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All Decisions Have Consequences--Often Unintended!

I spoke a moment ago about Christopher Columbus. Did you know he spent years trying to raise money to explore a new route to the East Indies. He felt very confident that he could find a route, and over a period of seven years, he tried several times to persuade the King and Queen of Spain to sponsor him.

Just before the last refusal, Columbus marched with the Spanish troops as they entered Alhambra in Grenada (the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain.) His action gained him another audience with “the merry monarchs of Spain.” But he again he found himself turned down.

As he left the palace, the keeper of the king's purse, Luis De Santangel went to the queen and told her he believed the proposal had great potential for a comparatively small investment—considering the size of the royal purse. He told Isabella that if she didn't sponsor Columbus, he would. The speech changed the queen's mind, she sent for Columbus, and in a short time the historic voyage of 1492 began.

Luis speech and Isabella's decision changed the course of human history.
All decisions, no matter how small, have consequences. And some of the decisions we make can be life altering. And that brings us back to the book of Daniel.

The fifth chapter, which we open today, had been something of a conundrum to historians for two thousand years because no reference to any king Belshazzar had ever been found in any ancient records. Critics said no such person ever lived. Then in 1861, H. F. Talbot published some cuneiform tablets found in the Moon Temple at Ur of the Chaldees (that's Abraham's birthplace). One of them contained a prayer of Babylonian King Nabonidus for his eldest son, Belshazzar!

And in 1881, the publication of another find confirmed Talbot's tablet, with a description of the events of Daniel 5. This second document adds the interesting side bar that Nabonidus had been ill, and stayed in Lebanon recuperating before setting out for a campaign against the desert oasis town of Tema about 500 miles South-west of Babylon. Before leaving for Tema, Nabonidus summoned Belshazzar and entrusted the throne to him. So they served as co-regents, or co-kings for three or four years. That's why Daniel 5 tells the story of young king Belshazzar in Babylon, not his father Nabonidus hundreds of miles away as their empire disintegrated.

So that’s the historical setting. King Nabonidus is out of the country, and sick. The young co-king, his son Belshazzar, is at home exploring and exploiting power, pomp, and perverted living. In that kind of a mood he arranges a great gala.

This night would be a night fit for the presentation of the Babylonian Oscars and witnessed by 1000 of Babylon's “stars.” Normally, this would be an exclusive male occasion, but on this occasion the licentious Belshazzar invited all his wives, concubines, and dancing girls.

And if you plan a really big party, you want a climax for your guests to remember. Well, history has also remembered—but in ways that poor Belshazzar could never have imagined.

Late in the evening, Belshazzar called for the sacred vessels Nebuchadnezzar had captured in Jerusalem. These works of art had been produced by the finest Jewish craftsmen and used by the priests in the sacred temple.

Belshazzar had seen these goblets displayed in his father's museum cabinets among other trophies he and his grandfather had plundered from their battle victories. They were superb artistic treasures. And he sent servants to fetch them for his table. He then took them, those holy vessels dedicated to God’s worship, and had his wine steward fill them with common wine to celebrate the gods of Babylon.

Then those at the king’s table toasted a stone god, a wood god, a brass god, an iron god, a silver god, a gold god. Toast after toast until an hour of this sacrilege had passed. At that point, God stepped in to end it.

The mysterious hand of an angel materialized, spreading terror with its writing on the wall of the banquet hall. These walls featured memorials fashioned in brilliant fired tiles of the great battles of Babylon from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, celebrations of victories over all the peoples of the Middle East, including the Jews. But now God added His monument: not of Babylon's victories, but of its defeat; not of Babylon's success, but of its failure; not of Babylon's virtues, but of its sins; not of Babylon's continuity, but of its downfall.

The noise in the bawdy banquet hall ominously diminished into silence. Not a sound could be heard. No drinking, no dancing, no carousing. Flushed faces went pale. The hands that reached for more wine were frozen. The over-heated room seemed to chill. Bleary eyes became sharply focused.

Could this be some masterstroke of Babylonian sleight of hand? A magician’s show perhaps? The look on the semi-paralyzed face of the king dismissed that notion.

The first Aramaic word spelled out in the plaster of the wall read mene: which means "counting." Every mind became focused on the theme of counting. What was being counted? Why were they counting? But before they could gain any insight into that mystery, the fiery hand began forming the letters of a second word: tekel: meaning "weighed." Thoughts tumbled in a thousand directions wondering what would be weighed and why? Did this concern commerce, weighing produce perhaps, or gold?

But there could not be any dwelling on that word for another quickly emerged in large letters, so perfectly formed, no one could doubt the word or the meaning. Letter by letter the word upharsin, meaning "pieces," stood out from the wall. Like a psychedelic nightmare the three words shouted from the walls into the inebriated minds of the king and his guests the three-fold message: “counting, weighed, pieces.” I read in Daniel 5: 6, 7: The king’s:

face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way. The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."
Third, that is, after Belshazzar and his absent father Namonidus.

As the elderly men shuffled towards the royal dais, no doubt into their minds came those lingering memories of other occasions when the king had asked for the meaning of mysteries they had been unable to provide. I wonder if any one of them thought of Daniel, long since banished to a place of “no influence” in Babylonian affairs?

This elite group, revered for its wisdom and learning, looked intently at the words on the wall. From a literal point of view, no one doubted the meaning. How could there be any mystery about words they used in conversation every day. They faced a paradox: the words both obvious and mysterious. They pondered, they conferred. Their embarrassment grew by the second. Finally, the chair of the group shook his head and admitted that they had no idea how to interpret any mysterious intent in the words.

At this dramatic moment, the Queen appeared, probably the king's mother who would have remembered the early days of her husband’s rule when Daniel had profound influence in the court. I imagine Belshazzar's royal women had not been invited to this banquet. It’s not the kind of social gathering you want you wife or your mother to attend, you don’t want them to see you drift into a drunken stupor. But the eyes and ears of the palace saw and heard everything. Within seconds of the dramatic spelling by the disconnected hand, word flew to the queen mother’s chambers. She intuitively sensed the importance of the moment, and her mind flew to Daniel and she dared to come before her son, the king.

Belshazzar's eyes must have frozen as he saw his mother approaching him, every other eye in the banquet hall also focused on her. The stale smell of this besotted place, the disorder, the flagrant moral depravity written on every square foot of the room, the sacrilege to the priceless Jewish goblets shimmering in the candle light while being held in the hands of degenerate men and women . . . she took it all in at a glance. And she knew the answer to this dissolute disgrace rested on Daniel. I read from Daniel 5:10 and on:

The queen . . . came into the banquet hall. "O king, live forever!" she said. "Don't be alarmed! Don't look so pale! There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar . . . appointed him chief of the magicians . . . Daniel . . . was found to have . . . ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means."

And Belshazzar did.

What did the writing mean? What happened next? Ah, those are the crucial questions we will answer tomorrow in our Friday broadcast of the daily program. Be sure you’re tuned in!