King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Daniel 5:1-2
Daniel 5 begins with this statement: “King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles….” This banquet turned out to be perhaps the most famous party in all of history, but not for the reasons that King Belshazzar was hoping. The story that has become known as “Belshazzar's Feast” has been set to classical music, referred to in great works of literature, and depicted in one of Rembrandt's most famous paintings. This account is memorable, powerful, and a reminder to those who would presumptuously sin in defiance of the God of Israel.
Belshazzar and his officials assumed that the city of Babylon could never be taken. It had been built as an impregnable fortress with massive walls, and with vast stores of food, water, and other supplies to withstand a siege. Though the Babylonians were in a weakened state militarily and the Persian army was advancing, they assumed that their fortress would protect them.
THREE REFERENCES TO DRINKING
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.
Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.“They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.” Proverbs 23:29–35
In the first two verses of Daniel chapter 5 there are three references to drinking. Since it was a great banquet we can already safely assume they would be drinking wine. The repeated references to drinking therefore tell us something about this man and his nobles.
THE HOLY TEMPLE VESSELS WERE PROFANED
So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. Daniel 5:3-4
Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Sadly, he didn’t choose to follow the God of Israel even despite all that his grandfather had gone through. Rather, he indulged in pagan practices and gave honor to the deities of Babylon. He held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles. He ordered that the vessels of silver and gold that Nebuchadnezzar had plundered from Jerusalem be used to drink wine at his feast with his many wives and concubines. As they drank from the vessels from the temple of Yehovah, they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. They did not praise the Creator of heaven and earth, but they profaned the holy vessels of the temple and blasphemed the
