DANIEL INTERPRETS THE HANDWRITING
DANIEL 5: 13 - 30
DANIEL 5: 13 - 30
Rembrandt's Belshazzar's Feast (1635)
(13) So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, "Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? (14) I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. (15) The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. (16) Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
(17) Then Daniel answered the king, "You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.
(18) "O king, the most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. (19) Because of the high position He gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. (20) But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. (21) He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone He wishes.
(22) But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. (23) Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from His temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways. (24) Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.
(25) This is the inscription that was written:
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN
(26) This is what these words mean:
MENE: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
TEKEL: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting
PERES: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
(29) Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
(30) That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two. (NIV)
You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting." At the end of the day, I like to reflect on what I have traded that day of life for and how I could have improved on it. Some days, I feel that I, too, have been "found wanting." There is so much to do with such limited supplies to work with. I strive to have the spiritual side heavier than the physical side of the scales. In the end, that will be all that matters.
You are invited to share your thoughts in a "comment". No comment is published without review.
You are also invited to visit Oma at http://omaspolitics.blogspot.com, http://omaslife.blogspot.com, and http://omashealth.blogspot.com.
LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE COMMENTARY
The king offered Daniel beautiful gifts and great power if he would explain the writing, but Daniel turned him down. Daniel was growing older and had lived his life characterized by doing right. The gifts from this king would be worthless. He could be killed for not giving the king a positive interpretation or for even refusing his gifts. Daniel, though, wanted it to be known that he was giving an unbiased interpretation to the king.
Belshazzar knew the story of Nebuchadnezzar and how God had humbled him, but Belshazzar rebelled against God and disrespected Him. The message on the wall is for ALL who defy God. Although Belshazzar had power and wealth, his kingdom was totally corrupt, and he could not withstand the judgment of God. God's time of judgment comes for ALL PEOPLE. If you have forgotten God and slipped into a sinful way of life, turn away from your sin now before He removes any opportunities to repent. Ask God to forgive you, and begin to live by His standards of justice. To learn more, click here: https://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/p/path-to-salvation.html.
COMMENTARY FROM H. A. IRONSIDE
Ancient Babylon, as we have seen, was the city of idolatry, and the expression of the pride of man's heart, combining religion with self-seeking. Idolatry, properly speaking, began there. That was the place where the great tower was made, where men said, "Let us make us a name." It was no thought of building a tower to escape another possible flood that filled their minds. But they wished a center around which to rally, that they might make themselves a great name upon the earth. God told them to scatter abroad; but they were determined not to obey Him. Rejecting His will, they turned from Him to the worship of demons. That was the beginning of heathenism; there they commenced to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator; and every idolatrous system in the world is simply an off-shoot of that first parent stem.
And so we find, in the mystic Babylon of the last days, the union of all human churches, only to be superseded by the worship of the Anti-Christ. It speaks of a glory yet to be enjoyed by the professing Church, after the Body of Christ has been caught away to heaven, for a brief season, upon the formation of the ten-kingdomed empire, ere the kings and nations of the earth sicken of the contemptible sham, and, becoming utterly atheist, burn the harlot's flesh with fire, destroying forever the great world-church, who says in her heart, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."
Some may be asking, "Do you not think that Babylon the Great is already in existence?" Surely: Babylon's description in Revelations 17 coincides too exactly with history's record of the papal church to warrant any denial of her identity. What other church has sat upon the seven hills of that great city which ruleth over the kings of the earth? What other church has been for long centuries "drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus"? What other church possessed the power and wealth ascribed to her? And where else shall we find a religious organization so delighting in names of blasphemy as she?
But the Roman communion does not alone constitute great Babylon. The harlot has daughters who, like herself, profess to be pledged to a heavenly Bridegroom while committing fornication with the world that rejected Him. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God?" Spiritual fornication is, at large, the union of the church and the state; individually, of the Christian with the world--an unhallowed alliance, opposed to the whole teaching of the New Testament. So if Rome be emphatically the great harlot, the state-churches are her off-spring; and "As is the mother, so are her daughters."
And so we find, in the mystic Babylon of the last days, the union of all human churches, only to be superseded by the worship of the Anti-Christ. It speaks of a glory yet to be enjoyed by the professing Church, after the Body of Christ has been caught away to heaven, for a brief season, upon the formation of the ten-kingdomed empire, ere the kings and nations of the earth sicken of the contemptible sham, and, becoming utterly atheist, burn the harlot's flesh with fire, destroying forever the great world-church, who says in her heart, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."
Some may be asking, "Do you not think that Babylon the Great is already in existence?" Surely: Babylon's description in Revelations 17 coincides too exactly with history's record of the papal church to warrant any denial of her identity. What other church has sat upon the seven hills of that great city which ruleth over the kings of the earth? What other church has been for long centuries "drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus"? What other church possessed the power and wealth ascribed to her? And where else shall we find a religious organization so delighting in names of blasphemy as she?
But the Roman communion does not alone constitute great Babylon. The harlot has daughters who, like herself, profess to be pledged to a heavenly Bridegroom while committing fornication with the world that rejected Him. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God?" Spiritual fornication is, at large, the union of the church and the state; individually, of the Christian with the world--an unhallowed alliance, opposed to the whole teaching of the New Testament. So if Rome be emphatically the great harlot, the state-churches are her off-spring; and "As is the mother, so are her daughters."
MY THOUGHTS
You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting." At the end of the day, I like to reflect on what I have traded that day of life for and how I could have improved on it. Some days, I feel that I, too, have been "found wanting." There is so much to do with such limited supplies to work with. I strive to have the spiritual side heavier than the physical side of the scales. In the end, that will be all that matters.
You are invited to share your thoughts in a "comment". No comment is published without review.
You are also invited to visit Oma at http://omaspolitics.blogspot.com, http://omaslife.blogspot.com, and http://omashealth.blogspot.com.
