The Book of Daniel, God Reveals the Handwriting Through His Servant, Daniel, Daniel 5:17-31 - Lesson 24

The banquet of Belshazzar is in pause mode.

The king, at the bequest of his mother, has summoned Daniel and upon questioning him, has been assured as to his credentials that will enable him to reveal the message that was handwritten on the wall.

Daniel, UN-fearing of man, for he totally depends upon God, now stands in the presence of the second ruler of Babylon, Belshazzar the son of Nabonidus, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.

No doubt Daniel knows of the character of this king, he knows of the immoral practices of this king, he knows that he is no Nebuchadnezzar, and he knows that the lessons his grandfather learned were not received by him.

Daniel comes to the banquet as no soothsayer, with words of comfort, soothing words designed to enamor himself to the king, or words to gain personal favor with the king.

Daniel, long ago, decided to serve the Most High God with all others, including kings, coming after.

Early on in this book we learned of his purpose to not defile himself and now in his older years this is still a mark of this man for this purpose is implanted in his character.

He knew whom to fear for that is the ultimate wisdom.

Kings were responsible to the same God to whom Daniel was responsible and Daniel knew it was God in whom to fear, not this king who was offering reward offered to the man that could read the writing on the wall.

Daniel 5:17-24,  Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.  O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:  And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.  But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:  And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.  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; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast 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 thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: ²⁴Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.

Daniel looked for reward that was lasting, reward that was true and eternal and therefore he shunned any reward offered by this king for he knew that such things as the king could give were fleeting and would pass away before the morning.

There was no couching of words on his part, there was no framing of words to lessen the message, there was no dilution of the message because of the power of the hearer.

Daniel was not a respecter of persons when it came to preaching truth.

Daniel did not know political correctness but if he did it would make not a wit of a difference for he spoke for the Most High God.

Nebuchadnezzar had been humbled so that he might recognize God as the ruler over all men and recognize that all authority comes to men from God.

He reminds him of the conclusion of the matter, in that one day his grandfather, who had the power of life and death over men came to recognize that there was a higher power, a power that ruled in the kingdom of men and who appointed over it whomsoever he would.

Before Daniel gets to the message on the wall he tells Belshazzar the why of the message.

Why are you receiving the handwritten doomsday message?

The ‘why’ is that you have not humbled your heart, for you knew all that happened to your grandfather but you took it not to your own heart.

Your prideful heart showed itself in bringing up the vessels of God’s house and you have corrupted them with your debauchery and wanton drunkenness.

You have used the holy vessels to praise the gods that do not speak, that do not hear, that do not know, the gods made by men’s hands.

You have not yielded to the God from whom your breath comes, nor have you glorified him from whom come all your ways.

The season of your kingdom has come to an end for the God that you do not know brings imminent judgment because of your sin.

Light rejected brings judgment, for there is no other remedy beside the light of God.

It was readily apparent to Daniel that Belshazzar’s heart was proud and haughty, a heart that exalted itself against the Most High God, a heart who took no note of the holy vessels taken from the temple.

God had provided much light but light was rejected in favor of darkness for in so corrupting the use of those vessels he had blasphemed the name of God by profaning the house of God.

This was the reason for the doomsday message on the wall which Daniel now read.

Daniel 5:25-28,  And this is the writing that was written, MENE (men-ay'), MENE (men-ay'), TEKEL (tek-al'), UPHARSIN (per-as').  This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.  PERES (per-as'); Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

The message on the wall is composed of four words, two repeated followed by two more.

They are simple words, numbered, numbered, to balance or be weighed, and the last, to split up, to divide.

The message was brief but the king did not understand its meaning.

The words are judgment words.

They are words that would be used in a shop that weighed its product before selling it.

The product is numbered, the product is weighed, the product is divided.

The butcher numbers the product, that is he judges the quality or type of product, is it steak? is it pork? is it hamburger?

He weighs the product and separates from it that which goes to the buyer and that which he retains.

It is a judgment process.

And this also is a judgment process for Babylon and Belshazzar are being numbered.

God judges the quality of the kingdom, He weighs the kingdom and judges what part if any of the kingdom is to be retained and then he divides the kingdom accordingly.

In this process he uses the term, ‘MENE’ men-ay' and concludes that the numbering of the kingdom has resulted in a finding that the kingdom lacked quality and He was putting an end to it.

Jesus found no figs on the fig tree, he numbered the fruit and found no fruit and put an end to the tree.

Its season is over and likewise Babylon’s season is over and Belshazzar the king has been found wanting.

This numbering results in a weighing.

The term ‘TEKEL’ tek-al' is used to convey that the king has been weighed on the scales of divine justice and been found deficient.

The king has not given God fruit that had been expected.

If you boil down the reason for God’s creation it is the purpose on God’s part to have fruit, for He is a husbandman.

The measure of the king’s fruit bearing comes up short compared to the divine weight that is placed on the scale of justice.

The third word, that of UPHARSIN is equivalent to "and" pharsin which is the plural of peres which is used in verse 28.

Peras (per-as'), means a dividing and Daniel explains this is what takes place because of the numbering and the weighing (per-as') that found the kingdom deficient.

‘PERES’(per-as'), is the divine notification that the Babylonian kingdom was to be divided and handed over to the Medes and the Persians.

Daniel 5:29,  Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

The king believed Daniel.

There was no question of the interpretation that had been given but there was also no spiritual response to the message.

There was no repentance on the king’s part but only an acknowledgement that the message had been properly deciphered.

He rewarded Daniel in spite of Daniel’s rejection of the rewards for the king’s word had been given.

In a way this was again a rejection of the grace of God for Daniel had come in a spirit of grace but the king even rejected that and insisted on his word being carried out.

But no repentance was forthcoming.

True, there had been no call for repentance as there was with Nebuchadnezzar, but God calls men everywhere to repent.

It was not to be, and that very night the king was put to death as the Medes and Persians came to power.

He took not this short opportunity to recognize the God of Daniel, the God of his grandfather.

Daniel 5:30-31,  In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old (62).

Belshazzar may have thought he had more time to ponder the message of the wall but that very night his life was ended and another ruler entered the scene.

Darius the Mede came to power.

The Babylonians trusted in their great city with its massive walls for their security but Darius found the weakness in that city by lowering the level of the Euphrates river which flowed through the city and under the walls.

His army entered unhindered during the banquet of Belshazzar.

His doom was sealed as God had so ordained.

The message to Belshazzar was of doom, a message of judgment.

The message to us is this, that the word of God is sure.

All things that God ordains come about.

God brought about the downfall of Babylon and Belshazzar, its king, just as He said.

The death of Belshazzar and the defeat of Babylon was the judgment of God on a city and a people who profaned the name of the God of Israel.

The lesson again is: God will not be mocked either by a king or by the most common of men.