“They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.”
My Notes
What Does Daniel 5:4 Mean?
Belshazzar's feast: they drank wine and praised the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone. Six materials. Six gods. The list descends in value from gold to stone — from the most precious to the most common. The worship hierarchy follows the material hierarchy. And every material is worshipped except the one that matters: the living God.
The context is deliberate sacrilege: they're drinking from the vessels of Jerusalem's temple (verse 3). The cups that held temple wine now hold Babylonian wine. The sacred objects that served the living God now serve the praise of dead materials. The desecration is the party.
The six materials are the same six that composed Nebuchadnezzar's statue in chapter 2 (gold, silver, brass, iron, clay — with stone replacing clay). The empires Daniel prophesied are now the gods being praised. The human kingdoms worshipping the materials they're made of — blind to the stone cut without hands that will destroy them all.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What 'dead materials' (things that can't save, can't respond, can't act) are you praising with your life?
- 2.Does the desecration (temple vessels for pagan wine) describe any sacred thing you've repurposed for profane use?
- 3.How does the absence of the living God from the praise list (while six materials ARE praised) describe your own worship?
- 4.Does the handwriting on the wall (that same night) demonstrate the speed at which God responds to provocation?
Devotional
They drank from the temple vessels. And praised gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone. Six dead materials. Zero living God.
Belshazzar's feast is the most provocative party in the Bible: drinking from the sacred cups of Jerusalem's temple while praising gods made of materials. The desecration is deliberate. The vessels that served the living God are now serving wine to people praising dead metals and dead minerals.
Six materials. Descending in value: gold (the most precious), silver, brass, iron, wood, stone (the most common). The worship list is a value chart — and every item on it is created, not Creator. Made, not Maker. Dead, not living.
The six materials echo the statue of chapter 2: gold head, silver chest, bronze belly, iron legs. The empires Daniel prophesied — Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome — are the same materials being worshipped at the feast. The kingdoms are praising themselves. The empires are worshipping their own composition. And the stone cut without hands (2:34) — the kingdom of God that destroys them all — is conspicuously absent from the praise list.
The temple vessels are the insult that triggers the response: that same night, the writing appears on the wall (verse 5). MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Numbered. Weighed. Divided. The hand that writes uses no material from the praise list. The finger of the living God — the only God NOT praised at the feast — delivers the verdict.
The feast ends that night. Belshazzar is killed. Babylon falls to Persia. The materials praised — gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, stone — can't save the kingdom that worshipped them. The six dead gods produce zero protection.
Praise what's alive. Because the dead materials you worship can't save you when the hand appears on the wall.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
They drunk wine,.... That is, out of the vessels of the temple at Jerusalem, and perhaps till they were drunk:
and…
They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, ... - Compare the note at Dan 5:1. Idols were made among…
And praised the gods of gold - They had gods of all sorts, and of all metals; with wooden gods, and stone gods, beside!
We have here Belshazzar the king very gay, but all of a sudden very gloomy, and in straits in the fulness of his…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture