Daniel-The Night When Babylon Was Captured

Daniel-the night when Babylon was captured

Introduction: many years ago, my uncle, who was pastor of the church we attended, preached on this text, Daniel chapter 5. He began by saying, “When a little shot gets about half-shot, he really thinks he’s a big shot!” Those words have stayed with me from that day to this. And it’s true: some people use drugs or other substances, including alcohol, to try making themselves feel brave or even invincible. It may work for a while, but it won’t last forever.

On the night Babylon was captured, the king threw a great party but committed a great sin. As a result, he paid with his life and the city of Babylon, once ruler of a great empire, fell to a group of invaders. But before this, the king saw the “writing on the wall” and called for Daniel to translate the writing into something the king could understand. Daniel survived, though the king and perhaps others did not. Even in a time of conquest, God protected Daniel.

I The king threw a party

Text, Daniel 5:1-4 (KJV):1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. 3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

Belshazzar, called the king in verse 1, wasn’t really the ruling monarch of Babylon at this time. He was the son of the real king, Nabonidus, (Jamieson, Faucett and Brown plus others), who was away from the city at this time. A further limitation on Belshazzar’s authority was that he could only promote a subject to “third” ruler (verses 7, 16, and 29) of the kingdom.

The text doesn’t specify when or why Belshazzar decided to have this feast or party or celebration, only that he did, which is fine. Being the ruler, he had the means and resources to do this at any time he pleased, and nobody would have much of a chance to speak up against him. Verde 1 also states that he made this feast for 1,000 of his “lords”, whatever their title, function, or rank happened to be. The king was throwing a big party and expected a lot of people to attend it, and at least 1,000 of them did!

So far, so good; everything seemed to be going just fine, and the king seemed to be enjoying himself along with his guests. They probably were all eating and drinking the best the king had to offer but the king made a very tragic decision.

The text does not say what kinds of utensils or vessels were being used for the food and drink during this feast or celebration. They might have been something from the royal treasury or storehouse, whatever kinds of dishes and cups might have been used in those days. But one thing was for certain: whatever they were, they were not from Jerusalem or at least not from the Temple of the God of Judah. Even though these vessels were carried away from the Temple in Jerusalem, there is no record they were ever used, especially not in a party like this one.

The tragic decision mentioned earlier was this: Belshazzar, incredibly, commanded that these vessels, made of gold and silver, be brought out to the feast and used in this celebration or whatever it was! True, his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and the God of Judah had allowed that king to carry away all kinds of materials: gold, silver, bronze (see 2 Kings 25) and probably anything else the Babylonians could plunder. But now Belshazzar decided to use these vessels, once dedicated to the God of Heaven, in what he might have thought was the party to end all parties. The king, and a lot of others (verse 3), drank wine out of those vessels and praised the false gods, whose images were made of various objects, all in contempt or defiance, perhaps, of anything except the power of Babylon itself. One irony to consider is the fact that some of the idols were made of gold and silver and brass (or, bronze): the very same materials that the vessels were made of!

This decision, namely, to use holy vessels to praise pagan idols, was going to be a costly one. The True and the Living God, the Most High, had now had enough and more than enough.