Weekly Bible Commentary by Wes Woodard: Daniel 5 – “A Royal Party”

In 5:1, “Belshazzar, the King, held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine from the vessels of gold and silver which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken out of the Temple (in Jerusalem) so that the king and his nobles and his wives might drink from them.”

 

All of a sudden the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began to write on the wall of the grand hall.  No one understood the writing, so the queen suggested they call for Daniel.  Daniel was brought into the grand hall.   He recounts what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar because of his pride, but then says in verse 22, “Yet you his son, have not humbled your heart even though you knew all of this, but you have exalted yourself above the Lord of Heaven and have brought the vessels from His House and you have made all of your guests drink from them and praise gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone which do not see or hear or understand. But the God in whose hand is your life breath … you have not glorified. The words on the wall of the great hall were interpreted to mean that Belshazzar had been weighed on God’s scales and found to be deficient and that his kingdom would be divided and given to the Medes and Persians.  We see what happened to this blasphemous and vain king in verse 30 and 31, “That same night Belshazzar the king, was slain. So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at age 62.” Perhaps it would be good for me to quote Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”

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