The Handwriting On The Wall
Daniel 5:1-9
Introduction
For centuries we have used the expression; “The Handwriting is on the Wall”.
It comes from this chapter in the book of Daniel. It means “judgment is inevitable”.
In this section of the book of Daniel we are challenged to consider the warning signs of
impending judgment and the consequences of sin. What happens to a willful king, who
deliberately defies God? His kingdom must crumble.
I like Wilmington’s outline of this chapter; the gall (vv.2-4); the wall (vv.5-6); the call (vv.7-23);
the scrawl (vv.24-29); the fall (vv.30-31).
Several years have gone by since the introductions in chapter one; seventy years between chapter
one and chapter five; and some twenty or thirty years between chapter four and chapter five.
Daniel is an old man; in his late eighties or early nineties. Nebuchadnezzar is dead. The head of
gold will soon be replaced with the chest and arms of silver.
The Feast Of Belshazzar (vv.1-4)
Daniel 5:1; Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in
the presence of the thousand.
For years the authenticity of Daniel and the historical events surrounding chapter five have been
suspect among scholars. Once again recent archeology has confirmed the truth and accuracy of
the Bible. Sir Herbert Rawlinson’s discoveries confirmed the existence of this character
Belshazzar. A cylinder was discovered with a brief record of the taking of Babylon in the forces
of the Medes and Persians in the year 538 B.C.; the record shows in the month of Tammuz
(June); the troops of Cyrus defeated King Nabonidus in the open country, and then entered
Babylon “without battle”.
Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had a single son; AmelMarduk (or Evil Merodach in 2 Kings 25:27; Jeremiah 52:31-34). He succeeded
Nebuchadnezzar in 562 B.C. He was murdered by his brother-in-law (Nebuchadnezzar’s son-inlaw); Nergal Sharezer or Neriglissar. (Jeremiah 39:3). Sharezer died (in battle) and was
succeeded by his young son Labashi-Marduk in 556 B.C. This boy was murdered shortly
thereafter by Nabonidus. Nabonidus married one of Nebuchadezar’s daughter’s; Belshazzar was
born of that union. Nabonidus for some reason chose not to make Babylon his capital (perhaps
intriques in the priesthood?). He ruled from 556-539 (some 17 years). He lived in Tema in the
modern peninsula of Saudi Arabia. Belshazzar was therefore co-regent with his father (this fact
will be important later on in the chapter). By the time the events of chapter five take place
Nabonidus has been captured by the Medes and Persians; so Belshazzar is left to rule alone.
Nebuchadezzar is called Belshazzar’s “father” and “son” because in both Hebrew and Chaldean
there is no term for grandfather. The word “father” was used to describe distant relatives.
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The Handwriting On The Wall
Daniel 5:1-9
History reveals that Belshazzar was a wicked, arrogant, self-indulgent ruler. He was born into a
position of wealth and privilege. He was a drunk, he was a party animal. He was sexually
immoral.
Daniel was removed from court with the death of Evil-Merododach and had been absent from
the court for well over a decade; in relative obscurity. But once again, late in life, Daniel will
take center stage.
Belshazzar throws a party for a thousand of his so called friends. As an act of worship; ancient
Babylonians would throw a party and get drunk. Sound familiar?
Are there appropriate times to celebrate? Yes. But for Belshazzar, he is throwing a party a few
moments before disaster strikes. Like the Titanic, he was about to hit an ice-berg that would sink
his ship. Belshazzar does not know it, but in a few short hours he will be dead.
What a curse alcohol has been in our culture. Have you ever seen your mother beaten by a
drunken spouse? Have you ever visited a hospital and seen the drunk in the last hours of life?
Have you ever been at a funeral home with the parents of a child who has been killed by a drunk
driver?
We use the expression “party animal” rather freely. After all, we live in a culture that believes
we are evolved animals. So many people live for the week-end and the party. What are you
living for? Alcohol sales in America are in excess of 30 billion dollars a year. Ironically there
was a “party” in LA to raise money to help fight drug addiction! According to some health
officials one in fifteen people in America are addicted to cocaine and heroin.
Drug and alcohol abuse are in part attempts to make the pain go away; to mask the emptiness of
life. No wonder the Bible says; “Wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging; and whosover is
deceived is not wise”.
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has
wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who
go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup,
when it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your
eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one
who lies down in the midst of the sea, or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: “They
have struck me, but I wasn’t hurt; they have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake,
that I may seek another drink?” (Prov.23:29-35).
THE GALL (vv.2-4)
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Daniel 5:2; While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver
vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in
Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
“While he tasted the wine”--When Belshazzar drank the wine it gave him false courage as he
was surrounded by both friends and enemies in what he considered an impenetrable fortress.
This false courage did at least one thing; it caused him to cross a line, and blaspheme the God of
Heaven.
Daniel 5:3; Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house
of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines
drank from them.
These gold and silver vessels were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into the temple of his god Bel.
Wilmington refers to Belshazzar as “drunk-depraved and demon possessed”. I don’t know about
that, but he was ripped, or sauced. He was seized with the wicked idea to take the sacred objects
from the temple and use them to party. What a bad idea. You don’t mock the living God. These
are the sacred objects that were first made by the craftsmen of Solomon in 1 Kings 7:48-51;
1 Kings 7:48; Thus Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of the Lord: the altar of
gold, and the table of gold on which was the showbread;
1 Kings 7:49; the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left in front of
the inner sanctuary, with the flowers and the lamps and the wick-trimmers of gold;
1 Kings 7:50; the basins, the trimmers, the bowls, the ladles, and the censers of pure gold; and
the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner room (the Most Holy Place) and for the doors
of the main hall of the temple.
1 Kings 7:51; So all the work that King Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was
finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and
the gold and the furnishings. He put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.
Daniel 5:4; They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and
stone.
Getting drunk and idolatry went hand in hand in the ancient world. There were drunken worship
services in the Greek world, the Roman world, in Japan there are more idols than there are
Japanese people. In India there are in excess of 300 million gods and goddesses. Human beings
worship; we were made to worship.
This is no ordinary party. The Greek historian Xenophon writes that a solemn festival was made
to honor the Babylonian deity Bel. Archeologists have discovered this great hall where the party
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The Handwriting On The Wall
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was held. It is some 60 feet wide and 172 feet long. The walls were decorated in stucco with
memorials of the great accomplishments of the Babylonian Empire. Belshazzar led the toasts to
the pagan gods. In Babylonian culture this was unheard of; it was thought beneath the dignity of
a king to toast with Lords and ladies. It revealed a total lack of dignity and self control.
It would be like a President of the United States having a kegger party with frat boys at Yale.
Belshazzar also invited the women to the party. Again, this was unheard of; you will remember
in the book of Esther when Ahasuerus was having a drunken party; Vashti the Queen entertained
the women separately (see Esther 1:1-9).
The restrictions and the prohibitions were lifted. The new rule; no rules. One by one the king
and his guests began to drink each other under the table. Now combine that with sexual liberty
and a drunken orgy. The feast was sensual; and the feast was sexual; and the feast was
sacrilegious. Belshazzar commanded that the sacred vessels taken from Solomon’s Temple; be
brought out to toast the pagan gods. Think of it for a moment; when leaders lead sensually and
sexually and sacrilegiously; you can rest assured judgment is coming, and collapse certain.
What in the world would cause a person to use sacred objects for sensual purposes? Because all
borders are open and all restrictions lifted.
One Bible commentator put it this way: “Shortly the slave arrived with the holy vessels at the
raucous banquet room. The moment had arrived for this maggot of a man to do a God-defying
act. The erotic dancing suddenly stopped. The musicians put down their instruments and the
house lights were turned up. Belshazzar took the goblet, filled it from his own private wine, and
smirking with arrogance, slopped the crimson liquid to his lips. As it dribbled down his beard,
he glared around with the “There, I’ve done it,” a thousand gasped. Suddenly a cheer broke out,
blasphemously applauding the daring act.”
It would be like a thousand altar boys descending on the Vatican, breaking open the altar wine
and the communion hosts; and getting drunk; with no restrictions or prohibitions on personal
behavior. In his book Voices from Babylon; Dr. Seiss writes; “Not only their ill-timed
merriment, their trampling on customary propriety, and their drunkeness, but even their
foolhardy and blasphemous insult to the Most High God, is veiled over and cloaked up with a
pretense of devotion. This was as far as it was possible for human daring to go. It was more
than the power of heaven could quietly endure.”
The feast was sensual, the feast was sexual, the feast was sacriligious, and the feast was--well
plain stupid. There was a proverb in the ancient world; “Whom the gods would destroy, they
first make mad”. Belshazzar is partying--but he is celebrating his own funeral; he just doesn’t
know it.
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The Handwriting On The Wall
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What’s interesting; a careful reading of the Scripture would have discovered that all these events
were prophesied in God’s Word. Jeremiah warned that a northern kingdom would conquer the
Babylonians (Jer.50:1-3;9). The nation would be associated with the Medes (Jere.51:11,28).
Babylon is described as being in her fortification (Jer.51; 53;58). Babylon would be taken by a
trick or a snare (Jer.50:24). The city’s demise would take place having to do with the drying up
of water (Jer.51:36). It would be accomplished while a great feast was in progress (Jer.51:39). It
would happen when Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson was in power (Jer.27:6-7).
Cyrus the Persian was quite literally at the city’s gates. But they had stored up provisions for 20
years and thought their walls were unbreachable, inpenatrable. The Babylonians believed no
foreign invader could ever take them. Cyrus knew he could not out wait the Babylonians, so he
cleverly diverted the water flow of the river that ran through the city; and literally walked into
Babylon via the dry river bed; on the very night that Belshazzar through his party to end all
parties; the mother of all parties.
The Wall (vv.5-6)
Daniel 5:5; In the same hour the fingers of a mans hand appeared and wrote opposite the
lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the kings palace; and the king saw the part of the hand
that wrote.
Oh my, God is going to crash Belshazzar’s little drunken orgy.
Even though the guests did not know it; at that very moment the Medes and the Persians were
coming in unnoticed into the city; by drying up the river; lifting the gate and will visit the
doomed king.
In the middle of the drunken toast, Belshazzar sees the handwriting on the wall. This course has
come into the popular vernacular to mean “TIME’S UP”. He must have been really freaked out
wondering if someone had spiked the punch.
This is the same hand that scratched the ten commandments on tablets of stone to give to Moses.
This is the same finger that drew in the dirt in John 8 in defense of a woman taken in adultery.
This is the finger that spells doom and judgment for Belshazzar. There doesn’t seem to be any
warning, or thunder or lightening.
Daniel 5:6; Then the kings countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the
joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.
“The joints of his loins were loosed”; what happened to the profane king? (1) his countenance
changed; (2) his thoughts troubled him (3) the joints of his loins were loosed (4) his knees smote
one another! Despair swept over the king; the drunken despot; death doom, damnation were just
around the corner; he was about to fall on the stone that came down from heaven.
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The Handwriting On The Wall
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The king is terrified (who wouldn’t be?). We are told the king’s countenance changed.
Gone was the silly smile. Gone was the impudent smirk.
I can’t help but think of Bill Mahr; the self-styled champion antichrist. He makes fun of people
who believe in “talking snakes”.
I suspect the kings’ face was pale and terrified. His back buckled; his knees shook; his heart
filled with fear. In one brief moment of time; the selfish, impudent, arrogant king; became an
emotional puddle of fear; shivering, shaking, helpless, mortal, fragile, perishable. If ever there
was a time he was serious it was now; if ever there was a time for fear, it was now. Unknown to
the king--he was three feet from death and twenty four hours from the grave and hell. The
measure of his days were finished, the cup of iniquity full, and his doom fixed.
The Call (vv.7-23)
Daniel 5:7; The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers.
The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its
interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; and he
shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
The king cried aloud (screamed). He was freaked out. He would experience the warning of
Proverbs 1:24-30; “Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no
one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also
will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes; when your terror comes like a
storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then
they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would have none of
my counsel and despised my every rebuke.”
People live under the illusion there is one more day and one more chance. But God is under no
obligation to continue to strive with men. God is the God of many chances; but woe unto the
man who’s chances are up.
The king calls for the best advice available to him. In his time of need he calls for what he
knows; the old religion; astrology, magic.
There are literally thousands of people who are part time and full time astrologers. Things still
haven’t changed. People still look to the occult, to the supernatural, to the new age for answers.
They could not help. God had sent a message; judgment; this is the third time in the book of
Daniel that the astrologers
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The Handwriting On The Wall
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Daniel 5:8; Now all the kings wise men came, but they could not read the writing, or make
known to the king its interpretation.
Daniel 5:9; Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, his countenance was changed, and his
lords were astonished.
What a night in Babylon!
Applications
A National Application
The story is supposed to serve as a wake up call. Any nation can be judged. We all know how
some nations seem vulnerable, weak, on the very edge of non existence.
We sometimes think that America can never collapse. But America is certainly not immune to
the judgment of God.
David Jeremiah tells the story that when the vandals entered Rome to sack it, they listened to an
orator in the the Senate proposing a plan to stop them if they should ever invade the land. They
were already there, sitting in the Senate! One historian said that some of the invaders poked the
Roman Senators to see if they were alive because they looked like statues and they were asleep.
They had become neutralized by their decaying society, and even when the barbarians sat in the
Senate with them they didn’t know they were there!
A Personal Application
What is God writing on your heart?
What would you do different if you knew this very night; your world would change; or your life
would end? Think about it, if one finger can create such fear; can you imagine what life would
be like if you fell into the hands of the living God?
At the feast of Belshazzar
And a thousand of his lords,
While they drink from golden vessels,
As the book of truth records.
In the night as they reveled
In the royal palace hall,
they were seized with consternation
At the writing on the wall.
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The Handwriting On The Wall
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So our deeds are recorded,
There’s a hand that’s writing now,
Sinner give your heart to Jesus,
To his royal mandate bow.
For the day is approaching,
It must come to one and all,
When the sinner’s consternation
Will be written on the wall.
A Prophetic Application
We live in a world devoted to pleasure. My friend John Nyondo was on a national radio program
yesterday. I heard him say that the great enemy of western christianity is comfort.
We want entertainment, we want pleasure, we have uncontrolled appetites; eating, drinking, we
have a false sense of security based on a shaky prosperity. The Bible says a day is coming when
mighty Babylon; the power of Gentile nations will fall, will fall. Gentile powers will one day be
destroyed. That’s prophecy.
A Spiritual Application
What was it that brought down the curtain on Belshazzar? Was it the drunken orgy? The
promiscious sexuality? The perversity? No--the straw the broke the camel’s back--was
when he took sacred objects and he used them for secular purpose; when he took what was
holy to God; and desecrated them.
Christian--your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You may not completely understand this;
but you are God’s vessel; God’s instrument. You were saved to be used by God. You are a holy
vessel. Are you desecrating God’s vessel? Are you involved with immorality? Are you
corrupting God’s vessel with drugs or alcohol or nicotene? Please don’t do that. God will not
honor that. You are inviting God’s judgment.
Please remember Belshazzar. Do what God is calling you to do. Don’t ignore His Word. Don’t
forget His promises or His prophecy. To ignore God’s Word--is to invite His finger on the wall
tonight.
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