Daniel 5: 17-30

Recurrent Thought

An undisciplined lifestyle and habitual neglect of God’s Word, which inevitably make one break God stated boundaries leads to a distortion of character and ultimately, the destruction of life

Every human being is responsible to act on the Word that comes from God. For those who know God their level of accountability and responsibility increases with that knowledge The Principle is clear “To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48). The narrative in Daniel 5 is that God wants us to be knowledgeable in how he speaks and that we are responsible for every negligence we portray in this regard. There is another principle in this narrative. It is the Principle of Leadership Impact. The higher one is on a totem pole of society the greater number of people they affect. This is both, in a positive or negative sense. 

The Story of Belshazzar in Chapter 5 reveals the collapse of the Kingdom of Babylon 

Background

Co-Regency of Belshazzar

Belshazzar was a co-regent ruler with his father Nabonidus, who was a direct son in law of Nebuchadnezzar who ruled after him. Historians state that His father was fond of travelling to other lands for holidays and leisure, in Arabia. Therefore, Belshazzar was a co-regent with his father. That is why he states, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” (5:7).

Daniel, who was around 82 Years old at this time, was called to interpret the writings on the Wall. It is the Queen Mother, who remembered his service to King Nebuchadnezzar. Before he interpreted the dream, he recounted how Nechadnezzar his father was proud and never followed God until he was cornered, and punished (5:18-21). Daniel then proceeded to rebuke the King that he too was proud, and should have known better having seen what God had done to his grandfather. Instead, he glorified idols while using sacred goblets from the Temple of Israel(5:22-25). While everyone watched there is a hand that writes words in Aramaic and they needed interpretation. Finally, he gave the interpretation:

• Mene, mene: The word is to count, to number. Thus, meaning God has numbered Belshazzar’s days.
• Tekel: The word means to weigh. The word meant that God weighed Belshazzar in the balance and found him wanting.
• (U)Parsin: The Word means split up or divided and it means that the kingdom will be split between the Medes and the Persians. 

That night the King and His key leaders who were in this lavish drunken party are killed. Babylon as a kingdom is decimated.

Cyrus & Darius

Babylon was a well-built city; it had a perimeter fence, which was impenetrable. The city walls were deeply sunk and very wide. Babylon was a marvel city, which had the Euphrates River as one of its source of livelihood. `The City was akin with this river(Jeremiah 51:63, 64). The builders of the City ensured that the city was built in such that the River was part of its structural system. The river ran through the city from north to south and had two spiked gates whose bars reached down to the riverbed and closed the city only allowed ships carrying cargo whenever its leaders deemed fit. 

Two relatively smaller kingdoms, the Persians and the Medes, collaborated to fight Babylon. Persian King, Cyrus was the King, while Darius of the Medes became the governor. Their two armies march towards the City of Babylon destroying villages on the way. Finally, they lay siege against Babylon. 

How did they win?  Upstream before, the Euphrates River entered the City, Cyrus had soldiers dig a channel that diverted most of the water away from Bablylon. Thus on the night Belshazzar was dinning and winning, the waters in the River was so low that in the cover of the night, the enemy soldiers entered the City. They overcome the city that whose leadership was totally drunk. And the King was killed on that night.

Astounding Prophecy

Isaiah 44 & 45 are Prophecies about King Cyrus 150 Years before this time. He was called the shephered and servant of God. He is the one who is sympathetic to Israel and he was the one given the wisdom of releasing the Children of Israel to go to their land.

God tells Belshazzar that his days are numbered, he has been weighed and his Kingdom, Divided. The essence is God has accessed him and continues to weigh us.

What is lacking in Belshazzar and His Kingdom

1. Don’t be Dull of hearing (Accountability) 
   • God is merciful. He always  speaks to his Children. He relates to them in healthy relations 
   • You knew what God did with Your Grandfather, yet you don’t allow it to minister to you.
   • The More you know the more accountable you are. The more light you have the more you are required to be responsible. 
   • As Jesus says in Matthew 13:15: For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them
   • What we see in Belshazzar is lack of willingness to learn. He has initial knowledge yet he does not want to utilize. The Scriptures are accessible to almost all of us but we may ignore them. Jesus wants to live in us, and we may allow Him partial access only. This is unbelief.
2. Don’t be Proud 
   • You have not humbled your heart.
   • Pride positions us in the place of God, where we get credit for what God has done. We get deceived that what we have achieved is by our efforts
   • Pride deceives us to believe we are Self-sufficient in life. 
   • His grandfather was humbled and judged with a form of mental illness due to lack of humility. 
3. Don’t Be careless With issues of  Sanctity
   • God rebukes Belshazzar for contempt over the works of God. 
   • Do not be too familiar and careless with Gods goodness to the end that you fail to respect him. 
   • You have used the sacred things for common things. You have used the Temple Assets for Common use
   • They got drunk and became incapable of performing as God wishes. 
   • Anything that you willfully do and incapacitates your ability to perform as God desires is the essence of your contempt for God’s sanctity..
   • Substance abuse, alcoholism and all forms of addictions make one to fail to perform in the way God desire. The effects of alcohol and addictions are many: They decrease inhibitions—for example, with regard to sexuality—and encourages foul speech and blasphemy. Under their influence, your capacity of reaction declines, your Self-control diminishes.
   • Another form of lack of sanctity is engaging in all forms of Sexual immorality, which ultimately renders one incapable to execute God given purpose with a pure conscience, honesty, truthfulness and full of integrity. 
   • The King and all his leadership lost their sense of reality, and ignored the impeding danger of the siege.
4. Don’t Misrepresent God
   • Instead of celebrating God the maker, he gave reference to idols: the god of wood, 
   • He showed lack of Faith in God. He was weighed and found wanting

Conclusion

Listen for God is Speaking.  Respond accordingly