The Courage of Daniel

GOLDEN TEXT: “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.” —Romans 14:21

DANIEL 5:17-28

AUGUST 14 is designated as Temperance Sunday, and the Golden Text has been chosen with that in mind. In this text Paul emphasizes the great responsibility Christians have toward one another. We should do all we can to help our brethren walk in the narrow way, and nothing to hinder. The important principle of righteousness set forth in the text, however, seems to have no relationship to the experience of Daniel in being called before King Belshazzar, of Babylon, as related in the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel.

Belshazzar was now king of Babylon, and Babylonian supremacy was nearing an end. Cyrus, of the Medes, was already besieging the city of Babylon. But Belshazzar was confident of his position, believing that the fortifications of the city would withstand any assault which might be made against them. He called a thousand of his lords to a great feast at which wine flowed freely. He ordered the golden vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem to be brought forth, and from these they drank the wine.

Suddenly, “in the same hour, came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.” (ch. 5:5) The king’s “countenance was changed,” as well we might imagine, “and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints [bindings] of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.”—vs. 6

What did this mean? Belshazzar summoned the wise men of the realm, “the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers,” but they were unable to help him. Then the queen appeared on the scene and told her husband about Daniel.

Daniel was brought before the king, but before explaining the handwriting on the wall, told him that the “most high God” had given “thy father a kingdom and majesty, and glory, and honor.” (vs. 18. See also ch. 2:37,38) The kingdom which God gave to Nebuchadnezzar was illustrated by the head of gold on the human-like image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream.

When interpreting the meaning of this image, and identifying Babylon as the head of gold, Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, “After thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee.” (ch. 2:39) When Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, “Thou art this head of gold,” he was speaking of the king as the representative head of the Babylonian Empire. The head of gold illustration continued to apply to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar died. And now, as Daniel had prophesied, the time had come when another kingdom was to take its place, the kingdom represented in the image by its breast and arms of silver.

Daniel understood this, which is probably the reason he recounted the salient facts concerning God’s hand in the affairs of the Babylonian Empire, leading up to the fact that now again there was to be divine intervention, for now the head of the gold kingdom was to be replaced by the one illustrated by the breast and arms of silver of that figure of a man. Daniel reminded Belshazzar that he knew the wonderful manner in which the God of heaven had dealt with Nebuchadnezzar, but he had not humbled his heart, but instead insisted on honoring “the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know.” Whereas, he continued, “the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified [honored].”—ch. 5:23

The handwriting on the wall is one of the best known episodes of the Bible, the words MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN, meaning, in brief, Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting, and your kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians. Belshazzar recognized the great wisdom of Daniel, and ordered that he should be made the third ruler in the empire.

The Euphrates River ran under Babylon’s walls, and through the city. The army of Cyrus had dug a new channel for the water, leaving the river bed dry where it passed under the walls. The besieging army marched in through the river bed and took possession. Belshazzar was killed that night.

The “silver” kingdom was now in control, and “Darius the Median took the kingdom,” that is, became ruler. This new ruler recognized Daniel’s integrity and ability. In organizing his government he placed 120 princes in control, and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, and he was being considered for an even higher position. This was all the Lord’s doing. It placed him in a position which meant much to his fellow captives when the time came for their return to the Promised Land.

QUESTIONS

What important principle of righteousness is set forth in our Golden Text?

Who was Belshazzar, and what were the circumstances under which he made a feast for a thousand of his lords?

Explain the important change in world affairs, as foretold by Daniel, which was highlighted by Belshazzar’s feast and the handwriting on the wall. How is this change illustrated in the human-like image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream?

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