No Nation is Insulated from God’s Judgment (Daniel 5)

Scripture reading – Daniel 5

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* Please note that words and phrases in brackets are the author’s amplification.

“HIS Story” 

In earlier Bible studies, I observed that the History of the Nations is “His Story,” the Story of God’s Sovereignty. The rise and fall of nations testify to God’s hand. The ruins of failed nations dot the world’s landscape. Sometimes they are buried beneath desert sands or unearthed among relics of past civilizations. Yet while leaders of nations boast of their wealth and power, they would do well to remember: “Our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased” (Psalm 115:3).

Daniel 5 – The Fall of Babylon

Babylon’s rise from a city-state to a world empire came to a sudden and decisive end in Daniel 5. The Chaldean empire lasted barely a century. Its rise under Nebuchadnezzar and its sudden fall under Belshazzar fulfilled God’s twin purposes: His prophesied judgment of Israel and His promised restoration of her to the land after 70 years (Isaiah 13:17-22; 21:1-10; 47:1-5; Jeremiah 51:33-58). 

King Belshazzar’s Foolish Actions (Daniel 5:1-12)

Scripture introduces King Belshazzar without preamble — we understand him to be the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 5:1). He would have known his grandfather’s astonishing history, and no doubt, the humiliation Nebuchadnezzar suffered for scorning the LORD (Daniel 5:21-22). Yet the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar was a fool who dared to blaspheme the God of heaven.

Belshazzar, hosting a banquet for a thousand nobles, commanded that the gold and silver vessels taken from the LORD’s Temple in Jerusalem be brought to his table. The king and his guests drank from these sacred vessels, scorned the Creator of the universe, toasted their “gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone,” and blasphemed Israel’s God (Daniel 5:2-4).

Suddenly, the king spotted “fingers of a man’s hand writing on the plaster of the wall, over by a candlestick” (Daniel 5:5). Illuminated by the candle’s glow, a man’s fingers were seen etching words into the plaster. Belshazzar was terrified and visibly shaken (Daniel 5:6). The banquet guests noticed the change in the king’s demeanor, then fell silent as he summoned the wise men of his realm to come, read, and interpret the words on the wall (Daniel 5:7). Belshazzar offered a reward of a scarlet robe, a golden chain (probably a symbol of authority), and the office of “the third ruler in the kingdom” (Belshazzar’s father is believed to have been his co-ruler, Daniel 5:7). Yet none of the wise men could read the writing or explain the meaning of the words on the wall (Daniel 5:8).

Though absent from the drunken revelry, the queen mother (most likely the wife of the late king Nebuchadnezzar) learned that the banquet had been interrupted and came to the hall to see her grandson (Daniel 5:10). She comforted him and reminded him that a Hebrew man, Belteshazzar, had faithfully served his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, and was known for exceptional wisdom (Daniel 5:11).

The queen counseled Belshazzar to summon Daniel, a man known for “an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams” (Daniel 5:12).

King Belshazzar’s Foolish Appeal (Daniel 5:13-17)

Belshazzar summoned Daniel, now an elderly man in his eighties, and asked whether he had served as a counselor to Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 5:13–14). The king then recounted his wise men’s failure (5:15) and appealed to the aged prophet to read the writing on the wall, promising to reward him with a scarlet robe, a gold chain, and the office of third ruler in the kingdom (Daniel 5:16).

Daniel was indifferent to the promise of reward and promotion — for a man of God cannot be bought or bribed. He declined the king’s offer (Daniel 5:16–17a) but assured the king that he would read the writing and reveal its interpretation (Daniel 5:17).

Daniel’s Analysis of the Inscription (Daniel 5:18-23)

Before interpreting the writing on the wall, Daniel reminded Belshazzar that his grandfather had been a great and powerful king — yet “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” (Daniel 5:20; 4:23). Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation lasted seven years until he humbled himself and acknowledged that “the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will” (Daniel 5:21).

Daniel then rebuked the king directly: “Thou his son [i.e., grandson], O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this” (Daniel 5:22). Belshazzar had desecrated the vessels of the LORD’s Temple, blasphemed the Lord of heaven, and praised idols “of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone” — gods that could neither see, nor hear, nor know (Daniel 5:23). Yet the God of heaven held his very breath in His hand, and still Belshazzar had “not glorified” Him (Daniel 5:23).

Numbered, Numbered, Wanting, and Broken (Daniel 5:25-28)

Fulfilling his duty as a messenger to both the LORD and the king, Daniel boldly declared and interpreted the writing on the wall: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN” (Daniel 5:25).

Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, whom the LORD permitted to humble himself and repent, Belshazzar would receive no mercy. His days were numbered and complete; he had been weighed in God’s just scales and found wanting; and his kingdom would be divided “and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5:27–28).

The Interpretation of the Vision Fulfilled (Daniel 5:29-31)

There was no escape for Belshazzar — he was guilty. Guilty of pride, defiance, and profaning God’s name. Guilty of idolatry and of failing to honor and acknowledge God as Sovereign.

In a final, hollow gesture, the doomed king honored Daniel by dressing him in a purple robe, hanging a gold chain around his neck, and proclaiming him third ruler of a crumbling kingdom — yet all was for naught (Daniel 5:29). Having diverted the Euphrates’ waters, the Medes and Persians were already pouring into the city. That very night, Babylon fell, and “Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans [was] slain” (Daniel 5:30).

Babylon perished as a nation, and “Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old” — a title many scholars believe refers to Cyrus — (Daniel 5:31).

Closing thoughts

Every citizen of every nation would do well to note that even the greatest empires are not insulated from the consequences of their sin. In like manner, the leaders of our day defy the God of heaven with insolence and wickedness — mocking the God of creation, legislating all manner of evil, and supposing they will escape His wrath and judgment.

Be forewarned, America, Canada, and Western Europe: your days as wealthy, prosperous nations, like Babylon’s, are numbered — unless you repent and turn to the LORD.