May 15, 2025
It’s hard to say exactly when the various stories of Daniel were first assembled into a coherent narrative, probably during the 300s BC. Whenever it was, it’s clear from the text that the Jews were going through hard times. Perhaps they were still living in exile in Babylon. Perhaps they were being oppressed at home by Alexander the Great and his Greek successors. It’s hard to say. What is clear is that the people reading these stories were being oppressed by foreign armies and rulers who neither respected them nor their God.
In our text today, which is set during the period of the Exile (~596-530 BCE), Daniel is still a senior servant to the Babylonian royal household. Even though Daniel is himself a Jew, he is unable to stop the Babylonians from disrespecting his faith.
Sadly, this disrespect is on display from the very beginning of our story. King Belshazzar has succeeded his father Nebuchadnezzar as king of Babylon. Belshazzar, unlike his father, is a party animal. He throws a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. Under the influence of too much wine, Belshazzar orders that all the loot his father stole from the temple in Jerusalem (596 and again in 586 BC) should be brought to him for everyone to admire. Compounding his sin, Belshazzar allows his thousand nobles, wives, and concubines to drink wine from the cups looted from the temple.
This is too much! Suddenly, the fingers of a human hand appear and begin writing on the wall. The king watches in shock and horror, his knees knocking together and his legs soon collapsing.
Apoplectic with fear, Belshazzar assembles his wise men, promising them that whoever can both read and explain the writing will be dressed in purple, a gold chain will be placed upon his neck, and he will become the 3rd most powerful man in the kingdom. Quite a tempting offer! But despite their best efforts, the hastily assembled wise men can neither decipher nor explain the handwriting on the wall. The king becomes even more terrified, his face growing pale, his nobles lost in confusion.
The queen mother, hearing all the commotion, comes to check on matters. Instead of a party, she finds a deathwatch. Something horrible is happening.
Quickly grasping the situation, the queen mother recommends that Belshazzar send for Daniel. Daniel, she explains, is one of the exiles from Jerusalem who was a great favorite of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar’s father. Belshazzar quickly sends for him and Daniel quickly arrives. The king promises him that if he can read and interpret the writing on the wall then he will be dressed in purple, a gold chain placed around his neck and will be made the 3rd most powerful man in the kingdom.
Daniel is dismissive of the fine presents but does agree to read and interpret the message. Of course, it’s a death sentence for Belshazzar.
MENE, MENE, TEKE, PARSIN
NUMBERED, NUMBERED, WEIGHED, DIVIDED
Daniel says that this means that God has numbered Belshazzar’s days, and they have come to an end. He has been weighed on the scales of justice and found wanting. His kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.
Belshazzar is good to his word. Daniel is rewarded as promised. But it’s too late. That very night Belshazzar is slain, and the kingdom is soon taken over by King Darius the Mede.
The story, like apocryphal literature in general, is a message to the Jews to hang in there. Be faithful. God is on their side and better days are still to come.
But it’s also a warning to dominant cultures about engaging in “Belshazzar’s Feast.” In the ancient world, parading the loot from a defeated enemy was common. The Romans, among others, were famous for their victory parades featuring captured goods and captured slaves. In our own country’s history, war trophies have been common and triumphantly celebrating defeating Native Americans (among others) was also common.
Today, we tend to be more sensitive. But how often do we unintentionally appropriate another people’s culture? Perhaps we make, or collect, Native American handcrafts because they are attractive but with little understanding of the role they played in an earlier history. Foods that were almost sacred to a culture can now be easily ordered off restaurant menus. Names of places that had belonged to a people for generations are blithely replaced with something ‘easier to pronounce.’
This is not to say that we can’t appreciate another culture. We all enjoy sampling the food, music and arts of other people. But when we do so let us do it knowingly and with appreciation. Not as unwitting participants at a Belshazzar’s Feast.
God’s peace to us all,
Pastor Ken.