Tag Archives: Daniel 5

Daily Bible Study

September 16, 2023 Bible Study — Don’t Wait to See the Writing on the Wall to Worship God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 5-6.

The passage starts with the account about the writing on the wall which preceded the fall of Babylon.  This story is where we get the saying “I can see the writing on the wall.”  Of course, that saying has the problem in that by the time the writing was on the wall in this story it was too late for those to whom it was addressed.  When Daniel interpreted the writing for King Belshazzar, he reminded him that he, King Belshazzar, had known how King Nebuchadnezzar had been forced to acknowledge that he was not all powerful and that God is sovereign.  Yet King Belshazzar had nevertheless chosen to use vessels which had been dedicated to the worship of God to worship other gods.  Belshazzar honored numerous other gods, but did not honor the God who held his life in His hands.  Not only did Belshazzar not honor God, he held God up to ridicule.  Don’t wait until you see the writing on the wall to acknowledge God and His greatness, because then it will be too late.

Later in the passage we have the account of Daniel in the lions’ den.  I want to focus on how he ended up the lions’ den.  Some of his political enemies, after trying and failing to find any dirt on Daniel, convinced the king to issue an edict making it illegal to worship anyone but him, the king, for thirty days.  Daniel knew of this edict but nevertheless continued to pray three times a day.  I want to look at what Daniel did a little more closely.  He went home to his upstairs room to pray.  By doing so he did two things.  He isolated himself so that he would not be distracted from his worship of God while he prayed, but he also made it so that his prayer would not intrude on those who had chosen, for one reason or another, not to worship God.  However, in that upstairs room he opened the windows towards Jerusalem and prayed in front of them.  By doing this no one could claim that he was hiding what he was doing (that is not why he did it, but I am confident that he was aware of this aspect of it).  Daniel made no effort to hide that he was worshiping God, even when doing so could land him in trouble.  On the other hand, he did not force his beliefs on others.  I believe that there are times when we are called to be more confrontational than Daniel was here, but there are also times when we should just quietly worship God, allowing others to ignore us if they choose, but not hiding what we believe.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 16, 2022 Bible Study — God Has Numbered Our Days. Will He Find Us Wanting When He Brings Them To An End?

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 5-6.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

There are many things we can learn from the story about the writing on the wall.  First, by the time you see the writing on the wall, let alone read it, it is too late.  Which brings me to the message.  In some ways that message is for all of us, at least the first part.  God has numbered our days, and while He may not yet have done so, He will bring them to an end.  And God is weighing us on His scales, if we rely on ourselves we will be found wanting.  When God weighs us on His scales only if we put our trust in Jesus will we not be found wanting.  Only by putting our faith in Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us will God’s scales balance in our favor. But do not wait until you can read the writing on the wall, because then it will be too late.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 16, 2021 Bible Study — Live So That You Don’t Have To Change Anything To Stand Up For Good

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 5-6.

In the story about the writing on the wall I noticed that when the hand wrote on the wall the king was terrified.  As I read the passage, he was not frightened just by the disembodied hand, but by the writing itself.  So, he knew the message was bad before he even knew what it said.   Which brings me to something I realized a few years ago.  We often say that someone left some place before things there went wrong because they “saw the writing on the wall”, referencing this story.  However, in this story, it was too late for King Belshazzar when he saw the writing on the wall.

Then we have the story of Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den.  Daniel’s political enemies could find nothing wrong in his actions.  So, they changed the rules to make his religious practices illegal.  They presented the change in a way which made it seem like it was innocuous and disguised the fact that it was aimed at Daniel.  When the new law was passed, Daniel made no effort to hide his now illegal worship of God, nor did he make any effort to make a scene.  He continued to worship God as he had always done. I want to note that Daniel had no need to “make a scene” about his worship of God because he had always done so publicly in a manner that anyone who knew him knew that he did so.  Let us strive to live such lives that when our enemies look for something to “get us” on, they must make faithfully serving God illegal.  I will say that I believe we see such things happening in the world today.  Perhaps not yet by passing laws, but more and more our society is declaring being faithful to God to be “beyond the pale”.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 16, 2020 Bible Study We Need To Turn To God Before The Writing On the Wall Appears

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

In the year 2000, on the 23rd day of this month, my wife married me.  So here we are on day 13 of the 20 days that I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary for 20 years of marriage.  Happy Anniversary Darling!

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 5-6.

This passage is the origin of the phrase “read the writing on the wall.”  Every time I read this passage I am struck by the fact that by the time the writing is on the wall to read, it is too late to do anything; there is not even time to flee.  As I wrote the above it occurred to me that perhaps I should spend some time considering the message on the wall, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin.”  The passage tells us that “Mene” means “numbered”, as in the days of the person to whom the message was sent are numbered.  No explanation is given for why “Mene” appears twice.  Technically, the word “Mene” is a specific weight, so perhaps it appearing twice is what makes it mean “numbered”.  Or perhaps, “Mene” appears twice to indicate that the number has been reached.  In any case, the first two parts of this message applies to all of us.  Our days are numbered, and our actions will be weighed and they do not measure up.  We need to recognize that we cannot measure up.  We also need to recognize that the point I made at the beginning is true: when the writing on the wall appears it is too late to turn to God.

The story of Daniel in the lions’ den is another one of those stories which I have always loved.  As a child I learned to story as a lesson on God’s ability to protect us in even the most dangerous situation.  Today I want to focus on what Daniel did in the face of a government edict forbidding him to worship God.  He ignored it.  When he learned of the edict forbidding prayer to anything or anyone other than the king, he did not change his routine in any way.  He did not stage a protest, but he also made no attempt to hide what he was doing.  He neither prayed in a way to draw attention to the fact that he was defying the edict, nor in a way which would make it difficult for anyone to discover what he was doing.  He was not ashamed, nor afraid, to do what he had always done.  He felt no need to make a statement opposing the law.

 

Daily Bible Study

September 16, 2019 Bible Study — It Doesn’t Matter If You Can Read The Writing On The Wall, By The Time It Appears It Is Too Late

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 5-6.

As I get older I see more and more things to be learned from the story about the writing on the wall.  We get from this story the expression, “I can read the writing on the wall.”   In many ways that expression misses the point of this story that by the time the writing appears on the wall it is too late to avoid the coming disaster.  There is, in my opinion, an important codicil to that; if the men in the room had been able to read the writing that appeared on the wall, they would not have done the things which led to the disaster the writing foretold.

Now let us look a little closer at what the story tells us.  King Belshazzar calling for the cups taken from the Temple in Jerusalem to be used at his feast represents a clear belittling of the God to whom they were dedicated.  This was not just an act of careless disregard for the holiness of these items.  No, it was a deliberate act of contempt towards the God to whom they were dedicated.  When Daniel interpreted the writing for Belshazzar he told him the story of how Nebuchadnezzar came to humble himself before God.  A story with which Daniel states that Belshazzar would have been familiar.  This story negatively contrasts Belshazzar’s attitude towards God with that of Nebuchadnezzar before him and Darius after him.  Both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius worshiped other gods, but both came to give respect and honor to God.  Belshazzar, on the other hand, held God in contempt and felt that he could belittle those who worshiped Him for the amusement of his friends.  Generally, I expect political leaders to worship something other than God (even most of those who claim to be Christian).  However, when they begin to hold God in contempt and believe that they can belittle those who genuinely do worship God the nation will soon see disaster strike.  Similar things hold true at all levels of society.

Daily Bible Study

September 16, 2018 Bible Study — By The Time You See The Writing On The Wall It Is Too Late

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 5-6.

    We know from history that when the walls of Babylon were first breached by the Persian army those in the citadel at the center of the city were unaware that this had happened until it was too late to even defend the citadel (somewhat oversimplified oversimplification). That is the background to the story told here. The Persian army had laid siege to the city of Babylon. While the city was under siege the elites of the city threw a party, convinced of their power and security. As part of their celebration of their power they used the gold and silver cups taken from the Temple to drink libations to their own gods, gods which in their minds were manifestations of themselves. In the middle of all this, a hand appeared and wrote something on the wall. In their drunken stupor they were shocked sober (OK, probably not really). The king’s scholarly advisers were summoned, but none could read the writing. Finally Daniel was summoned and he told them what it meant.

    I have spent more time describing the scene which you can read for yourself than I intended. My first thought about this is that we use the expression, “Read the writing on the wall.” One thing about that expression which we overlook is that by the time the writing is on the wall, it is too late. Daniel told the king, and his cronies, that they knew what God had done in the past. They had no excuse for not honoring Him, but they chose to mock Him by using His holy articles to worship gods they knew had no power. The lesson here for us is that we too know of God’s power, if we choose not to heed Him because we think there will be time later to do as He commands we will wake up one day and see the writing on the wall. Then it will be too late.

Daily Bible Study

September 16, 2017 Bible Study — When You See The Writing On The Wall It Is Too Late

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 5-6.

    We have two stories in today’s passage. The first one is the source for the phrase, “see the writing on the wall.” I am always amused when someone says they will take action because they can “aee the writing on the wall.” In this story, by the time the writing was on the wall, it was too late to take action. Which brings us to one of the important lessons of this story. Once it becomes obvious that our actions will lead to disaster it is too late to avoid that disaster. WE can learn a lot more from this story if we look at what was going on here. Rather than lead his government officials out to strengthen his nations defenses and prepare for the imminent attack, the king of Babylon brought them all into his palace and held a party. His idea about dealing with the rising threat of the Medes and Persians was to brag about their successful conquest of Jerusalem (and probably other nations). Rather than following the commands given by God, which might have helped them, they belittled those commands and focused on things which could do them no good.

    The second story is a favorite Bible story of many. One of those stories about facing enemies. Daniel’s faithfulness to God meant that his enemies could find nothing in what he did to use against him. As a result, they chose to make expressing his faith a crime. Notice however how they approached the issue. They neither directly outlawed Daniel’s faith practices, nor did they mandate that he follow other practices. They “merely” passed a law that for a short period of time, people had to refrain from praying to anyone, except to the current king. All Daniel had to do to avoid running afoul of this new law was refrain from praying for 30 days. Daniel refused to give in to their subtle attempt to outlaw his faith. He neither stood on the street corner decrying the law’s demand that people only pray to King Darius, nor did he make any effort to hide his expression of faith. He continued to do what he had always done, trusting in God to deal with this attack on his faith.
    The same sorts of things happen today. We do not need to challenge the attempts of the irreligious to enshrine new rights. Instead, we need to show God’s love by coming to the defense of the defenseless and warning people about the consequences of their self-destructive behavior.

Daily Bible Study

November 28, 2015 Bible Study — Recognizing False Teachers

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 28:19-20

    The hard worker will have enough to eat and the person who is trustworthy will be richly rewarded, but those who seek a shortcut to success will end badly.

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Psalm 119:113-128

    I will dedicate myself to obeying God. In order to do so I must stay away from those who halfheartedly follow his commands. I will meditate on God’s decrees and instructions. If we do what is right and just we have no need to tremble in fear of our enemies. If we faithfully serve God, He will teach us His decrees and deal with us from His unfailing love. I will love God’s commands more than wealth, or fame. God’s commands are right and every other way is false.

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2 Peter 2

    Peter warns us against false teachers and gives us information on how to recognize them. They are greedy and sexually immoral (note how Peter links these two types of sin, just as Paul does). They make up lies in order to get people to give them their money. They brag about themselves…and if you look closely at what they are bragging about there is nothing to it. False teachers use sexual immorality to lure in the unstable, trapping those who were just beginning to escape from a life of sin. They are arrogant and scoff at the supernatural, claiming to have the power to compel demons. They refuse to acknowledge the sin in their own lives while joining in “fellowship” with believers and calling for “unity” (by which they mean not calling attention to their sins, while they call attention to yours). It is worth noting that we should both avoid false teachers and watch out for signs that we are exhibiting some of the characteristics of false teachers.

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Daniel 5

    This is the passage from which we get the idiom, “read the writing on the wall.” The main point of this passage is that by the time the writing on the wall appeared it was too late to do anything about the coming doom. The people at the banquet knew their history, but paid no attention to it. They arrogantly thought that they were in control of their own destiny, when their predecessors who had built the empire they controlled had been forced to acknowledge a Power greater than themselves. If we have not learned the lessons of history and turned to God before the writing on the wall appears, it will be too late. Not only will it be too late, but we will not understand the writing on the wall when it appears either.