A MAN OF INSIGHT IS SUMMONED

At this critical moment, the queen herself-evidently the queen mother-entered the banquet hall.  She had heard of the commotion at the feast, and she knew of one who could decipher the handwriting on the wall.  Decades earlier her father, Nebuchadnezzar, had appointed Daniel over all his wise men.  The queen remembered him as a man with "an extraordinary spirit and knowledge and insight."  Since Daniel seems to have been unknown to Belshazzar, it is likely that the prophet had lost his governmental position after Nebuchadnezzar's death.  But prominence mattered little to Daniel.  He was probably in his 90's by this time, still faithfully serving Jehovah.  Despite  some eight decades of exile in Babylon, he was yet known by his Hebrew name. Even the queen referred to him as Daniel, not using the Babylonian name once assigned to him.  Indeed, she urged the king:  "Let Daniel be called, that he may show the very interpretation. -Daniel 1:7; 5:10-12.

Daniel was summoned and came in before Belshazzzar.  It was awkward to beg a favor from this Jew, whose God the king had just insulted.  Still, Belshazzar tried to flatter Daniel, offering him the same reward-third place in the kingdom-if he could read and explain the mysterious words.  (Daniel 5:13-16) Daniel raised his eyes to the handwriting on the wall, and holy spirit enabled him to discern its meaning.  It was a message of doom from Jehovah God!  How could Daniel pronounce a harsh judgment of this vain king right to his face-and that in front of his wives and grandees?  Imagine Daniel's predicament!  Was he swayed by the king's flattering words and his offer of riches and prominence?  Would the prophet soften Jehovah's pronouncement?

Daniel spoke out courageously, saying:  "Let your gifts prove to be to you yourself, and your presents do you give to others. However, I shall read the writing itself to the king, and the interpretation I shall make known to him." (Daniel 5:17)  Next, Daniel acknowledged the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar, a king so powerful that he had been able to kill, strike, exalt, or  humiliate anyone he chose.  However, Daniel reminded Belshazzar that Jehovah, "the Most High God," had made Nebuchadnezzar great.  It was Jehovah who had humiliated that mighty king when he became haughty. Yes, Nebuchadnezzar had been forced to learn that "the Most High God is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind, and that the one whom he wants to, he sets up over it." -Daniel 5:18-21.  

Belshazzar "knew all this."  Yet, he had failed to learn from history. In fact, he had gone far beyond Nebuchadnezzar's sin of wrongful pride and committed an act of outright insolence against Jehovah.   Daniel laid bare the  king's sin.  Furthermore, in front of that pagan assemblage, he boldly told Belshazzar that false gods were "beholding nothing or hearing nothing or knowing nothing." God's courageous prophet added that in contrast with those useless gods, Jehovah is, the God "in whose hand your breath is."  To this day, people make gods of lifeless things, idolizing money, career, prestige, even pleasure.  But none of these things can impart life.  Jehovah alone is the one to whom all of us owe our very existence, upon whom  we depend for every breath we draw. -Daniel 5:22, 23; Acts 17:24, 25. 

Next time: A RIDDLE SOLVED!

From the book: PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999