Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
17Then Daniel [was] one answering and one saying before the king, “Your gifts be to you and your rewards give to another, yet I will read the writing to the king and the meaning I will make known to him.” 18You, the king, the Most High God gave to your father Nebuchadnezzar the kingdom and the greatness and the honor and the majesty, 19and from the greatness which He gave to him, the all of the peoples, the nations, and the languages were ones trembling and fearing from before him. Whom he was one pleased he was one killing and whom he was one pleased he was one letting live and whom he was one pleased he was one exalting and whom he was one pleased he was one humbling, 20and when his heart lifted up and his spirit grew hard to be insolent, he was deposed from the throne of his kingdom and honor was taken from him, 21and from the sons of the man he was driven and his heart with the animals was like and with the wild donkeys [was] his dwelling. The grass like oxen they fed him and the dew of the heavens his body was wet until he knew that ruler the God Most High in the kingdoms of the man and to whomever He pleases He appoints over it. 22And you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart although the all of this you knew, 23and upon the Lord of the heavens you have exalted yourself and the vessels of His house have been brought before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines ones drinking the wine in them and gods of the silver and the gold, the bronze, the iron, the wood and the stone which not seeing and not hearing and not knowing, you (sing.) praised and the God which your breath is in His hand and the all of your ways, Him you did not glorify. 24In then, from before Him was sent the palm of the hand and the writing this was written.
I continue to be amazed by our man Daniel. There are mountains of truth to be learned from Belshazzar’s bad example, but I would suggest there is also much to learn here from Daniel. We’re back to seeing this world as in a sense “the Tale of Two Cities.” There is Babylon, the city of this world, and Jerusalem, the City of God. Belshazzar is everything worldly and superficial which Babylon has always represented, but Daniel is the Jerusalem. Daniel is the City of God, that place on earth where the true God is worshipped and things eternal matter most. Belshazzar ignores and defies the Lord, just as they did at Babel. Daniel lives for that same Lord’s glory. If you and I would be wise, we should realize we ourselves are one of the two.
I want to ponder intently on our man Daniel here, but first a few thoughts on Belshazzar. Everything about him is summed up in vv. 22,23: “But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this…you did not honor the God who holds in His hand your breath and all your ways.”
“You his son.” Belshazzar wasn’t born into a spiritual vacuum. His very own grandfather had set an example he could have and should have followed. The problem was that “A fool has no desire to gain wisdom…” (Prov 18:2). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (1:7). Belshazzar was a fool. To live in this world and learn nothing from those who went before us is simply to be a fool. One way or another everyone of us comes into this world surrounded by a history that would tell us God rules. Whether it is our own parents/grandparents or perhaps other extended family members, members of our community, our nation’s history, or even Bible passages like the one before us, there is much to learn and profit from. However, like Belshazzar, everyone of us must make that choice—to be wise and learn or to be a fool and shipwreck our lives and our eternal souls.
I once visited a man who was living in one of those $5/night rental rooms. He had a bed and a microwave and shared a common bathroom with all the other people living in the building. He was obviously, from every indication, an old alcoholic, probably in this 50’s. What was shocking was to see this shell of a man then to see all around the room were pictures of his family. One picture was obviously a much younger him with a very pretty wife and several children. Then there were pictures all around of his kids, now young adults. One couldn’t help but notice they had grown to be a very attractive bunch. And yet here he sat in his $5/night hole in the wall, estranged from it all. I was floored with the realization he had traded that beautiful family for a glass of liquor. So, so, so sad to see, but his bad example wasn’t wasted on me. It deeply struck me to realize every choice I make could be the end of everything I ever cared about. Many, many times through the years, I have been faced with temptations, but that realization would fill my mind. What horrified me was the thought that I could make that one bad choice, then basically wake up 20 years later lying in my vomit in some gutter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that I could wake up realizing I’d lost all that every mattered to me. I wasn’t born into a spiritual vacuum. There was history to learn from (even from old alcoholics!) and, fortunately for me, at least in this one case, the Lord helped me to learn and profit from that history.
Belshazzar did not. Before the night is over, he’ll be dead, and all the great kingdom his grandfather had built will be lost. “Though you knew all this.” What an awful indictment. However, Daniel goes to the root of it all when he says, “You did not honor the God who holds in His hand your breath and all your ways.” This is the classic downfall of the human race, “Though they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, and so their foolish hearts were darkened…” (Rom. 1:21). It is the pits of folly to live in this world and to refuse to acknowledge the very God who made us, sustains us, who completely controls every moment of our lives. It is the ultimate “untruth” which humans buy and upon which they shipwreck their entire existence. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Belshazzar missed this one single all-encompassing reality and now, as far as we know, all he has to show for his life is a bad example while his soul stokes the fires of hell. So, so, so sad.
Then there is our Daniel. As I read this passage over and over, what amazes me most is Daniel’s courage. He’s called suddenly in the middle of the night and now here he stands before his king and 1,000 nobles, and what he must do is write his own death sentence. NO ONE talks like this to Belshazzar. At the slightest provocation, history tells us he was a man who would shout, “Off with his head!” Yet our Daniel doesn’t hold back. He stands up and tells Belshazzar exactly what he needed to hear.
And notice what Daniel tells him: the truth. As I observed earlier, the world of Babylon (like our own) is a swirl of lies. Everyone in the room is playing “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” telling Belshazzar whatever he wanted to hear, lying to each other, lying to themselves. Everyone in that room values above all else pleasures, possessions, and applause, and they will say and believe anything they think can get them what they want. Today we call it “Politically Correct (PC)” and things are no different. You’d better agree with them…or else! Yet everything is a swirl of lies.
And in that swirl of lies, what does Daniel say? The truth. Plain, simple truth. Go back and read his words, realizing they are a death warrant. Read them realizing, he could be immediately executed for saying these things. And yet what does he say? The truth.
One thing that amazes me is how simple the truth is. Always. Living in a swirl of lies is very complicated. Nothing adds up. Nothing really makes sense. What they said yesterday isn’t true today, and they won’t care if something completely different is “true” tomorrow. But the truth just stands there. Life is so much calmer and simpler if you just build it on truth. It makes my life much easier at work when I don’t have to worry about remembering what I told someone yesterday. If I’ve been lying, I’d better remember who I told what, and who knows who that I told it to. However, if I have tried hard to only tell the truth, I don’t have to remember anything—I just keep telling the truth. Very, very simple. And yet, like Daniel, I have to live my life of truth realizing it may get me in a LOT of trouble.
Many people read into Daniel’s words that he has no respect for Belshazzar, that he is disgusted with him, perhaps that he’s even enjoying “telling him off.” They note that Daniel’s address definitely does not include what seemed like the respect, loyalty, and even affection which he had showed earlier to Nebuchadnezzar. It is true that his words are only hard, cold truth. However, I would suggest that when what we see here is disrespect, we’re reading into the text our own gross immaturity. I think Daniel is just being faithful to say what God wants him to say, no more and no less. The Lord wanted to offer Nebuchadnezzar grace and so Daniel urged him to repent (4:27). However, Belshazzar’s day of grace is over. Someone once observed that God is very patient—and yet His patience only goes so far. Sadly, there is no message of grace for Belshazzar tonight, and so Daniel’s words offer no grace. At this point, Belshazzar’s life is good for nothing but a bad example, and that is how Daniel presents it.
Again, what amazes me is Daniel’s courage to do exactly that—to stand before this king and tell him the truth. Unlike Belshazzar, Daniel does humble himself. Daniel does honor the God who holds his life in His hand. Daniel isn’t living for pleasures, possessions, and applause. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish it,” were the words of Jesus, yet it would seem that is what Daniel is thinking too. And that is what gives him the courage to be faithful.
I want to learn more and more to be like Daniel. I want to be guided by the Lord’s glory, not by my fears. I pray I would learn from the history recorded for us right here in Daniel chapter 5. Lord give me a heart to see you above it all and help me to be faithful no matter what—like Daniel.
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