The Writing on the Wall – The Fine Print

Scripture: Daniel 5

Sermon: The Writing on the Wall – The Fine Print

Topics: humor, laughter, tragedy, comedy

Preached: June 24, 2018

Rev. Mike Abma

Preamble:

We are again in the book of Daniel.

For the first 4 chapters, King Nebuchadnezzar dominates the scene.

But now in chapter 5 we have a new King, King Belshazzar —

Belshazzar meaning The god Bel will protect you.

In many ways, he is contrasted to his father, Nebuchadnezzar.

This is a fairly long chapter with so many interesting scenes and so many interesting details that I plan to read it, section by section.

The first Scene are verses 1-4 THE GREAT PARTY

King Belshazzar made a great festival for a thousand of his lords, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand.

2 Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar commanded that they bring in the vessels of gold and silver that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. ³So they brought in the vessels of gold and silver that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. ⁴They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

A few observations.

This party is all about this new king trying to outshine his dad.

Belshazzar throws a Huge Drinking Party.

He does something his dad never dared to do –

he pulls out the Jerusalem Temple vessels from storage for the party.

And why?

So that his party, and his lords, and his wives, and his concubines could use

them….his, his, his….it is all about him.

Are you getting the picture that this Belshazzar was rather full of himself?

Now the next scene.

SCENE 2 verses 5-9 The Writing on the Wall

 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the wall of the royal palace, next to the lampstand. The king was watching the hand as it wrote. ⁶Then the king’s face turned pale, and his thoughts terrified him. His limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. ⁷The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the diviners; and the king said to the wise men of Babylon, ‘Whoever can read this writing and tell me its interpretation shall be clothed in purple, have a chain of gold around his neck, and rank third in the kingdom.’ ⁸Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king the interpretation. ⁹Then King Belshazzar became greatly terrified and his face turned pale, and his lords were perplexed.

This scene is both terrifying and funny at the same time.

Why do I say “funny?”

For one thing,

just picture all those wise men coming in

and not one of them can even read the writing on the wall,

let alone interpret it.

This is in keeping with a theme in the Book of Daniel –

the court bureaucrats keep looking like bumbling idiots.

But the real humor is saved for King Belshazzar.

We read that when the King saw the writing on the wall,

his face turned pale.

His thoughts were terrified.

His limbs gave way.

And his knees knocked.

Here I want to take issue with the translation of the third phrase – his limbs gave way. I express my indebtedness to Al Wolters, father of Benita Fredlund Wolters, for explaining the nuances of this phrase.^[1]

Literally this phrase says, “his knots were unknotted.”

Another way of translating this phrase would be, “his loins were loosened.”

How can I say this delicately?

This is a very subtle way of saying,

King Belshazzar pooped in his pants.

The humor keeps coming.

Have you ever seen the Disney animated version of Robin Hood?

That is the one where Robin Hood is a fox,

and the evil Prince John is this wimpy lion.

If you remember that movie, you may remember that whenever Prince John gets upset, he suddenly starts sucking his thumb and crying, “Mommy!”

Well, something similar happens here.

In this next scene, when the Queen enters,

it is not Belshazzar’s wife that is being referred to.

It is Belshazzar’s mother, the Queen mother – it is Mommy.

Listen.

SCENE 3 verses 10-12 The Queen’s Advice

The queen, when she heard the discussion of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting-hall. The queen said, ‘O king, live for ever! Do not let your thoughts terrify you or your face grow pale. ¹¹There is a man in your kingdom who is endowed with a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father he was found to have enlightenment, understanding, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and diviners, ¹²because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.’

The Queen gives King Belshazzar advice he does not really want to hear.

She says,

“Your dad…your dad had this very good advisor.

This advisor could do it all:

Interpret dreams

Explain riddles

Solve problems.”

Again, there is some very subtle and very funny wordplay here.

You see, the words used for “solve problems”

are literally, “he can unknot knots.”

Daniel can “unknot knots” – sound familiar?

Can you imagine a Jewish audience in on the joke,

hearing this part of the story and trying not to snicker,

“Yeah, call Daniel, he will unknot your knots for you.”

Scene 4 verses 13-16 Belshazzar seeks Daniel’s Help

13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel, ‘So you are Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴I have heard of you that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that enlightenment, understanding, and excellent wisdom are found in you. ¹⁵Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and tell me its interpretation, but they were not able to give the interpretation of the matter. ¹⁶But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you are able to read the writing and tell me its interpretation, you shall be clothed in purple, have a chain of gold around your neck, and rank third in the kingdom.’

There are lots of reasons not to like this King Belshazzar in this chapter.

The first thing he says to Daniel simply adds to our dislike.

For the first thing Belshazzar says to Daniel is a put-down.

“So you are one of those exiles from Judah…

One of those exiles…

Belshazzar, you big pooh.

Well Belshazzar steps in it soon enough.

By verse 16 he says to Daniel,

I hear that you can give interpretations and solve problems.

Again, this is literally,

“I hear you can give interpretations

and can unknot my knots for me.”

You are smiling, right?

Isn’t this kind of fun?

Scene 5 verses 17 – 31 Daniel Speaks

Then Daniel answered in the presence of the king, ‘Let your gifts be for yourself, or give your rewards to someone else! Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and let him know the interpretation. ¹⁸O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar kingship, greatness, glory, and majesty. ¹⁹And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed those he wanted to kill, kept alive those he wanted to keep alive, honoured those he wanted to honour, and degraded those he wanted to degrade. ²⁰But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he acted proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and his glory was stripped from him. ²¹He was driven from human society, and his mind was made like that of an animal. His dwelling was with the wild asses, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body was bathed with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals, and sets over it whomsoever he will. ²²And you, Belshazzar his son, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this! ²³You have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven! The vessels of his temple have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know; but the God in whose power is your very breath, and to whom belong all your ways, you have not honoured.

24 ‘So from his presence the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed. ²⁵And this is the writing that was inscribed: mene, mene, tekel, and parsin. ²⁶This is the interpretation of the matter: mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; ²⁷tekel, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; ²⁸peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.’

29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed in purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made concerning him that he should rank third in the kingdom.

30 That very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed. ³¹And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

FALL OF THE FOOL

Can you see how Belshazzar has been portrayed as a fool from the start?

Can you see how Daniel totally dresses down

Belshazzar even long before he gets to explaining

the meaning of the writing on the wall?

Daniel basically says to Belshazzar that he is a Fool.

Daniel basically says to Belshassar

that he is cutting the branch he is standing on.

He is throwing away his water before walking in the desert.

He is taking off his parachute in mid-flight.

He is failing to pay attention to the ONE thing he needed to pay attention to

— he is failing to pay attention to God, the very source of his Life.

Even after Daniel’s withering critique,

Belshazzar does not repent.

Belshazzar does not cry, “Lord, have mercy on me.”

He simply pays Daniel the big pay-off,

and as far as we know,

he returns to the party.

HUMOR AS RESISTANCE

As I have said in past sermons,

the Book of Daniel is resistance literature.

This book is pre-occupied with questions like:

* how do we resist an oppressive regime?

* how do we keep from being swallowed by an empire?

* how do we stay hopeful when things look hopeless?

Here in this chapter, we see that humor was part of their resistance.

Humor has been something the Jewish community has used for centuries

to resist oppression.

So when a very anti-Jewish ruler came into power in Germany in the 1930’s,

how did the Jews resist?

Partly through humor.

Suddenly there were lots of dogs in Germany named Adolph.

Suddenly there were lots of jokes about the man with the moustache.

There were so many anti-Nazi jokes that Hitler made all anti-Nazi jokes against the law.

But the Jewish community

saw laughter as an expression of their freedom and their hope.

So in one of their stories,

they have Hitler meet the prophet Daniel for some advice.

Hitler asks Daniel: Am I going to lose this war?

Daniel: Yes you are.

Hitler: Am I going to die?

Daniel: Yes, you are.

Hitler: When am I going to die?

Daniel: On a Jewish holiday.

Hitler: On what holiday?

Daniel: Any day you die will be a Jewish holiday.

Humor ….humor becomes a way of resistance.

Humor becomes a way of acknowledging

the true hand that is writing history.

Humor becomes a way of affirming

that no matter how tragic things may look,

God’s justice will prevail,

and that there is hope, there is always hope.

As a family, we saw this humor and this hope literally written on the walls when we were in Bethlehem a few years ago.

You may know the situation in that part of the world.

Israel has been occupying the West Bank or Palestine for the last half century.

There is now a huge wall that divides Israel from Palestine,

that divides Jerusalem from Bethlehem,

that divides the rich and the powerful from the poor and powerless.

So what does one do if you are on the poor and powerless side of the wall?

Well, you resist with humor.

Here are a few examples of things written and drawn on that huge separation wall:

1. a soldier asking a donkey for ID at a security check point

2. a young man throwing …..a bouquet of flowers

3. a young girl frisking a soldier^[2]

Writings, drawings on the wall

all humorously saying in their own way

Love will prevail over hate

Peace will prevail over power

Hope will prevail over despair.

CONCLUSION

Here is a brutal truth we all learn eventually – tragedy is inevitable.

There will always be bad news.

There will always be bad leaders.

There will always be bad and tragic situations.

And yet, we dare to smile.

We even dare to laugh.

Why is that?

Isn’t it because we have turned our attention to God?

Isn’t it because we have sensed His presence is near?

Isn’t it because we know

that He is just around the corner,

and His Kingdom is just at the gate.

The gospel is not tragic.

The gospel is mainly comic.

For God has a way of surprising us,

of showing up when least expected,

of turning tragedies

even blood-stained tragedies,

into laugh-out-loud resurrections of hope.

And that is why we can smile,

and even laugh.

Amen

1. Al Wolters, “Untying the King’s Knots: Physiology and Wordplay in Daniel 5” in Journal of Biblical Literature 110:1 (Spring 1991), 117-122. ↑

2. These were all Banksy images ↑