It was the last night of a nation’s existence, but the people knew it not. Some slept in unconscious peace; some reveled and whirled away in thoughtless dance. In the dens of Babylon, men steeped in vice continued their wild orgies; in the palace halls Belshazzar feasted with a thousand of his lords. Music resounded through the brilliantly lighted rooms. The nobles lounged about the tables sumptuously spread. Court women and concubines of the king entered those halls. It was a feast of Bacchus, and they drank to the health of the king on his throne. He ordered that the sacred vessels be brought from the temple to show that no being, human or divine, could raise a hand against him, the king of Babylon. The golden cup filled with wine was raised and the blessing of Bel invoked, but it never reached the lips of the half-intoxicated king. His hand was stayed. Those vessels had been molded by hands divinely skilled, and after heavenly models. Angels had watched them as they were taken from the temple at Jerusalem and carried to Babylon. Messengers divinely appointed had guarded them, and their very presence in the heathen temple was a witness of the God of the Jews. Some day the silence would be broken. The desecration of his temple would not always remain unpunished.SDP 68.1

That time came when the king lifted the goblet ^{Margin1. Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

2. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.

3. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.

Isaiah 21:4, 5.

2 Chronicles 36:7.

4. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

Daniel 5:1-4.

All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred.

Ezra 1:11.

A thousand chargers of silver.

Ezra 1:9.

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which thou wast caused to see in the mount.

Exodus 25:40 [margin.]

Exodus 31:2-7.

Exodus 25:9, 40.

The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of his temple.

Jeremiah 50:28.

Jeremiah 50:24-28.

Jeremiah 51:11.} let filled with sparkling wine. His hand grew stiff, for on the opposite wall over against the lights was a bloodless hand, writing words of an unknown language. The winecup fell to the floor; the king’s countenance grew pale; he trembled violently, and his knees smote together until the gorgeous girdle of his loins loosened and fell aside. The loud laughter ceased, and the music died away. Terror-stricken, a thousand guests looked from the face of the king to the writing on the wall.SDP 68.2

The Chaldean astrologers and soothsayers were called, but the writing was meaningless to them. They who taught all earthly languages failed to recognize the language of heaven. The four strange characters remained as at first seen, emblazoned in letters of fire on the wall.SDP 69.1

For days the siege of Babylon had been on. The gates were closed and her walls were considered impregnable, while within the city were provisions for twenty years. But however strong she might seem, God had said, “Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her.”SDP 69.2

The strongest strongholds which man can build are crushed like a dying leaf when the hand of God is laid upon them. But this was a lesson which the rulers of Babylon had not yet learned. The father of iniquity, who was urging these rulers forward into deeper sin, had not yet owned the weakness of his cause. Heaven and unfallen worlds watched the progress of affairs in this great city, for it was the battle-ground of the two mighty forces of good and evil. Christ and Satan here contended. ^{Margin5. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

6. Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

Isaiah 21:3-5.

7. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

8. Then came in all the king’s wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.

9. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

Daniel 5:5-9.

Isaiah 45:1-3.

Jeremiah 51:53.

Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psalm 127:1.

For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.

Zechariah 2:9.

Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

Psalm 75:4-7.

We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

1 Corinthians 4:9.} Angels, unseen by human eyes, as they gathered the animals into the ark before the flood, had mustered forces against Babylon. God was using men who knew him not as God, but who were true to principle and wished to do the right. To Cyrus, the leader of the Persian army which was now outside the city walls, God had said that he held his hand to make him strong. Before you “I will loose the loins of kings.” I will open those two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut; “I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron.”SDP 69.3

While Belshazzar and his lords drank and feasted, the army of Cyrus was lowering the waters in the bed of the Euphrates, preparatory to entering the city.SDP 70.1

As the Chaldeans were unable to read the writing on the wall, the king’s terror increased. He knew that this was a rebuke of his sacrilegious feast, and yet he could not learn the exact meaning. Then the queen-mother remembered Daniel, who had “the Spirit of the holy God,” and who had been made master of the wise men in the days of Nebuchadnezzar as the result of interpreting the king’s dream.SDP 70.2

Daniel, the prophet of God, was called to the banquet room. As he came before Belshazzar, the monarch promised to make him third ruler in the kingdom if he would interpret the writing. The prophet, with the quiet dignity of a servant of the Most High God, stood before the gorgeous, terror-stricken throng that bore evidence of intemperate feasting and wicked revelry.SDP 70.3

In Israel, children were named under the inspiration ^{MarginGenesis 7:7-9.

The Lord hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

Jeremiah 50:25.

Jeremiah 51:2.

Isaiah 13:1-5.

Isaiah 45:1-4

Isaiah 43:1-3.

Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, ...prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

Jeremiah 51:27, 28.

That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers.

Isaiah 44:27.

A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up.

Jeremiah 50:38.

10. Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live forever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:

11. There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

12. Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.

13. Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king} of the Spirit, and the name was an expression of character. When God changed a name, as in the case of Abraham, Jacob, or Peter, it was because of a change of character in the individual. True to the name given him by his mother, Daniel-God’s judge-again appears to vindicate the truth. Nebuchadnezzar had called him Belteshazzar, in honor of the Babylonian god Bel, but to the last this Hebrew, who knew the Lord, remained true to his God-given name, as shown in the twelfth verse of this chapter. He did not speak with flattering words, as the professedly wise men of the kingdom had done, but he spoke the truth of God. It was a moment of intensity, for there was but a single hour in which to make known the future. Daniel was now an old man, but he sternly disclaimed all desire for rewards or honor, and proceeded to review the history of Nebuchadnezzar, and the Lord’s dealings with that ruler-his dominion and glory, his punishment for pride of heart, and his subsequent acknowledgment of the mercy and power of the God who created the heavens and the earth. He rebuked Belshazzar for his departure from true principles, and for his great wickedness and pride.SDP 70.4

“And thou, his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; ...And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.” Straightforward and strong were the words of Daniel. Belshazzar had trodden on sacred ground; he had laid unholy hands on holy things; he had severed the ties which bind heaven and earth together; and there was no ^{Marginspake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?

Daniel 5, 10-13.

Genesis 17:5.

Genesis 32:28.

John 1:42.

Acts 4:36.

14. I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.

15. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not show the interpretation of the thing:

16. And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.

17. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.

18. O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor:

19. And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.

20. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

21. And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses:} way for that life-giving Spirit of God to reach him or his followers. Day by day his breath had been given him, a symbol of the spiritual breath, but he praised and thanked the gods of wood and stone. His every motion had been by virtue of the power of the God of heaven, but he had prostituted that power to an unholy cause. “Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.” What he could not see written in his own breath and muscles, what he could not read in his own heart-beats, God wrote in mystic characters on the palace wall, over against the candlestick.SDP 71.1

The people waited with bated breath as Daniel turned to the writing on the wall, and read the message traced by the angel hand. The hand had been withdrawn, but four terrible words remained. The prophet announced their meaning to be: “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: ...God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it: ...thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting: ...thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.SDP 72.1

In dealing with men God always uses a language which appeals forcibly to their understanding. This is illustrated in the handwriting on the wall. It is a common belief among idolaters that the gods weigh deeds in balances, and that if the good deeds outweigh the evil, the individual enters into his reward; if the opposite result is obtained, punishment follows. The language, therefore, was familiar to King Belshazzar. “God hath numbered thy kingdom; ...thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” To the magicians who stood within hearing, as Daniel gave the interpretation, the ^{Marginthey fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

Daniel 5:14-21.

For in him we live, and move, and have our being.

Acts 17:28.

22. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;

Psalm 139:14.

23. But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:

Job 31:6.

24. Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.

Psalm 62:9.

1 Samuel 2:3.

25. And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

26. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

Proverbs 6:2, 11.

27. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

Daniel 5:22-27.

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure} words came with peculiar force because of their familiarity with religious customs.SDP 72.2

To the one who knows God, the attitude of the Lord toward the sinner is very different, and still the symbol of the weights and balances is applicable. That this subject might be understood, God had sent an explanation by the prophet Ezekiel. When man sins and dies without repentance, he is cut off from God, because our iniquities separate between us and God, and the man can not be saved. If a man loves Christ and accepts him and his righteousness, Christ’s character is written opposite the name of that man in the books of heaven, and so long as a love of the truth is cherished, the man hides in Christ and is known by the character of Christ. God deals with men in the present. We may have been the worst of sinners, but if to-day we are hidden in Christ, heaven takes into account only our present position.SDP 73.1

So it was that God dealt with the nations, and this answers the question why Nebuchadnezzar might one day be in favor with God and the next day be in condemnation; why Zedekiah’s course of action was condemned once, and then again he was told that it lay in his power to save Jerusalem.SDP 73.2

God gave the Babylonian monarchs, and through them the entire kingdom, an abundance of time to accept him. He waited long. The Holy Watcher hovered long near the center of earthly governments; every blessing which Heaven could bestow was given to woo the kingdom to the side of right. But at last the slender cord which connected earth and heaven snapped; there was no channel for the flow of the Holy ^{Marginin the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? ...When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; ...none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right: he shall surely live.

Ezekiel 33:10-16.

They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:10.

Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

Luke 7:47.

Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Romans 5:20.

1 John 1:9.

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Psalm 32:5.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13.

At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

Jeremiah 18:7 10.} Spirit; death and death only could result. That there might be no misunderstanding, the last word read, “Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”SDP 73.3

Scarcely had the scarlet robe been placed on Daniel and the golden chain hung about his neck, when the shouts from the invading army rang through the palace.SDP 74.1

In the midst of their feasting and rioting, none had noticed that the waters in the Euphrates were steadily diminishing. The besieging army of Cyrus, which had long been held at bay by the massive walls, was eagerly watching the river. The river had been turned from its course, and as soon as the water had sufficiently subsided to allow the men a passage in the bed of the river, they entered from opposite sides of the city. In their reckless feeling of security, the Babylonians had left open the gates in the walls which lined the river-banks inside the city. So the Persians, once in the river-bed, easily entered the city through the open gates.SDP 74.2

Soon one post was running to “meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end.” But the news was received too late to save the king. God had numbered and finished his kingdom. The enemy made a mad rush for the palace. The pen of inspiration describes the overthrow of the kingdom more vividly than any human historian. Of those guests at the banquet of Belshazzar it is said, “I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake.... I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter.” Then as if the eye of the prophet failed to separate ^{MarginZechariah 4:11, 12.
28. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Daniel 5:28, 29.
A sword is upon the Chaldeans saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; at the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.
Jeremiah 50:35-46.
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
Jeremiah 51:30-33.
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord. A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: ...thus saith the Lord of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
Jeremiah 51:53-58.
Isaiah 51:37.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.
Jeremiah 51:40.} Satan from the kingdom which he had so long controlled, he exclaims, “How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!” Fire raged through the streets, and as the people realized that destruction was upon them, a cry reached heaven. It was a hand-to-hand fight with fire and sword until men grew weary and gave up the struggle.SDP 74.3

“In that night was Belshazzar slain,” and the kingdom was given to Darius, the aged king of the Medes. Thus came to an end one of the proudest monarchies that has ever been upon the earth. When an individual or a nation fills up the cup of iniquity, and passes the limit of God’s mercy, they are quickly humbled in the dust.SDP 75.1

The question naturally arises, Why did not the conquering army destroy Daniel, who was the third ruler in the kingdom, at this critical moment? The answer is simple and natural. When the kingdom was taken and Belshazzar slain, Nabonadius, the first ruler, at the head of an army, was surrounded by the enemy in another part of the kingdom. This left Daniel sole ruler in Babylon. He knowing that over one hundred years before, Isaiah had prophesied that Cyrus should take the kingdom, was ready to welcome him whom God had said should build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem.SDP 75.2

There is also good reason to believe that Daniel and Cyrus were not strangers. When excluded from the council of Belshazzar, Daniel had spent a portion of his time at Shushan, the capital of Elam.SDP 75.3

Elam had revolted from Babylon, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah. ^{MarginJeremiah 51:41.

I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.

Jeremiah 50:24.

30. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

31. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

Daniel 5:30, 31.

Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

Isaiah 26:12.

Isaiah 45:1-3.

That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Isaiah 44:28.

Daniel 8:2.

Jeremiah 49:39.

Isaiah 21:2.} Daniel may have formed an acquaintance with Cyrus, and showed to him, as the high priest did to Alexander on a certain occasion, the prophecy that pertained to himself, and also revealed to him the way God had said he should enter Babylon. It is evident from the wording of the decree given in the first chapter of Ezra, that Cyrus was familiar with these prophecies.SDP 75.4

God gives continual opportunities for his people to prepare the way for blessings to come to them, when they are walking in the light. God is never taken by surprise, but his Word is a lamp to the feet and a guide to the life. This illustrates the importance of God’s people’s “knowing the time” in which they live from the light of prophecy. There is a Witness in every scene of sacrilegious mirth, and the recording angel writes, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” This same Witness is with us wherever we are. Although we may feel that we have liberty to follow the promptings of the natural heart, and indulge in lightness and trifling, yet an account must be rendered for these things. As we sow, so shall we reap.SDP 76.1

Nations to-day are repeating the history of the last years of the kingdom of Babylon. Medo-Persia was the instrument in the Lord’s hands to punish Babylon. The next great overthrow of governments will usher in the kingdom of our Lord. For the final battle, nations are now mustering their forces. The cry has gone forth, “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance.” ^{MarginI will dry up thy rivers.

Isaiah 44:27.

Isaiah 45:1, 2.

Jeremiah 50:38.

Jeremiah 51:36.

The Lord God of heaven ...hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem.

Ezra 1:1-5.

Psalm 119:105.

Romans 13:11.

For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad.

Mark 4:22.

Psalm 139:1-16.

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Matthew 12:36, 37.

Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued them, and passed.

Isaiah 41:1-5.

Jeremiah 51:6.

Revelation 18:4.}SDP 76.2

CHAPTER V THE LAST YEARS OF THE BABYLONIAN KINGDOM

CHAPTER VII DANIEL IN THE LIONS’ DEN (Chapter 6)