Chapter 43—The Unseen Watcher
This chapter is based on
Daniel 5
.
Toward the close of Daniel’s life great changes were taking place
in the land to which, over threescore years before, he and his Hebrew
companions had been carried captive. Nebuchadnezzar, “the terrible
of the nations” (
Ezekiel 28:7
), had died, and Babylon, “the praise of
the whole earth” (
Jeremiah 51:41
), had passed under the unwise rule
of his successors, and gradual but sure dissolution was resulting.
Through the folly and weakness of Belshazzar, the grandson of
Nebuchadnezzar, proud Babylon was soon to fall. Admitted in his
youth to a share in kingly authority, Belshazzar gloried in his power
and lifted up his heart against the God of heaven. Many had been his
opportunities to know the divine will and to understand his responsibil-
ity of rendering obedience thereto. He had known of his grandfather’s
banishment, by the decree of God, from the society of men; and he was
familiar with Nebuchadnezzar’s conversion and miraculous restora-
tion. But Belshazzar allowed the love of pleasure and self-glorification
[523]
to efface the lessons that he should never have forgotten. He wasted
the opportunities graciously granted him, and neglected to use the
means within his reach for becoming more fully acquainted with truth.
That which Nebuchadnezzar had finally gained at the cost of untold
suffering and humiliation, Belshazzar passed by with indifference.
It was not long before reverses came. Babylon was besieged
by Cyrus, nephew of Darius the Mede, and commanding general
of the combined armies of the Medes and Persians. But within the
seemingly impregnable fortress, with its massive walls and its gates of
brass, protected by the river Euphrates, and stocked with provision in
abundance, the voluptuous monarch felt safe and passed his time in
mirth and revelry.
In his pride and arrogancy, with a reckless feeling of security Bels-
hazzar “made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine
before the thousand.” All the attractions that wealth and power could
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