Daniel 5:2 "Belshazzar, whiles he
tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his
father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which [was] in
This calls Nebuchadnezzar his father,
but he was his grandfather, as we said in the verse above.
The celebration was
designed to boost morale and break the feelings of doom, because at this very
time, armies of Medo-Persia (v.30) had
Daniel 5:3 "Then they brought the
golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which
[was] at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his
concubines, drank in them."
These atheists had no idea what they
were doing. The silver and the gold vessels were holy, and dedicated to God
alone. To drink from these vessels, would be a terrible sin before God.
This is such a
terrible thing to do, that judgment will be swift. Look, with me, at the
following New Testament Scripture about the same thing.
I Thessalonians 5:3
"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh
upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."
God will not
overlook this act of disrespect for His holy things. They have sealed their own
fate, by this terrible thing they have done.
Daniel 5:4 "They drank wine, and
praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of
stone."
As if defiling His holy things is not
enough, they worship false gods using God's vessels. All of these idols made of
earthly things do not bring life. They have no power to help anyone. They can
only destroy.
This exercise was a
call for their deities to deliver them.
Even the
destruction does not come directly from them. God brings the destruction, as
judgment against them.
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