The story of King Belshazzar in Daniel 5 is, in my mind, one of the funniest stories of the Old Testament. I'm not sure why I find it so comedic, but there's something very amusing to me about the whole thing. Belshazzar (King Nebuchadnezzar's son) hosted a party with his lords, his wives, and his concubines. Someone at the party had the grand idea of drinking from the "golden vessels" from the temple in Jerusalem, so Belshazzar sends for them and uses them in his merriment. The moment the sacred vessels are defamed, a creepy hand shows up from no where and begins writing on the wall in a foreign language. My guess is that this event killed the excited and the people, now sufficiently creeped out, said "goodnight" to the king and were on quickly on their way. After dozen of individuals were unable to decipher the handwriting, Daniel is brought in to give it the old college try. The results of Daniel's interpretation are just unbelievable:
- God has numbered the days of the kingdom
- You [Belshazzar] have been weighed in the balances and been found to be lacking
- Your kingdom is divided
And then that night Belshazzar is killed. Unbelievable! Here are the lessons that I need to take from this passage:
- Do not mess with that which is holy
- God places authority
- God removes authority
- We answer to God for what we do with our authority
- God protects His glory and removes people and entities that attempt to get in the way of it
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