22“But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. 23Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. 24Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.
“But you his son [descendant, successor] . . . have not humbled yourself.” The contrast is sharp. It’s as though Daniel was saying, “You, sir, occupy the same throne Nebuchadnezzar did, but there the similarity between him and you ends. In your years of reign you have achieved nothing remotely comparable to the achievements of your famous ancestor.”
We might go on to paraphrase Daniel’s dramatic speech to King Belshazzar:
“Even Nebuchadnezzar, with all his gifts and his impressive list of accomplishments, humbly admitted that God rules in human affairs, appointing and deposing kings as he pleases. But you, King Belshazzar, whose achievements don’t even begin to match Nebuchadnezzar’s, are proud. What business do you have being proud? You have refused to humble yourself before the only true God, even though you knew what happened to your famous ancestor when he became proud. Not only have you repeated his sin, you have done so against better knowledge.
“For one thing, at this banquet you have praised gods invented by human minds and formed by human hands. To these you give your heart’s devotion; these you choose to serve. But you have refused to honor the God who holds your very life in his hand.
“To make matters worse, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. Who do you think you are, that you dare to take golden goblets once dedicated to the service of the only true God and use them as drinking cups?”
What an accurate description of sin Daniel gives us here. Sin is not simply doing naughty things. Sin is not merely an error in judgment, an impulsive action that might have been avoided if we had only counted to ten. The essence of sin is rebelling against God’s good will. Sin is the creature telling the Creator: “Listen, God, I’m talking. This is what I want for myself. I don’t care what you have decided; this is what I have decided.”
Strong words for an 80-year old Jewish exile to speak to the king in the presence of a thousand of his nobles! Daniel offered Belshazzar no pardon, no comfort, no encouragement—only condemnation. “Belshazzar, it was to punish you for your wickedness that God sent the hand to write the mysterious words.”
It took courage for Daniel to speak these words before a hostile audience; many an ancient king sentenced a man to die for less. But Daniel realized he had been placed where he was for a purpose. And that purpose was not to lift a finger into the air to see which way the wind of popular opinion was blowing. That purpose was not to win popularity contests. That purpose was to let the voice of God be heard.