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#5.
Babylon weighed and found wanting.
pp. 179 - 184
We have looked at the witness maintained against idolatry in Dan. 1:, 3:, & 6:, and
also the witness for the living God in Dan. 2:, 4:, and 6: There remains but one more
historic feature to be considered before we pass on to prophecy itself, and that is the
handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast. Here, then, may be a fit place to show the
relationship which exists between the historic and prophetic sections. Nothing is
recorded in the historic portion that does not anticipate the future prophecy. This may be
illustrated by turning for a moment to a companion prophecy, that of Isaiah. In the midst
of the prophecy, and standing in literal correspondence, will be found two historic
sections, Isa. 7:-12:, Ahaz, and Isa. 36:-39:, Hezekiah.
Events in the life of Ahaz enshrine the great Messianic foreshadowings of Isa. 7: 14
and 9: 7, while episodes in the history of Hezekiah take their place in the prophecy,
foreshadowing, in Sennacherib, the anti-Christ, and giving, in his doom, an assurance of
Jerusalem's final deliverance.
So is it in Daniel. History foreshadows prophecy. The golden image and the furnace
of fire find their antitype in Rev. 13: We can see this relation of historic type to
prophetic reality in the following simple outline:--
Daniel as a whole.
The historic type.
The prophetic reality.
During of Belshazzar's reign--end of
Reign of Nebuchadnezzar foreshadows
Gentile dominion and the setting up of the
the duration and character of Gentile
kingdom of the Lord (7: and 8:).
dominion (1:-4:).
During
Darius'
reign--end
of
Reign of Belshazzar foreshadows the
desolations and the final restoration of
doom of Gentile dominion (5:).
Israel (9:).
Reign of Darius foreshadows the last days
During reign of Cyrus (Darius being a
(6:).
title of Cyrus)--the time of the end more
clearly detailed (10:-12:).
This will suffice for our present study; a fuller structure indicating the very complete
inter-relation of the parts of the book will be given when the strictly prophetic section is
reached.
The writing on the wall.
"O sin (i.e. the moon god), thou lord of the gods, thou king of the gods of heaven and
earth . . . . . in the heart of Belshazzar, my firstborn son, the off-spring of my loins, set the
fear of thine exalted godhead, so that he may commit no sin and that he may satisfied
with the fullness of life."