The Handwriting Is on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

Main Idea: God sees our sin and rebellion and brings about judgment on those who refuse to repent and trust in him.

1. God Sees Our Sin When We Mock His Glory (5:1-4).
2. God Confronts Our Sins, and We Should Tremble When He Does (5:5-9).
3. God Exposes Our Sins, and We Are Found Wanting (5:10-28).
4. God Deals with Our Sins of Unrepentance with Appropriate Judgment (5:29-31).

Two of my favorite movies of all time are The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974). They are both classics. In The Godfather: Part II there is a scene in which the godfather, Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino), is in Cuba sealing a deal with the Cuban government that will result in massive wealth for his family. Michael learns of rebel activity that causes some concern, but he is told not to worry because the Cuban government has everything under control. Later, at a grand New Year’s celebration put on by President Batista of Cuba, the military leadership marches in to inform the most powerful man in Cuba that his government has collapsed, the rebels will soon have control, and everyone needs to get out immediately and flee to safety. The godfather escapes, and the Cuban government falls into the hands of communist rebels. Pride, arrogance, and a sense of indestructability led them to ignore the handwriting on the wall!

In Daniel 5 there is a literal instance of predictive handwriting on the wall, and this one could not be ignored because what appeared (v. 5) was written by the hand of God. Furthermore, the message God wrote would soon become clear and its promise certain. Anytime and any way God speaks, we should all listen carefully.

In the flow of the book of Daniel, chapter 5 comes out of nowhere, though there is a clear theological connection to the last verse of chapter 4, where we are told that when it comes to the “King of the heavens, . . . all his works are true and his ways are just. He is able to humble those who walk in pride” (4:37). We have been dealing with King Nebuchadnezzar in chapters 1–4, and suddenly we meet King Belshazzar in 5:1. Dale Davis sets the stage for the drama that is about to unfold:

Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 BC, after a reign of forty-three years. In less than another twenty-five years all was lost. Evil-Merodach (561–560), Nebuchadnezzar’s son, followed his father on the throne. He, however, was apparently assassinated by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, who had a tenure of about four years and was succeeded by his son, Labashi-Marduk. This poor creature was “liquidated” within a month and one of the conspirators, Nabonidus, became king (555–539 BC). It seems that Nabonidus did not have designs on the throne himself but may have been placed there as a “compromise candidate” by the conspirators. Some think that Belshazzar, Nabonidus’ son, was the real mover behind the conspirators. In any case, Nabonidus had a religious or “faith” problem. He was a passionate devotee of the moon god Sin, to such a degree that he alarmed the Babylonian clergy, for he seemed intent on prying Marduk loose from his supremacy in Babylon. This may have led to a “relocation programme” for Nabonidus—he spent the next ten years at Taima/Tema, an oasis in the North Arabian Desert, five hundred miles from Babylon. His son, Belshazzar, functioned as de facto king in Babylon, operated in a more pro-Mardukian manner, and thus kept the local clergy from revolt. Which is why we are suddenly staring Belshazzar (553–539 BC) in the face at Daniel 5. (The Message of Daniel, 70–71)

So there is a chronological gap between chapters 4 and 5 of approximately twenty years. We must keep in mind, however, that Daniel was never written to give us a history lesson about Babylonians, Medes, and Persians. It was written to encourage the Hebrew people, God’s people, that though they had been defeated and exiled (three times!), God was sovereignly in control and they should trust him even when they could not trace his hand. He is working out his plans and accomplishing his purposes, and every now and then he lets us in on what he is doing. Daniel 5 is another occasion in which God lets us see what he is up to. Like the fiery furnace of chapter 3 and the lion’s den of chapter 6, this is one of the most remarkable and memorable stories in the whole Bible. We will see again the truth of Daniel 4:25, “that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants” (cf. 5:21). Yes, our God gives kingdoms to whom he wills, and he also takes them away from whom he wills. Belshazzar is about to find that out this very night—on what Ken Gangel calls “the night of bad calls” (Daniel, 128). The handwriting on the wall is on the way.

God Sees Our Sin When We Mock His Glory

Daniel 5:1-4

The last Babylonian king, a man named Belshazzar, decided to throw a big party even as Darius the Mede (5:31; probably another name for Cyrus or even a dynastic title) is about to invade Babylon and bring its empire to a speedy end. To call this event a party is kind. The word “orgy” is probably more appropriate. And it was quite the event, which adds to the irony and foolishness of the moment! This feast was “for a thousand of his nobles.” Furthermore, he did something kings normally did not do: he “drank wine in their presence” (v. 1). He set the example of drunkenness, sensuality, and revelry on this fateful night. He would be the life of the party, even as his own life would soon come to an abrupt end. What a fool Belshazzar was!

However, his foolishness did not stop here. He decided to add blasphemy, mockery, idolatry, and sexual immorality to the list. While he was drinking and getting drunk, he “gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem” so that his fellow party animals might drink from them. Verse 2 records the command; and verse 3, in almost identical language used to emphasize the blasphemy and mockery of the command, records the response. Belshazzar, along with his lords, numerous wives, and concubines, drank their wine from the sacred vessels taken from Yahweh’s temple. Not interested in stopping here, they added idolatrous worship to their debased behavior as they “praised their gods made of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone” (v. 4). This almost sounds like an Olympic celebration, considering all the gold, silver, and bronze, but there is nothing noble about this night of debauchery and mockery.

The spiritual and theological significance of all of this cannot be overstated. The act is intended to mock the God of Judah and to celebrate the gods of Babylon as being superior. Appearing in public and drinking with his guests was not traditional protocol for a Babylonian king. No doubt Belshazzar wanted to make this banquet special, and one way to do that was to make a spectacle of Judah’s God. Belshazzar takes holy vessels and treats them as nothing more than common utensils. He then goes further and uses them in the worship of false gods. His royal guests, his many wives, and his concubines (his human sex toys) all joined in the frivolity and raunchiness of the evening. Perhaps Belshazzar was attempting to win the favor and protection of his false gods with the enemy at his doorstep. In trusting in those gods who are no gods, he is making the biggest mistake of his life. The wisdom of Proverbs 6:12-15 is about to unfold:

A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly, winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers. He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble. Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.

Indeed, the prophecy of Isaiah 47, given more than a hundred years earlier concerning the downfall of Babylon, is about to come to fruition. It is worth taking notice of Isaiah 47:10-11 specifically. There God’s Word says,

You were secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me.” Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. You said to yourself, “I am, and there is no one else.” But disaster will happen to you; you will not know how to avert it. And it will fall on you, but you will be unable to ward it off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

Bryan Chappell is right: “There is no human wall so high, no human accomplishment so great, that it is secure against the judgment of God” (The Gospel According to Daniel, 97). Belshazzar is about to learn how true this is. Indeed, we all should learn how true this is before it is too late. After all, there is a Belshazzar lurking in all of our hearts. We all need God to deliver us from us!

God Confronts Our Sins, and We Should Tremble When He Does

Daniel 5:5-9

The Babylonians are having a gala to remember; they are completely out of touch with reality. Sin does this. It makes us dull. It makes us stupid. Sinclair Ferguson is right:

Belshazzar is perhaps the supreme Old Testament parallel to the rich fool in Jesus’ parable. Having already given expression to their lust for more (in the case of the rich fool his lust for more money), they would never be satisfied without more. Blinded by the pursuit of that lust, they were oblivious to the possibility that “This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” (Luke 12:20). (Daniel, 102)

In a moment (ESV, “immediately”), the king is brought to his senses. I’m sure Belshazzar set the record for the shortest time it has ever taken for a drunk to sober up! Ligon Duncan says,

From verses 5-7 this man goes from a break with reality to a check with reality. Suddenly, Belshazzar is yanked into the reality of the seriousness of the moment. (“The Handwriting on the Wall”)

And what yanked him back into reality? “The fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the king’s palace wall next to the lampstand” (v. 5). Yes, I think that would probably do it! The same fingers that wrote the Ten Commandments for the Hebrew people (Exod 31:18; Deut 9:10) now confront blasphemous Belshazzar with his sins and imminent judgment. Verse 6 records his terrified fourfold response: (1) His facial color changed. A red face flushed from drinking quickly turned as white as a sheet. (2) His mind went into a tizzy. (3) He went slack. (4) His knees knocked together. Dale Davis provides a descriptive and colorful commentary on what might be happening to this shaking sovereign:

Belshazzar’s demeaning of Yahweh’s vessels was his way of demeaning Yahweh. Belshazzar was not simply a drunken slob but a profane slob. God brought him to almost instant sobriety, however. Belshazzar came unglued—he was seeing the fingers of a man’s hand writing on the palace wall. He became deathly pale, his thoughts terrified him, and his lower body lost all strength. The clear sight and sheer spookiness of those writing fingers produced paralyzing terror (5–6). . . . Some think that “his limbs gave way” (v. 6 ESV; lit., “the knots of his loins were loosed”) may refer to his losing control of bladder or bowels. (The Message of Daniel, 74)

I think we can all admit that if this was his reaction, it would be hard to blame him!

The king tries to regain his composure, but it is a bumbling, stumbling effort to say the least. He “shouted to bring in the mediums, Chaldeans [NIV, “astrologers”], and diviners.” He promised “these wise men of Babylon” (ha!) honor (“clothed in purple”), wealth (“a gold chain”), and status (“third highest position in the kingdom,” after his father Nabonidus and himself) if they could read the writing on the wall and provide the interpretation (v. 7). The foolishness of this move only adds to the foolishness in verses 1-4. This brain trust, these cardinals of counsel, these intellectual elitists, these PhDs who commanded the respect of the common man proved once more to be totally useless! These supposedly “wise men of Babylon” could not interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2 and had to be bailed out by Daniel. The same thing happened again in chapter 4! Now, for a third time, “all the king’s wise men” are brought in and once more strike out (v. 8).

Belshazzar’s response by now is laughably predictable (v. 9): “Then King Belshazzar became even more terrified, his face turned pale [again!], and his nobles were bewildered [NIV, “baffled”].” The Message reads, “So now the king was really frightened. All the blood drained from his face. The nobles were in a panic.” Belshazzar has been confronted with his sin by a holy and omnipotent God, and he rightly trembles. The practical and theological insights of Dale Davis are once more helpful as we contemplate the impact these verses should make on us:

Where does one turn in such moments? Why, to religion, of course. Or at least that’s what Belshazzar did. He turned to his “faith.” He hollered for the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers (7) to come in and interpret the mysterious text. So these losers came traipsing in again (cf. 2:2, 10–11, 27; 4:7). Once more they fail (8), and Belshazzar’s alarm only intensifies (9). This is sometimes God’s pattern—to aggravate our helplessness by exposing the uselessness of our favourite props, even our favourite religious props. You may have your own paganism of choice—occultism, pluralism, machoism, feminism, agnosticism, moralism—and they will prove as petrifyingly useless as the Babylonian variety.

The human defiance is quite clear, but you may wonder where the divine opportunity appears. Precisely here, at the end of verse 9! God has frightened Belshazzar; religion has failed him; he is reduced to a shivering, sniffling mess with no supports whatever. He is therefore on the edge of the abyss of hope, is he not? He is the object of God’s terror, but in one sense it is a kind terror. God does Belshazzar the favour of leaving him without any recourse, in utter helplessness—and hence with a huge opportunity. Whenever God brings a man to the end of himself, smashing all his props and wasting his idols, it is a favourable moment indeed. If he will but see it. (Message of Daniel, 74–75)

God Exposes Our Sins, and We Are Found Wanting

Daniel 5:10-28

We have arrived at the crisis moment, the moment of truth. David Dorsey calls verses 10-12 the “turning point,” and sees them as the apex of a chiastically arranged chapter 5.

Story 5: Belshazzar’s feast (5:1-31 [5:1–6:1])

a) Introduction: Belshazzar in prosperity; his feast and mockery of Yahweh’s vessels (5:1-4)

b) Handwriting on the wall (5:5-6)

c) Magicians are summoned; failure of magicians to interpret the writing (5:7-9)

d) TURNING POINT: Daniel is remembered (5:10-12)

c´) Daniel is summoned; failure of magicians recounted (5:13-16)

b´) Handwriting on the wall interpreted by Daniel (5:17-28)

a´) Conclusion: Daniel is honored, and Belshazzar’s kingdom is overthrown (5:29-31 [5:29–6:1])

Dorsey notes, “Structured repetition is used throughout Daniel to emphasize the book’s two main themes: Yahweh’s supremacy over all earthly powers and the importance for Jews to remain loyal to their God even in exile.” These two themes are emphasized again, Dorsey says, “by the matching stories about Yahweh’s supremacy over the two powerful and proud Babylonian monarchs: Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar (chaps. 4, 5)” (Literary Structure of the Old Testament, 261–62).

Hearing the loud cry of the king and his lords, the queen, probably Belshazzar’s mother, “came to the banquet hall” (5:10). She respectfully addresses the king in a traditional manner (“May the king live forever”) and tells him to get a grip on himself because

there is a man in your kingdom who has a spirit of the holy gods in him. In the days of your predecessor he was found to have insight, intelligence, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods. Your predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners. . . . [He] did this because Daniel, the one the king named Belteshazzar, was found to have an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and intelligence, and the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems. (5:11-12)

Therefore she advises that Daniel be called out of obscurity and retirement “and he will give the interpretation.”

Daniel, the man of God, is brought before the king. There may be a subtle insult directed at the old man, now likely in his eighties, as he is referred to as “one of the Judean exiles” (v. 13). Interestingly, the king calls him by his Jewish name. Still, Belshazzar repeats the queen mother’s praise of Daniel, revealing that his reputation precedes him (v. 14). The king recounts the failure of his impotent soothsayers (v. 15) and reaffirms his promise of purple, gold, and promotion to third ruler in the kingdom if Daniel can interpret the handwriting on the wall (v. 16).

Daniel’s response is not disrespectful, but it is direct. The king can keep his gifts or give them to someone else; Daniel neither needs nor wants them. Yet he “will read the inscription for the king and make the interpretation known to him” (v. 17). (As an aside, that is a pretty good summary of faithful, biblical exposition!) But before Daniel interprets the handwriting, he does a little preaching and schools Belshazzar in recent history and biblical theology. Note that God is referenced five times in verses 18-28. He is called “the Most High God” (vv. 18, 21), “the Lord of the heavens” (v. 23), and “the God who holds your life-breath in his hand” (v. 23). Here is a summary of his message in outline form:

• The Most High God gave your predecessor Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom with the glory and privileges that go with such a position (5:18-19).
• Your father became arrogant and prideful, so God took him down and caused him to live like a beast with animals like oxen and donkeys. God did this so he would know that “the Most High God is ruler over human kingdoms and sets anyone he wants over them” (vv. 20-21).
• You, Belshazzar, are just like him, and you should know better! You are even more responsible than your predecessor! You have blasphemed and mocked God with your revelry and idolatry. Indeed, “you have not glorified the God who holds your life-breath in his hand and who controls the whole course of your life” (vv. 22-23).
• Therefore, the Most High God has exposed your sin, weighed your evil and wicked actions, and you are found wanting (vv. 24-28).

Verses 24-28 need further attention if we are to understand what had been written on the wall. The writing on the wall was inscribed in Aramaic as “Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin” (5:26). There would have been no vowel markings, and the letters would have run consecutively. Daniel’s first step is to rightly separate the letters into the appropriate word divisions. This yields four words to the inscription that reads, “numbered, numbered, weighed, divided.” Daniel then provides the devastating interpretation in verses 26-28:

God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. . . . You have been weighed on the balance and found deficient. . . . Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

God is closing the books on Belshazzar’s kingdom. God’s measuring standard proves the king to be a lightweight, a loser. He challenged the Most High God and lost. He crossed the line, and the gig is up. God saw his sin just as he sees everyone’s sin, and the time of reckoning has come, as it will for all who refuse to bow and humbly submit to “the Most High God.” Remember, a day is coming when

every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:10-11)

God Deals with Our Sins of Unrepentance with Appropriate Judgment

Daniel 5:29-31

Turn out the lights, the party’s over. Tell the band they can all go home, and they don’t need to come back. Ever! “The Most High God” is taking Belshazzar out and setting up a new world monarch named Cyrus, here identified as Darius the Mede (5:30-31).

Dale Davis points out that “chapters 2, 3, and 4 all end with some ‘confession’ by Nebuchadnezzar (2:46-47; 3:28-29; 4:34-37), but there is none of that at the end of chapter 5” (Message of Daniel, 71). Belshazzar showed no signs of repentance for his arrogance, blasphemies, idolatry, pride, and sensualities. He did however, and probably reluctantly, keep his word to Daniel. Like wicked King Herod who murdered John the Baptist, he no doubt was “exceedingly sorry” because of his oath (Mark 6:26 ESV). But to save face, he had to keep his word. How often our words come back to bite us!

“Belshazzar gave an order,” and Daniel was clothed in purple, got his gold chain, and was raised up to “be the third ruler in the kingdom” (5:29). Once again God has honored his faithful servant in this hostile and pagan world. Daniel had been sent to the retirement home by men of power. God brought him out of retirement and made him “third ruler in the kingdom.” After Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar, no one was more powerful than the Judean exile (cf. v. 13).

Daniel’s ascendancy in the Babylonian Empire was short-lived. It was like getting a promotion the day before the company goes bankrupt. It was like getting a medal on the day your side lost the war. His title lasted only a night. However, Darius will wisely recognize the value of this man of God in the days that follow (cf. 6:3). “That very night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was killed” (5:30)—not exactly the way he expected his party to end.

According to the Greek historians Herodotus (fifth century BC) and Xenophon (ca. 434–355 BC), the Medo-Persian army did not attempt to storm the impregnable Babylonian walls, which were at least forty feet high and twenty-five feet in width. It has to be noted that Herodotus exclaimed, “Babylon surpasses in wonder any city in the known world,” and he said the walls were fifty-six miles long, eighty feet thick, and three hundred twenty feet high! While this may have been an exaggeration (thirty stories high!?), no one denies their magnificence. So how did the Medo-Persians get into the city?

They diverted water from the Euphrates River (which ran under the walls of Babylon) into a marsh. With the level of the water lowered, the soldiers were able to wade the river under the walls and enter the city. Xenophon added that the city was invaded while the Babylonians were feasting in a time of drunken revelry. . . . As a matter of fact, Xenophon cited the festival as the reason the Persians chose to attack Babylon on that particular night. (Miller, Daniel, 167)

The dates were October 11–12, 539 BC (ibid.).

Belshazzar bites the dust “and Darius the Mede received the kingdom [from God!] at the age of sixty-two” (v. 31). The Babylonian king had challenged and mocked the Most High God, and it was no contest. He had been confronted with his sin and showed no repentance. So God took him out. On this occasion God’s judgment did not come gradually, like a frog being boiled in a kettle. It struck like a lightning bolt from heaven.

To those who knew their Scriptures, this was no surprise. God’s prophets had already laid out Babylon’s destiny—this kingdom was a passing fad, here today and gone tomorrow (see Isa 21:1-10; Jer 50–51). Sinclair Ferguson directs us to the wisdom of Proverbs (Daniel, 114):

One who becomes stiff-necked, after many reprimands will be shattered instantly—beyond recovery. (Prov 29:1)

How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge? If you respond to my warning, then I will pour out my spirit on you and teach you my words. Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention, since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you. (Prov 1:22-26)

In Revelation 18 we read of the destruction of Babylon, that evil and wicked world system that stands against the kingdom of God economically, morally, politically, and spiritually. In Daniel 5, we have received a preview of that eschatological day. Here we find words of wisdom, words of warning.

Conclusion: Where Is Christ in This Text?

In the story of God’s handwriting on the wall, a Hebrew exile comes out of nowhere to confront the powers of this world with their sins of blasphemy, mockery, arrogance, pride, and idolatry. Given that Daniel has been off the historical scene for many years, it is almost as if he has risen from the dead. He is a man of impeccable character who cannot be bought or seduced by the idols of this world. Why? Because in this man of unsurpassed wisdom is the Spirit of the Holy God. In fact, even the pagans acknowledge his good testimony (5:11; cf. 3 John 11-12), acknowledging he has “an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and intelligence, and the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems” (5:12; cf. 6:3).

This sounds rather familiar with respect to another exile from Judah, one who comes on the scene in the first century, a man by the name of Jesus who said of himself, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me” (Luke 4:18). Later we are not surprised to hear even his enemies admit, “No man ever spoke like this!” (John 7:46). That Daniel typifies in our text the coming Messiah is hard to deny. This servant of the Lord foreshadows the Servant of the Lord on whom rests

the Spirit of the Lord . . . a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. (Isa 11:2)

Daniel’s wisdom and abilities and position are similar in many ways to those of the patriarch Joseph (Gen 37–50), and thus his life reflects backward. However, as the mediator of God’s wisdom to sinful humanity, his life looks forward to the ultimate mediator between God and humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim 2:5), the one Paul calls “the wisdom of God” in 1 Corinthians 1:24, the one in whom “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).

Reflect and Discuss

1. Why do you think we are prone to view ourselves as indestructible or untouchable? How can you see this tendency in your own life?
2. How do Belshazzar’s actions serve to mock God and his glory? What are some other ways we implicitly mock God’s glory?
3. What are some ways we often try to protect ourselves against God’s judgment? How do we try to convince ourselves we are beyond his reach?
4. How and why does sin make us foolish?
5. What kinds of things does God use to wake us up to the foolishness of our sin? How does it feel when he does this?
6. How are God’s acts of discipline also acts of grace?
7. How does Daniel model faithful biblical exposition in his interpretation of the dream?
8. How does Belshazzar continue the sins of his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar?
9. How does Belshazzar’s response to God differ from Nebuchadnezzar’s?
10. How does Daniel foreshadow Jesus in this passage? In what ways does Jesus more perfectly mediate between God and man than Daniel does?