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Daniel 5:5

The Pulpit Commentary on Daniel 5:5

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The writing on the wall.

We have here a declaration of judgment, the circumstances, form, and effects of which are full of significance.

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DECLARATION OF JUDGMENT.

1. It was in the king's palace. The guards who may keep off the human intruder cannot shut out the Divine messenger. Judgment may find a man in his own home (; ; ).

2. It was at a time of pleasure. The intoxication of pleasure may blind us to approaching judgment, but cannot stay it. It is foolish to rest our security on our experience of present enjoyment. The moment of greatest pleasure may bring us to the brink of the deepest ruin.

3. It was in the midst of sinful revelry. Drunkenness, profligacy, and profanity were rioting at the feast when the judgment came. So the sinner is sometimes summoned to judgment in the midst of his sins. It is a delusion to suppose that all of us will have good warning and time for repentance, before we are called to meet the Judge.

4. It was under circumstances of gross negligence. The enemy was at the gates; yet the king was revelling in effeminate orgies. Negligence as to the danger into which our sins have brought us is itself a sin, and one which wilt meet with certain, merited punishment (; ).

II. THE FORM OF THE DECLARATION OF JUDGMENT,

1. It was public. The message was not given to the king privately. It was written up on the wall of his banquet-chamber, in the presence of his courtiers. Sin may be secret; but judgment will be public (; ).

2. It was silent. There was no awakening trumpet-blast, but a silent hand writing on the wall. God often speaks quietly (l Kings 19:11, 12). This method is often the more impressive to the observing; and until we are observing, no method is of much use. It is most fitting in the solemn declaration of judgment. In speaking of future punishment, it is most seemly not to indulge in noisy declamation, but to use quiet, weighty words, bordering on awestruck silence.

3. It was decisive. Written words are more decisive than spoken words. They are generally more weighed. They are more enduring. They admit of more study. Illustrate this by Pilate's reference to the superscription on the cross (). Apply it

4. It was mysterious. The king and his courtiers and his wise men could not read the writing. All doom is mysterious till it falls. Scriptural intimations of doom are generally vague, though terrible. Note in particular

III. THE EFFECT OF THE DECLARATION OF JUDGMENT.

1. It produced terror. The mystery and supernatural character of the event alarmed the king and his courtiers ().

2. It led to the introduction of the best counsellor. Daniel had been neglected by the dissolute king in favour of more congenial companies. Now he is sent for. Trouble is good if it leads to wisdom. Though the wisdom which conies too late may only deepen the consciousness of ore' punishment, it must be better to meet this intelligently, than with the blindness of a brute.

(last clause)

Natural religion.

I. WE HAVE NATURAL RELATIONS WITH GOD. Men often act as though we had no relations with God but those we voluntarily assume in religious worship, so that if we chose we could have nothing to do with God. This is a gross delusion. We have relations with God

1. Our life is dependent on God. In his hand our"breath is." He is the First Cause—the Origin of life (). He is also the constant Sustainer of life, and without him we could not continue to exist for one moment, any more than we could live without the air we breathe (; . '25). Therefore the existence and the continuance of our life depend on Iris will (). These facts are not affected by our ideas about God. If they are facts, they apply as much to the atheist as to the theist, and to the most godless as to the most devout.

2. Our destiny is shaped by God. "Whose are all our ways." We think to carve out our own career, and no doubt it is largely dependent on our conduct; but it is subject to numberless apparent accidents, which are really governed by the providence of God (, ).

II. OUR NATURAL RELATIONS WITH GOD MAKE IT OUR DUTY TO GLORIFY HIM. As our primary relations with God are nut dependent on our own will, so our obligations toward God cannot be regulated by our free choice. Religious obligations are not simply determined by our "profession," nor can they be discarded by our renunciation of any connection with religious worship, Church relationship, etc. We are all subjects of God's spiritual kingdom, whether we will or no. The man who refuses to submit to its laws is not to be regarded as an alien, but as a deserter and a rebel. Therefore, though Belshazzar had never professed obedience to God, he was not exonerated from blame when he failed to render it.

1. The universal human duty of glorifying God is determined by the fact that we are all enjoying life and its advantages simply as the fruits of the goodness of God.

2. It may be enforced by the reflection that since we are entirely in the hands of God, no attempt to rebel against him can ultimately succeed ().

III. THE NEGLECT OF OUR DUTY TO GLORIFY GOD IS THE ROOT OF ALL SIN, This is the one sin to which Daniel calls attention, although Belshazzar was guilty of all kinds of wickedness. So long as we live in the effort to honour and serve God, our conscience will be kept pure; but when God is dethroned from the shrine of our hearts, all forms of evil take his place. Idolatry, the worship of false gods, is only possible when the worship of the true God is neglected. Profanity is the direct opposite of the reverence which glorifies God. Indulgence in sinful pleasures is only possible when the pure pleasures of Divine things are lost. Thus the special sins seen in Belshazzar in the incident of his feast are all connected with the neglect of the honour and service of God.

Note:

1. The very blessings which are proofs of the goodness of God are often used as temptations to allure us from our duty to glorify him.

2. Godlessness may bring present delights, but it must ensure future ruin.

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