Extra Plates

No empire is too big to fall. The Babylonians found that out harder than most.

Daniel 5:1 (ESV) King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

Think the setting in this brief description. Wherein Nebuchadnezzar was into self-adulation, his son Belshazzar was more into the creature comforts of world domination. His goal is simple: good times with fine wine. And the tipping point for the empire's collapse was when he decided to desecrate the sacred objects of Israel's temple for the glorification of his empire in front of his special friends. 

Daniel 5:2 (ESV) Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.

It wasn't enough to desecrate these sacred objects with the unholy wine of Babylon that Daniel refused, the gave credit to the gold that made up these objects.

Daniel 5:3–4 (ESV) Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

This is the tipping point. Judgment is about to fall. If you read this opening in light of the events later in the chapter you know the Medes and Persians are outside the gates ready to demolish the empire. The indulgence of this generation is married to apathetic carelessness with regard to their own security. They are about to fall and they don't seem to care. 

Daniel 5:5–7 (ESV) Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

Daniel is the one they find who interprets the message. The King's advisors say about him:

Daniel 5:12 (ESV) an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel...

When brought in before Belshazzar and offered gifts and rewards, Daniel rejects it all. 

Daniel 5:17 (ESV) Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.

We see the language of values. Daniel's is different. Whereas Belshazzar is consumed with the gold he can display to those he can surround himself, Daniel simply seeks to do what God requires in the role God has him.

Daniel then recounts the pride and humiliation of his father Nebuchadnezzar. A lesson lost on Belshazzar. 

Daniel 5:22–23 (ESV) And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.

Then these words are pronounced:

Daniel 5:24–25 (ESV) “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.

Those words are intense. This message came straight from the presence of the Lord. We have here a picture of pride. It incurs upon us judgment from the very center of God's throne. He will lot let us believe we are invincible. And he casts down those who raise themselves up. 

What's amazing is that Daniel is raised up by the Lord to challenge this king and rebuke him publicly. He is unafraid to speak truth to power because he knows God alone is the source of all authority. If you want to know how to talk with authority, get under the authority of God. Belshazzar died on the very night he thought he could show off to his stupid friends. He's cast down almost as soon as he appears in scripture. Daniel, on the other hand, lives on in the minds and hearts of billions.