Good Morning! - Dan 5:1 - The Feast of Belshazzar

Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. (Dan 5:1)

In 538 B.C. Belshazzar threw one of the most unusual parties in known history. He was a tag-along on the coat tails of his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar who had died 23 years earlier. A strong, well organized kingdom can coast along several years on its own unless it corrupts from within or is ruled by a nut. Of course, if a competing kingdom is on its way up, an incompetent king may decide to throw a party and pretend everything will be OK in the morning. Alcohol helped him and his high level lords to forget they were about to die.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts (Pro 31:4-6). And…

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. (Pro 20:1)

You don't have to be at Belshazzar's party to know how loud it was or how hard the servants had to work to keep the booze coming. It was party time! Time to get drunk! And so they did. It's hard to keep a party smelling good when sour breath is overtaking the perfume and those who can't hold their wine have lost their dignity and are sharing. But if you're drunk, who cares. It's great fun when somebody throws up on your shoes.

I've never enjoyed flying on Sunday night. The party people are returning home on the milk run and it smells like they've really had a great time. The lights of Atlanta never looked as good as on Sunday night.

Daniel was an old man now. He didn't tell us where he was when the party was cranking up, but God had him in the wings until the right time. It wasn't the kind of a feast any man of God would want to attend and the party animals would not want a genuine prophet among them as a wet blanket. Of course there are reverends that can join right in and be one of the clowns, but not the man of God. Historians have written enough about these feasts to let us know that parties and alcohol haven't changed much in 2,500 years. It was and is the morality of a barnyard. Got to be real empty to think that's a good time.

While the party people were losing their minds Cyrus the Persian and his army were encircling the city of Babylon. They brought tools with them to re-channel the Euphrates River and dry up the moat. They were about to crash the party. The guards in the 250 guard towers had to know what was going on but were helpless to do anything about it. There's no indication that they gave any warning. Perhaps they thought the army could not reroute the river. Belshazzar surely knew they were surrounded. But they had high walls and...high hopes.

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. (Pro 21:1)

Memory Verse

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Ch 7:14)