Rembrandt, Belshazzar's Feast, 1635, (National Gallery, London).
The Story
They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. 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. Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 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.” Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.
Daniel 5:4-9 (ESV)
What’s happening here?
This might be the best description of someone’s fear in the entire Bible. The king of Babylon is literally shaking in his boots! It is of course God who is writing the message on the wall but it’s going to take his prophet Daniel to interpret the meaning. The words on the wall were this:
“Mene Mene Tekel Parsin”
Before he interprets the meaning of the words Daniel in verse 23 says, “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.” These words were written in response to the king’s worship of idols. Daniel tells him that the words reveal that his days are numbered, he has been judged and his kingdom would fall. That very night the king died.
What does this mean for us?
A day is coming when we too, like the king, will be judged. The central question will be this: did you live your life worship idols and seeking the gods of this world or did you surrender to the one and only true God? For those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus, we have already surrendered to him. But even Christians are easily distracted by the idols of this world. Let us hold fast to the hope we profess!