Dan 5 — The Handwriting on the Wall
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
My prayer is for you to join me on this journey. Subscribe to this blog below to get an email when a new post is available.
Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.
Chapter 4 ends with Nebuchadnezzar proclaiming God as the King of heaven and “all his ways are just” (Daniel 4:37) and soon after dies (562bc). Some 13 years pass and his son, Belshazzar is now king, Daniel and his friends have apparently faded into the background. King Belshazzar continues the Babylonian legacy of pride and arrogance. During this particular great banquet, they decide to grab some of the good stuff they took from Jerusalem, “so they brought in the gold goblets…and the king and his nobles…drank from them” (5:3). A hand appears and writes a prophesy on the wall that won’t take long to fulfill. Thanks to the queen’s memory, Daniel is summoned to interpret the writing and explain to this king, “but you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and your ways” (5:23b).
Verse 27 stuck out to me as I read through Daniel’s interpretation: “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.” Belshazzar hears Daniels prophecy and probably thinks by giving him a rob, gold and position of power, perhaps this doom will be abated, but “that very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom” (5:30-31). As prophesied in 2:38, the head of gold is now removed.
The remnant of God’s people remain in the background of this chapter, no mention of what they are doing, where they are, etc. Some are not doubt remaining faithful as God continues to refine them through this exilic period. Incredible patience must be required to make it through these years as they are ruled by arrogant, militaristic kings. While the dramatic handwriting on the wall and other stories in this book play well in movies, Daniel’s faith and trust in God provides a lofty goal for all to learn from this book. This is how God honors those who honor him fully.