Daniel 5

Daniel 5:1

KING BALTASSAR.—THE GOD BEL

[Daniel 5 and 14]

AFTER the death of Nabuchodonozor, Baltassar, his grandson, ascended the throne. One day Baltassar gave a great banquet¹ to the nobles of his kingdom, and ordered the golden cups, which his grandfather had taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, to be brought forth and used at the banquet. The sacred vessels were brought, and the king and his wives and his officers drank from them, and they praised their gods of gold and of silver and of stone. At that moment a hand appeared and fingers were seen writing three words upon the wall over against the king. Baltassar grew pale² and trembled, for the joints of that hand were moving and wrote: Mane, Thecel, Phares³ He called for his wise men, that they might interpret the writing. But none of them could do so. Then Daniel, who had received from God the gift of prophecy, together with that of explaining hidden things, came forth and spoke to the king: “Thou hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven. Thou hast praised thy gods of gold and silver; but the Lord of heaven, who hath thy breath in His hands, thou hast not glorified. Thou knowest that thy grandfather was punished for his pride that he was driven away from the sons of men, and that he atgrass in the field with the ox and the ass, and yet thou hast no humbled thy heart. ¹ A great banquet. This was on a day when, every year, the Babylonian

celebrated a great feast in honour of their gods. It was a great sacrilege to us

the sacred vessels of the Temple in honour of their gods. “While they drank

they praised their gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron and of wood and

of stones” (Dan. 5, 4); and by so doing they treated with contempt the true God

to whom the vessels were consecrated.

² Green pale. He was pale from fear, for his guilty conscience told him that

the apparition could foretell nothing favourable to him. ³ Mane, Thecel, Phares. These are Chaldaic words and mean: Numbers Weighed, Divided. — LXXVIII. KING BALTASSAR.—THE GOD BEL.

“Wherefore God hath sent the fingers of the hand to write, and this is the writing, and this is the interpretation thereof: Mane: God hath numbered¹ thy kingdom, and hath finished it. Theel: Thou art weighed² in the balance and found wanting. Phares: Thy kingdom is divided, and is given to the Medes and Persians.” That very night Baltassar was slain³ and the prophecy of Daniel was thus fulfilled. Some time after, the army of the

Medes and Persians, under Darius, their great leader, took the city of Babylon, and divided⁴ the kingdom.

But Cyrus (Fig. 57), king of Persia, and successor of Darius, soon took possession of all the Assyrian empire, of which Babylon was the capital. He treated Daniel with marked respect, and made him sit down at his own table. At this time the god Bel was worshipped in Babylon as the supreme deity. There were spent upon him every day twelve large measures of flour, forty sheep and sixty vessels of wine.

The king went every day to adore this god Bel.

But Daniel adored the true God. Then the king asked him why he did not adore Bel. Daniel replied that he adored the true and living God, who created earth and heaven, and whose power

¹ Hath numbered. The days of your rule have come to an end

² Weighed. You are found unworthy either to live or reign any longer.

³ Was slain. By his brother-in-law.

⁴ Divided. The northern part fell to the share of the Medes, and the southern part was possessed by the Persians. When, soon after, the king of the Medes died, leaving no children, both Babylon and Media fell into the hands of the Persian king Cyrus.

— LXXVIII. KING BALTASSAR.—THE GOD BEL.

extends over all things. The king, much surprised, asked Daniel if he did not believe that Bel was a living god, seeing how much he consumed every day.

Daniel smiled and said: “O king, be not deceived, for this Bel is clay within and brass without, neither hath he eaten at any time.” The king, being angry, called for the priests of the god, and said to them: “If ye tell me not who it is that eats up these provisions, ye shall die. But if ye can show that Bel eateth these things, Daniel shall die, because he hath blasphemed against Bel.” Daniel agreed to the king’s proposal.

Then the king, accompanied by Daniel, went to the temple of Bel. And the priests of Bel said to the king, “Behold, we go out, and do thou, O king, set on the meats, and make ready the wine, and shut the door fast, and seal it with thy own ring, and when thou comest in the morning, if thou find not that Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death, or else Daniel who hath lied against us.”

They were not afraid, because they had a secret door under the altar, whereby they entered and consumed the meats. The priests having gone out, the king caused the meats and the wine to be placed before Bel. This being done, the servants of Daniel brought ashes, and he sifted them¹ all over the temple, in the presence of the king. Then they all left the temple, the door on which was sealed with the royal seal.

But the priests went in by night with their wives and children as they were accustomed to do, and they ate and drank all that had been placed before the idol. The king arose early in the morning, and went to the temple with Daniel. They found the seal unbroken, and, opening the door, went in. The king looked at the table, and, seeing that all the provisions had disappeared cried out: “Great art thou, O Bel, and there is not any deceit with thee.”

Daniel laughed², and pointing to the floor, said: “Mark whose footsteps these are!” The king, much amazed, said: “I see the footsteps of men, women and children.” Then, examining

¹ Sifted them. The ashes were sifted so fine that the priests of Bel could not have remarked them.

² Laughed. And held back the king, so that he should not enter and obliterate the footsteps.

— LXXVIII. KING BALTASSAR.—THE GOD BEL.

more closely, he found the secret door¹, by which the priests were wont to go in and out. Thereupon the king, being enraged against the priests of Bel, ordered them all to be put to death. And he gave Bel up to Daniel, who destroyed him and his temple.

COMMENTARY.

The Justice and Faithfulness of God. Baltassar’s sudden death was a punishment of the wanton sacrilege which filled up the measure of his sins. His day of grace was past, and God summoned him before his judgment-seat. His overthrow fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy to Nabucholonozor (chapter LXXVII), namely that the Babylonian kingdom would come to an end, and that another kingdom would rise up in its place.

Sacrilege. The sacred vessels of the Temple were consecrated to God, and might be used by the priests alone for the divine worship. Therefore Baltassar’s was a threefold sacrilege. Firstly, those who were not priests and even women, used them. Secondly, they were used for the purpose of intoxication. Thirdly, in drinking from them, the false gods were honoured and glorified.

Intemperance in drink. It was drunkenness which led the king to commit sacrilege. Drunkenness deprives men, either partially or entirely, of the use of their reason. They no longer consider what they say or do, and bad passions are awakened in their hearts. Such are the consequences of gluttony or intemperance, which is one of the seven capital sins, or sins which are the source of other sins. Drunkenness releases man and makes him like the lower animals. Our Lord himself thus warns us: “Take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of his life: and that day (of judgment) come upon you suddenly” (Luke 1, 34).

Our days are numbered; and as a rule the end comes sooner than we expect. Then comes the judgment, at which all our thoughts, words and actions will be weighed and proved according to their merit before God. All our possessions will be divided, and will pass into other hands after our death.

Zeal for God’s Glory. We should admire Daniel’s zeal for God’s honour and glory. It grieved him to think that so many millions of men should be victims to the folly of idolatry, and be ignorant of the true God. Therefore he laboured to convince them of the nothingness of idols, and to convert them to a belief in God. He knew very well that the obstinate worshippers of false gods, and especially the priests, would hate and persecute him; but in spite of this, and with great

¹ The secret door. Under the altar. — LXXIX. DANIEL IN THE LIONS’ DEN.

skill, he showed up the deception of the priests of Bel, destroyed his image, and also killed a dragon which was worshipped as a god. Daniel was a valiant servant of God, and quite ready to suffer death on account of his faith.

APPLICATION. If God punished the desecration of the sacred vessels of the Old Law so severely, how much more heavily will he punish any want of reverence towards the sacraments and holy things of the New Law! Have you ever made a sacrilegious confession? Resolve to pay more reverence to God’s holy Sacraments than you have hitherto done, and make a better preparation before receiving them.