Daniel 5:1-31

5:2 | Nebuchadnezzar is called father (used to refer to any ancestor), and Belshazzar is called Nebuchadnezzar’s son because there is no term for grandfather in Hebrew or Chaldean.

5:2-4 | Belshazzar’s feast was a sensual celebration without limits. Little did he know he was celebrating his own funeral: Cyrus the Persian waited outside the city’s gates to take Babylon by storm, having ingeniously diverted the flow of the Euphrates so his soldiers could enter the city unhindered, via the riverbed.

5:5-7 | In one brief hour, the boastful, profane king showed himself a trembling, helpless mortal. The fingers had turned frivolity into fear.

5:10-12 | Daniel was not a central figure in Belshazzar’s government like he had been in Nebuchadnezzar’s, but the queen had never forgotten him. She remembered him as a spiritual man (in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God), a superior man (excellent spirit), a sensible man (light and understanding and wise), and a skillful man (solving riddles). Although Daniel was now approaching 90 years of age, he was the king’s only hope of explaining enigmas like this one.

5:16-17 | Belshazzar promised to reward Daniel with the only motivations the world knows: possessions, position, and power. But Daniel rejected the king and refused his gifts, just as Abraham had years before with the king of Sodom (Gen. 14:22-23).

5:18-23 | People are accountable before the Lord to act on what they know. Here, Belshazzar is called to account for not humbling himself, despite his awareness of King Nebuchadnezzar’s experiences.

5:25-29 | Daniel interpreted the famous “writing on the wall”: the king’s days had been numbered (MENE), he had been weighed and found wanting (TEKEL), and now he would be judged and his kingdom divided (UPHARSIN).

5:30-31 | Scripture presents the passing away of the mighty Babylonian Empire with all of two verses, stated very matter-of-factly. On that very night in October of 539 BC, Babylon joined the host of nations that have forgotten God (Isa. 40:15).