The writing on the wall

Daniel, Chapter 5 introduces us to another king – Belshazzar. The chapter heading in my Bible reads “Belshazzar's Feast.”

BELSHAZZAR IN ART AND MUSIC

Those interested in the Arts will know that the famous artist, Rembrandt, found this a topic to be painted – in 1635. And in 1931 William Walton's cantata, Belshazzar's Feast, was first played in Leeds. The fourth movement quotes at length from this chapter of Daniel. (A cantata is a "medium-length narrative piece of music for voices with instrumental accompaniment, typically with solos, chorus, and orchestra" Oxford Dictionary.) 

LOOT FROM THE JEWISH TEMPLE

Now, when Belshazzar's father, Nebuchadnezzar, sacked Jerusalem, he brought back silver and gold vessels from the temple so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. It seems Belshazzar decided that his “great feast for a thousand of his lords” (Dan 5:1) where much wine was being drunk, would be an appropriate occasion to use these vessels. All this was blasphemy to the Jews, but to this was added the sacrilege of using the act of drinking from the vessels as a tribute to the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone; in a word – matter. A Biblical note says that both of these acts mock the power and sovereignty of God.

WRITING ON THE WALL

Rather than seeing images in a dream.Belshazzar sees writing on the wall. He needs someone to interpret this writing,  Again all the wise men – astrologers, Chaldeans* and soothsayers – could not figure this one. This time it is Belshazzar's wife who has the intuition to tell the king to call the “man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God” (Dan 5:11) namely, Daniel. One in tune with God and listening to His voice must have superior power to those working in the occult, prophecy, numerology, and fortune-telling which the king's men were trying to apply to the puzzle.

Belshazzar's wife reminds the king of the experience of Nebuchadnezzar, relating the full story of Daniel's successful involvement. She indicates that Nebuchadnezzar suffered for his pride and warns her husband that he too must be humble. She reminds him of the wrong he has done in using the Jewish sacred vessels in a profane manner. He hasn't been getting his gods right! She is a spiritually minded woman; she speaks of the one God, who “holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways” and who he has "not glorified" (Dan 5:23).

This Babylonian court seems to have been very mixed up about God and the gods.

Although the interpretation is negative for the king, still he appreciates Daniel's work and promotes him.

However, verse 30 is succinct and rather brutal in telling us the outcome: “That very night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain.” And we are presented with a new king to think about – Darius the Mede, a sixty-two year old. 

Joyce Voysey

[Ed. Note the pronunciation is "Kal-dee'uhn" not "Ch". The Reading Room sells a marvellous, slim volume called Bible Pronunciation Guide (HarperCollins) which is very useful for all who read the Bible.]