Title That night (Daniel 5:29-31)
Lesson 58 On That Night (Daniel 5:29-31)
5:29-31
So Belshazzar commanded that the crowds should clothe Daniel frequently, and put a gold chain around his neck, and made a decree for him, making him the third ruler of the kingdom. and Darius was sixty-two years old at the time.
Daniel read the writing on the wall opposite the candlestick in the palace and interpreted it to King Belshazzar. The text was "Mene Mene Tekel Uvarsin". "Mene" means "the king's period has been counted and has come to an end", "Tekel" means "the king is weighed on the scales and falls short of the standards that God requires", and "Ubarshin" means "the kingdom of Babylon" will be shattered and destroyed by the combined forces of the Medes and Persians.”
Daniel did not say when that would happen, when Babylon would fall to the Medes and Persians and be destroyed. And what will be the personal fate of King Belshazzar, and of course if a nation is destroyed, the king will either die or be taken captive. He did not even talk about what would happen to King Belshazzar.
Perhaps King Belshazzar could not have expected that Babylon would be destroyed so quickly that very night and that the Medes and Persians would come in. So, looking at verse 29, what did Belshazzar do? In front of numerous nobles, he is offering the three rewards he promised to Daniel. First, he had him frequently clothed, secondly, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and thirdly, he made the third ruler of the kingdom.
Let's look at verse 27.
“Daniel answered the king, saying, “Take your present from yourselves, and give your reward to someone else.”
Daniel initially refused the king's gift. But now the king has left him alone. Why would you? Why did you refuse in the first place? If someone who preaches the word of God accepts money or a bribe, his heart is moved and he rejects it because he can misrepresent the word, but now he has done everything he has to say. He boldly testified of God's message of judgment. So, even if you receive such a message, there is no fear that the message will be corrupted. And, perhaps, as a people of Babylon, you can think of it as your last and least duty to the king.
See verse 30. "That night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain." Just hours later, King Belshazzar was slain by a combined force of Medes and Persia. Perhaps King Belshazzar did not even think that he would die in just a few hours. The Bible does not say by whom or how Belshazzar was killed, but the important thing is that that night was the last day of King Belshazzar.
What is more important is whether King Belshazzar's death was a prepared death. No matter how I think about it, it seems that his final death was not prepared. What action would you think Belshazzar would have taken if he had thought that he was leaving this world in just a few hours? Like King Nebuchadnezzar in the old days, he should have thoroughly repented of his sins, repented of his sins, and praised God's greatness. But King Belshazzar did not repent. It was arrogant to the end. Without lowering his heart, when Daniel interpreted the letters, he said, "Hello! Give Daniel the reward I promised him." You can see that his heart did not become low in the sight of God, but was proud and high until the end.
Then look at verse 31. “Darius the Mede gained the kingdom, and Darius was sixty-two years old.” Once upon a time, when King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, God revealed to him the future. According to the dream, the age of golden heads passed and the age of silver breasts and arms, that is, the age of the Medes and Persia, began.
But look carefully at verse 31. "Darius the Mede gained the kingdom." I gave a gift to someone. Then the person has a gift. Someone has given you a gift. If Darius the Mede gained the kingdom, there was someone who gave the kingdom. Who gave you that country? God became the ruler of the kingdom and took it from the hand of King Belshazzar and gave it to Darius. In other words, he is teaching us that Darius did not gain the kingdom through his own strength because he was great and prosperous. Dario just received a gift from God. It means that God chose Darius and gave him a kingdom.
"Darius was sixty-two years old at the time." Dario was old. By comparison, Belshazzar was young. They took the country from the young and gave it to the old Darius. Human strength, human age, human ability is nothing. The power of God is important. How old was Abraham when he left Ur-Haran in the Chaldeans? He was 75 years old when he entered the land of Canaan. Moses was shepherding sheep, and God called him from a burning bush on Mount Sinai. How old were you? I was 80 years old. God uses it when he wants to write, regardless of human age.
Also, God sometimes uses people who have learned a lot at the right time, and He also uses people who are ignorant of ignorance like Peter preciously. Human power, human power means nothing. The important thing is that our mindset is important when God wants to use us. The heart of Isaiah, who said, "Here I am, send me" is important.
I hope today will be a day when we can faithfully handle the various tasks that God has entrusted to us. please feel free to So, as the old wise men said, I pray in the name of Jesus that I will live hard as if today is my first day and live with a prepared heart as if today is the last day of my life.