Daniel 5:5 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Daniel 5:5

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Belshazzar has had a long time to repent, but has hardened his heart. Evidently he hardly knows Daniel, who seems to have been sent into relative obscurity. We can imagine one of the great rooms in the Royal Palace in Babylon, with a niche in the wall for king’s table, and plaster walls. A vast hall has been unearthed, which could very well be the site of this feast.‘In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand.’ Why just the fingers of a man's hand? Why not the figure of a man? Well as the old writers used to point out, that would be too interesting. The mind would be drawn to the figure: who is that? Who does it represent? But the figure is of no consequence, so it’s not there. Fingers, yes, to compel the attention of the king, and words. What's important are the words. God is going to speak through words. A figure of a person is not relevant. There is no symbolism here, just the fingers to compel attention and the words. ‘And wrote over against the candlestick [lampstand] upon the plaster of the wall’, obviously near to where the king was, maybe in the brightest part of the room where he would see. The king saw the part of the hand that wrote, and it terrified him: that was what it was designed to do. The king’s countenance, his brightness or splendour, changed. The joints or knots of his loins were loosed. He couldn't retain his composure; he couldn't control himself. The tension on his face and the terror was evident. He probably turned pale. His body shook, and it was visible to all present; he was in a tremendous state. Why? Obviously this was supernatural. For all his unbelief he was a superstitious man. Emperors, kings, are used to controlling their deportment and their stance especially in public situations, but he was terrified. As the verses go on you can see indications that he gets over it and controls himself, but initially this terrified him. It’s not surprising in a way, because this could indicate something awful. After all, the Medes and the Persians: their forces, their generals were very nearby. They were virtually halfway round Babylon already. There was confidence in Babylon. It is said they had provisions stored in Babylon for three or four years to withstand any siege; the walls were considered impregnable. The one weak point was where the Euphrates River runs through that vast city: the point at which it entered under the walls, and the point where it left the other side. But it was hardly a way in, so they felt confident and they boosted themselves. But still there was tension, so something like this could be a terrible indication of disaster, and he was terrified.How little it takes to terrify and blow away the foundation of this pagan man – fingers of a man’s hand. And immediately he trembles – with guilt, with fear of the God he had been mocking. How God turns the tables on him! The Lord does not even speak directly but causes writing to be on the wall which Belshazzar is desperate to understand, so that when it is interpreted for him, he rewards the one who announces his own destruction.

Application

We see this today. There has always been atheism and unbelief. There has been opposition to the Bible, and to the gospel. But we have never seen so much open public scorn, even by high and well-placed people. We are not just thinking of the websites associated with people like Professor Richard Dawkins. You look at those websites and the comments, and you see the hatred and the scorn. It's everywhere now: public open scorn. Interestingly God acted most severely, not when it was ignorance, nor when it was indifference, nor even when it was pride and self-confidence. But when it became insolence then God acted, and that is significant for our times. Another indication that these are the end times is that we have reached the time of undisguised scorn and derision of God’s truth.

It would make a good study for today. In these days of gimmickry, when people want to use – even earnest Christian sometimes – all sorts of other things beside the word as though the word is not good enough. They say, the word can't attract attention; the word can't compel. You need drama or human intervention or various other things in your evangelism. But there is a lesson here: just the fingers, compelling attention, and then the word. That is all that is important.

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Daniel 5:5 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of Daniel 5:5