BIBLE STUDY LESSON 18

SERIES P --- YHVH’S PROPHETS

BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST

THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

From Daniel 5

Many years had passed since King Nebuchadnezzar ruled over Babylon. Evil-merodach [Amel-marduk] succeeded Nebuchadnezzar, then three other kings. At last, the evil Belshazzar ruled, while his father, Nabonidus, went to another province of the kingdom to strengthen its crumbling parts. One day Belshazzar gave a big party for one thousand of his nobles. There was wine in abundance and heavy drinking. When Belshazzar was quite drunk, he ordered some people to bring the gold and silver vessels which his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. When the vessels arrived, Belshazzar and his nobles and their wives and concubines drank wine from them while they praised their idols. But as soon as they began to do this, fingers like those of a man’s hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lamp stand. Belshazzar was so terrified as he watched the great hand writing on the wall that his face whitened, his knees knocked together, and his legs would not support him. Then he called for the enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers. [Whoever reads the writing on the wall and tells me what it means will be dressed in purple with a gold chain about his neck and will be made the third in command over my kingdom,] he said. But none of the wise men could tell the king what the writing said or what it meant. The king grew more and more alarmed, and his face changed colour. His nobles were terrified also. About this time the queen, Belshazzar’s mother and Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter, heard what was happening. She rushed to the banquet hall and spoke to Belshazzar. [Don’t be so frightened,] she said. [There is a man in your kingdom with the Spirit of the Holy YHVH in him. In the days of your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, he was chief of all the wise men of the land. Call for Daniel, for he has the spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, to explain the meaning of puzzling situations, and to solve problems. Call for Daniel, whom King Nebuchadnezzar called Belteshazzar, and he will tell you what the writing means.] Daniel was brought before the king immediately, and Belshazzar asked, [Are you the Daniel whom King Nebuchadnezzar my grandfather brought from Judah? I understand that you have the Spirit of the Holy YHVH in you, and that you possess great wisdom and understanding. My wise men cannot read the writing on the wall or tell me what it means. If you can, I will clothe you in purple, put a golden chain about your neck, and appoint you third in command over my entire kingdom.] [You may keep your gifts or give them to another,] Daniel answered. [But I will still read the words and tell you what they mean. O king, the Most High YHVH gave your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom with great majesty, power, and honour. The peoples and nations of the world trembled at his power for he executed or spared as he chose. At his command, men were made either great or small. But when his heart grew hard and he became proud, YHVH removed his throne and his glory and drove him into the fields to live and eat like an animal. There he remained, drenched with dew, until he learned that the Most High YHVH rules over all the kingdoms of men and chooses the kings to reign over these kingdoms. [Now you, O Belshazzar, are ruling in his place. You know all that I have told you, but you also have been very proud, lifting yourself against my Adonai of Heaven, drinking wine with your nobles, wives, and concubines from the holy vessels of His Temple while you praise your idols of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. They cannot see or hear you, but the YHVH who gave you breath and guides your ways does see and hear, and yet you have refused to honour Him. It was the hand of YHVH who wrote those words upon the wall as you watched. This is what He wrote, and this is what it means. The words are MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. MENE says that YHVH has numbered the clays you will rule over this kingdom and those days have now come to an end. TEKEL says that you have been weighed in the balances, YHVH’s scales, and have been found to be deficient. UPHARSIN says that your kingdom is about to be divided and given to the Medes and Persians.] Then Belshazzar commanded his officers to bring purple robes and place them upon Daniel and put a golden chain about his neck. He proclaimed Daniel as the third in command over his kingdom. But that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom in his place. At that time Darius was sixty-two years of age.

COMMENTARY

THE FALL OF BABYLON

In 539 B.C. the glorious city of Babylon fell to the Persians with almost no resistance. Babylon’s days had been numbered since the death of its founder Nebuchadnezzar in 562 B.C. The succeeding kings were merely puppets of foreign kings or local priests. The last native king of Babylon, Nabonidus, displeased the priests and people by devoting his energy to gods other than Marduk, god of Babylon. Merchants and military officers disliked him too, for the country was plagued with inflation and famine, and had lost its northern and eastern trade routes to the Medes and Persians. Leaving Babylon in the hands of his son Belshazzar, Nabonidus spent a decade in Arabia, probably trying to secure the incense trade route there. During this time, Cyrus the Persian was winning power across the Near East. Wherever he conquered, Cyrus treated his new subjects with mercy and respect. By 540 B.C. Persia’s empire stretched several thousand miles, from the Aegean Sea eastward to India. When Cyrus attacked Babylonia in the autumn of 539 B.C., Belshazzar probably was killed. Sippar, next in line, surrendered without a fight. When Cyrus reached Babylon, pro-Persians there may have opened its gates to him. But according to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the Persians diverted the Euphrates River that ran through Babylon into side canals. At night they used the river bed, then dry, to march directly into the city. Some say Nabonidus was arrested or killed. Others claim Cyrus made him a governor in central Iran. Cyrus put away the gods that Nabonidus had brought to Babylon and sent home the foreigners exiled in Babylonia, including the Jews. Since Cyrus did not impose heavy tribute, life in Babylon continued as before the conquest. Cyrus worshiped Marduk and respected the priests who continued to control the city’s politics. During the reigns of Cyrus’ successors, Babylonian rebels broke this peace. Their repeated attempts to free Babylon finally resulted in Xerxes’ damaging the city’s walls and shrines, killing the leading citizens, and carrying off the statues of Marduk. When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Babylon again surrendered. Planning to make the city his eastern capital, Alexander began restoration but, when he died, these efforts ceased. His successor Seleucus founded his own city north of Babylon where many of Babylon’s residents moved.