God Always Keeps His Promises

 Nebuchadnezzar died and and his son Awil Marduk or Evil Merodach became king.  After just two years he was ousted and Neriglissar, one of Nebuchadnezzars sons-in law took his place.  A coup led to him being replaced with his son Labashi Marduk,.  Another coup led to another son in law, a Syrian prince known as Nabonidus becoming king.  A rebellion in northern Arabia led to him making his son Belshazzar co-regent and leaving him in charge while he went to suppress the rebellion.   The cost of his war caused severe inflation, making Nabonidus very unpopular and he decided to stay in Arabia, leaving Belshazzar as king for fourteen years.  History describes Belshazzar as extravagant and immoral.   

 

Daniel 5:1-4 describes his last party.  “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.  Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.  Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.  They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.”

 

Over sixty years before, Nebuchadnezzar had seized control of Judah and Jerusalem.  Fifty years before Nebuchadnezzar had brought all the furniture and vessels used for worship in the Temple to Babylon for safe keeping after repeated rebellions by the Jewish people.  In open mockery of God, Belshazzar had those vessels brought to his feast to use in a drunken party celebrating the Babylonian gods.   God spoiled their celebration, as Daniel 5:5-9 tells us.  “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.  Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.  The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.  Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.  Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.”

 

An unattached hand writing on the wall was quite disconcerting, but it got worse when even their most knowledgeable linguists could not read the writing.  Belshazzar and Nabonidus were co kings, but he offered the job of prime minister to anyone who could read the writing.  His mother, one of Nebuchadnezzars daughters remembered what had happened when Nebuchadnezzar had his vision, and recommended he consult Daniel, in Daniel 5:10-12.  “Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”

 

 

Taking her advice, Belshazzar consulted Daniel, who explained why this had happened in Daniel 5:13-24.  “Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?  I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.  And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not show the interpretation of the thing: And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.

 

Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.  O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.  But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

 

And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.”

 

Because Belshazzar had not learned from Nebuchadnezzar’s experience, he had mocked God, and the hand had been sent as a result.  He then explained what the writing meant, in Daniel 5:25-28.  “And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.  This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.  PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”  Because Belshazzar and the Babylonians had rejected God and were not living in an acceptable manner, they would be conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire. 

 

Belshazzar immediately kept his promise to reward Daniel for interpreting the message, in Daniel 5:29.  “Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.”  What Belshazzar didn’t know was that while he was planning his party, the Medo Persian army had seized the head gates of the Babylonian canal system and begun diverting the water from the Euphrates river.  They also attacked Nabonidus’ stronghold, destroying the Babylonian army.  Two days later the water level had dropped enough they were able to enter the city by through the opening that allowed the river to flow through the city that same night, as Daniel 5:30-31 tells us.  “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” 

 

Cyrus the Persian had united the Medes and Persians into a single Empire, with him and Darius the Mede as co-regents.  God had told Judah they would be held by Babylon for seventy years, and Prophesying that Cyrus would cause the Temple to be rebuilt in Isaiah 44:28, more than two hundred years before.  “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”  God used Belshazzar’s preoccupation with his feast and mocking God to set the stage for Cyrus to fulfil Isaiah’s prophecy.  God always keeps his promises, no matter how improbable they may seem or how much the world may make fun of them.  We just need to trust him.