The Hand of God
David Orendorff · Daniel 5 · May 6, 2007
I want to thank the 6th Grade Sunday School class for this assignment purchased at the Sound and Furnishings Auction. Daniel is one of the strange books of the Bible and therefore I am attracted to it but hardly ever get to preach from it. Before we plunge today’s passage it will be good to look at Daniel’s history and purpose.
Chapters 1-6 are stories of the Jew Daniel and his activity in the Babylonian and Persian (Iranian) courts during the exile imposed upon Jews by the Babylonians in the 6th Century BCE. However, the facts that they are written in 3rd Century BCE Aramaic, have a great many historical mistakes, and the allusions to the political and religious situation of the Jews of Israel in the 3rd Century make these chapters almost certainly allegories meant to encourage the Jews of Israel in the midst of current persecution.
Chapters 7-12 are visions and prophecy. Many of the symbols appear again in Mark’s gospel and John’s Revelation, most prominently the coming of the Son of Man. These chapters are written in Hebrew and the events depicted are to have been recorded in the 6th Century BCE. But again the language, textual records and poor history make this most unlikely and these chapters were more likely written in the 2nd Century BCE.
Daniel was written to encourage Jews to remain faithful to God and the Jewish way while suffering the pressure and the persecution to adopt the religion and ways of the Greek rulers, particularly during the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanies, a successor to Alexander the Great. Antiochus decided that he would impose the Hellenistic or Greek ways upon some of the fanatical regions dominated by a local god. Israel was one such region. Antiochus’s plan was to impose Hellenistic (Greek) ways by building roads, educational centers (gymnasiums), and temples to himself; and by violent persecution of those who spoke in favor of the local religion. By this he would show that the local deities had no power and that he, Antiochus, was indeed to be regarded as god.
Looking more closely at chapter 5 there are several historical problems. Three prominent ones are that Belshazzar was not the son of Nebuchadnezzar (whose name was really Nebuchadrezzer), Belshazzar was never king of Persia or Babylon, and we can find nothing that indicates Darius the Mede ever existed.
These historical problems for us were not a problem to 3rd Century Jews. The meaning of chapter 5 was not history but allegorical. It would be understood by the Jewish reader that when the story refers to Belshazzar it is really about Antiochus. Like Belshazzar, Antiochus was arrogant and dismissed the God of the Jews as an insignificant local deity. To get drunk and drink from the vessels stolen from the temple in Jerusalem is to mock and defy the God of the Jews. God chooses to respond to Belshazzar’s (Antiochus’) arrogance by making a hand appear and write upon the wall “mene, mene, tekel and parsin.” God has gained Belshazzar’s (Antiochus) attention but Belshazzar cannot decipher the meaning of the words and neither can the wisest of his advisors. He is forced to call upon the Jewish captive Daniel who had shown an ability to decipher the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar (Antiochus will someday be forced to call upon the Jews to understand God’s action in his life). Before Daniel interprets the writing on the wall he 1) (vs. 17) refuses the gifts of the king (good Jews will not take gifts from Antiochus – as is true of every tyrant bribery is a way of gaining support from local leaders) and 2) (vs. 18-24) gives a sermon that condemns Nebuchadnezzar for his violence and pride and reminds Belshazzar that God both brought Nebuchadnezzar to power and took him out of power. Daniel chides Belshazzar for not learning the lesson of humility before God and for his arrogance in drinking from the temple vessels. Now God has called a reckoning that is found in the answer to the riddle of the writing on the wall.
Understood one way the words are four measurements of weight. But in pun fashion they can also be understood to mean what Daniel interprets them to be; a message for Belshazzar (Antiochus):
- Mene – numbered – “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.”
- Tekel – weighed – “You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.”
- Parsin (plural of Peres) – divided – “Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
And of course what happened to Belshazzar (he died that night and his kingdom was given up) will soon happen to Antiochus.
And what could it mean to us? Besides being an interesting tale, what would it tell us about our times, our lives, and our faith? On its religious and political level it is meant to encourage us to stick with God regardless of where our political or religious leaders would take us in their all too human power hungry arrogance. We are to be like Daniel and refuse to be bribed or co-opted by gifts of wealth and we are to remember that God makes and destroys kings at will. And this message seems particularly appropriate to me as we like the Jews of the 2nd and 3rd Centuries BCE struggle with questions of power and religion still in Iran and Iraq.
But there is also a more personal understanding that can be gained from this chapter of Daniel. Sara Lambert showed this to me. Bonnie wanted to get this week’s bulletin done before left on a week of deserved vacation. In order to do that, Sara needed the scripture and theme of the sermon so she could pick music. She wrote and politely asked me.
I wrote back: “May 6 is Daniel 5. It is the 6th Graders Sound and Furnishing Auction purchase choice. When you come up with a theme for the music let me know and I will use it to preach on. In Daniel the basic theme is “if we worship other gods, God will kill us.” I don’t know what to make of this yet. I suggest you pick some favorites.
Sara wrote back:
I’ve been thinking and reading Daniel 5. I see the theme more as “if you don’t listen to God, you will die”. If we have life because of God, and we aren’t listening, paying attention, following and trying, we end up in trouble every time. Sometimes we should be listening to God sending us messages in various ways, by many people or events in our lives. We must not just listen, but also act on those messages in order to live fully. In this Daniel passage, Belshazzar literally died because he did not listen – time and again – to God, to history, to his mother, to Daniel.
I discussed this with one of my patients this week. John Doe is 58 and has had chronic venous insufficiency wounds on his legs for over a year. He is a fairly new Christian, attends a Baptist church, and tells me he has faith that God will take care of him. We have had good discussions about faith, the Bible and our church activities. But, John Doe is obese, diabetic, has heart and lung problems, and is starting to develop kidney problems. He also doesn’t exercise, watch his diet, check his blood sugar or think about changing his poor health habits. He just keeps saying that he has prayed for the doctor to give him the right antibiotic to fix him up. He also says that when his time comes, he won’t be afraid to die…as long as it isn’t too painful. His doctor tells him he’s doing OK, and not to worry. And, he is doing “OK”, but he’s not getting better. I tell him he needs to start looking at the big picture and think about how he’s treating his body. I tell him that 58 is too young to be talking about dying when he could help himself get better. I tell him he needs to walk to the mailbox every day to begin exercising a little; check his blood sugar and think about his diet. I also tell him that sometimes, God sends us messages through other people. I tell him maybe in this case, God sent him to me, because I’m the only one in our clinic who will talk to him about God and faith. I tell him I think God wants me to help him understand how we can work together to improve his health. I tell him this regularly, and I’ve been seeing him for most of the last year. But, John Doe wants God to make him well without John Doe doing too much hard work. He has gained weight and keeps getting worse infections requiring more and stronger drugs. So this week, I talked to him about the “handwriting on the wall”. He knows the story of Daniel, but had never associated it with his own life. But, he did agree to check his blood sugar this weekend, and open up one of the cookbooks he has at home with diabetic recipes. We’ll talk about it all again next week…
So I guess John Doe worships the God who follows John Doe’s directions – make the legs heal, make the doctor prescribe a better drug, make it not hurt, don’t make me change my diet, exercise, think about my health, or take any action that requires energy. And, this is what will kill him too young.
Sorry for spouting so long. Thanks for “listening”. I do love my job, because I can make these emotional connections with people, and often be of help. But sometimes it is frustrating and heart wrenching to watch what people do to themselves.
Sara
Sara is right, “if you don’t listen to God, you will die.” As good Christian Jews we are to be obedient to, receive gifts from and serve the one true God, who is not Belshazzar, Antiochus, ourselves, George W. Washington, money, fear or any of the other little “g” gods that like to claim power over us. Daniel advises us to listen to the voice of God which can appear in our lives as a disembodied hand which writes on the wall, a mother, a local wise guy, or a nurse who will tell us the truth about the consequences of our choices. And if we are wiser than Belshazzar or Antiochus we will listen when God speaks as if our lives depended on it, for indeed they do. God cares about us, wants our kingdom and people to thrive and wants us to have abundant life for all times; so read the writing on the wall from the hand of God.
Amen and Shalom