Instead,
you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from
his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your
concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of
bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you
did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Daniel
5:23
The
king, Belshazzar, was in a festive,
party mood, feeling a little superior to everyone else. He pulled out the goblets that he knew were
sacred to the Jews as a way of discrediting God and crediting himself. He used the goblets for a simple party,
attended by non-Jews in unholy relationships, not for the holy sacrificial
services.
It would
be like using communion trays to serve hors d'oeuvres for a frat party.
So the
action was not so much about place settings, but about where Belshazzar placed
himself in God’s eyes. Belshazzar
dishonored God by setting himself above God.
The direction this was taking the nation was not like how Nebuchadnezzar (his father) progressed in his life to become a believer.
His own son didn’t learn a thing from him.
God
stopped this mentality before it took root any longer and uprooted the whole
country of Babylon, giving it to the Persians overnight.