Daniel – Chapter 5a
A. Chapter 5 Outline
I. Belshazzar (5:1-4)
a. The Party (5:1)
b. The Preposterousness (5:2-3)
c. The Profanity (5:4)
II. The Lord (5:5-9)
a. Look At The Wall (5:5)
b. Look At The King (5:6-7)
c. Look At The Wise Men (5:8-9)
III. The Queen Mother (5:10-12)
a. Her Ignorance (5:10)
b. Her Insight (5:11-12)
IV. Daniel (5:13-29)
a. Daniel’s Reward (5:13-16)
b. Daniel’s Refusal (5:17)
c. Daniel’s Rebuke (5:18-23)
d. Daniel’s Revelation (5:24-28)
e. Daniel’s Robing (5:29)
V. Darius (5:30-31)
a. The Slaying of The King (5: 30)
b. The Silver Chest Reigns (5:31)
Message
I. Belshazzar (5:1-4)
This chapter gives us the only glimpse we have of this man in the Bible. In fact for centuries the Bible was the ONLY known reference to this king. The critics had a field day with this as there were no secular records of Belshazzar as king. However, the Bible does not need to be verified by secular sources.
Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C. and was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach (562-560 B.C.) who reigned for 2 years – 2 Kings 25:27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
Allegedly because tried to modify his father’s policies, he was murdered by Nergal-sharezer (Neriglissar 560-556 B.C.), his brother-in-law, who succeeded him. His son Labashi-Marduk was very young and held the throne for only 2 months in 556 B.C. when he was murdered. Nabonidus then became king in 556 B.C. – he was also a son-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar and the father of Belshazzar. Nabonidus ruled the Babylonian Empire but Balshazzar was coregent and ruled the city of Babylon.
The title king was not applied soley to the supreme monarch in that age. If you notice in Daniel chapter 2, when Daniel was honoured by Nebuchadnezzar, the great king made him second ruler in the kingdom Daniel 2:48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
Look at 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. Belshazzar appoints him to the position of third ruler, as he himself was clearly the second.
a. The Party (5:1)
We are introduced to Belshazzar while he is in the midst of throwing a wild party for 1,000 of his lords. Belshazzar is like a lot of people in our day. They are living for this life. They are living to gratify their flesh with absolutely no thought for eternity. They party, play and live for the good times, never realizing that there will come a day when the fun will end.
• He was a man of great wealth and immense power. Yet, he was as poverty stricken in his soul as if he were a beggar.
• He was a great ruler of a vast kingdom. Yet, he was a man who was unable to rule his own heart.
• He was a man who commanded fear from his subjects; others bowed down before him. Yet, he had no fear of the Lord.
• Belshazzar walked among the wisest men of the day. Yet, he was a man who ruled in ignorance of the most important things in life.
It was a night of drunkenness and debauchery. It speaks to the evils of substance abuse and all that accompanies it – Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;.
Belshazzar knew that the army of the Medes and Persians were encamped out side the city, but he was not bothered by the danger they posed. After all the city was impenetrable. The walls were 300 feet high and 85 feet thick. There was no way an army was going to scale these walls.
Even if the army had them surrounded and fenced the people in, Belshazzar was not bothered. The river ran through and supplied them with all the water they needed. They had enough food stored in the city – the city was self sufficient, they even had farms and livestock within the city walls. They could not be starved out. Belshazzar was confident in himself and in his achievements. Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. In fact he was so confident that he threw a party.
Sounds like the world today – I’m safe as houses, nothing is going to hurt me. There is no thought of eternity. People are confident that they are ok and that they have no need of God. They are having the time of their lives with as many parties as they can fit in. But the time is coming when God will declare war 1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
As the wine began to circulate, Belshazzar set the pace, tasting and savouring each sip. There was a big surprise waiting for the guests. You can almost see the king waiting impatiently to spring the surprise on everyone. Then like an exited schoolboy he makes his announcement…
b. The Preposterousness (5:2-3)
We know that Babylon was the birthplace and capital city of idolatry. From here, it has spread throughout the world. It is still deeply rooted in Romanism and is the driving force behind Buddhism and Hinduism. It flourished in Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon and it will reach its climax in Jerusalem in the days of the Antichrist. Revelation 13:8-15
Nebuchadnezzar had turned his back on idols and had turned to God, however, after the kings death it seems that this fascination was stronger than ever in Babylon.
Nabonidus was a committed idolater. He had taken every idol from the surrounding towns around Babylon and had brought them to the capital. He thought that these idols would defend them from the Medo-Persian threat. It is likely that Belshazzar had them set up in his banqueting hall and that the feast itself was to honour these idols.
His grandfather had decreed that all peoples were to give respect to the God of the Jews Daniel 3:29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
Nebuchadnezzar had praised the Lord for His sovereignty and greatness Daniel 4:37 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.
But as the years passed, the great king’s words were forgotten and forsaken and his grandson, Belshazzar, treated the God of Israel with arrogant disrespect. Both the men and women at this feast used the valuable consecrated vessels like common drinking cups.
In his drunkenness, Belshazzar is attempting to show the superiority of his gods by ridiculing the God of the Hebrews. He treated the one true God as if He were nothing.
Many still do this. They take the things of God and treat them like they are nothing. The Bible, the church, the Lord’s Day, the Lord’s Name,., etc.) Exodus. 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain
c. The Profanity (5:4)
While these drunken idolaters are drinking from the Lords cups they are praising their false gods of Babylon.
Exodus 20:3-5 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: [5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Belshazzar meant the gesture to be proof that the gods of Babylon were greater than the God of the Jews. This was their hour and that of the powers of darkness. The great hall of Babylon rang with the cheers and jeers of Belshazzar and a thousand of his lords.
As the wine made its rounds, the more drunk they became, the more they derided God and the more hoarse they made themselves as they shouted their blasphemes.
People can defy the will of God and blaspheme His name only so long, and then the hand of the Lord begins to move.
