Daniel · chapter 5 of 12
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Daniel 5 tells how King Belshazzar gives a great banquet and drinks from the vessels of the Jerusalem temple, until a hand writes on the wall. Daniel is called to read the writing and announces that God has numbered, weighed and divided Belshazzar's kingdom. That same night the king is killed and Darius the Mede receives the kingdom.
Years have passed since Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 5 shows another king of Babylon, Belshazzar, who knows the story of that monarch's humbling and still lifts himself up against the Lord. The chapter is a judgment scene: the desecration of what is holy, a mysterious hand and a brief message that changes the history of an empire in one night.
King Belshazzar gives a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and, under the influence of wine, has the gold and silver vessels brought that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that he, his nobles, his wives and his concubines can drink from them. While they drink, they praise the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appear and write on the plaster of the palace wall, opposite the lampstand. The king turns pale and his knees knock together.
He cries out for the wise men, but none can read or explain the writing. The queen comes into the hall and reminds the king that there is a man in the kingdom in whom the spirit of the holy gods dwells and whom Nebuchadnezzar set over the wise men: Daniel. Daniel is brought before the king, who offers him purple, a gold chain and the third place in the kingdom. Daniel answers that the king may keep his gifts, but that he will read the writing. He reminds him how the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar the kingdom and how he humbled him when his heart grew proud, until he acknowledged that the Most High rules. Belshazzar knew all this and has not humbled his heart; he has lifted himself up against the Lord of heaven, drunk from the vessels of his house and praised gods that neither see nor hear, and has not honored the God who holds his breath and all his ways in his hand.
Daniel reads the words: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin. Mene means that God has numbered the days of the kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, that the king has been weighed in the balances and found lacking; Peres, that the kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Belshazzar has Daniel clothed in purple and proclaimed third ruler. That same night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, is killed, and Darius the Mede, about sixty-two years old, receives the kingdom.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Belshazzar has the sacred vessels of the temple brought so that he can drink from them and praise his gods of gold, silver and stone. What God had set apart for his service becomes decoration for a pagan feast, and this desecration triggers the judgment.
Daniel accuses Belshazzar of not humbling his heart although he knew Nebuchadnezzar's story, and of lifting himself up against the Lord of heaven. His guilt is not ignorance but that of having known and not responded.
Daniel reads and explains the inscription: God has numbered the days of the kingdom and ended them, has weighed the king and found him lacking, and the kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and Persians. The message fits in a few words, yet it says everything.
That same night Belshazzar is killed and Darius the Mede receives the kingdom. God's word is fulfilled at once: the empire that seemed immovable changes hands in a single night.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: He had the gold and silver vessels of the Jerusalem temple brought in to drink from them, and he praised false gods. — Daniel 5:2-4
Answer: The fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, opposite the lampstand. — Daniel 5:5
Answer: The queen, who remembered Daniel's spirit and wisdom in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. — Daniel 5:10-12
Answer: He said the king could keep them or give them to another, but that he would read the writing. — Daniel 5:17
Answer: That the king had been weighed in the balances and found lacking. — Daniel 5:27
Answer: Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was killed, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom. — Daniel 5:30-31
Daniel 5 reminds us that God does not ignore how we treat what belongs to him. Belshazzar did not commit a secret sin; he used what was holy lightly in the middle of a party. In a Sunday school class you can ask which things God has set apart, such as his day, his word or his name, we treat carelessly today.
Another point is the responsibility that comes with knowledge: Belshazzar knew Nebuchadnezzar's story and did not change. Daniel, for his part, speaks clearly and without self-interest, refuses the gifts and tells the truth. It is a model of witness: honor authorities without flattering them and say what God says, even when it costs.
Daniel 5 ends with the end of the kingdom of Babylon and the beginning of the rule of the Medes and Persians. Chapter 6 is set in that new kingdom, where Daniel, now old, will face a different test: not the pride of a king, but a law made against his prayer.
Mene means numbered, Tekel weighed and Peres divided, and the text adds that the kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians. They are terms from the language of weights and coins, and Daniel explains them as God's verdict on Belshazzar and his kingdom. Some scholars note that they may also suggest names of units of weight.
The text calls him a son of Nebuchadnezzar, but in Hebrew and Aramaic usage son can mean descendant or successor. Known Babylonian sources present Belshazzar as the son of the last king, Nabonidus, and as co-regent. So the relationship with Nebuchadnezzar can be understood in a broad sense.
The text presents Darius the Mede as the one who received the kingdom at about sixty-two years old. His exact identity is debated: some scholars identify him with Gubaru, a governor serving Cyrus, and others with Cyrus himself under another name. The Bible does not settle the question, and its message does not depend on it.