Gideon

Chapter 66

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UNBELIEVERS ARE INTOXICATED UNTO DEATH BY INGESTING FORBIDDEN FRUIT

06-16-13

(Dan 5:17-19)  Then Daniel answered and said before the king [Belshazzar], Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards [fees] to another; yet I will read the writing [“divers kinds of tongues” 1 Cor 12:10; a tongue of the Lord] unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation [“the interpretation of tongues” 1 Cor 12:10]. (Dan 5:18)  O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy [grand] father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: (Dan 5:19)  And for the majesty [Heb: increase (of dignity): greatness] that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up [Heb: lifted up]; and whom he would he put down [Heb: abased, humbled, subdued].

1.      (1 Chr 29:25)  And the LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

a.      (1 Sam 16:13,14)  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul [paralleling Nebuchadnezzar’s experience], and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

2.      (Psa 29:4)  The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

3.      (Psa 93:1) The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.

4.      (Dan 4:30,31)  The king [Nebuchadnezzar] spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

a.      (Psa 127:1)  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep [Heb: protect] the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

b.      Commentary: “my power… my majesty” = Nebuchadnezzar suffered from the gross error of pride, a misunderstanding in thinking that he himself, rather than God, was the center of the universe and thus the creator of his own “majesty” from which he ruled (Dan 5:18,19). Nebuchadnezzar (the clay) did not realize nor understand that he was merely an instrument chosen to glorfy God (the potter), but thought himself to be the principal. Nebuchadnezzar thought himself to be God, attributing to himself the mighty works of God. Please note that the stars (suns), although exceedingly awesome and powerful, are not the center of the universe.

                                                              i.     (Dan 12:3)  And they that be wise shall shine [Heb: to gleam; fig. to enlighten: teach, warn] as the brightness [Heb: brilliancy] of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness (Mark 16:15) as the stars for ever and ever.

c.      (Dan 4:37)  Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride [i.e., loving themselves above loving God and loving our neighbors: Mat 22:36-40] he is able to abase.

(Dan 5:20,21)  But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened [Heb: to become mighty or (fig.) obstinate:--make firm, become strong] in pride, he was deposed [Heb: to descend: carry, come down] from his kingly throne, and they [who are “they”? God’s servants, the angels] took his glory from him: And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they [the angels] fed him with grass [Dan 4:15,23,25,32,33; 5:21 (6x)] [i.e., “the milk of the word” 1 Pet 2:2] like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew [Dan 4:15,23,25,33, 5:21 (5x)] of heaven [the Holy Spirit]; till he knew [Heb: understood] [as the result of a 7 (symbol of completion) year process] that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

1.      harden = Dict: 1. to make hard of harder. 2. to make obdurate or unyielding; make unfeeling or pitiless: to harden one’s heart.

a.      obdurate = Dict: 1. hardened against persuasions or tender feelings; hard-hearted. 2. hardened against moral influence; persistently impentitent: an obdurate sinner.

2.      Commentary: “in pride” = signified by the tower of Babel situated within the city of, as the heart of, Babylon; fig., a strong hold, a castle of stone (hard-hearted): “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower [Heb: a tower (from its size or height); by anal. a rostrum [syn: podium, stand]: castle, pulpit], whose top may reach unto heaven;” (Gen 11:4).

3.      (2 Cor 10:3-5)  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [Gk: fleshly], but mighty through God to the pulling down [Gk: demolition; fig. extinction: destruction] of strong holds [Gk: (mean. to fortify, through the idea of holding safely); a castle (fig. argument)];) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

4.      (Eccl 3:18)  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest  [Heb: make apparent to] them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

(Dan 5:22,23)  And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels [containers] of his house [house of God, His temple] [an allusion to the children of Israel who are filled with God’s word] before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine [partaken of the fruit] in them; and [in a complete misinterpretation] thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know [earning for yourselves the reward of “ eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Exo 21:24; John 12:48)]: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:

1.      Commentary: “have drunk wine in them” = O Belshazzar, you and your people have illegally drunk the fruit of my glory issuing forth from the stolen vessels (by stealing my chosen children into captivity), glorious fruit that to you and your unsaved people is “forbidden fruit,” and thus intoxicating (poisonous) wine leading downward unto death, but to my saved people, the fruit of my children is glorious praise and worship leading upward unto life. Example: in a true big-picture sense, we are still presently living within the parameters of the Old Testament Law, which certainly must be esteemed as “fruit” from God, but we have changed, twisted, and otherwise perverted that fruit of God into government rule by coercion, intimidation, larceny, persecution, and lying… unto death.  

(Dan 5:24-28)  Then was the part of the hand sent from him [God]; and this writing was written.  And this is the writing [the tongue] that was written, MENE [Heb: numbered], MENE  [Heb: numbered], TEKEL [Heb: balanced: to be weighed], UPHARSIN [Heb: to split up: divide] [“divisions” Amplified Bible]. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

(Dan 5:29-31)  Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet [Dan 5:7,16,29] [a type and shadow of the saving blood of Jesus Christ], and put a chain of gold about his neck [Dan 5:7,16,29] [gold being a symbol of the purity of God, this is literally a sign to all generations of Daniel’s direct unbreakable and thus eternal communion with God and service to God], and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom [Dan 5:7,16,29]. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans [Babylonians] slain [judgment rendered]. And Darius the Median [a deliverer] took the kingdom [initiating, in type and shadow, the Millennium], being about threescore and two years old [62 years old, a very interesting number in the book of Daniel, as we shall see].

1.      Commentary: “the third ruler in the kingdom” = This phrase, if prophecy, and it certainly seems to be, remains a personal mystery; however, one possibility does occur. Perhaps God the Father is first ruler, God the Son is second ruler, God the Man is (with the full mind of Christ, shall be) third ruler, and the Holy Spirit is the mover and shaker, the doer of it all. We must note that this phrase also appears in the book of Daniel every time the clear prophecy of Daniel (a type and shadow of us) is mentioned clothed with scarlet (salvation) and having a chain of gold about his neck (unbreakable eternal communion and service to God), but what does it mean, and if we were intended to learn its meaning only after our complete transformation into the full mind of Christ, why is it at all mentioned three times now, and each time in conjunction with two clearly fulfilling/fulfilled prophecies?  J 

a.      Ps. Commentary: However, after some few days of meditative thought (grappling with the Angel of God), we conclude that perhaps this phrase is a prophecy referring to our governing as “kings and priests” (Rev 1:6; 5:10 & Rev 20:6) during the Millennium “in the kingdom” on earth under the descending hierarchy of Father God and His son Jesus Christ.

 Amen