Years before Belshazzar ruled in Babylon, an earlier king, Nebuchadnezzar, had carried gold and silver vessels away from the temple in Jerusalem. They were still in Babylon on the night Belshazzar gave a feast for a thousand of his nobles. In the middle of that feast, the king sent for them.
Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand.
A Feast That Defied the Living God
What did Belshazzar want with the temple vessels? He wanted to drink wine from them with his guests. Those vessels had been set apart for the worship of the Lord, and now the king was asking for them to be passed around his table.
While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.
Daniel tells us how those vessels came into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands in the first place. When Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, the Lord gave him victory over the king of Judah and allowed him to carry away some of the temple vessels (Daniel 1:1–2). God had allowed Babylon to conquer Judah because His people had broken their covenant with Him. Belshazzar could send someone to fetch the vessels, but they still belonged to the Lord. To take what God had set apart for His worship and use it to honor idols was sacrilege.
The idolatry at this feast was especially brazen because they were using vessels from God’s house while honoring idols made from materials their own craftsmen could shape.
They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
Belshazzar knew how God had humbled Nebuchadnezzar, so his use of the temple vessels could not be excused as an innocent misunderstanding. He was publicly dishonoring the Lord while praising gods that could not see or hear. God interrupted that defiance with a sign the king could not explain.
In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.
Belshazzar was now terrified before the same lords who had watched him drink. He cried out for Babylon’s religious advisers and promised a substantial reward to anyone who could explain the writing.
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”
The wise men could neither read the writing nor explain it, and their failure left Belshazzar even more distressed. Years earlier Nebuchadnezzar had asked the wise men to tell him what he had dreamed and what it meant. They couldn’t tell him, but God revealed the dream to Daniel (Daniel 2:19). Now Belshazzar had a message his advisers couldn’t read, and it was the queen who remembered Daniel.
Daniel Speaks Without Flattery
The queen came into the banquet hall and urged Belshazzar to summon Daniel, who was now an older man. She remembered the wisdom he had shown during Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, when he had explained what the other advisers could not.
There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers.
When Daniel arrived, Belshazzar repeated the offer of gifts and promotion. Daniel told the king he could give the gifts to someone else. He would read the writing for him anyway. The king was offering him a place in the very kingdom whose end Daniel was about to announce.
Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation.”
Before Daniel read the writing, he reminded Belshazzar of what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar. God had given that king his kingdom, yet Nebuchadnezzar stood on the roof of his palace and took the credit for building Babylon himself. Even as he spoke, God took his kingdom from him. He was driven away from people and ate grass like an ox. When God restored his reason, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that “those who walk in pride He is able to put down” (Daniel 4:37).
Listen to what Daniel says to Belshazzar next. The king already knew what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar. Yet here was Belshazzar, drinking from the vessels of that same God’s house and praising his idols.
But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this.
And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.
Notice what Daniel says about the king’s breath. Every time Belshazzar opened his mouth to praise a god of wood or stone, he depended on the God of heaven for the breath to say it. And he knew what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar when he had grown proud before that same God.
Numbered, Weighed, and Divided
Having told Belshazzar why his conduct was an offense against God, Daniel read the inscription and explained what it meant for both the king and the kingdom.
And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
The inscription is in Aramaic, the language used from Daniel 2:4 through 7:28. Mene carries the idea of numbering or reckoning, and tekel carries the idea of weighing. The last word on the wall is upharsin. When Daniel explains it, he uses the singular form, peres, which speaks of division. If you’re wondering whether there’s a hidden meaning in the numbers, listen to what Daniel actually tells the king. God had counted out the days of his kingdom, and those days had run out. It was Belshazzar himself whom God had weighed and found wanting. His kingdom would now go to the Medes and Persians.
A thousand nobles had gathered to feast with Belshazzar, but their presence could not change God’s verdict. I need to remember how readily a person’s rank or reputation can influence my judgment of him. God was weighing Belshazzar’s conduct, including his refusal to heed a warning he knew to be true.
Belshazzar ordered that Daniel receive the promised honors. That same night Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom. God had fulfilled the message before the king had another day to reconsider.
History and Prophecy Meet in Babylon
Belshazzar offered Daniel third place in a kingdom whose senior king was Nabonidus. Belshazzar was Nabonidus’s son and exercised royal authority while his father was away. That may explain an odd detail in the king’s offer. With his father still king and Belshazzar ruling in his absence, third place may have been the highest honor Belshazzar could give Daniel.
According to the Nabonidus Chronicle, Nabonidus spent periods in Tayma while the prince, his officers, and the army were in Babylonia. The chronicle uses the name Akkad for Babylonia and also records Babylon’s capture in 539 BC. A separate cylinder inscription identifies Belshazzar as Nabonidus’s son. These records support Daniel’s description of Belshazzar exercising royal authority while Nabonidus remained king.
Daniel calls Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar’s father and addresses Belshazzar as his son. I understand those terms in a broader royal or ancestral sense, since Nabonidus was Belshazzar’s immediate father. The exact family connection between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar is not given. Daniel’s accusation rests on what Belshazzar knew about God’s humbling of that earlier king.
Babylon’s fall also fulfilled earlier prophecy. Jeremiah 25:11–12 had foretold a limited period of Babylonian rule, after which God would punish the nation. Isaiah 44–45 named Cyrus and described God opening the way before him. Years earlier, Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a great statue with a head of gold. Daniel explained that the gold head represented Nebuchadnezzar and that another kingdom would rise after his (Daniel 2:37–39). On the night of Belshazzar’s feast, that change of kingdoms came. The study on the seventy weeks of Daniel considers a later prophetic revelation in the same book.
None of these prophecies forced Belshazzar to profane the vessels or praise idols. He was responsible for the rebellion Daniel condemned. God carried out His purpose without turning the king into a puppet or making him blameless for his wicked choices.
The Warning Reaches Beyond Belshazzar
I can know a biblical warning well enough to explain it to someone else and still resist what it requires of me. Before I look for something new to learn, I need to consider whether I am obeying what I already understand.
Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.” Galatians 6:7 also warns that God is not mocked and that a man reaps what he sows. Belshazzar did not have another day to reconsider his conduct. We should not assume that we will have another day, or take a delay in judgment as evidence that God approves.
Belshazzar’s misuse of the vessels also warns me about using the things of God for my own advantage. When I pray with other people, am I speaking to God, or am I choosing words because I want the people listening to think well of me? I can do the same thing when I teach the Bible. Even when the church gathers to take the Lord’s Supper and remember what Christ did for us, I need to be careful about drawing people’s attention to myself.
Daniel spoke God’s message without softening it to secure the king’s favor. That is the kind of counsel I need when Scripture exposes something I would rather excuse. If I choose teachers only because they affirm me, I can surround myself with approval while avoiding the correction I need.
Belshazzar could not use his wealth or authority to escape God’s judgment, and neither can I make myself acceptable to God through status or influence. The God who judges rightly has provided a Savior for sinners.
Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked men mocked and beat Him before crucifying Him, but the Father did not punish or abandon Him. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were united in providing salvation. Through His shed blood and death, Christ completed His saving sacrifice before His burial and bodily resurrection.
God invites us to turn to Christ in repentance and faith. We should receive His mercy now, without presuming that we will always have another opportunity.
My Final Thoughts
What unsettles me about Belshazzar is how much truth a person can know without yielding to it. I need to ask where Scripture has already corrected me and whether pride is keeping me from admitting that I am wrong. If I already know where I’ve been wrong, what am I waiting for? I can turn to Christ for mercy today.