belshazzar's death.
Dan. v. 30. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the
Chaldeans slain.
" KNOWN unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." We speak of things as for- tuitous and contingent, because we see not the hand by which they are directed ; but, in reality, there is nothing contingent, not even the falling of a spar- row : " the very hairs of our head are all numbered." Sometimes it has pleased God to make known, be- forehand, events, which depended entirely upon the
free will of man ; while at the same time they were as infallibly foreseen by him as if man had been a mere machine, without the smallest exercise of choice or inclination. Such were the events which facili- tated or attended the destruction of the Babylonish empire. It was optional with Belshazzar whether he would make a feast for his lords, and drink to excess: and it was optional with Cyrus what moment he should seize for making his attack upon the city : but all was foretold by God, with a minuteness and pre- cision which proclaim at once the omniscience of the Deity, and the dependence of all things upon his sovereign willa. The event before us had long before been proclaimed by the voice of inspiration : and it will be profitable for us to consider, I. The time of Belshazzar's death —
In the words, " that night" there is an emphasis which must not be overlooked. It was the night,
1 . Of his feasting —
[He had " made a feast for a thousand of his lords." We mean not to condemn all feasts : for our blessed Lord himself repeatedly vouchsafed to be present at a feast. But the generality of " banquetings," and " revellings, and such like" are among those works of the flesh, " which they who do, shall not inherit the kingdom of God V Of this kind was Belshaz- zar's feast ; at which he gave himself up to mirth, and banished all thoughts of death from his mind.
What an awful thing to be taken at such a moment ! Yet how many are there, who, if not slain like him, yet are called away from the midst of the cares or pleasures of this life as un- prepared as he ! It was so at the time of the Deluge : it will be so at the end of the world : and it is so yet daily and hourly0. "The foolish virgins" greatly out-number those who are wise ; and have their oil to seek when the Bride- groom's arrival is announced. " They are saying, Peace, peace; till sudden destruction cometh upon them as a thief in the night, or as travail on a woman with child d." The Lord grant it may never be so with us !]
2. Of his impiety —
[Feasting and impiety are not unfrequently associated. The generality of men seem to think that they cannot enjoy
a Jer. li. 11, 39,57. b Gal. v. 21.
c Matt. xxiv. 37—39. d 1 Thess. v. 2, 3.
1130.] belshazzar's death. 513
any comfort in social converse, unless they give way to excess, and banish decency and religion from their presence. Bel- shazzar could not be content with the pleasure which this feast afforded, but he must openly pour contempt on God, and set him at defiance. Accordingly, he ordered the sacred vessels, which his grandfather had taken from the temple at Jerusalem, to be brought forth for the use of himself and his wives and concubines ; and then celebrated his gods as superior to Jeho- vah, over whom (as it should seem) they had triumphed. This completed the measure of his iniquities, and drew down upon him " the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his templee." Perhaps we may think the crime and the punishment uncom- mon : but neither the one nor the other is at all uncommon. What are the songs that are usually sung at feasts, but songs in honour of Bacchus and Venus, the heathen patrons of riot and debauchery ? What are the toasts or sentiments, in com- mendation of which the wine is poured out and drunk ? what, but a tissue of lewdness and profaneness ? And how often do they who engage in such scenes, come to an untimely end ! One falls from his horse ; another is overturned in a carriage ; another run over by a cart ; another is drowned ; another is killed in an affray. We call these things accidents : but if an inspired prophet were sent to declare the truth, we should find them " the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple." And may not we look back to some day, or some night, when God might have cut us off as it were, to advantage, if not in a state of riot and intoxication, yet in some other state equally displeasing to him ? O let us call to mind those seasons ; and adore his name, that " in that night " we were not summoned, with all our iniquities upon us, to give account of ourselves at his judgment-seat !]