| Subject: Dan. Chap. 5 vss.18-23 Post #27 |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 19:51:08 10/06/09 Tue
Daniel 5:18-23 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 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: they 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. 22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 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:
For the most part Daniel does an "instant replay" on Nebuchadnezzar's life before Belshazzar. What cut him to the quick was Daniel's statement "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;" Thus is proven again the truth of God's Word as is set forth in Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Belshazzar's attitude was that he was king and could do as he pleased. That might be so when it comes to his subjects but Belshazzar was discovering that God was not subject to him but he was indeed subject to the God whom he sought to belittle and humiliate. As Paul stated in Galatians 6:7, "God is not mocked". Before the night was out the truth of God's judgment on his foolishness would be known by all in the palace. The god's that Belshazzar praised and drank wine to would be of no more help to him than Baal was to the prophets of Baal that Elijah slew in 1 Kings chapter 18.
Another thing of note is the ongoing mystery of who it was that drove Nebuchadnezzar into the fields. Notice in 20 and 21: "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---" Notice how the scripture avoids naming anyone specific. The mysterious "they" shows up again and he is "driven from the sons of men". The sons of men as opposed to who? We have already seen the clay and iron in the feet and toes of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter 2. The curious wording was in verse 43 "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." In chapter 4 we saw in verse 13 it was heavenly beings that pronounced the curse on Nebuchadnezzar. In verse 17 of that chapter we see that there are watchers (plural) and holy ones (plural) who make the decree and demand. These are not "sons of men". They are heavenly beings. In verse 25 of that same chapter we see this written; "they shall drive thee from men".
What it all boils down to is that beings from the heavens are playing a major part in the progress of the nations that were prophesied in chapter 2. (We will explore this in greater detail in later chapters) As we look at the detailed accounts of these nations in the succeeding chapters we must keep in mind that God's hands and Satan's hands are very much in play in the rise and fall of the nations. We must also keep in mind that we are about to move down the statue from the head of gold to the breast and arms of silver. Belshazzar was the final king of the Babylonian empire that started with Nebuchadnezzar in the dream that Daniel interpreted. Nebuchadnezzar arose to the throne around 605 B.C and died in or around 562 B.C. Nabonidus, who according to secular sources was then made king. He supposedly married the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar who most likely was the Queen mentioned in Daniel 5 and mother of Belshazzar. Belshazzar was made co-regent with Nabonidus (B.C. 553) hence the promise to make Daniel the third ruler in the kingdom (Dan. 5:16). Belshazzar died in Babylon in or around 538 B.C. at the hands of the Persian army.
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