Monday, October 19
Read Daniel 5
Think About It:
- Though the city was surrounded by a hostile army, Belshazzar had a false sense of security in the ancient city of Babylon. Thus the great feast for a thousand of his lords.
The outer walls were 17 miles long, 22 feet thick and 90 feet high. The outer walls also had guard towers that were another 100 feet high.
The city gates were made of bronze. A system of inner and outer walls and moats made the city very secure.
What would your response be to the seeming danger of the times?
- When all is well in the kingdom, the party doesn’t stop – God is mocked, neglected, and hidden away. But when the hand of heaven wrote a sobering message, the panic-stricken people cried out for the one who had the Spirit of God. Do the people in your circle of life know who they can call when life’s trials bring questions?
- Judgment came upon Belshazzar and the kingdom of Babylon. The message was plain…Belshazzar’s days were numbered, he was lacking in spiritual moral values, and his kingdom would be divided by the Medes and Persians (only possible because of the judgment of God).
- Interesting fact: “The ancient Greek historian Herodotus relates that the Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon by diverting the flow of the Euphrates into a nearby swamp. This lowered the level of the river so his troops marched through the water and under the river-gates. They still would not have been able to enter had not the bronze gates of the inner walls been left inexplicably unlocked. This was exactly what God predicted in Isaiah 44:28-45:7and Jeremiah 51:57-58. God opened the gates of the city of Babylon for Cyrus, and put it in writing 200 years before it happened” (David Guzik).
Family Time:
- Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YaEX1iXJYU
- Who came to the king and told him of Daniel? How did she describe Daniel?
- What power does Daniel have?
- What does the writing on the wall tell us?
