The Terror of a King (Dan. 5:5d-7a)

 

v. 5d: “and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.”

o   Note the emphasis upon the fact that the King himself was an eyewitness—ensuring that the dreadful apparition could not be dismissed by Belshazzar as a false report born out of fancy, or perhaps an alcohol-fueled delusion arising from the bosom of the intoxicated.

 

v. 6a: “Then the king's countenance changed…”

o   The term translated “countenance” literally refers to “brightness,” or bright looks; the color drained from Belshazzar’s face as he beheld the spectral apparition.

 

o   Instantly, the King has returned to sobriety and his grand theatrical display of bravado has vanished!

 

“Behold, Reader! on what a slender thread the happiness of man hangs, when in a moment the appearance on a wall can snap it asunder!”—Robert Hawker, Poor Man’s Commentary

 

v. 6b: “and his thoughts alarmed him…”

o   Precisely WHY his mind was troubled and filled with terror by the awful apparition is not directly specified—yet we may conjecture the following…

 

·         In general, we may observe that men are terrified by an encounter with the transcendent—what Rudolf Otto (The Idea of the Holy, 1917) has described as the numinous—referring to an awe-inspiring and fear-inducing encounter with the Holy (cf., Ex. 34:30). The Holy is that which is wholly other and above, and which lies outside the normal experience of man. Biblically, the term Holy primarily refers to that which is transcendent; the popular idea of holiness as a moral purity is a secondary idea that is contained within the first. Note how sinful men reacted to an encounter with a Holy God in the Person of Christ:

Luke 5:8: And seeing [the miracle of the great catch], Simon Peter fell at the knees of Jesus, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.

Luke 8:37: And all the multitude of the neighborhood of the Gadarenes were seized with a great fear [with reference to the healing of the demoniac]. And they asked Him to depart from them. And entering into the boat, He returned.

 

·         In this specific case, Belshazzar was doubtless aware that the dreadful apparition was connected to his acts of blasphemy against the God of Israel (vv. 2-4)—the very same God that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had also offended (4:28-33), resulting in catastrophic judgment—of which Belshazzar was fully aware (vv. 18-22)! The dormant conscience was at last awakened!

v. 6c: “…so that the joints of his loins were loosed…” [KJV]

o   Loins is commonly understood to refer to that area engirdled by the belt—an area serving as the seat of a man’s strength; Belshazzar’s strength thus departed.

 

o   Belshazzar loses control of his lower extremities and is apparently either unable, or barely able, to stand.

 

o   Some commentators have also apprehended within this statement the suggestion that Belshazzar may also have lost control of his bladder, or perhaps his bowels—and thus became incontinent!

 

o   Isaiah 45:1 may contain a reference to this event in speaking of the triumphs of the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great, who would strip rival kings—including Belshazzar—of their dignity, power, and sovereignty.

 

“Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings…”

 

v. 6d: “…and his knees knocked against each other.”

o   A further expression of the king’s overwhelming fear. The great Assyrian city of Nineveh had experienced a similar terror in the day of its downfall:

 

Nahum 2:11: She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body and all their faces are grown pale!

 

o   How quickly passes the mirthful delight of the wicked! Solomon compares their moment of glee to a fire fueled by thorns: pointlessly, it crackles merrily with a great noise and a grand show of flame—but only for a brief moment, rapidly burning itself out and accomplishing nothing!

 

Eccl. 7:6: For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.

 

o   Henry Cowles, in his old commentary on Daniel (1867), paints a vivid picture of this scene, reminding us that the terror experienced by Belshazzar will ultimately be visited upon all sinners:

 

It is an appalling scene when a sinning mortal knows that the Great God has come to meet him in the very midst of his sins! Belshazzar might well stand aghast to find him- self thus confronted face to face with the dread Jehovah whom he is purposely insulting! He has a sense of a present Power, more than human, in that strange hand, writing unknown words on his palace-wall, and a guilty conscience helps him to forecast some fearful doom! The brightness of his countenance is gone (so the original imports); his mind is fearfully agitated; his knees smite against each other. How changed the scene from the glee of his blasphemous revelry to this paleness of cheek, convulsion of frame, remorse of conscience, and dread foreboding of doom! Many a sinner has had a like experience, and other thousands must have it!

 

Heb 10:31: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 

o   The guilt-induced terror generated by the awful specter causes the king to lose composure before the eyes of his shocked courtiers in much the same manner as Shakespeare’s Macbeth, upon encountering Banquo’s ghost (Act 3, Scene 4).

v. 7a: “The king cried aloud…

o   A further indication of the king’s lack of composure is revealed as he disregards appearances and desperately cries for his appointed “experts” in matters pertaining to the supernatural.  

 

v. 7b: “…to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers…”

 

o   The list of enumerated classes indicates that the entire college of such “experts” were subject to the royal summons, as in 2:2 & 4:4 5:11—though reference to the “magicians” (Heb., charṭôm) is absent. Some have seen some significance in this—arguing that Belshazzar was deliberately avoiding contact with Daniel, who was referred to as their president in 4:9. As Keil & Delitzsch argue, however, this suggestion is most improbable, in that v. 8 indicates that all classes of wise men were summoned upon this grave occasion (“all the king's wise men came in”).

 

o   Furthermore, by this time, the octogenarian Daniel appears to have been placed “on the shelf” by the regime, no longer actively functioning at court as the chief administrator over the company of magi (cf., vv. 11-16). It should be remembered that there had been several regime-changes subsequent to the death of Daniel’s great royal patron, King Nebuchadnezzar.

 

o   These “experts,” with remarkable consistency, had long-proven unsuccessful at such interpretive efforts in the past (Dan. 2:10-11, 4:7)—yet the king impulsively and intuitively turns to them as a source of divine wisdom. Sadly, the ungodly have a persistent pattern of preferring the smooth counsel and worldly wisdom of spiritual humbugs and imposters over the genuine knowledge and revelation that is provided by authentic and accredited messengers of God (1 Kings 22:5-8).

 

2 Tim. 4:3-4: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

 

As with the prior courtly narratives of chapters 2 and 4, it will once again be demonstrated through the failure of the wise men that “the world by its wisdom did not know God…” (1 Cor. 1:21).

 

o   How is it, we may ask, that the king did not initially choose to reactivate the forgotten Daniel, in light of Belshazzar’s personal knowledge of the events of chapter 4 (Dan. 5:22)? Note Calvin’s comments on this passage, underlining the doctrine of the entire (or total) depravity of natural man:

 

“When God sets before him the sign of his judgment, he calls together the magi and the Chaldeans, and passes by Daniel. And what possible excuse can he have for this? We have seen, as I have said, how very prone men are to be deluded by Satan’s impostures, and the well-known proverb becomes true—The world loves to be deceived!”

 “…We see, then, how blind King Belshazzar was, since he closed his eyes to the light offered him. So in the present day almost all the world continues in blindness; it is not allowed to wander in darkness, but when light shines upon it, it closes its eyes, rejects God’s grace, and purposely desires to cast itself headlong. This conduct is far too common.” (John Calvin, Commentary on Daniel)

The wicked, in the end, are “hostile” both to the Father (Rom. 8:7) and His Anointed One (Ps. 2:2)—who is the Truth Personified (John 14:6)—and thus despise His truth and prefer the darkness (John 3:19-20; 7:7, 8:40, 45; 2 Thess. 2:10-12).

 

John 3:19-20:  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

 

v. 7c: “‘Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation…’”

o   The fact that the court’s wise men were both unable (due to their spiritual deficiencies) and unwilling to venture an interpretation (probably sensing the ominous, as in 4:7) is no great puzzle. Less clear is their apparent inability to even be able to read the text of the mysterious message. Various suggestions have been proposed as to why the message and its interpretation were indiscernible to both the king and his college of wise men (v. 8), including the following:

 

o   …While the language was Aramaic, the particular characters employed were the older, pre-Exilic form of Hebrew script (i.e., paleo-Hebrew), as opposed to today’s familiar Aramaic (“Assyrian”) square script, or block-lettering;

 

o   …The simple words themselves—common Aramaic ones—were not undiscernible—only their meaningful interpretation. Thus, the thought here would be that the wise men could not read understandingly (but note the seemingly clear and contrary testimony of v. 8, if taken at face value);

 

o   …The absence of later Masoretic vowel points and accents served to obscure the legibility of the message, which was written purely in consonant-form (“How are you this afternoon?” = “HW R Y THS FTRNN”—or perhaps even “HWRYTHSFTRNN”);

 

o   …The script was laid-out in some sort of unusual or unconventional form, order, or pattern, which contributed to its illegibility, and consequently, to the interpretive difficulty.

 

o   Ultimately, the validity of any of the above proposed solutions resists positive confirmation and absolute certainty, and should thus not serve to obscure the central point that Daniel alone—God’s accredited messenger (Dan. 2:47; 4:9, 18)—was able to understand and interpret the message due to Sovereign Divine intervention and influence.

 

The Doctrine of Total Depravity

 

The Doctrine of Total (or Pervasive) Depravity & Inability

by Pastor Terry Reese, Valley GBC of Armagh, PA; 2/5/23

 

The teaching of the 16^th century Reformers concerning the Total Depravity of Man has long been distorted, reviled, and ridiculed by humanistic and worldly thinkers as something that reflects a gloomy and misanthropic contempt for the Human Race, representing an unacceptable brand of pessimism with regard to the matter of human potential for self-reformation.  Indeed, even within the ranks of today’s popular brand of Evangelicalism, the doctrine represents a difficulty for some professing believers.

 

Despite all of this, however, TRUTH is neither a matter of personal sentiment, nor a matter of popular acclamation. Rather, Doctrinal Truth is something that is determined by its conformity to our sole Authoritative Rule of Faith—the Holy Scriptures. Despite popular disapproval, Total Depravity must be deemed not only one of the clearest teachings of the Bible, but also as a core-essential of the Faith. Without a true sense of this doctrine, not only will one’s entire

concept of Man be distorted, (leading to wide misconceptions and practical consequences with regard to every aspect of human activity—i.e., our domestic, social, scientific, economic, and political lives, etc.), but its denial will also deform our true and deeper understanding of such matters as God & His providence, sin & salvation, grace & justice, and Divine sovereign election and predestination. Indeed, the entirely gracious nature of our salvation is bound in this matter (Eph. 2:1-10).

 

What we DO NOT mean in using this terminology! Total depravity (sometimes called Pervasive Depravity or Total Inability) is not to be regarded identified with the concept of utter depravity. The Doctrine does not, for example, maintain the position that fallen Natural Man is absolutely incapable of doing any form of good whatsoever. Nor does it affirm that fallen humanity is utterly destitute of conscience or of some degree of moral sense. Nor does the Doctrine attempt to maintain that unsaved and unregenerate Men are as utterly wicked as they possibly could be (which, again, would be utter depravity, versus total depravity), or that all men are equally deficient in all areas with regard to their personal failings. 

 

WHAT DO we mean, then, in employing this term “Total Depravity?” That great Genevan, the Reformer John Calvin, who perhaps possessed the single greatest theological mind amongst the Reformers, once spoke of the Doctrine in this manner:

“All men are conceived in sin, and born the children of wrath, indisposed to all saving good, propense to evil, dead in sin, and the slaves of sin; and without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they neither are willing nor able to return to God, to correct their depraved nature, or to dispose themselves to the correction of it.”

 

The concept of Total Depravity thus speaks on several different levels pertaining to the corruption of man’s moral and spiritual nature as a result of Original Sin.

 

Firstly, it speaks as to the universality of the corruption of the Human Race; All of Mankind, as a total unit, is corrupted.

 

Gen. 6:5: “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

 

Secondly, it speaks as to the comprehensiveness of our individual corruption. No part of the individual man has been left untainted; all of man’s faculties and all aspects of his nature—indeed, his total Being—has been corrupted and affected. This extensive depravity has permeated every aspect of man’s nature—physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional; his heart, mind, and conscience are tainted and perverted.

 

Jer. 17:9: "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”

 

Because no part of our nature has been left untouched by sin, no action of ours can thus be deemed wholly good in God’s sight.

 

Isa. 64:6: “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

 

As Arthur C. Custance has observed the following:

“In so far as motive determines the moral character and spiritual significance of an act, every deed has something of sinfulness about it because man's will is fatally corrupted by his fallen nature. Not all motives are equally sinful, but no motive is wholly pure. Hence, from a moral and spiritual point of view, human activity is always poisoned as to its motive, to a greater or lesser extent. This fundamental impurity of motive is the reason for saying that man is totally depraved.”

 

Thirdly: the concept of Total Depravity thus also embraces the concept of total inability: Man can do nothing in-and-of himself to achieve or initiate his personal salvation. There is absolutely nothing within man that gives him any sort of salvific merit, and furthermore, Natural Man is also utterly blind and spiritually dead (as opposed to merely spiritually sick). If a man is to be saved, God must condescendingly reach down and rescue him by initiating the process through a special work of Divine Grace, thereby regenerating the man’s heart and effectually drawing him into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

 

1 Cor. 2:14: “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

 

Eph 2:4-5: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…”

 

John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

 

Because Total Depravity is true, it follows as night follows the day that the Doctrines of Unconditional Election and Irresistible (or Efficacious) Grace are also true. Unconditional Election refers to the fact that God has unconditionally chosen a portion of the Human Race unto personal salvation in accordance with His own Sovereign plan to bring eternal glory unto Himself, and not according to any foreseen faith, merit, or ability within the Man.

 

Rom 9:16: “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”

 

Rom. 8:29-30: For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

 

Since Natural Man is spiritually dead in his sins, God must both initiate process and effectually draw the man to salvation. Note the declaration of Christ:

 

John 6:37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

 

John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

 

Thus, the principle of GRACE is completely realized in the matter of our salvation. There is nothing in which we can boast—even in our faith!

 

Eph. 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

A Mysterious Hand Appears!!! (Dan. 5:5)

 

v. 5a: “Suddenly the fingers of a man's hand emerged…”

 

“Suddenly…” Note the striking parallels to Daniel 4:30-33!

 

o   Even as Nebuchadnezzar finds himself stricken by the powerful Hand of Divine Judgment for unduly assigning the credit for his great prosperity and imperial achievements—which rightfully belonged unto God—unto himself (4:30), so too is the arrogant Belshazzar judged for misascribing Babylon’s political and military triumphs unto the power its false deities and unto the genius of its royal house (5:4, 23).  

 

o   Like Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar had crossed a line of no return—a spiritual Rubicon that rendered judgment inevitable!

 

o   “Suddenly…” As with Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar’s judgment was sudden and immediate!

 

4:31: "While the word was in the king's mouth…”

4:33: “Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled…”

 

The Aramaic term shâ‛âh (translated variously as “suddenly,” “in the same hour,” or “at that moment”) is employed in both 4:33 and 5:5, inviting comparison between the two accounts.

 

The immediacy of God’s response serves to clearly & unmistakably connect the act of judgment unto the offending deed, establishing a cause/effect relationship that might otherwise have been lessened in the eyes of men had there been a significant time interval. Thus, the mysterious handwriting appears immediately—as soon as the sacred vessels are dishonored by the Babylonians.

 

o   Both Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar became the beneficiaries of obvious and unmistakably supernaturally-directed special revelation with regard to the matter of their judgment: Nebuchadnezzar, through the means of the audible and disembodied heavenly voice, and Belshazzar, via the strange phenomenon of the spectral hand and its message.

 

Dan. 4:31 (ISV): As the words were being spoken by the king, a voice came forth from heaven: "King Nebuchadnezzar, this is declared to you: 'The kingdom has been taken from you!’”

 

Dan. 5:5 (ESV): Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote.

“…the fingers of a man's hand emerged…”

o   A night of revelry is suddenly transformed into a night of horror! The strange and transcendent phenomenon of the disembodied portions of a human hand was deliberately designed by God to instill terror and instantly sober the profane and riotous assembly.

 

v. 5b: “and began writing opposite the lampstand…”

o   “and began writing.” The precise form or manner in which the written characters manifested themselves (e.g., engraving, dark lines, glowing light, etc.) is left unspecified—and is ultimately irrelevant. The significant fact is that the letters were conspicuous and seen by all!

 

o   “the lampstand.” While some have speculated that this may have been the sacred Menorah of the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:31-40) that was housed within King Solomon’s Temple, or perhaps the sacred Lamps constructed by Solomon (2 Chron. 4:19-22; Jer. 52:19), there can be no definite confirmation of these proposals. Others would counter that these suggestions are improbable owing to the fact that the sacred articles were brought in after the feast’s commencement as opposed to its outset, when provisions for proper lighting would have already been made.

 

o   If the sacred Menorah was in fact utilized, it would indeed be most ironic that the desecrated article would be employed as an instrument to better illuminate the message of the king’s impending doom!

 

v. 5c: “on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace…”

o   Recall that we had previously observed that modern archeological excavation has unearthed the probable site of the Great Hall within the king’s palace where this event occurred, confirming its huge dimensions (see notes on 5:1c). Archeology has also served to confirm the details supplied by Daniel concerning the application of plaster upon walls of the Royal Throne Room! Note this comment from Walvoord regarding this great hall:

 

“Midway in the long wall opposite the entrance there was a niche in front of which the king may well have been seated. Interestingly, the wall behind the niche was covered with white plaster as described by Daniel, which would make an excellent background for such a writing.”—John Walvoord, Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation

 

o   The illumination supplied by the lampstand and the white gypsum background provided by the wall-plaster would present the ideal conditions for the clear revelation of the Divine Message of certain doom!

 

“When the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against unrighteousness, he would have it to be well noted and noticed by all.”—John Trapp commentary on Dan. 5:5

o   The handwriting on the gypsum-coated wall (the plaster being thus constructed of ground stone) has also been viewed by some commentators (e.g., Tony Garland) as a reminder of the Ten Commandments—a standard of Divine evaluation which in like manner was written by the finger of God upon tablets of stone (Ex. 31:18), and which functions as a bill of indictment against a sinful humanity that has failed to meet its inscribed requirements. Note this function of the Law as described in Col. 2:13-14:

 

Col. 2:13-14: And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Thoughts on the Magi & the Star of Bethlehem (12/25/2022)

 

“Star of Wonder, Star of Night…”

by Pastor Terry Reese; Valley GBC of Armagh, PA; 12/23/22)

 

Many theories have been advanced for years by various individuals to explain the phenomenon of the Star of Bethlehem. Some have suggested that it was a comet or meteor, or perhaps a conjunction of several planets (e.g., Jupiter & Saturn, or Jupiter & Venus)—or maybe even a distant supernova (i.e., an exploding star—an idea explored in Arthur C. Clarke’s fictional story The Star). However, aside from the fact that no recorded natural phenomenon precisely fits the bill, it seems most doubtful that any conventional stellar body could do what this “star” does in Matt. 2:9: namely, 1) move south (normal astronomical bodies have the appearance of “moving” east-to-west in the sky, due to the Earth’s rotation), and 2) lead people to a specific house! Perhaps it is best to see this anomaly for what it truly is: a specially-created miracle and manifestation of Divine Glory which guided the Magi in much the same way that the Shekinah Glory of God—taking the form of a Pillar of Cloud by Day and a Pillar of Fire by Night—guided the Israelites for 40 years in their wilderness journeys (Ex. 13:21-22)!

Why is it that this "sophisticated" generation always seems to require some sort of naturalistic, "scientific" explanation for every miracle of Scripture, anyway? Think about some of the other miraculous, supernatural Lights that appear in Scripture:

The mysterious light of Gen. 1:3-5, which shone on Day 1, before the creation of the Sun on Day 4…

The Glory Cloud that filled the Tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-38) and the Temple (I Kings 8:10)… 

The heavenly light that Paul encountered on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:3, 22:6, 26:13)…

The Light of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:23: “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”).

“So... you think you know all about the Magi, eh?”

Some Thoughts about Three (?) of the best-known/least-known Nativity Figures

by Pastor Terry Reese; Valley GBC of Armagh, PA; 12/23/22)

 

The familiar Magi… those three beloved figures who are so prominent within every Nativity Scene and annual Christmas Pageant, and whose traditions are faithfully related unto us through John Henry Hopkins, Jr.’s immortal carol, We Three Kings of Orient Are (1857). Yes, all of us know everything there is to know about the Wise Men… or do we?  

 

In truth, many of the “facts” that many profess to "know” concerning the Magi are not Scripturally derived at all, but instead, originate from later fanciful and highly questionable traditions. For example:

 

The Number of the Magi: “Three?”  Perhaps not. In point of fact, the Bible never explicitly states how many Magi there were; only that there was a plurality. Perhaps the fact that 3 gifts are specified (Matt. 2:11) has engendered the traditional inference that there were precisely 3 men.

 

Their Names: The names Melchior, Balthasar, & Caspar are traditional, as opposed to biblical. So too, are such colorful and fanciful notions that they came, respectively, from India, Egypt, & Greece, or that they were baptized years later by St. Thomas, died as martyrs, and that their bones (which are now allegedly housed at Cologne) were later found by St. Helena, who then deposited them at the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople.

 

Their Place of Origin, and the Precise Nature of their Identity: Certain ancient sources tell us that they came from Persia—but other sources claim that their place of origin was Chaldea. While the priestly caste of Persia were known as magi, so too were various classes of magicians (cf. Acts 13:6). The Bible simply tells us that they were “magi from the east.” The idea that the Magi were kings is NOT Scriptural—though the germ of this tradition might be traced to such passages as Ps. 72:10-11 & Isa. 60:1-6—which speak of Gentile rulers worshipping and paying tribute to the Messiah during the future Millennial Kingdom. The Magi indeed foreshadow this coming glorious reality!

 

What we do know. We know that they were Gentile outsiders who, by virtue of their actions, were indeed wise men (in contrast to the political & religious establishment of ancient Judea, who were either hostile or indifferent to Christ). We also know that they were consistently obedient to the various forms of Divine revelation to which they were made privy (Scripture--Matt. 2:5-6; a Dream from God--v. 12; the Sign of the Star--vv. 2, 9-10), that they recognized Jesus’ worth (Matt. 2:2, 11), and that they obeyed the voice of God rather than that of man (refusing to return to Herod; cf., Matt. 2:8, 12). Ultimately, they fulfilled the Chief End of Man—they joyfully worshipped Jesus (2:2, 10-11)!!!

The Feast of Folly, Part III: The Sacred Articles Defiled; Dead Idols Exalted (Dan. 5:2c-4)

 

v. 2c: “which Nebuchadnezzar his father…”

 

o   Nebuchadnezzar had removed the sacred articles from King Solomon’s Temple during his first incursion into the Promised Land (605 BC), when a young Daniel and other promising youths representing the “cream” of Judahite society were carried off into exile.

 

Dan. 1:1-2:  In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.

 

o   Ezra 1, in describing the Restoration, reveals that the number of sacred articles—the silver and golden goblets, dishes, basins, etc.—numbered some 5,400!

 

Ezra 1:7-11: Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

“his father.”

    o    The use of this terminology (cf., 5:2, 11, 18, 22) has been deemed fallacious by certain liberal scholars due to the fact that Belshazzar was actually Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, as opposed to his son; King Nabonidus was his father, and Queen Nitocris (a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar) was his mother. That this merely constitutes further evidence of the spiritual and intellectual bankruptcy of modern liberal scholarship is demonstrated by the following considerations:

 

a)    The Semitic languages (e.g., Hebrew, Aramaic, etc.) have no distinct words for “grandfather” or “grandson.”

 

b)   It is a conventional within all languages, including the Semitic tongues, to refer to an ancestor—whether direct or remote—as one’s “father.”

 

Matt. 1:1: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

 

c)    Another application of the terminology that is consistent with ancient usage associates the word “father” with “successor” (i.e., Belshazzar now occupied the regnal office that was once held by Nebuchadnezzar). For example, the Assyrian Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III refers to Jehu, King of Israel, as the “son of Omri” (an earlier king of Israel)—despite the fact that Jehu was not a blood descendent of Omri, and in fact founded a new dynasty based upon the wholesale destruction of the House of Omri (cf., 2 Kings 10:1-17)!

c)

d)   Another example of the fluidity of the term is found in Gen. 45:8, in which Joseph is referred to as a “father” to Pharaoh, in the sense of his exercising an advisory role. A paternal relationship is thus also associated with the idea of mentorship, or is employed as a deferential term indicating a deep respect for another (e.g., 2 Kings 6:21, Jehoram unto Elisha)

 

e)    Certainly it would have been both personally flattering and politically advantageous for Belshazzar to be closely associated in some manner with the great Nebuchadnezzar.

 

v. 2d: “…so that the king… and his concubines might drink from them.”

 

o   Note the distinction between Nebuchadnezzar’s handling of the sacred articles and that of Belshazzar…

 

o   To be certain, in carrying off the holy articles as trophies of victory, Nebuchadnezzar had attempted to make a grand public display of the superiority of his own gods over the “vanquished” God of Israel. However, in his efforts to avert full-scale Jewish rebellion, Nebuchadnezzar had also exercised a judicious level of restraint by taking only “some” (Dan. 1:2) of the sacred articles and leaving the structure of the Temple-complex itself intact. Furthermore, he also carefully deposited and retired the Jewish sacred relics to the decorous setting of the treasury of Marduk, Babylon’s chiefest god.

 

o   In marked contrast, Belshazzar public scorns the sacred articles by withdrawing them from the treasury and introducing them into his decadent and increasingly licentious feast, employing them for base purposes—yet under the guise of religious devotion (cf., v. 4)!

v. 3a: “Then they brought the gold vessels…”

o   As the servants bring out the sacred vessels, the act of sacrilege is reemphasized. The old commentator Robert Hawker notes the terseness of the Sacred Narrative:

 

The Prophet simply gives the relation of the history, but doth not enlarge upon it. Indeed it needs no comment. Drunkenness leads to impiety and prophaneness: and every evil follows. Was it not enough to deny God, but he must insult him also? Would nothing do for an unholy feast, and strumpets; but the holy vessels of the temple? Lord! to what a state of ruin is our whole nature reduced by the fall!—Poor Man’s Commentary

  

v. 3b: “…that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God…”

o   The unthinkable nature of the crime is magnified by the additional reminder that these very articles were once employed within the Holy House—the very Sanctuary—of God Almighty!

 

“…denotes the holy place of the temple, the inner apartment of the temple”—Keil & Delitzsch

 

o   Note this observation from Tony Garland:

 

In their previous dedication and service of God, some of these vessels were so holy that, on penalty of death, they could not even be handled by Levites. They were reserved for use by the Aaronic priesthood (Num. 18:1-4).—Daniel Discovered

 

Num. 18:2-3: And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. They shall keep guard over you and over the whole tent, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they, and you, die.

 

o   Nebuchadnezzar had been allowed to carry-off these Holy Vessels because God’s Nation of Judah was under Divine Judgment, with the Babylonian king functioning as the chosen instrument of that discipline—much the way the lords of the Philistines were permitted to carry away the Ark of the Covenant in the Days of Eli (1 Sam. 4:11, 5:1-2) when the anger of the Lord had formerly burned against Israel. The insolent Belshazzar, however, will not be the beneficiary any such Divine forbearance and protection; rather, he has signed his own death warrant (Dan. 5:23-24, 30).

 

o    Ironically, Nebuchadnezzar’s appropriation of the Sacred Articles during his first incursion into Judah (605 BC) providentially had the benefit of allowing them to escape the destruction of Solomon’s Temple during Nebuchadnezzar’s third incursion (586 BC) and see service during the Second Temple period.

o

v. 3c: “…and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.”

o   Another reminder of the shocking and unseemly decadence of the event, serving as Belshazzar’s epitaph…

 

“Belshazzar, last King of Babylon:

Reveler… Polygamist… Blasphemer.”

 

v. 4: “They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.”

 

o   Their decadence takes the form of religious devotion, toasting their false gods and their associated idols.

 

o   The Prophet Habakkuk had foreseen that the Chaldeans, having fulfilled their appointed mission in bringing disaster unto Israel, would ultimately bring judgment upon themselves through their own blasphemy—falsely crediting their ascendancy to their false deities and their own power and craft.

 

Hab. 1:11: Then he [i.e., the Chaldeans] sweeps on like a wind; and he passes on and is guilty, crediting this power of his to his god.

 

o   This deranged, alcohol-fueled worship would have doubtless featured ceremonial toasts, as well as the singing of songs, the shouting of praises, and the ascription of great deeds unto lifeless idols.

 

o   The vanity of such idols is stressed through the emphasis upon their material construction—which, we note, descends in value, from gold to stone. Note Daniel’s commentary in verse 23 upon the futility of worshipping such lifeless and material idols “which do not see, hear or understand.”

 

o   Such an assessment of the futility of idols is a common theme to the Old Testament prophets (cf., Isa. 44:9-20)…

 

Isa. 46:6-7: Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.

 

Jer. 10:1-5: Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the LORD: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

 

o   In the New Testament, Paul observes that at best, false gods & their idols are nothing (i.e., unreal).

 

1 Cor. 8:4: Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.

 

On the other hand, lying behind such false deities—unreal entities—is the behind-the-scenes motivating spiritual reality of demonic fallen angels.

 

1Cor. 10:19-21: What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.  

 

Rev 9:20: The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk…