Daniel 5.4-Belshazzar And His Guests Praise The Gods Of Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron, Wood And Stone As They Drank Wine
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 14, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 5:4-Belshazzar And His Guests Praise The Gods Of Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron, Wood And Stone As They Drank Wine
Lesson # 145
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 5:4.
Daniel 5:1 King Belshazzar threw an enormous banquet for a thousand of his nobles. He even drank wine excessively directly in front of the thousand. 2 Belshazzar issued an order while under the influence of the wine causing the gold and silver articles to be brought in which Nebuchadnezzar, his great-grandfather caused to be confiscated from the temple, which was in Jerusalem, in order that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 3 Therefore, the gold and silver articles were brought in, which were confiscated from the temple, which was God’s house, which was in Jerusalem so that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. (Author’s translation)
Daniel 5:4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. (NASB95)
“And praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone” is a temporal clause since the conjunction wa, “and” is a temporal marker meaning that it is a marker of an event as taking simultaneously with another event.
The word is introducing a statement which records that Belshazzar and his guests praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
The conjunction marks this event as taking place simultaneously with the previous statement which records Belshazzar and his guests drinking wine.
Therefore, the word denotes that “while” Belshazzar and his guests drank wine, they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
“Praised” is the third person masculine plural paʿʿel (Hebrew: piel) active perfect form of the verb šeḇǎḥ (שְׁבַח) (sheb-akh´), which means “to praise” in the sense of acknowledging and esteeming one’s excellence.
The word denotes Belshazzar and his guests acknowledging and esteeming the excellence of the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
Thus, the verb denotes the while the king and his guests drank wine, they were acknowledging and esteeming or expressing a high regard for the perceived excellence of the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
“The gods” is the masculine plural construct form of the noun ʾělāh (אֱלָהּ) (el-aw´), which is referring to the heathen gods, which Belshazzar and his guests worshipped along with the other unregenerate members of the human race.
The word is in the construct state meaning that it is governing the nouns, which follow it, which are dehǎḇ, “gold,” kesǎp̄, “silver,” neḥāš, “bronze,” pǎr∙zěl, “iron,” ʾāʿ, “wood,” and ʾě∙ḇěn, “a stone.”
This construction expresses a genitive relation.
Specifically, it is a material genitive which denotes the substance out of which the construct term is constructed.
This indicates the gods Belshazzar and his guests were praising were composed of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
Daniel 5:4 They drank wine while they praised gods composed of gold as well as silver, bronze, iron, wood and in addition stone. (My translation)
Belshazzar and his guests not only showed great disrespect for the God of Israel by using the articles of gold and silver from Solomon’s temple which were to be used in the worship of the God of Israel but also they praised their gods composed of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
So they were not only blaspheming the God of Israel but also committing idolatry as well.
The Scripture teaches that Satan and the kingdom of darkness are behind the idolatry and the worship of the false gods in the world.
Therefore, unregenerate members of the human race like Belshazzar were worshipping demons by worshipping the various gods and practicing idolatry.
Deuteronomy 32:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:20 teach that the worship of idols is connected to the worship of demons since the sacrificing to idols is in reality sacrificing to demons who promote the worship of idols.
Idolatry is the worship of something created as opposed to the worship of the Creator Himself.
Scores of references to idolatry appear in the Old Testament.
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (NASB95)
This commandment addresses the Israelites relationship with Yahweh.
In the Hebrew text, this first commandment means “You must never have other gods over or against Me.”
This commandment appears in Deuteronomy 5:7 as well.
The term ʾelōhı̂m, “gods” which refers to either angels or men since it can refer to either human rulers (cf. Psalm 82; John 10:34-36) or angelic beings.
This commandment is an implicit acknowledgement that there are men who are worshipped as gods as well as angels.
Therefore, this commandment prohibits the Israelites from practicing idolatry and worshipping angels or men rather than God who is their Creator and Redeemer.
It denotes the uniqueness of God in that He is the only being in creation who is to be worshipped by the Israelites.
It expresses God’s claim upon the Israelites and demands their absolute loyalty and allegiance to Him.
Idolatry originally meant the worship of idols, or the worship of false gods by means of idols, but came to mean among the Old Testament Hebrews any worship of false gods, whether by images or otherwise or the worship of the Lord through visible symbols (Hosea 8:5-6; 10:5).
Idolatry is not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion, which belongs to God alone, but also is putting anything ahead of your relationship with God and which would prevent you from doing His will (1 Corinthians 10:14; Galatians 5:20; Colossians 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).
Ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1 Corinthians 10:14; Galatians 5:20; Colossians 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).
In Daniel 5:4, we have Belshazzar praising the gods he and his guests worshipped.
Undoubtedly, they were praising these gods because they erroneously believed that they had protected the city of Babylon for hundreds of years and would do so again since Babylon had not fallen to an invading army in a thousand years at the time when the king threw this party for his nobles.
So probably to show contempt for the Medes and Persians and his great confidence in the city’s fornications and that the city had not fallen to an invader for a thousand years, Belshazzar threw an enormous banquet for a thousand of his nobles.
However, ingeniously, Cyrus’ commander Ugbaru who is referred to in the Nabonidus Chronicle as governor of Gutium, diverted the waters of the Euphrates to an old channel dug by a previous ruler which suddenly reduced the water level well below the river-gates.
Not too long after that the Persian invaders came wading in at night and clambered up the riverbank before the guards of the city knew what happened.
In Daniel 5:22, Daniel makes clear to Belshazzar that he knew full well that his great-grandfather Nebuchadnezzar became a believer in the God of Israel and was humbled by Yahweh when the king refused to acknowledge His sovereignty over the king.
The king knew the significance of these articles from Solomon’s temple.
Yet, he totally disregards the Lord’s past dealings with his great-grandfather and instead is shaking his fist at Yahweh, for which he will pay the ultimate price, death.
Therefore, this great banquet thrown by the king and the use of the articles from Yahweh’s temple in Jerusalem is Belshazzar defying the God of Israel.
In effect, he is challenging Him in that the king thinks that the Medes and Persians will in no way defeat him and take Babylon since from his perspective the gods he worships along with his guests are superior to the gods of the nations including Israel’s God, Yahweh.