From Eliyahu
Sometimes everything changes overnight. Daniel chapter 5
records one of those nights. Babylon had seemed untouchable. Its walls were
famous. Its wealth was legendary. Its kings had conquered nations and
carried peoples into exile. In 587 BC Judah had felt the weight of Babylon’s
power. Jerusalem had fallen. The Temple had been burned. The vessels from
the house of YHWH had been carried to Babylon. And so also had the people,
including a teenage royal named Daniel.
Now, after a lifetime served in Babylon’s court, Daniel knew
something the proud rulers of Babylon had forgotten. Babylon did not rule
history. Babylon was only the head of gold in the image shown to
Nebuchadnezzar. The kingdoms of men rise for a season, but they do not stand
forever.
On the night of Belshazzar’s feast, Babylon laughed, drank,
boasted, and praised gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
But the God in whose hand was their breath, they did not glorify. Then the
handwriting appeared on the wall.
Daniel was called in because the wise men of Babylon could
not interpret the writing. Daniel stood before Belshazzar and read the words
nobody else could read:
Mene: God has numbered your kingdom and brought it to an end.
Tekel: you are weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Peres: your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and
Persians.
That very night in 539 BC, Belshazzar was slain, and Babylon
fell to Cyrus the Persian. The fall of Babylon did not come as a surprise to
Daniel. Years earlier, YHWH had revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: a great
image with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of
bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay.
Babylon was the head of gold. But the head would not last
forever. Another kingdom would arise after it. So when Persia entered the
story, Daniel was not merely watching politics. He was watching prophecy
move forward.
The golden head had given way to the next kingdom in the
sequence of Gentile dominion. Human empires would continue. Their names
would change. Their borders would change. Their languages and customs would
change. But the image of human empires would continue forward toward its
ultimate end.
The Stone had not yet struck the image. The Mountain had not
yet filled the whole earth. YHWH’s Kingdom was still the final answer, and
the kingdoms of men were still only temporary.
Persia was different than Babylon, but was not the Kingdom.
Persia was raised up by YHWH with an entirely different purpose. Babylon was
the power of exile and judgment upon a wayward people. Babylon destroyed
Jerusalem, burned the Temple, and carried the people away.
Persia, by contrast, would become the power YHWH used to open
the door for return. Under Persian rule, the remnant would be permitted to
go back to the Land. Jerusalem would begin to be restored. The Temple
foundation would be laid. From the standpoint of YHWH’s plan, this was a
great mercy.
But Persia was still a Gentile empire. It was still part of
the image of Daniel 2. It could be used by YHWH, but it could not replace
YHWH. It could benefit the remnant, but it could still overreach. It could
be better than Babylon, but it was not the Mountain that fills the whole
earth. That distinction is essential. YHWH may use a king. But no king
becomes YHWH or replaces YHWH – even though they often want to.
Long before Cyrus conquered Babylon, YHWH had already spoken
of him through Isaiah.
YHWH said of Cyrus:
“He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,” even
saying of Jerusalem, “She will be built;” and of the Temple, “Your
foundation will be laid.”
Isaiah 44:28
And again:
“Thus says YHWH to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I
have held, to subdue nations before him...”
Isaiah 45:1
This is astonishing language.
Cyrus was not a son of David. He was not even an Israelite
king. He was a Persian ruler. Yet YHWH called him “my shepherd,” and even
“his anointed,” not because Cyrus was the Messiah, but because YHWH had
appointed him for a specific historical task. Cyrus would break Babylon’s
power. He would open gates. He would be used to say of Jerusalem, “She will
be built,” and of the Temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”
So when Babylon fell, the nations may have seen only
conquest. But Scripture lets us see behind the curtain. YHWH had already
named the ruler. He had already declared the purpose. He was already turning
the heart of a Gentile king toward covenant mercy.
