Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Wednesday, November 5, Daniel 5

Chapter 5: The FIVE-fingered "HAND" writing on the Wall: Babylon HANDED over.

You can't get a better reinforcement to remember a chapter and verse than Daniel 5:5: "Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote."

When you study a little about the background of this incident, you wonder why this knucklehead of a king had a "great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand." (1) They were being besieged by the great Persian army!

Most think that the king and subjects were "blissfully ignorant" of what was going on, since the famous walls of Babylon seemed impenetrable. They are described as so thick that chariots of horses could ride on them, and anywhere from 70 to 365 feet high, depending on which account you read.. The gates were of bronze or iron, and the wall was miles long.

The "Achilles heel", so to speak, turned out to be the Euphrates river that was diverted into the city. The Babylonians were pretty confident that they could withstand any siege. The Medes and Persians brilliantly diverted the water by building a canal, and we get a real time account from the Bible about what happened on that fateful night Babylon was captured, right here in Daniel 5.

There is a side story to this chapter. I had read that this used to be a "poster chapter" by sceptics to prove that the Bible was flawed, because they could not find a "Belshazzar" in history. That is, until they found the "Nabonidus Cylinder", which confirmed the Biblical account.

Nabonidus was his dad, who appointed him co-regent because most of the time he was ruling from Arabia. That's why Belshazzar could only offer Daniel to be "the third ruler in the kingdom." (7b) That was certainly a useless offer, since after that night it would be no more.

This is so typical of the God-rejecting world. They go to desperate measures to disprove God's word, because if His word is true, they are accountable for their sin. We, as believers know that it is indeed true, and need not worry about every foolish thing that comes up to try to thwart our faith. Of course, though sinners cannot disprove the verified history of the king, they'll certainly reject Daniel's version of what went on inside, down to the very minute detail of a taking place "opposite the lampstand".

What the unbelievers are also missing is that we have a real, living relationship with the Living God. It really doesn't matter what they say, because the Holy Spirit dwells in us and assures us of the truth. And we are "sanctified" through it: "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth". (John 17:15) These words of Jesus hold true, and will hold true forever.

And through Jesus, we understand the truth, for He said: "I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) You can find the Truth as well.

Belshazzar learned of the truth too late. For him, "the handwriting was on the wall", which we will see in a little more detail tomorrow.

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

*ESV used unless noted*

Memory Helps:

Chapter 5: The FIVE-fingered "HAND" writing on the Wall: Babylon HANDED over.

We are adding chapter 5 to our outline. As I said, this is about the easiest one to remember, since a hand contains 5 fingers, and we are in chapter 5. It's simple to picture your "Daniel" speaking to the "knee-knocking" Belshazzar as he explains the meaning of the "handwriting". You can picture the "plaster" melting around the letters on the wall as well if you like.

If I want to link verse 5, I have my buddy "Lee" (L=5) as my "memory character". Of course, he's playing the part of Belshazzar, and sees the "Handwriting" opposite the "lampstand".