O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom and his majesty and glory and honor, so his authority and greatness were received as gifts and not gained by himself. Daniel spoke this to Belshazzar while he ruled with absolute power and indulged pride, when at his feast with his lords he profaned the sacred vessels and praised his idols until a hand wrote his doom on the palace wall. He reminded Belshazzar of this well-known history because it should have taught him humility and submission to God, but he refused to learn it. God gives such light to lead to reform, and when in prosperity rulers forget Him and ascribe the glory of the kingdom to human achievement, neglect of that light brings judgment and the kingdom is broken. Babylon fell suddenly in an hour of feasting and revelry, and that fall will be repeated at the end of the world, while the same hand still records every act of injustice and oppression against His people for certain punishment.
Context and Plain Meaning
The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom and majesty and glory and honour, so his royal authority and power and greatness and status were not his own but gifts from God, who rules over human kingdoms. Daniel recalled this gift before Belshazzar as history the king already knew but had failed to learn, history that should have taught him humility and submission to God. Belshazzar had seen the light God revealed through Nebuchadnezzar's experience yet chose to disregard it and follow his own way, and the reminder of God's gift stood as warning and judgment against him for his feast and misuse of the temple vessels.
The account stands near the close of Daniel's life, after Nebuchadnezzar's death, when his successors ruled unwisely and the kingdom was moving toward dissolution. Nebuchadnezzar's rule had begun Babylon's universal sway and the seventy-year captivity, which continued through his descendants until Belshazzar's reign, when Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians.
The words were spoken when Belshazzar held absolute rule with everything to flatter pride and indulge passion, with the property of lords and nobles at his command, with princes as servants, and with his will as law. At his feast with his thousand lords he profaned the golden vessels of Jehovah with sacrilegious mirth and praised the idols of Babylon, while the God they defied witnessed the unholy scene. Though under wine his reason was beclouded and he forgot God and dishonored Him by using vessels consecrated to Jehovah and praising gods of gold and silver and profaning the God of heaven, God did not forget him but weighed his motives and character and life and soul in the balances of His sanctuary. In the midst of the feast a bloodless hand traced mysterious characters upon the palace wall, and king and courtiers in terror heard their doom pronounced by the servant of the Most High, as Daniel recalled God's gift to Nebuchadnezzar.
Sovereignty, Warning, and Judgment
The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom, majesty, glory, and honor, so that royal power, greatness, and status come from God, who rules over human kingdoms. Daniel reminded Belshazzar of this familiar history because he already knew it and it should have taught him humility and submission to God, but he had failed to learn that lesson. Belshazzar had seen the light God revealed through Nebuchadnezzar's experience but chose to disregard it and follow his own way. God gives such lessons to lead people to reform, and neglecting and failing to practice them brings judgment on Babylon.
God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom and greatness by coming into close contact even with an idolater's mind for a purpose, giving light through Daniel including things foretold against Babylon and other kingdoms, with the interpretation of the dream exalting Jehovah as more powerful than earthly kings. Nebuchadnezzar perverted that light by reading it through his own idolatrous mind and ambitions, turning it into a golden image representing himself and his kingdom's glory in hope of converting all nations to its worship. After Christ walked in the fiery furnace with the three who would not bow, Nebuchadnezzar was moved to acknowledge God and His superior power, showing that all must read dreams in the light of the living oracles and not read Scripture and providence in the light of dreams and fancies.
In prosperity Babylon's rulers regarded themselves as independent of God, forgot Him, and ascribed the glory of the kingdom to human achievement, and therefore Babylon was at last shattered, broken, and passed away. Its truth is beheld in the literal fulfillment of divine prophecy in the history of nations. Belshazzar's presumption and defiance in feasting and revelry, despite the earlier encounter with God's power and instruction, show that people can persist in blasphemy until they pass the limits of God's forbearance, and Babylon's fall came in that hour of feasting and revelry.
Babylon's sudden fall in an hour of feasting and reveling will be repeated at the end of the world. The present time is one of peculiar momentous importance in which students of God's Word must work away from the customs and appointments of the world's great counselors, must not say the Lord delays His coming and that since the fathers fell asleep all things remain as they were from the beginning, and must be as the wise virgins prepared with oil in their vessels with their lamps to go forth to meet the Bridegroom. In the midst of Belshazzar's feast with his thousand lords, while they profaned the golden vessels of Jehovah with sacrilegious mirth and praised the idols of Babylon, the God they defied witnessed the unholy scene and a bloodless hand traced mysterious characters upon the palace wall, so that king and courtiers in terror heard their doom pronounced by the servant of the Most High. The same hand that wrote on Belshazzar's wall keeps faithful record of every act of injustice or oppression committed against God's people, so that defaming by calumny and falsehood the characters of those Christ purchased is a greater profanation than profaning soulless vessels and will meet certain punishment.
The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom and his majesty and glory and honor, so his authority and greatness were received as gifts and not gained by himself. Daniel spoke this to Belshazzar while he ruled with absolute power and indulged pride, when at his feast with his lords he profaned the sacred vessels and praised his idols until a hand wrote his doom on the palace wall. He reminded Belshazzar of this well-known history because it should have taught him humility and submission to God, but he refused to learn it. God gives such light to lead to reform, and when in prosperity rulers forget Him and ascribe the glory of the kingdom to human achievement, neglect of that light brings judgment and the kingdom is broken. Babylon fell suddenly in an hour of feasting and revelry, and that fall will be repeated at the end of the world, while the same hand still records every act of injustice and oppression against His people for certain punishment.
Context and Plain Meaning
The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom and majesty and glory and honour, so his royal authority and power and greatness and status were not his own but gifts from God, who rules over human kingdoms. Daniel recalled this gift before Belshazzar as history the king already knew but had failed to learn, history that should have taught him humility and submission to God. Belshazzar had seen the light God revealed through Nebuchadnezzar's experience yet chose to disregard it and follow his own way, and the reminder of God's gift stood as warning and judgment against him for his feast and misuse of the temple vessels.
The account stands near the close of Daniel's life, after Nebuchadnezzar's death, when his successors ruled unwisely and the kingdom was moving toward dissolution. Nebuchadnezzar's rule had begun Babylon's universal sway and the seventy-year captivity, which continued through his descendants until Belshazzar's reign, when Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians.
The words were spoken when Belshazzar held absolute rule with everything to flatter pride and indulge passion, with the property of lords and nobles at his command, with princes as servants, and with his will as law. At his feast with his thousand lords he profaned the golden vessels of Jehovah with sacrilegious mirth and praised the idols of Babylon, while the God they defied witnessed the unholy scene. Though under wine his reason was beclouded and he forgot God and dishonored Him by using vessels consecrated to Jehovah and praising gods of gold and silver and profaning the God of heaven, God did not forget him but weighed his motives and character and life and soul in the balances of His sanctuary. In the midst of the feast a bloodless hand traced mysterious characters upon the palace wall, and king and courtiers in terror heard their doom pronounced by the servant of the Most High, as Daniel recalled God's gift to Nebuchadnezzar.
Sovereignty, Warning, and Judgment
The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom, majesty, glory, and honor, so that royal power, greatness, and status come from God, who rules over human kingdoms. Daniel reminded Belshazzar of this familiar history because he already knew it and it should have taught him humility and submission to God, but he had failed to learn that lesson. Belshazzar had seen the light God revealed through Nebuchadnezzar's experience but chose to disregard it and follow his own way. God gives such lessons to lead people to reform, and neglecting and failing to practice them brings judgment on Babylon.
God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom and greatness by coming into close contact even with an idolater's mind for a purpose, giving light through Daniel including things foretold against Babylon and other kingdoms, with the interpretation of the dream exalting Jehovah as more powerful than earthly kings. Nebuchadnezzar perverted that light by reading it through his own idolatrous mind and ambitions, turning it into a golden image representing himself and his kingdom's glory in hope of converting all nations to its worship. After Christ walked in the fiery furnace with the three who would not bow, Nebuchadnezzar was moved to acknowledge God and His superior power, showing that all must read dreams in the light of the living oracles and not read Scripture and providence in the light of dreams and fancies.
In prosperity Babylon's rulers regarded themselves as independent of God, forgot Him, and ascribed the glory of the kingdom to human achievement, and therefore Babylon was at last shattered, broken, and passed away. Its truth is beheld in the literal fulfillment of divine prophecy in the history of nations. Belshazzar's presumption and defiance in feasting and revelry, despite the earlier encounter with God's power and instruction, show that people can persist in blasphemy until they pass the limits of God's forbearance, and Babylon's fall came in that hour of feasting and revelry.
Babylon's sudden fall in an hour of feasting and reveling will be repeated at the end of the world. The present time is one of peculiar momentous importance in which students of God's Word must work away from the customs and appointments of the world's great counselors, must not say the Lord delays His coming and that since the fathers fell asleep all things remain as they were from the beginning, and must be as the wise virgins prepared with oil in their vessels with their lamps to go forth to meet the Bridegroom. In the midst of Belshazzar's feast with his thousand lords, while they profaned the golden vessels of Jehovah with sacrilegious mirth and praised the idols of Babylon, the God they defied witnessed the unholy scene and a bloodless hand traced mysterious characters upon the palace wall, so that king and courtiers in terror heard their doom pronounced by the servant of the Most High. The same hand that wrote on Belshazzar's wall keeps faithful record of every act of injustice or oppression committed against God's people, so that defaming by calumny and falsehood the characters of those Christ purchased is a greater profanation than profaning soulless vessels and will meet certain punishment.