Daniel 5:1-4 “Learning”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Belshazzar the king made a great feast to his one thousand nobles and to the one thousand [he was] one drinking the wine. ²Belshazzar said in tasting the wine to bring the vessels of the gold and the silver which Nebuchadnezzar his father had brought from the temple which [was] in Jerusalem and they drank in them, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines. ³Then they brought the vessels of the gold which they brought from the temple which [was] the house of God which [was] in Jerusalem and they drank in them, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines. ⁴They drank the wine and they praised the gods of the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the wood, and the stone

Some more thoughts on this passage: So now we understand the historical background and the Jewish prophecies leading up to this night. In my earlier thoughts, I said I believe the history actually serves to highlight the lessons we all can take from this chapter. In the first post, I noted Belshazzar’s arrogance. This whole party and the desecration of the temple vessels are acts of complete arrogant defiance on the part of Belshazzar—defiance against Cyrus and the Persian army which is surrounding the city, and defiance against the Jewish prophecies that the Seventy Years are up and that Babylon’s rule has come to an end. Belshazzar refuses to believe it even possible that Cyrus could enter the city, and he is mocking the God of Israel who has prophesied his end.

What can we learn from this? It would be very easy to condemn this arrogant fool and then move on. Many, if not most, of the commentators I’ve read did exactly that. That is always easy to do, especially with the “bad” men of the Bible, however, when we do that, we need to realize we’re passing up the opportunity to learn ourselves. If we would learn anything at all, we need to hear Nathan saying, “You’re the man!” What the Lord has painted on the canvas before us is your face and mine, if we’re willing to see it.

I may not be a king. I may not be fabulously wealthy. I may feel I have never, nor would ever be this arrogant and defiant. However, that is only because our evil hearts are “desperately wicked and deceitful above all things.” As I have noted before, pride is an insidious sin that hides itself from our vision. The whole world may see we’re arrogant, but we’ll be the last to ever know it. Only the Lord Jesus Himself can deliver you and me from “this body of death.” We may think we’re “rich,” and “don’t need a thing,” but Jesus would have us to know that without Him, we are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” His counsel is “to buy from Me gold so you can be rich, and white clothes to wear, and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (all from Rev. 3:17,18).

“Salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” That is precisely what this passage calls for. If you and I would learn anything, we need Jesus to open our eyes so we can see our own faces in the mirror of His Word. Belshazzar is none other than the fallen man lurking inside each one of us. He was the fallen man lurking inside his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar and it took a terrible calamity, but Nebuchadnezzar did see it. He finally saw his arrogance and concluded, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right, and all His ways are just; and those who walk in pride He is able to humble” (4:37).

All that said, here’s my take on it all: Belshazzar is really nothing more than simply “a man without God.” What do I mean? He is a real man, living in a real world, without the slightest clue why he’s here or what he should be doing. Why is he really throwing this party? Is it not because, in one way or another, he thinks this will make him happy? He thinks if he guzzles wine, it will light up his life. He thinks somehow it proves what a great man he is if he can have 1,000 nobles sit before him and acknowledge his greatness. He thinks everyone else will be impressed that he defies Cyrus and his army. Then he thinks they will all marvel at his power, that he can actually defy the God of Israel, who predicted his doom. He is surrounded by wives and concubines whom he has cruelly enslaved because he thinks too that keeping them all as his toys will make him happy and impress everyone else with his greatness.

Belshazzar is an empty shell of a man, trying desperately to make himself happy, to make himself significant. He utterly does not comprehend what Jesus will later say, “For without Me, you can do nothing.” Nothing. Here is the first place where I believe you and I should see our own faces in the mirror. We all, including Belshazzar, were very specifically created by God. He is our Creator and we are His created beings. He made us to need Him, to know Him, to live in an on-going personal relationship with Him all day every day. It is the fruit of His Spirit that will give us “love and joy and peace.” Our only “significance” is found as we would acknowledge Him and live our lives to serve Him, to please Him, and to walk according to His Word.

To whatever extent you and I fail to see this, we’re really no different than Belshazzar. Is that not right? I was not born to be “independent,” to be the “master of my own fate.” In this world, I may enjoy some measures of happiness, a sun to shine and rain to fall, but they will always be but flitting shadows, unless we realize what Jesus said, “For this is eternal life, that they might know You…” (John 17:3). Is He your God? Can it be said that your “faith” itself is really all about a personal relationship with Him? Belshazzar refused to see it and he’ll be dead before this night is over, but, for you and I, if we still have breath in our lungs, we have the opportunity to repent of our evil independence and to fall into “the Everlasting Arms.”

Even if we have done that, even if we are sincerely trying to walk with God, still there will be rooms in the palace of our own hearts where our Belshazzar still rules. You and I need to see ourselves as just as foolish and arrogant as this man and heed Jesus’ counsel to buy from Him salve so our eyes can see.

May the Lord help you and I to be in His Word, to be walking with Him, and to be asking Him to show us our pride, asking Him to show us where we are still trying to “be” or “have” something without Him. As the years go by, may those citadels of arrogance fall, may the Belshazzars inside us die, and may we more and more enjoy the freedom and the life, the significance and the happiness that only the Lord God of heaven can give us.

May the Lord actually make you and me better because we paused to consider this man Belshazzar.

 

Daniel 5:1-4 “Literally”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Belshazzar the king made a great feast to his one thousand nobles and to the one thousand [he was] one drinking the wine. ²Belshazzar said in tasting the wine to bring the vessels of the gold and the silver which Nebuchadnezzar his father had brought from the temple which [was] in Jerusalem and they drank in them, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines. ³Then they brought the vessels of the gold which they brought from the temple which [was] the house of God which [was] in Jerusalem and they drank in them, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines. ⁴They drank the wine and they praised the gods of the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the wood, and the stone.

Some more thoughts on this passage: Jeremiah had prophesied, “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation…” (25:12). Then in 29:10, he said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place.’” So, it was clearly prophesied that there was a seventy-year timeline assigned to this period of Babylon and their rule. In fact, Daniel later writes, “I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years” (9:2). Based on that realization, Daniel says, “So, I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer…” (9:3).

Several thoughts. First of all, here again, I am greatly encouraged in my belief that Biblical prophecies are intended to be interpreted literally. Daniel believed in literal interpretation. When Jeremiah said the Captivity would last seventy years, Daniel understood that to mean seventy years. Seventy years. He obviously believed he could look at his calendar, note the year, and say, “Hmmm. I was (say) 16 years old when this all started and now I’m 85. It’s been 69 years. That means the Lord is about to do something great,” and then he resorts to urgent prayers, knowing all of this, and basing it all on the assumption that when the Bible says seventy years, it means seventy years.

In my studies of the Bible, I generally find myself far more comfortable with the old Reformed theologians. They are usually far more careful with the Scriptures than what I would describe today as “willy-nilly, reckless, grab a verse and run” theology. However, when it comes to prophecy, Reformed theology invariably wants to make everything figurative and allegorical, and their conclusions with just about every prophecy are, “You just can’t know.” For instance, in the book Revelation, many specific time periods are prophesied, such as the seven-year Tribulation and the 1,000 year Millennium, etc. Reformed theologians will say, “Oh, that doesn’t mean 1,000 years. It just means ‘a long time.’” As I read my Bible, I want to say, “No. It means 1,000 years. Period.”

What I see here in Daniel is that he agreed. Prophecy should be taken literally. If it said seventy years, he could get out his calendar and do the math. And because he took prophecy literally, when it was time for the Lord to move, Daniel knew to resort to prayer. I’ve never understood why my usually very careful Reformed friends do what they do to prophecy, but Daniel tells me I’m right. I Chron. 12:32 speaks of some men, “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” I want to be someone who “understands the times.” Encouraged by Daniel himself, I will continue to believe a huge part of that is taking Bible prophecies literally.

That said, another interesting note to me is that somehow, Daniel knew exactly when the seventy years started. Today, no one really knows exactly what to do with the period. What I mean is, for instance, if we assume it started in 605 BC, with Nebuchadnezzar’s original conquering of Jerusalem, then 70 years would put us at 535 BC. But it is believed Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon (and decree for the Jewish people’s return) occurred in 539 BC. If we start with the 539 and work backwards, it puts us at 609 BC, which doesn’t seem to us today to include anything monumental. No matter how we look at it, there just doesn’t seem to be any perfect fit. Here is where I want to say, one of our problems may be that no one really understands the ancient timelines. In other words, the dates of 605 BC and 539 BC are based on people’s understanding of ancient writings. As we are sadly too aware today, the government holds no scruples against re-writing history anytime it works in their favor. What I’m saying is you can’t believe the records of ancient governments any more than what our government tells us today. Governments tell people what they want them to hear, not what is true, and anything they record should be considered dubious at best.

Once again, we don’t know. Everyone speculates, trying to align the seventy years with the timeline as we know it. My point to observe, though, is that Daniel didn’t seem to have our problem. He could do the math. Now this is a case where we need to humbly accept that the Lord will give us the understanding of prophecy when we need to know it. Daniel needed to know it and it was apparently quite clear to him. The fact is, we don’t really absolutely need to know exactly when the seventy years started and ended…and so we don’t. This, I would suggest, often happens with prophecy. Even if we do take it literally and believe it will be exactly whatever the Lord says it will be, yet we may not understand exactly what it means. That is because today, we don’t need to know.

This, I would suggest, is the balance us literalists must keep. We need to be careful about going “hog-wild” with our timelines and our interpretations of prophecy. Although we take it literally, although we are quite confident, when it is fulfilled, it will happen precisely the way the Bible said it would, yet, we need to always retain the humility to admit what we don’t know. Jesus even said to His disciples, “I have told you these things beforehand, so that, when they are fulfilled, you will know…” (John 16:4). Note He said, “When they are fulfilled.” Prophecies weren’t given to satisfy our curiosity. They are there in the Bible so that, we, like Daniel, can “understand the times,” and know what the Lord would have us to do.

It encourages me a lot to see that what is playing out in the book of Daniel is clearly and exactly what I believe to be true. Prophecies should be taken literally, and that is very important, yet it is also true they need to be received with an element of humility, realizing, to some extent, the Lord may only grant us understanding when we actually need it.

As I would study the Bible, and as I come across prophetic portions, I find it very encouraging to discover that I’m handling them like Daniel.

Daniel 5:1-4 “Arrogance”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Belshazzar the king made a great feast to his one thousand nobles and to the one thousand [he was] one drinking the wine. ²Belshazzar said in tasting the wine to cause to bring the vessels of the gold and the silver which Nebuchadnezzar his father had brought from the temple which [was] in Jerusalem and they drank in them, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines. ³Then they brought the vessels of the gold which they brought from the temple which [was] the house of God which [was] in Jerusalem and they drank in them, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines. ⁴They drank the wine and they praised the gods of the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the wood, and the stone.

Up until now, in the book of Daniel, the king has been Nebuchadnezzar. By the end of chapter 4, he had been turned into a cow and was actually acknowledging that “the Most High rules in the nations of men.” Chapter 5 starts abruptly with “Belshazzar the king.” “Who is this?” our inquiring minds ask, “And what happened to Nebuchadnezzar and how did this fellow become king?”

It turns out there is some absolutely fascinating history behind all of this, and I believe that history actually serves to highlight the lessons we all can take from this chapter.

First of all, who is Belshazzar? The book of Daniel opened in about 605 BC, when the young Nebuchadnezzar took the throne upon the death of his father Nabopolassar, conquered Jerusalem, and carried Daniel, his friends, and many others, along with the vessels from the temple to Babylon. Although a proud, wicked man, Nebuchadnezzar was a brilliant administrator and an excellent king. He was “the head of gold” in the vision of chapter 2, and extended the Babylonian empire to the far reaches of what was then the known civilized world.

Upon Nebuchadnezzar’s death in about 562 BC, his son, Evil-Merodach took the throne. He is mentioned in II Kings 25:27-30 where he released Jehoiachin from prison and actually honored him. Unfortunately, after only two years, Neriglissar, who had married Evil’s sister, murdered him and usurped the throne. Neriglissar only lived four years, then was succeeded by his son Labashi-Marduk, who only reigned a few months before he was killed and a man named Nabonidus ascended the throne.

Nabonidus married a woman named Nitocris, who was actually a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar himself. Together they produced this man Belshazzar, which made him a direct grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. So this “Belshazzar the king” is actually Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. This is a fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy where he said, “All nations will serve him [Nebuchadnezzar] and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes…” (27:7).

Our Western minds might challenge this statement “him and his son and his grandson,” and ask, “Hey! What about Neriglissar, Labashi-Marduk, and even Nabonidus, Belshazzar’s father? Why aren’t they mentioned?” The answer probably is simply that they were all considered usurpers. It is very common in ancient history that usurpers were not “counted” as kings, particularly if a legitimate heir to the throne finally did appear, as in the case of our Belshazzar.

So that is how this man came to be the “Belshazzar the king,” whom we meet at the beginning of our chapter 5. What is also of interest to note is that, as this chapter occurs, his father Nabonidus is still living. However, for a variety of reasons, Nabonidus spent little time in Babylon and so had made his son his vice-regent, leaving him to be the functional king over Babylon. This will explain why, in v.11, Belshazzar offers to make Daniel “third ruler in the kingdom.” “Third” is as high as he could offer Daniel because there were already two men ruling, Belshazzar and his father.

As we read this chapter, all we see is Belshazzar throwing a drunken party. What we’re not told in Scripture is that on this very night in 539 BC, the City of Babylon is under siege by the Persians. Their king Cyrus had been pressing toward Babylon for several years. Earlier in this year of 539, Cyrus took the Babylonian city of Opis and just a few days before he took the city of Sippar, just 40 miles north of Babylon. On this particular night, the Persian army has surrounded the city.

Ancient historians claim the city was considered impregnable. Apparently, there were provisions stored within it that would have lasted 40 years. The city had double walls, something like 32 to 85’ thick, very high, and very defensible. This is likely precisely why Belshazzar is throwing a wild party and why he has 1,0000 nobles present. He is arrogantly defying the Persians. He and his nobles have holed up inside the city and think it is a joke that the Persians have surrounded it. Not only do the Babylonians think there is no need to be concerned, they can even enjoy a wild party just to spite the Persians.

And then, why does Belshazzar send for the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem? Once again, I don’t think there is any question why. There were a number of Jewish prophecies predicting the fall of Babylon. I already mentioned above Jeremiah’s prophecy that the Babylonian empire would only last until Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. Belshazzar is that grandson, and he knows it. In addition to that, in chapters 50 and 51, Jeremiah had prophesied the end of Babylon. Even more recently, Daniel, in both the visions of chapters 2 and 7, had also predicted the City’s end. Then to add to all of this, Isaiah, some 200 years earlier, had actually prophesied that Babylon would fall to a king named Cyrus (44:28 and 45:1).

Note particularly the wording of Isaiah 45:1, “This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut.” “To open doors before him.”

I would suggest without hesitation that Belshazzar and the Babylonians were all very familiar with these prophecies given by the God of the Israelites. Part of the reason for bringing the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem to begin with was that it show-cased for the Babylonians that their gods had defeated the God of Israel. This was the proof, that vessels from His temple were, in a sense, held captive, in the temples of Babylon’s gods. That’s why Belshazzar and his one thousand nobles and all of his wives and concubines, as they drink from those vessels, “praised their gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone.”

We can see that, in his arrogance, Belshazzar called for those vessels and drank from them as a very deliberate act of defiance against Israel’s prophecies and against their God.

All of this explains the background of what is going on as we read Daniel chapter 5. Now we know who is Belshazzar, this man who suddenly appears in verse 1. We also understand the reason why he has thrown a wild party and why he would commit such an act of impious desecration to actually drink from anyone’s temple vessels. The man Belshazzar refuses to believe what his grandfather learned, “The Most High rules in the nations of men.”

But he’s about to find out!