranged by Belshazzar took place on the evening before the fall of Babylon we know the date on which the event was held – October 11, 539 B.C. This means that about twenty-five years have passed since the details recorded in the previous chapter took place. Nebuchadnezzar himself died in 562 BC, and perhaps because of his passing Daniel seems to have been sidelined. Perhaps there was an attempt to forget the rather embarrassing behaviour of Nebuchadnezzar and his advisor Daniel. But the earthly powers forgot that God does not forget and neither can he be sidelined.
The sudden fall of Babylon – Why did it happen?
Babylon was a powerful empire, so why did it fall? Three answers can be given to this question.
The first reason is that a more powerful empire came along. This is not very surprising for us to note because we are aware of many empires that have come and gone since the days of Belshazzar. Our own country once had an empire, but it has long disappeared. As far as Babylon was concerned, it had replaced the empire of Assyria; now it was her time to be overthrown, and the new powerful empire was that of Media-Persia which was to be in control for several centuries until it in turn was defeated by the Grecian empire. No human empire lasts for ever.
The second reason that it fell is that God had planned it. His purpose for Babylon can be seen in two ways – general and specific. The general aspect had been revealed to Daniel via the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had had of a great image which represented three subsequent empires to Babylon (the dream did not say when the Babylonian empire would end). The specific aspect is found in a prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer. 25:8-14; 29:1-14) which says that after seventy years the Lord would remove power from Babylon and destroy its ruler. There are also prophecies by Jeremiah that the Babylonian empire would be brought to an end by the Medes (Jer. 51:28), and here they were about to overthrow their enemy, as verse 31 indicates.
The third reason is that God’s people prayed for the fall to happen (there is also a prayer for recovery by Daniel in chapter 9, after the Babylonian empire had fallen). We see their longing expressed in the poignant words of Psalm 137, a psalm that has become synonymous with captivity wherever it takes place. It is the case that in accordance with divine instructions they prayed for the prosperity and peace Babylon as long as it lasted (Jer. 29:7), but they still longed for the day when that cruel empire would only be a memory. Their desire was firmly based on the revealed will of God to punish Babylon eventually, as we noted above, and therefore it was not a contradiction of his intentions for that city. Sometimes it is appropriate to pray for wicked people to be removed from power, especially if they engage in acts of cruelty.
The sad fall of Belshazzar – Why did it happen?
Who was Belshazzar? The chapter indicates that he was a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar (‘father’ in verse 11 can mean ancestor). Secular history tells us more about him. He was actually co-ruler with his own father Nabonidus, which explains Belshazzar’s offer to make Daniel the third in the kingdom (Nabonidus was number 1, Belshazzar was number 2). Nabonidus may have married a daughter or a wife of Nebuchadnezzar, and this would explain how Belshazzar was a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar. Although at this time he was leading the Babylonian army in battle against the Medes, Nabonidus actually spent most of his rule away from the city, preferring to live elsewhere, and Belshazzar was recognised there as a co-ruler.
As we have noted, it was the evening before Babylon was captured by the Medes and the Persians. Inevitably this celebration, which may have been held annually, was connected to their siege of the city. Can we suggest why the event took place?
One possible answer is that Belshazzar was unaware of the imminent danger. The Babylonian army under the command of Nabonidus had engaged the Persians on a plain fifty miles from the city. The Persians won a comprehensive victory, Nabonidus fled, and the Persians marched on Babylon to help the troops surrounding the city. It is possible that Belshazzar did not know about the defeat and instead was actually celebrating an assumed victory.
Another suggested answer is that Belshazzar was aware of the loss in battle, but was very confident in the city’s resources. So what if the enemy was nearby, he was sure that it could never capture Babylon (it had been trying to do so already without success for over two years)! The city was surrounded by two walls, 350 feet high and 87 feet wide. On the walls were 250 defence towers towering another 100 feet high. Around the outside wall was a moat thirty feet wide. The River Euphrates flowed through the city, but it also was protected along its path by walls and gates of brass. There were enough provisions in the city to withstand a siege for twenty years. These factors made Belshazzar and his government feel very secure, no matter how large the attacking army.
A third suggested answer is that the feast was connected to Belshazzar becoming sole ruler, now that his father had fled to somewhere else. But since it was possible that Nabonidus could re-appear at any time, this is an unlikely reason.
A fourth suggested answer is that Belshazzar was trying to encourage his people because of the siege. So in addition to stressing the physical security of Babylon, he also drew attention to the supposed power of their pagan gods by contrasting them with the seeming weakness of the God who used to be in the temple at Jerusalem. The meeting certainly had religious overtones, so something similar to this fourth suggestion is probably the reason for the celebration.
So how did the Persians take the city so easily? They adopted a simple plan. Soldiers diverted the river a few miles north of the city, and once the water had dried up in a few hours, the army marched along the river bed into the city. They were probably doing so even as Daniel was speaking to Belshazzar, but the king and his guests were oblivious to what was going on.
What else can we say about Belshazzar? At one level, he was a great achiever and had risen to great heights as far as success can be estimated. He had been one of the most powerful men in the world, and everything seemed to be going great as far as his prospects were concerned. Further, he was an individual who liked to enjoy himself, and the bigger the party the better, although there is evidence that he was not a popular ruler.
Belshazzar was also an arrogant man. His arrogance is seen in two ways: first, he liked to make a big display for which others would praise him (we can see this in the kind of party he arranged); second, he deliberately ignored the warnings that God had given to him. It is clear from Daniel’s response, after he had been summoned to the king’s presence, that Belshazzar had deliberately ignored what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar. Only an arrogant man would ignore the warnings of God.
His arrogance made him a fool. He did not pay any heed to what had happened to his ancestor Nebuchadnezzar and dismissed the information that God had given to him regarding the demise of his kingdom. Belshazzar was aware that the Persian armies had surrounded the cities but he was unimpressed because he imagined that the defences of the city were impregnable. He did not make any connection between the prophecy given to Daniel and the attack by the growing power of Persia.
Belshazzar had his religious outlook. He was confident that his gods would give him victory, and the celebration he arranged was connected to that perspective. In addition he seems to have an inbuilt dislike for the God of the Hebrews. Why else would he want to use the vessels from their temple on this occasion? He added to his arrogance the sin of animosity to the true God.
The hand and the writing
God has ways of getting even the attention of drunken rulers. Yet he can do it in such a way that no-one knows what is happening. Belshazzar is not frightened by the meaning of the words, because he cannot read or understand them. We are not told why he or his wise men could not read the words – one suggestion is that they were written in Hebrew letters, which Daniel could read, but that is only a guess. Yet Belshazzar is absolutely petrified and panic stricken – he shouts for the wise men to come and interpret the words. This is not too surprising because nothing like this has happened before. I suspect that Belshazzar assumed that the hand had something to do with the gods of the Persians and he thought that they possessed a power that was unrealised by the Babylonians.
As usual, an opportunity is now given for the wise men of Babylon to show their incompetency. They have no idea what the words mean, and even the offer of instant promotion does not attract them. What use were these wise men at the moment he needed them the most! Normally they would have something of encouragement to say to their king, even if it was not true. But here they can say nothing, probably because the Lord prevented them from speaking.
Of course, Belshazzar is being reduced of his helps and confidences by God. In the midst of his thousand or so lords, the king finds himself becoming increasingly isolated, unable to control events. It is not that they don’t want to help him; rather it is because he is beyond their help.
At this moment, someone enters the room whom Belshazzar knows well – the Queen Mother. She is called the Queen here, but she is not Belshazzar’s wife because she is already at the party (v. 2). Perhaps she is his mother, but it is probable that she would be away with her husband Nabonidus in one of his retreats. Rather it is suggested that she is the wife of Nebuchadnezzar himself. Certainly her words reveal that she knows all about Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel.
She has affection for Belshazzar (v. 10), which would not be surprising if she was his grandmother. It is clear that she wants to help him. Nevertheless her words are also words of rebuke, reminding him of his folly. She rehearses what had taken place a few years earlier: Nebuchadnezzar had made Daniel the chief of the wise men because he possessed the Spirit of God. What is very significant is that she prefers to call him Daniel and does not refer to him by his pagan Babylonian name except to explain that he had both names. This would suggest that she, like her husband before her, had discovered a depth to Daniel that was only explained by his religious convictions, by his faith in his God. Further, she still has great confidence in him, even if Belshazzar has paid no attention to him (v. 12), and urges Belshazzar to obtain Daniel’s help.
The Queen, whether a believer or not, knew how to recognise the character, priorities and roles of a believer in the true God; and she tells us how we can recognise a believer as well. A believer is a person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells and who gives a special kind of knowledge when he speaks. She knew that Daniel was different from the other wise men.
Belshazzar by this time is so desperate that he will try anything. There is something ironic in him asking for help from a Hebrew while around him are the vessels from the Hebrew temple which he has been using in a disrespectful manner. He finds himself promising great rewards to a despised Jew if he can interpret the words on the wall, which is an indication that his panic had not removed his sense of protocol.
Daniel, the faithful witness
One detail that is obvious about Daniel is that he has no interest in worldly promotion, especially from a man who should have known better. This response to Belshazzar would have helped Daniel when the Persians took over because it would have indicated he was not on the side of their enemies. Instead he gives Belshazzar a history lesson and recites what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar. God in his sovereignty had given him the empire of Babylon and had taken it from him for a while because of his pride. The Lord had brought him very low, but Nebuchadnezzar eventually confessed that God was the sovereign ruler and the kingdom was restored to him. Belshazzar would have been in Babylon at that time.
Then Daniel gives Belshazzar a lesson in religious instruction. He reminds the king that he is wilfully rebelling against God, against the knowledge he had of God’s dealings with his predecessor. And to make matters worse, the king had attempted to demean the living God by abusing the vessels from his temple (the sin of sacrilege) and to extol non-existent gods (the sin of idolatry). Daniel charges the king with the sin of dishonouring the Lord whom his grandfather had honoured.
Having prepared Belshazzar for the bad news, Daniel tells him the meaning of the writing on the wall. The words have a connection to weights and scales – numbered, weighed and divided. God is the one using the scales and he has already performed three things: (a) the time is up for the Babylonian empire (is the numbering a reference to the figure ‘seventy years’ which earmarked the length of the empire’s existence?); (b) Belshazzar himself, unlike Nebuchadnezzar, is finished; (c) the Medes and the Persians have already been given the kingdom. In other words, Belshazzar was told that he was too late in coming to Daniel for help. The time was up, and that evening he was gone from this world, from an idolatrous party to a lost eternity.
Four applications
Belshazzar did not leave much to posterity but he does leave four things for us to think about. The first is the danger of aggravated guilt. Belshazzar had seen enough years before in what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar to know that God will judge sinners. Yet he refused to take note and eventually perished.
The second lesson is that we should learn from the grace that God shows to others, whether in the past or in the present. God had been good to Nebuchadnezzar and shown him mercy. Instead of being a person with a few paragraphs in history about building cities and waging wars he is now an example of God’s mercy to all who read about him. It is good for us to think about those whom we knew tasted the grace of God.
The third lesson is that we should not leave putting things right with God until the last hours. Belshazzar did not get an offer of mercy. Of course, it was possible for him to have experienced personal salvation while losing his kingdom. But he did not hear about mercy because his heart was totally deaf to God and his ways. He had plenty time before this – he probably had known about Daniel and his God all his life. Yet he spurned his opportunities and discovered that he had lost them all.
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