Daniel 5, A Hand at a Party

After the praise chapter by Nebuchadnezzar, we move to an event late in the life of Daniel. By this time there have apparently been a number of rulers of Babylon.

Daniel 5:1-4, A great banquet

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.  

So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.  As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.  

Belshazzar was the son of Nabodinus, a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar, says House, and was probably second in command in Babylon while his father, Nabodinus, was in the field. In preparing this enormous banquet, Belshazzar gloats over past victories, using he plunder from the Jerusalem temple as drinking glasses for his guests.  In addition to abusing these treasured gifts, Belshazzar goes further and praises the "gods of gold and silver...", an additional mockery of the Jewish religion. House points out that in general the Babylonians did not mock the religion of conquered peoples -- in their polytheism, there was always a concern that a mocked god might retaliate -- why not just let the conquered peoples keep their religions and idols.

Ezra 1:7-11 records the later King Cyrus allowing the Israelites to return to Jerusalem with many of these treasures.

Daniel 5:5-7, How to kill a party

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.  His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.  

The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, 

"Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."

Belshazzar had assumed he could mock the gods of the conquered peoples. But One of those gods is real and reacts!  In the midst of the revelry, the fingers of a human hand appear and write something in the plaster of a visible portion of the palace wall, "near the lampstand." This supernatural appearance is frightening to a drunk king, who quickly calls for help.

Daniel 5:8-12, Remember Daniel

Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant.  So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.  

The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. 

"O king, live forever!" she said. "Don't be alarmed! Don't look so pale!  There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar your father, the king, I say, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means."

The king's advisers, as in previous events in this book, are no help. The queen remembers Daniel (and his reputation) from previous events under other rulers.  She tells the king to seek out Daniel.

Josephus, in the Antiquities of the Jews, Book X, 11.2, identifies the queen as the grandmother of Belteshazzar. This probably explains her memory of Daniel.

Daniel 5:13-16, Daniel enters the room

So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, 

"Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?  I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom.  The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it.  Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."

Daniel is brought in. (He must have been available nearby.) The king quizzes him as to his identity and asks if he, Daniel, can interpret the writing on the wall. The king offers to make Daniel "third" in the kingdom, possibly because he, Belshazzar, is second in power. In addition, Daniel will be clothed in royal purple and be given a gold chain.

Daniel 5:17-21, Daniel reviews Nebuchadnezzar's experience

Then Daniel answered the king, 

"You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.   

 

"O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor.  Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled.  But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.  He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes."

 

Daniel spurns the gifts (for a number of very good reasons) and then begins his answer with a review of YHWH's interaction with Belshazzar's forefather Nebuchadnezzar (as described in chapter 4.) Daniel's review is a theological statement about the power of the "Most High God" and Nebuchadnezzar's eventual submission to Him.

There are several reasons for Daniel's spurning of the king's gifts. First, the standards for a true prophet would have expected the prophet to speak freely, without being bribed or receiving gifts. Truth was all that mattered. In addition, as the prophecy plays out, there are dangers to being too closely aligned to the deposed monarch!

Daniel 5:22-24, Confrontation

"But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.  Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

Daniel then continues his message with a description of Belshazzar's arrogance and taunting of YHWH. There is very little diplomacy here, only righteous confrontation.

Daniel 5:25-28, Interpretation

“This is the inscription that was written: 

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.

This is what these words mean:

• "God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
• You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
• Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

The words, mene, tekel, upharsin, were probably all weights.  Upharsin meant “half” or “portion” as in “half of a weight” or “half of a pound”.  So the words would most likely have been read by Belshazzar as something like “hundred-pound, pound, half”.  Daniel interprets them (loosely) as “heavy, heavy, not so heavy, split”.

Daniel's message is a dramatic one. From the four words on the wall he recognizes that Babylon is about to be split.

Jeremiah (Jeremiah 27:3-7) prophesies that the dynasty of Nebuchadnezzar will end with his grandson.

Daniel 5:29-31, A new king

Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.  That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

Daniel's prophecy comes true and Belshazzar lives only a few more hours. Just as God had delivered Judah and Jehoiakim over to Babylon (Daniel 1:2) now God delivers Belshazzar over to Darius.