133 - Flattery Is An Evil Tool

Daniel Is Promoted

The night the Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon, Belshazzar was killed and Darius, king of the Medes, took the throne in Babylon.  As was the custom with the Medes and Persians, they also divided the Babylonian kingdom into provinces, in order to keep control of the kingdom.

Darius placed one governor, satrap, over each of the 120 provinces. Later on, in history, there were 127 provinces.  Over the governors were three presidents (Daniel was one of them), so that these satraps might give account to them, and the king should have no loss. Daniel 6:2.  Each governor was responsible to one of the presidents regarding the welfare of the province and also to forward the taxes to the king's treasury so that the king should have no (financial) loss.

Soon the king promoted Daniel to be head of the three presidents because an excellent spirit was in him.  The three presidents (the original two plus Daniel's replacement) and their cohorts were thinking, just how much humiliation to we have to put up with?  This Daniel guy is nothing more than a foreigner, brought here as a slave, and to make matters worse he is just a Jew!  

Then they heard that the king was planning to set him (Daniel) over all the kingdom. 6:3. Well, that is just going too far, so the presidents and rulers sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom. But they could find no occasion or fault, because he was faithful. Neither was there any error or fault found in him. Dan 6:4.  This does not mean that Daniel was a perfect man; it only means that he did his job as well as could be expected.

Plan "A" did not work so a new plan was needed and the presidents cooked up a plot. Flattery is such a wicked device and the king fell for it, like a child, without even thinking of the consequences.  All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, and the officials and governors, said to the king, we have planned together to establish a royal law, and to make a strong ban that whoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except from you, (the king is thinking, these men really think the world of me), O king, he shall be thrown into the den of lions. 

Beware of Flatterers

Please pardon a personal example.  

Many years ago, when I was in my early 20's, I was working at an industrial site which was right beside a railroad track.  Freight trains would roll by and always blew the horn to make sure no one was on the track.  One day the train did not blow the horn, and as fate would have it, a transport truck was just beginning to cross the track and the train engine broadsided it and killed the truck driver.

Investigators, from the train company, came, and all those who had seen the accident needed to make a written and a verbal report to them.  I distinctly told them that the train had not blown the horn.  This oversight, on the part of the engineer, could have been very expensive for the train company.  

Quick as a flash one of the company men complimented me on my good handwriting.  Which, in fact, has always been awful.  But the flattery did its trick.  I forgot about the sounding of the horn and later I noticed that the shrewd businessman had not included my statement about the horn not sounding in his report.  I am still bothered by the fact that I fell for that flattery.

Now, O king, establish the ban and sign the writing, so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be changed. Therefore King Darius signed the writing and the ban. Dan 6:7-9 

Daniel continued his prayer life as always, of course, the spies were watching and they could honestly report to the king that Daniel had broken the king's law.  Then the king, when he heard the word, was very much displeased with himself. And he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. And he labored until sundown to deliver him. Dan. 6:15.  According to eastern custom the execution was carried out on the evening of the day that the accusation was made and found valid. Guzik.  

All his authority, arguing and begging could not persuade the presidents and their friends to let Daniel go.  Then these men met before the king and said to the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is that no ban nor law which the king establishes may be changed. Dan 6:14.  The king could not revoke the law and had no recourse but to have Daniel thrown to the lions.

That night the king could not sleep and in the morning, he hurried to the lion's cage and asked Daniel if he was alright.  Daniel assured him that God had sent an angel which shut the lions' mouth.  So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of hurt was found on him, because he trusted in his God. 6:23.

And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they threw them into the lions' den; them, their sons, and their wives.  This sounds like unnecessarily cruel and unjust punishment to the innocent family members; however, it was not unheard of in those days.

And the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces before they came to the bottom of the den. Dan 6:24.  I think in this case we mustn't take the words of the author literally because the facts seem almost impossible.  If all the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, and the officials and governors, were indicted and their wives and all their children were guilty by "association" the crowd of people would have been much too huge for the lions to break all their bones in pieces before they came to the bottom of the den (fell all the way down).

It seems that the author is painting a picture in contrasts and the actual facts as stated are not of importance.  The point is: Daniel was saved because of his faith and his upright lifestyle and Daniel's enemies did not survive because they plotted evil against one of Jehovah's chosen saints.  

Of course, it does not always work out this way but the moral of the story seems to fit that idea.  In the book, Jesus and His Times published by the Readers Digest is this illuminating statement; the recording of history with literal exactness of detail is a fairly modern development.  At the time when the Bible was written, precise fact was far less important than the spiritual message of the stories shared. 

132 - The Writing is On The Wall

The Drunk King

This chapter starts off by telling us that Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's son has taken his father's place on the throne.

There is no agreement as to whose son he was.  

• This king was not the immediate successor of Nebuchadnezzar, ... the truth is, that he was the son of Evilmerodach, and grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Gill.  
• Belshazzar ... reigned after Evil-merodach, who reigned instead of Nebuchadnezzar, and (he, Belshazzar) too was the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Rashi.  
• The word "son" can be Used also for descendant. Fausset's Dictionary.

Bible commentaries say that that day Belshazzar and his army won a battle against the armies of the Medes and the Persians.  To celebrate the victory Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Dan. 5:1.  Big mistake; that same night while the king and his lords were stone drunk the Medes and the Persians attacked the city and captured it.

It is also interesting that the phrase, Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand, the meaning of which is, he was drinking with his buddies.  In the Jewish Bible it reads like this, King Belshazzar made a great feast for his one thousand dignitaries, and he drank as much wine as the thousand.  I have trouble believing that, unless his war buddies were all teetotalers, and I have even more trouble believing that. 

They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, and of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone. At that moment fingers of a man's hand came out and wrote on the plaster of the wall. 

And the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's face was changed, (he turned pale) and his thoughts troubled him, (he was "scared out of his wits") so that, (so much so that) the joints of his loins were loosened, (in plain English this means that he "soiled his pants"), and his knees knocked against one another (bumped and knocked). Rashi. 5:4-6. 

Then all the king's wise men came in. But they could not read the writing. Dan 5:8.   There is much-convoluted discussion as to why the wise men could not read the writing on the wall.  Adam Clake keeps the answer simple; Because it was in the pure Hebrew, not the Chaldean character.  This answer seems a bit too simple.  Since the Jews had been captive in Babylon for almost seventy years it is astonishing that none of the wise men would have bothered to learn Hebrew.

The queen came into the banquet house because of the king's words. 5:10.  The king had been drinking with his wives and concubines, but the queen, it seems, was above that type of debauchery and did not come to the party until ordered to by the king.  

It is believed, by some, that she was the widow of Nebuchadnezzar in which case it is probable that she was not invited. 

Pride - That slithery Serpent

Daniel, speaking about Nebuchadnezzar, to Belshazzar, said, when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was put down from the throne of his kingdom, and they took his glory from him ... until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that He appoints over it whomever He will. And you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this. 5:20-22.  

Solomon had accurately said, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18.

Why is it that younger people cannot learn from the bad experiences of those who have walked the same road ahead of them.  

• Young people take up smoking, seemingly because they believe that they are immune to lung cancer. 
• Young people refuse to wear seat belts because they believe they are younger and consequently sharper and have a quicker response time.  They may be and they may have but what good does that do while the car is rolling down the walls of the ravine. 
• Young people take up "drugs" completely disregarding the fact that it will, in some way, lead to an early grave, or, at best, to a wasted life.

The young man, Belshazzar, should have known better but death was the price he paid for his pride.

And this is the writing that was written, A MINA, A MINA, A SHEKEL, AND HALF-MINAS. This is the meaning of the thing: A MINA, God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. A SHEKEL, You are weighed in the balances and found wanting. HALF-MINAS, Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. 5:25-28.

Then Belshazzar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and a golden chain around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 5:29.  Well, big deal, the kingdom came to an end that night.  

In that night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was killed. 5:30.  

For a totally different viewpoint on this chapter, I suggest:

 http://spaceshiptheology.blogspot.com/2013/09/eo-cast-daniel-prognosticator.html

131 - A Furnace and A Tree

The Fiery Furnace. 

The stories in the book of Daniel are so familiar to most of us that I want to mention only a few, out of the way, thoughts in each of the stories.

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its breadth six cubits.  The height to width ratio is ridiculous.  

If its thickness was only six [cubits], how could it stand at a height of sixty cubits? Said Rav Bibi: They would set it up and it would fall, until they brought all the gold of Jerusalem and poured a base around its feet. Rashi's Commentary.  

Since there is so great a disproportion between the height and breadth, some have thought that the height includes the pedestal on which it stood. Gill.

Then a herald cried aloud, ... at the time you hear the sound of ... all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the golden image. 3:1-5.  The three Jewish men around whom this story revolves did not obey the king's command and they were brought before the king to make their defence.  

The king asked, Do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?  In the Jewish Bible, it reads like this, Are my decrees void and desolate and an empty thing in your eyes? Rashi's Commentary.  

But if you do not worship, in that moment you shall be thrown into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. 3:15.  immediately, without any delay; no reprieve will be granted, and much less a pardon: Gill.  

Even your God can't deliver you from that furnace.  Has this king got a short memory, or what?  In the previous chapter, he had said to Daniel, It is true that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings. 

Even though they were given a chance to recant and worship the image, the three heroes refused, so the king spoke and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.  

It is good to remember that in Jewish thinking "seven" represents the ultimate.  Things pertaining to "holiness" or "God" are numbered "7", so are some scheduled events which are said to be directly in God's hands.  With that in mind, it is easy to see that this could simply mean that the furnace was made as hot as possible, maybe not exactly 7 times as hot.

After this ordeal, the king made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego prosper in the province of Babylon. 3:30.  

The Gigantic Tree

I saw a dream and it terrified me. Dan 4:5.  But at last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar. 4:8.  Finally, Daniel came to the king to explain the dream to the king.  Here is an interesting note on Daniel's heathen name: The deity of Babylon was named Bel. Teshazzar is the name of an expression of wisdom in Aramaic. Rashi's Commentary.  From this, of course, we get Belteshazzar.  One could read this as if the Babylonians called Daniel, "a wise god".

Then Daniel ... was stunned for one hour. Dan 4:19.  It is not possible to designate the exact time denoted by the word “hour”. According to Gesenius (“Lex.”), it means moment of time; properly, a look, a glance, a wink of the eye”.  In Arabic the word means both a moment and an hour. Barnes; see also Strong H1860.

The tree that you saw, which became great and strong, whose height reached to the heaven, into the sky, according to Strong, H8064, this is where the birds fly. 

and the sight of it to all the earth. 4:20.  In dreams, the weirdest things can happen.  

Cut the tree down and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots of it in the earth.  Let his portion be with the animals of the field, until seven times pass over him. 4:23.  King Nebuchadnezzar will be cut down, lose his sanity for 7 years, live with the animals and after 7 years return to the stump that was left of his kingdom.  Again the 7 might simply be a reference to the time appointed by God.

seven periods shall pass over you: We may say that this is the recompense for the Temple (Solomon's temple in Jerusalem), which he destroyed, which was built in seven years. Rashi's Commentary.  People who use that kind of reasoning may say that.  I happen to be a strong believer in coincidence.

Even after this message of hopelessness, Daniel tells the king that there is a chance to repent and make things right with Jehovah by helping the needy.    Therefore, O king, let my advice be pleasing to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.  

Perhaps he can prolong his sovereignty, maybe there will be duration to your prosperity. 4:27.   One can surmise that he did not pay attention to that advice for the Bible tells us that the king's insanity actually happened and that he was not restored until after he finally learned true humility.