Daniel 5:27 KJV [27] TEKEL ; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Being a fisherman, I know a little bit about scales! Pun intended. Both the scales which cover most fishes and the modern electronic weight scales used to weigh fish.
Before the electronic scale there was the spring scale which was first made by Richard Salter around 1770 in England. Long before that, the weight of anything men valued was determined by a balancing scale.
The balancing scale was invented by ancient Egyptians sometime around 3100 B.C. for trade reasons and was used to determine the value of goods. A standard weight was placed on one side of a balance with some precious substance added on the other side until the beam equalized or balanced.
The substance of value could be silver, gold, spices or even foods such as fish. The balance could also be used to verify the weight of coins since thieves often shaved and refinished coins in order to hide small amounts of precious metals they had sliced off to melt and sell as raw minerals.
Therefore, the use of a balance was a very familiar process in ancient times to certify that payment for goods or services was fair.
Daniel Chapter 5 is an accounting of the fall of Babylon during Belshazzars reign, who was the heir of King Nebuchadnezzar’s throne.
King Belshazzar, like Nebuchadnezzar, was being judged by the God of Judah because of his pride. Belshazzar, unlike Nebuchadnezzar who humbled himself before the God of the Hebrew children, refused to humble himself and acknowledge God as supreme.
The city of Babylon at that time was surrounded by King Cyrus of Persia. However, because the city of Babylon was encompassed by a wall and the Babylonians stored 20-years of provisions, King Belshazzar was unafraid.
Belshazzar was so confident in his preparations that he decided to throw a party. His pride and trust in self was so great that he not only thumbed his nose at the Persians besieging his city, but also at the God of the Hebrews.
He showed his contempt for the Lord of heaven by drinking wine from the sacred golden vessels which King Nebuchadnezzar had removed from Solomon’s Temple before he destroyed it.
God ordained these golden vessels during Moses’ time for use in the tabernacle ritual sacrifice, before the altar of God. Isaiah the prophet prophesied beforehand of the events which took place in Babylon in great detail.
Here are a couple of examples:
Isaiah 45:23, I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
That verse should sound very familiar to Bible readers, because Paul restated it in the New Testament to the Philippians and Romans about 700 years after Belshazzar’s fall.
Not only did Isaiah prophesize the fall of Babylon to Persia before it happened, he even prophesized King Cyrus by name. (See Isaiah 44:28).
Additionally, Isaiah 45:1 prophesized just how much fear Cyrus would provoke in Belshazzar: “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;”
The above quoted prophecy should shed greater light why Belshazzar’s knees trembled in Daniel 5:6: “Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.”
The really sad thing about the situation with Belshazzar is that he witnessed Nebuchadnezzar humble himself before God, yet even after Daniel reminded him of this he still refused to do the same. In Romans 6:23, Paul reminds the Romans and us by extension that “the wages of sin is death.”
Friends, we will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ, to be judged for the deeds done in this life, good or bad. (See 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Imagine if you will your righteousness on the left side of the balance beam. On the right side of the balance imagine God’s Ten Commandments. If you have always kept all Ten Commandments then the scales will balance.
The problem is, no one except Jesus has always kept all Ten Commandments.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Therefore it is impossible to balance the scales with our works alone! So how can we escape our wages?
Hebrews 12:1-2 [1] Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
In other words, if we will humble ourselves and ask God for forgiveness, Jesus will get on the scale with us and not only balance them but actually tip them in our favor by the mercy of God.
Fisherman’s Prayer
I pray that I may live to fish
Until my dying day.
And when it comes to my last cast,
I then most humbly pray:
When in the Lord’s great landing net
And peacefully asleep
That in His mercy I be judged
Big enough to keep.
―Unknown
Next month we hope to take a deeper look at Matthew 4:19 and what it really means to be a fisher of men!