Title: King Belshazzar's Feast (Daniel 5:1-4)
Lesson 47 King Belshazzar's Feast (Dan 5:1-4)
5:1-4
King Belshazzar made a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles, and drank in front of the thousand. While Belshazzar was drinking, he commanded that Nebuchadnezzar his father bring the gold and silver vessels which he had taken from the temple of Jerusalem. And the king and his queens and the poor were all to drink from it. So he brought the golden vessels that had been taken from the sanctuary of the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king drank from it with his nobles and queens and the poor, and the crowd drank from it. They praised the gods made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
Once upon a time, King Nebuchadnezzar saw a huge image in a dream. It had a head of gold, its arms and chest of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its calves and toes partly of iron, and its toes part of clay. It was God's revelation of the future to King Nebuchadnezzar. In other words, where did gold symbolize? It symbolized Babylon. Silver was a symbol of the Medes and Persia, like two arms, bronze was a symbol of the Greek Empire, and then iron, the Roman state. After the fall of Babylon, the Medo-Persia will stand, the Greek Empire will stand after the Medo-Persia fall, and the Roman Empire will be established after the fall of the Greek Empire. In this way, He taught us that the kingdom of man is not eternal. According to the dream, the 5th chapter of Daniel tells how Babylon was destroyed and how Babylon was destroyed and the Medes and Persia came into existence.
Please see verse 1. Who was the king at that time? It was King Belshazzar. King Nebuchadnezzar reigned over Babylon for 43 years. 23 years after the death of King Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon was destroyed by the combined forces of the Medes and Persians. How old was Daniel at this time? Daniel was taken captive in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. How old were you then? I was 15 years old. King Nebuchadnezzar reigned 43 years. After 23 years of death, Babylon fell. So what is the sum of these numbers? 15+43+23=81. Daniel was 81 years old at the time. Daniel must have already resigned from public office and was spending each day in a quiet place, meditating on God's Word and praying.
Twenty-three years after the death of King Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon fell, and there were several more kings in the meantime. When King Nebuchadnezzar was mad, his son Abel-malduk ruled Babylon from the throne. However, Abel Malduk was assassinated by his brother-in-law. In addition, there were several kings.
So what was the relationship between King Belshazzar and King Nebuchadnezzar? Verse 2 says, “While Belshazzar was drinking wine, he commanded his father, Nebuchadnezzar.” At first glance, you might think of King Nebuchadnezzar as the father of King Belshazzar, and King Belshazzar as the son of King Nebuchadnezzar. For example, even now, Jews call Abraham their father. Although they are thousands of years apart from Abraham and their present self, they call them father. Also, Jesus is said to be the son of David. Although there is a huge difference in years, he is called a son. So, father means ancestor. In reality, King Belshazzar was the only grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar. So the daughter of King Nebuchadnezzar was the mother of King Belshazzar. King Nebuchadnezzar was the ancestor of Belshazzar, but he said that he was his father. To put it plainly these days, President Kim Young-sam's father could be Roh Tae-woo or Chun Doo-hwan. Knowing this, let's read the Bible.
"King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his nobles." It is a feast for a thousand people. So what a huge feast it must have been. In ancient times, people loved to eat, drink and play. The city of Babylon was excavated, and it is said that several banquet halls that could accommodate 10,000 people were excavated. At that time, people loved to play. Babylon was destroyed by the Persian kingdom. In Esther 1, it says that Ahasuerus, king of the Persian kingdom, held a feast, and how many days did it say? The feast continued for 180 days. It was a feast for six months, half a year. According to historical records, Alexander the Great of Greece invited 10,000 people to a wedding feast. That's huge isn't it? From this point of view, Belshazzar's gathering of a thousand people would not be considered a very large feast.
King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his servants, but what is the situation in Babylon? Who was outside the city of Babylon when King Belshazzar was giving a banquet? See 5:30-31.
“That night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain, and Darius the Mede gained the kingdom, and Darius was sixty-two years old.”
The Medes and Persians are now encamping outside the city of Babylon. As we have already studied, the city of Babylon was a large city with an outer and an inner wall. It was a strong castle. It was impossible to enter the castle by human strength. So, outside, the Medes and Persians were digging a channel to bring in a stream of the great river Euphrates and use the power of the water to destroy the city of Babylon.
However, King Belshazzar threw a big feast and invited 1,000 of his servants to eat and drink. Why? What would be the reason? When the people are worried and worried, "It's okay, there's nothing to do!" And it's arrogant. It is exhaling.
What should I do if I am having a hard time? I should pray to God, rely on God, kneel down and cry out to God while fasting, but what did King Belshazzar do? Had a drinking party. So, is it inevitable that they will perish? In 3:1, King Nebuchadnezzar, the father of King Belshazzar, made a great statue. And he invited all his servants to attend the inauguration ceremony. Same thing with that. King Belshazzar held a great feast and invited all the nobles.
King Belshazzar must have been well aware of the fact that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar was arrogant and despised the Most High God, and was eventually punished and suffered a mental illness for seven years. However, he does not remember it and is following in the footsteps of his grandfather. So, isn't there a famous historical saying? Those who cannot remember the pain of the past have no choice but to repeat the pain. King Belshazzar has forgotten the lessons of history and is following in the footsteps of his grandfather.
Let's look at the text again. "King Belshazzar made a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles, and before the thousand," he said. If it's like a normal wage, you don't appear in public because of your personal safety. Even if he had a banquet, he would hide himself and not show up, but he proudly appeared in front of a thousand people. King Belshazzar must have been sitting on a high platform in front of the banquet hall. And you must have heard toasts saying, "Let's go!" That is, King Belshazzar himself is hosting the banquet and conducting it in front of him.
Then he said, "I drank wine." In the original text, this word is written in participle form. The participle is said to be continuous, not ending once. It's not just one drink and it's over, it's one drink and another drink. As he continued to drink, King Belshazzar ended up doing something great.
The Talmud tells an interesting story. When does alcohol appear in the Bible? When do you drink alcohol? Does it come out of Noah? Noah planted a vineyard after the flood. Noah liked to take a nap. One day, while Noah was taking a nap, the evil devil came and sprinkled the blood of animals on the vineyard that Noah had cultivated. Munchai sheep were slaughtered and sprinkled with sheep's blood, then with lion's blood, then with pig's blood, and lastly with monkey's blood. Thanks to that, the grapes grew well by using the blood of animals as manure.
However, since then, it is said that this phenomenon occurs in people who drink alcohol. Since sheep's blood was first sprinkled, when a person drinks one or two drinks, he becomes gentle and calm. Then, if you go in three or four cups, you don't drink alcohol, but alcohol drinks you. Nothing as scary as a lion disappears. So what did King Belshazzar do? He took the gold and silver bowls used in the temple of God and poured wine and drank it. He was guilty of blasphemy. After that, it is the third time that pig blood is sprinkled, so if you drink more, you will become foolish like a pig. I can't speak properly and I can't control my body properly. At the end, I sprinkled monkey blood. Don't monkeys do all sorts of weird things? When they get drunk to the very top, they don't wrestle with power poles, they're cheap everywhere, and they do all sorts of strange things.
Let's look at the proverb. Look up Proverbs 20:1.
“Wine is a haughty one, and strong drink is a fuss, and there is no wisdom in anyone who is deceived by it.”
Let's skip ahead and look at the drunken man in Proverbs 23:29ff.
"Who has calamity? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has resentment? Who has wounds without cause? Who has red eyes? For those who are addicted to wine, and those who go out to find mixed drinks. Wine is red, and it flashes and goes down smoothly from the cup. Do not look at it. At last it will bite like a serpent, sting like a viper, and you will see marvelous things, and your heart will utter profane things, and you will be like one lying in the sea, on a mast. You will be like a person lying down, and you will say to yourself, “People strike me, but I do not feel pain. They hurt me, but I have no sense. I will always seek wine, lest I ever wake up.”
I think it's a good description of a drunken man.
Of course, I know that some of us don't drink alcohol, but when we have a problem that we are worried about, or a problem that needs to be solved, we should not try to solve it in this human way. Then it hurts even more, and in the end you have to go out more destructive. The more difficult the difficulties, the more whom do you turn to? The best way is to rely more on God, get on your knees to God, and pray to the Most High God.
If you have any problems today, I pray in the name of Jesus that you can tell all of them to God, who listens, so that they can be resolved cleanly and live happily today.