In the twenty-three years since the death of Nebuchadnezzar a series of incompetent rulers had brought Babylon to the edge of ruin. The Medo-Persian army under Cyrus the Great was attacking from the north. The king of Babylon, Nabonidus, left his son Belshazzar in charge of the kingdom and went out to do battle. Two days before Belshazzar's feast Nabonidus had surrendered the battlefield without a fight and fled. Meanwhile, one of Cyrus' generals, Darius the Mede, rushed his forces to the walls of Babylon and laid siege to the city. But the city was well situated to handle a siege. Its walls were tall and strong. Its storehouses bulged with food. And the Euphrates river brought water right through the middle of the city.
Belshazzar defied the God of heaven, and desecrated the sacred golden vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem.
While the drunken revelers drank toasts to their idols out of the golden cups which had been sanctified to God, a mysterious hand appeared and wrote on the wall God's judgment upon Babylon.
Belshazzar knew all of God's dealings with his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, yet he persistently chose to turn away from the light and remain in darkness.
That very night God's judgment on Babylon was fulfilled. Darius had the seasonally low waters of the Euphrates river diverted, and under the cover of darkness his men waded under the city walls where they found the river gates still open. Once inside, they slew the unsuspecting guards and took control of the city.
Daniel lived long enough to see the first part of Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the image fulfilled. Daniel chapter 2. Babylon did come to an end and another kingdom took its place.
The fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians in Daniel's time foreshadows the fall of modern-day spiritual Babylon. See Revelation 17 and 18.
The Fall of Babylon. 539 B.C.
Daniel 5:1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 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 Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. 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. 5:4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 5:5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 5:6 Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. 5:7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. 5:8 Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. 5:9 Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied. 5:10 Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: 5:11 There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; 5:12 Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing 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 shew the interpretation. 5:13 Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? 5:14 I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. 5:15 And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing: 5:16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. 5:17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 5:18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 5:19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. 5:20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: 5:21 And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. 5:22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 5:23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: 5:24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 5:25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 5:26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 5:27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 5:28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 5:29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 5:30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 5:31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
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