Day 257. Daniel 5-6

"Pride goeth before a fall," my mother was fond of saying.
The mighty Nebuchadnezzar is reduced to eating grass. The great king recovers his senses and humbles himself before a Greater King before he dies. His son, however, learns nothing from his father's mortification. This new king, Belshazzar, is if anything haughtier than the old one, and the time comes to show him who's boss.
The occasion is a party. And what a party—a thousand guests are gathered to witness his glory and power. Belshazzar's feast is the stuff of opera and silent movies. Everybody is the worse for wine. In the midst of it the sodden king commands that the vessels plundered by his father from the temple in Jerusalem be brought out "so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them" (5:2). This is, of course, the most frightful sacrilege—a mockery of the Most High. Not only does the drunken crowd drink wine from the holy vessels of gold and silver, but they use them to toast the health of "the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone" (5:4), of their idols, in short, the sworn enemies of God. It is an insult that cannot be endured.
And it isn't. "Immediately" the fingers of a supernatural hand appear and began to write on the plaster of the wall of the palace. The king's consternation is unbounded—"his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together" (5:6). The music and laughter die. The party is over. The court magicians are summoned, but in spite of the motivation provided by the promise of great wealth, they are unable to read the writing on the plaster wall. "King Belshazzar became greatly terrified; his face turned pale, and his lords were perplexed" (5:9), we are told. But the queen, who is obviously the brighter bulb on the tree, recommends that Daniel be sent for, because during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar he had proved himself to be "an excellent spirit, [filled with] knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems" (5:12).
So Daniel is brought in, and the challenge of the supernatural writing put before him. He gallantly declines the gaudy gifts the king offers, however. But he does take the opportunity to recount the story of the humiliation of Belshazzar's father, who through madness and disgrace finally learned the truth "that the Most High God has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals, and sets over it whomever he will" (5:21). But Belshazzar has proved that he learned nothing from his father's experience. He knows all that befell to the old man, and yet he "has exalted himself against the LORD of heaven" (5:23). The prank of drinking wine from the sacred temple vessels was the last straw. It would have been bad enough, but he used them to praise idols, "but the God in whose power is [his] very breath, and to whom belong all [his] ways," he did not honor (5:23).
Now the party really is over. The writing is on the wall, as they say. Daniel tells Belshazzar that the days of his kingdom are numbered—"mene." He has been weighed on the scale of history and found wanting—"tekel." His kingdom shall be divided between the Medes and the Persians (5:26-28)—"parsin." In spite of getting such ominous news, Belshazzar is as good as his word—he exalts and enriches Daniel, giving him the third rank in the kingdom. But the party is over. Belshazzar's feast is in fact a wake. That very night Belshazzar is killed and the Darius the Mede "[receives] the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old" (5:31).
Daniel remains a power in the new regime. But again there are evil forces working against him. He is incorruptible, that is universally acknowledged, and his enemies realize that if they are to bring him down it must be through "the law of his God" (6:5). So they persuade Darius to issue an edict saying that "whoever prays to anyone, divine or human, except [the king] "shall be thrown into a den of lions" (6:7). It is a silly, wicked piece of law, and unworthy of Darius, who was famous over-all for his tolerance, clemency, and wisdom. But the story is the story, and the cruel edict is necessary to it. It places before our hero that choice about where to place his ultimate allegiance—with the king or with God. And, of course, Daniel chooses God; his loyalty cannot be swayed, even if it means death. It is a constant them in the Book of Daniel, without absolute commitment, honor, wealth, and life itself is meaningless. It is a message tailored
for a people under stress and persecution.
"The conspirators" resort to spying on Daniel and catch him praying in the direction of Jerusalem as God had commanded his people to do. At their report the king is greatly distressed, but we are told—several times in fact--that "according the law of the Medes and the Persians" the edict could not be changed (6:12). It is another silly, wicked law, but necessary to the story. Because of it, the king has no recourse but to have Daniel cast into the lions' den, through with his best wishes—"May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!" (6:16), he says by way of good-by. We are told, however, that he has no appetite for his dinner and "sleep [flees] from him" (6:18).
Every child in Sunday school knows what happens then. Early the next morning the hurries to the lions' den, calls out for the prophet, and waits anxiously for an answer. He is not disappointed. Daniel replies, "Oh king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong" (6:22).
So Daniel, vindicated, is pulled out, and the king rejoices. But his joy quickly turns to anger and he orders that those "who accused Daniel [be] brought and thrown into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives" (6:24)—a part of the story usually suppressed in the Sunday school versions. And the cats "overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces" (6:24), and being cats, ate them all up.
Then the king publishes another decree, this one to the effect that all peoples "should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel" (6:26) who saved him "from the power of the lions" (6:27). And Darius acknowledges that empires and their kings come and go, but the LORD's "dominion has no end" (6:26). It is the constant them of the Book of Daniel--God is in ultimate control of all of history and knows its directions and its end. And in the next chapters of the book through dreams and visions he lifts the curtain a little and gives the prophet and his hearers a glimpse how things will shake down.