From the previous chapter, we allow several decades to slide past. It was a confused time following the death of Nebuchadnezzar, according to historical evidence gleaned from other sources. The great ruler's son is assassinated, a usurper holds power briefly, and passes it to a son who reigns but days. He is in turn killed by Nabonidus, whom we believe a brother-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar. This man in turn runs off to Arabia for a number of years, leaving things in the hands of his son and declared co-regent, Belshazzar. Thus, it appears the ruler at the time this chapter opens is legally the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the Crown Prince (second in power) serving as regent.
This man seems to possess nothing of his grandfather's greatness. He would surely have read the previous chapter in the form of Imperial Archives. Even his father, Nabonidus, holds valid honor for actual battle accomplishments, but Belshazzar has nothing of his own. Since he could not obtain real honor, perhaps it was in an attempt to endear himself to his satraps he put on an unspeakably lavish feast for them in the palace at Babylon. Further, he tossed aside all custom, bringing in wives and concubines, and allowing himself to be seen without the customary screen separating him from all but the closest advisers. As if this were not shocking enough, he ordered brought in the various vessels of worship from the temples of gods taken from the various nations conquered by Babylon. They were used to toast the pantheon of Babylonian deities.
Our best understanding indicates at this point in time, invaders were already inside the gates of the city. With the palace so very wrapped up in celebration, so completely insulated from the city below the lush Hanging Gardens, those in the banquet hall were oblivious. Even worse, they were utterly oblivious to the very God they were insulting in their ritual mockery. Let it not be forgotten, this act was patently illegal by Nebuchadnezzar's own proclamation, noted by Daniel at the end of chapter 3.
To insure the full meaning of God's wrath not be lost on the merrymakers, a hand appears and writes something on the wall. This would have been a brick wall covered with plaster, upon which any number of decorative images of Babylon's pagan gods and imperial symbols were painted in lavish colors. In the direct glow from the burning lampstand, perhaps the hand simply scratched away the bright color to reveal a glaring white script in the plaster. As was common then, the writing was right to left, using only the consonants of the words, and apparently adopting a style of lettering unfamiliar to those in Babylon. The mighty prince-regent wilts into panic like a small boy. The entire party switched from riotous celebration to raucous panic.
As with all omens, it was assumed the magi could explain what this was. We get the feeling they had reasserted themselves over Daniel and his friends. Indeed, the Hebrew men would be quite aged now, along with having fallen from favor over the past few decades of rapid and tumultuous change in Imperial administration. Belshazzar's bold offer of elevating to a position directly under him was not sufficient to overcome the magi's obvious lack of comprehension. Best we can tell, the magi had long held the descendants of Abraham in contempt. He had departed the great and marvelous Valley of Civilization when called by some mad god or another to become a filthy tent-dweller. When these tent-dwellers adopted the Canaanite language, which eventually matured into what we call Ancient Hebrew, though rather closely related to Chaldean, it was despised along with the God of whom that language spoke. Only a few rare individual magi in history knew much about the Hebrew God, or the language of His worshippers. The squarish script of Hebrew writing was foreign to them, contrasting to their rounded version. Even then, the words had no meaning to them.
As all in the banquet hall began to despair, the Queen Mother came to see what all the commotion was. She knew Daniel was highly respected for a good reason, and recommended he be called from retirement to handle this problem. She reminded Belshazzar it was his own predecessor, calling Nebuchadnezzar his "father" in typical court language, who had made this man the highest ranking of all magi. It might not be unfair to suggest she was gently chiding him for his foolish negligence regarding custom and history. Oddly, Daniel's appointed name was about the same as the prince-regent's.
Daniel was called in, and Belshazzar was rather solicitous in his request. He repeated his extravagant offer if Daniel could read and interpret the message. Daniel wasn't being rude in his answer, but direct. He had already read the message, knew what it meant, and had probably long ago discerned the wrath of God was on its way. He first gave the context of Nebuchadnezzar's greatness and the cause for it. He also recounted the episode of madness, how it ended, and reminded Belshazzar of the Imperial decree which resulted. The Most High God was not merely a national deity of the Hebrews, but the One True God. It was this God Belshazzar had blasphemed.
On the face of it, the writing was simply a list of Hebrew names for coins. However, those names were related to words for measurements of various kinds, and those words were the point of the message. The Hebrew mina was 50 shekels, and was related to the word meaning "counting, numbering, measuring." Using it twice gives makes it emphatic. The word tekel was simply an alternate spelling of shekel, related to the word for weighing something. The word peres (often printed as upharsin) was the name for a half-shekel, used in the Temple Tax (Exodus 30:11-16). It came from the word for "divide." Thus, Belshazzar was told God had examined Babylon under Belshazzar, weighing him against the standards of Nebuchadnezzar, and found him utterly lacking. Thus, his regency would end in conquest by the Medo-Persian forces already rampaging across the empire.
Though it was utterly pointless, Belshazzar kept his promise. For once in his life, he recognized the ultimate truth of things. The Medo-Persian forces, we are told, marched into Babylon under the water gates of the Euphrates, which they had diverted from its course previously. That very night, Belshazzar was executed, but we know Daniel was spared. As the battles continued, the control of the Imperial Palace district was given to someone Daniel calls Darius. While we find no other record of that name at that time, it hardly matters. The point is the name is clearly drawn from the royal family of the Medes, and may well have been a common name, or used simply as a title. This, in a day and age when changing a man's name was quite common, often for causes we find perplexing in our modern Western world. Belshazzar died, Daniel survived, and continued to play a vital role in God's plans.
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Ed Hurst
22 November 2007
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