Daniel 5
COMMENTARY:
: 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. (NKJV)
DEVOTION: Here we find a party going on with everyone drinking. Then in the middle of the party the king decides to go into the treasury house and get the golden cups that were taken from the Temple in Jerusalem.
What did he want to do? He wanted to use the cups from the Temple to worship the false gods of the land. Notice that they mention the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. They had many gods but not the TRUE God of the Bible.
However, the TRUE God did something to cause them concern. HE wrote on the wall with HIS finger. HE gave them a message they would never forget. That night God send judgment.
Sometimes God waits to judge but at other times HE judges quickly. This was a quick judgment. HE didn’t appreciate them using HIS cups for worship to false gods.
When people are drinking too much wine they don’t think straight. They do and say things that they will regret later if they even remember. The LORD doesn’t want HIS servants to be drunk with wine or any other strong drink. HE wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Christians have to make choices regarding social habits. There are some who have no problem limiting their use of drink but the better testimony is to not be involved in strong drink. Our social habits are part of our testimony as I have mentioned before.
CHALLENGE: We are not to worship the gods of possessions or other lands.
: 5 Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king’s palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote,
: 6 and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him. (NLT)
DEVOTION: What would your reaction be if you saw a hand writing on the wall next to you? Would you be afraid? Would you run away?
God wanted to get the attention of the people who were not honoring HIM. They were taking something that belonged to HIM and using it for something that was not pleasing to HIM.
Once HE got their attention HE gave them HIS message. They were not living the way they were supposed to live and they were going to suffer for it. That same night the kingdom of Babylon was conquered. They were defeated.
Sometimes when we do things that are not pleasing to the LORD HE has to discipline us. We don’t like spankings from our parents for doing something wrong. Many parents today don’t spank but they use time out or other methods. They use them to get the attention of their children, so that, they don’t do things that are wrong. If parents don’t discipline in any way then the children will not learn what is right or wrong.
Parents have the responsibility to care for their children in this way, so that; they grow up to be healthy and socially accepted. If parents don’t do their jobs correctly then we have children who become adults that have children that don’t know how to train their children and then society is the worse for it.
The Bible says that all parents are to “train up their children in the LORD.” Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king who didn’t train his children right and his grandchildren didn’t get proper training as well. The one having the drinking party was thought to be his grandson.
CHALLENGE: The LORD gives parents an awesome responsibility toward their children.
: 12 Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. (7001 “doubts” [qatar] means difficulties, knotty things, problems, an enigma, hidden difficulties, or riddle.)
DEVOTION: The New Testament informs us that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to those who are followers of Jesus Christ. Some of us get one gift while others might get more than one gift. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to those who can handle them.
There are some people who think they have a gift from the Holy Spirit but they don’t. They are working on getting it themselves which is wrong. Some institutions that are religious try to teach people how to get gifts that the Holy Spirit has never given and never intended to give them. This is wrong and sinful. We need to accept the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us for our work in the church and move on.
When you read the list above we find that Daniel was given many gifts from the Holy Spirit. The heathens didn’t understand this but thought he received them of the gods which is wrong. He received them from the ONLY TRUE GOD of the universe, the God of the Bible.
Now we can be given the ability to discern things. We can have an excellent spirit. We can have knowledge and understanding in a limited sense.
This next gift is one that I am not sure anyone has today but the LORD is able to give it. The “interpreting of dreams” was given to Daniel because the LORD spoke in people’s dreams in the Old Testament. HE spoke to Jacob, Samuel, and others. In the New Testament HE spoke to Joseph, Ananias and others. The book of Hebrews seems to state that that time had ended. We are in the last days and now HE is speaking through HIS Son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2).
The last two seem to be teaching about solving riddles and difficult problems. The LORD gave Daniel the ability to solve problems. We should be able with the help of the Holy Spirit to solve problems in our life and in the lives of those who ask us for counsel. The Bible has answers to all of life’s problems. Sometimes they are not simple answers but they are answers.
CHALLENGE: Realize that the LORD can use you if you are willing to humble yourself before HIM when you need to help solve some problems in your life or in the life of others.
: 22 And you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this. (8214 “humbled” [sh@phal] means to be or brought .low, abase, subdue, or put down. This is another Aramaic word.)
DEVOTION: Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar and he knew what had happened to him but still didn’t listen to the lesson. He saw his grandfather turn into a wild man. He saw him recover from his spell and honor the God of Daniel as the most high God.
However, he still worshipped the gods of gold, silver, etc. He was having a drinking party with his princes, wives and concubines. They were using the golden cups from the Temple of God that was in Jerusalem.
They had been part of the booty that Nebuchadnezzar had brought back from Jerusalem. They were in storage. The cups were supposed to be used in the worship of the only true God and now they were being used to worship the false gods of Babylon. The one god that is mentions is the god of money.
As they were partying, a finger appeared and wrote something on the wall. They were frightened. They called for an interpretation. The wise men were called but they couldn’t read what was written. The king’s grandmother came and told him about Daniel. Daniel was called. Daniel gave the interpretation. It was not good for Babylon.
We have things happen to us in our lives that scare us into wanting to find out what is going on. We listen to the Word of God and see what happened in the past to people.
However, sometimes we don’t listen to the warnings the LORD is sending our way as an individual or family or nation. The LORD warns us about what is going to happen to those who worship the wrong gods.
Are we worshipping the God of the Bible or other gods in our culture? Are we trying to be politically correct or Biblical correct? We need to stand up for the LORD at all times!!!! Daniel did and the LORD blessed him.
CHALLENGE: Knowing about humility and practicing it are two different things. It takes work to practice humility in our life. We all need to work on it regularly.
DONATIONS:
Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org. Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church please use that method. Thank you.
Visit our Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.