Beloved of God, greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus. We bless God for the opportunity to present to you another episode of our daily study of the Scriptures. We thank God for the gift of life and for His benefits on us each new day. Praise be to God.
In our today’s episode 575, we shall be examining the book of Daniel Chapter 5 titled:
This Is One Of The Most Difficult Word-Combination In Bible History
There seems to be a big gap between Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 of the book of Daniel.
Chapter 4 ends with Nebuchadnezzar’s acknowledgement of God to be the heavenly God, who is worthy to be praised, honoured, and glorified. Everything He does is right and just, and He can humble anyone who acts proudly. This statement was made after God restored him from his relegated position in the bush, eating like animal and possessing the mind of an animal. Having received his human senses back, he then acknowledged the supremacy of God Almighty.
However, chapter 5 simply continues the story from the reign of Belshazzar, which seems to have cut off some details. Curiosity took a better part of me as I decided to find out more about what happened in between the two chapters.
In my further research to know what happened between chapter 4 and chapter 5, I came across 2Kings 25:27 – 30 from where we can deduce that Evilmerodach became king of Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar.
Unfortunately, according to Berossus, a Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer and astronomer, Evilmerodach only ruled for 2 years before he was assassinated by his brother-in law called Neriglissar. History has it that Neriglissar married one of Nebuchadnezzar’s daughters, which was what gave him much power and influence. As a matter of facts, he was among the army officials that travelled with Nebuzaradan (Chief Officer of Nebuchadnezzar’s army), when Jerusalem was captured.
This is why according to Jeremiah chapter 39:3,13 Neriglissar was mentioned but his name was Nergal Sarezer. He took over power having killed Evilmerodach and ruled for only four years before he died.
Berossus went further to say that Neriglissar’s son called Laborosoarchod took over power after his father’s demise but because he was too young to rule, he was also killed having spent just nine months on the throne.
After he died, Nabonidus, one of those who killed the child king (Laborosoarchod), became king of Babylon. He was on the throne until Cyrus, the Persian king invaded, and conquered Babylon as already prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Historian has it that it was when Nabonidus travelled to Arabia that he appointed Belshazzar (his eldest son) to look after the throne on his behalf. In fact, before then, he was already ruling alongside his father as a regent king until his father left for Arabia and he took over. Historians also opined that his father actually went to fight the Persian forces to prevent them from capturing Babylon but unfortunately, he was captured and eliminated.
This was the reason Cyrus was able to invade Babylon but could not break into the city yet because of the fortification of Babylon. The walls were so thick that they could accommodate houses on top of them just like the wall of Jericho.
Therefore, they besieged the city and were waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
Right there in the palace, Belshazzar was dining and making merry with his people and various invited noble men who came for a big banquet he organised, and they were drinking wine together.
To worsen the matter, he ordered that the gold and silver cups that were looted from the temple in Jerusalem should be brought to him so he could use them to drink wine – imagine the kind of intestinal fortitude he had, using a set apart article of the temple for despicable purposes.
It’s very clear he did not learn a single lesson from his predecessors, especially from Nebuchadnezzar, who was relegated and sent away to live among animals as a result of his pride and disregard for God. He never learnt a single lesson from what befell him.
Suddenly, something happened in verse 5 and he saw a strange hand inscribing some words on the wall right there in front of him.
As expected, no one among his magicians could interpret what was written. It happened to be one of the most difficult word combinations in the Bible history.
Then, Daniel was recommended as the only man fit to interpret the inscriptions.
Here is what Daniel said:
According to verses 25-28
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.
27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
28PERES; Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
What were the offences of king Belshazzar for him to deserve this punishment?
a. Drinking with the sacred vessels from the Temple of God with
his lords, wives and concubines.
b. Praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
c. Not giving regard to God who is the owner of his life.
Having done the interpretation, Daniel was greatly rewarded.
Now, Daniel’s interpretation of the first dream of Nebuchadnezzar is becoming fulfilled. The kingdom of Silver that was to displace the kingdom of gold were the Medes and Persians also known as the Medo-Persia.
What lessons can we learn from this chapter?
Still the same lessons from chapter 4
We must know that God rules over earthly kings, presidents, governors, senators etc
If we are proud and disregard God, He will humble us. The Bible says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Did you know that there are so many national leaders, religious leaders, political leaders and business leaders behaving like Belshazzar today? If they refuse to repent, their days have been numbered and their judgement is imminent and they will definitely be served hot.
We must note that every action has consequence. That’s why we must be careful of our actions, especially those that can bring harm to humanity and disregard God.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let us Pray as we declare this together:
I declare concerning someone reading this now that God, through His Divine intelligence will continue to govern and direct your steps and your undertakings.
Your life and family will continually be filled with God’s presence. Continue to operate with God’s motives and His Wisdom.
God, the All-Knowing One, will continue to teach you what you need to do and how to do it in order to fulfil your God-given dreams on earth.
You will continue to dwell in peaceable habitation and in all your journeys, you will be safe and secure, in Jesus name.
Bible Readings For Today: Ezekiel Chapters 1, 2, 3 & 4 with Isaiah Chapter 35
I call you blessed now and always.
Saturday October 24, 2020 (DDMI)
