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WE
HAVE
SEEN
THAT
THE
GOVERNMENT
OF
DIVINE
PROVIDENCE extends to the smallest things. It involves the micromanagement of the details. But God's providential government also extends to the great things of history, to the rise and fall of nations, kings, and governments. In this regard God's providence extends to the macromanagement of the universe and of world history.
We have seen that it is a dangerous thing to make rash assumptions that God is always on our side. It is true that, because we are the people of God, God is always Deus pro nobis, always for us, but this being "for us" must always be seen in an ultimate sense. In the proximate, or more immediate, sense there are times when God is against us. Thus the paradox is seen that even when God is against us He is for us. As a father chastens the child he loves, so God at times will thwart our plans and work against us precisely because He is working for our own ultimate good.
The Rise and Fall of Evil Empires When we assume that God is always on the side of our nation, we make this assumption at our own peril. This assumption, which is usually made more from the vantage point of jingoism, or chauvinism, than from a sound theology, rests on at least two other assumptions. The first is that ours is a Christian or godly nation, or that our nation always acts in a godly manner.
When Ronald Reagan was president of the United States he once referred to the former Soviet Union as the "evil empire." I do not dispute that assessment. The atrocities committed during the regime of Joseph Stalin are a matter of record.
But what about America? Could not our own nation at times warrant the epithet "evil empire" ? It is sheer arrogance to assume that our nation always acts in a righteous manner and is always in the right. The issue is not so much, Is God on our side? but, Are we on the side of God?
The second, equally dangerous assumption is that God always sides in His
immediate providence with the most righteous nation in a dispute. The Bible is replete with the record of God's using more wicked nations to chastise less wicked nations for the purposes of His providential rule. This was the situation that burdened the prophet Habakkuk: O LORD, how long shall I cry,
And You will not hear?
Even cry out to You, "Violence!"
And You will not save.
Why do You show me iniquity,
And cause me to see trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises.
Therefore the law is powerless, And justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore perverse judgment proceeds. (Hab. 1:1-4) Habakkuk was a patriot. He loved his own nation and was distressed with the circumstances of its historical situation. Israel was being oppressed by a foreign enemy, and Habakkuk complained that God was not hearing his pleas and was
refusing to save His people in the midst of violence. Later he continued his protest: Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction.
You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness.
Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he? (Hab. 1:12-13) Habakkuk was having difficulty reconciling God's holy nature with His seemingly unholy providence. He complained that God was too holy to even gaze upon wickedness, yet He seemed to be overlooking the obvious evil of the enemy. Habakkuk raised the supreme question that arises from every study of the providence of God: "Why do you look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?"
His complaint was that God seemed to be favoring the wicked (or at least the more wicked) over the righteous. The bottom line of Habakkuk's protest was that God was not fair. Habakkuk removed himself to his watchtower to await the answer of God. He was determined to hear God speak in His own divine vindication, even though God had spoken earlier in terms that should have silenced Habakkuk:
"Look among the nations and watch— Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you.
For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans,
A bitter and hasty nation
Which marches through the breadth of the earth, To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
They are terrible and dreadful; Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, And more fierce than evening wolves.
Their chargers charge ahead; Their cavalry comes from afar; They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. (Hab. 1:5-8) Here God acknowledges that He is using a wicked nation (the Chaldeans) for His own purposes. This is not the first time in Jewish history that God used evil empires as rods to chasten His own people. If we look back to the book of Judges, we see a refrain that is frequently repeated:
Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals; and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger. They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.
Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. (Judg. 2:11-16) This is the oft-repeated refrain: that Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. A pattern emerged: When the people of Israel did evil, God would raise up one of their enemies to chasten them and subject them to bondage. Then the people would repent and cry out for deliverance, and every time God would then raise up a judge to deliver His people. When the people were delivered they would rejoice. But in short order they would once again do what was evil in the sight of the Lord. As the pattern was repeated the point became clear that God would not hesitate to use a more wicked nation to punish Israel when Israel fell into disobedience.
This is the point Habakkuk should have known. God may empower a wicked nation for his own use for a season, but it is always for a season. These wicked nations always get their just reward in the end. The great kingdoms of world history have all become corrupt. They have all fallen in due time, a time that is in the hands of Providence. Eventually Habakkuk came to understand the words of his own book: "The LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him" (Hab. 2:20).
When God revealed Himself to Habakkuk, the prophet was reduced to terror: When I heard, my body trembled;
My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble.
When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops.
Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.
To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.
(Hab. 3:16-19) While Habakkuk was voicing his complaint, God was in His holy temple. The earth was not keeping silent before Him. Habakkuk was not keeping silent before Him. When God manifested Himself to the prophet he was reduced to quaking in terror. Out of his terror, however, came a renewed confidence in God's providence. He learned the cardinal point of faith, that whatever comes to pass, no matter how calamitous it may appear in the moment, there is reason for joy and confidence. The person who puts his trust in Providence acquires feet like those of a deer, able to walk securely in high and dangerous places.
The Fall of Babylon
That God reigns over macro forces is perhaps most clearly seen in Daniel's record of the fall of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. The story of Belshazzar's feast includes an incident in history in which the invisible hand of God became visible in a literal sense: Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. (Dan. 5:1-4) The ancient city of Babylon was one of the wonders of the world. It was considered an impregnable fortress. Surrounded by extraordinarily high and thick walls, it seemed invulnerable to attack. The wealth of the city was great enough to withstand protracted sieges from enemy nations. Secular history is divided on the question of how the city was defeated and who the king was who is named by Daniel as Belshazzar.
The historians Xenophon, Herodotus, and Josephus agree that the Persians conquered Babylon during a riotous festival being hosted by Babylonian royalty.
They say the Persians gained access to the city by damming the river Euphrates, allowing the soldiers to enter the city by a huge drain pipe under the wall. The troops could not knock down the city walls or scale them. Instead they found a way to go under them. That Belshazzar was hosting a great feast at the time indicated the sense of security he had.
It was not unusual for prominent Oriental monarchs to host huge parties with as many as a thousand guests; the large crowds were a sign of the monarchs' opulence and power. It was the custom at such events for the king to be seated on an elevated rostrum at a separate table so he could observe his guests and be seen plainly by them. On this occasion Belshazzar commanded that the sacred vessels of the Jews be brought to the banquet hall to be used for the drinking of wine. To the Jewish people this would have been a profound insult and to the God of Israel an unmitigated act of blasphemy. It also indicated the supreme arrogance of Belshazzar.
In all probability drinking the wine was not a mere incident of riotous partying but was an act of pagan religion in which the pagan deities were praised, or "toasted," by the assembly. This only served to exacerbate the insult to God. It echoed the earlier taunting of the God of Israel committed by the Philistines during the period of the Judges, when the ark of the covenant was captured and placed as a trophy in the temple of Dagon. During the party the arrogance of Belshazzar was interrupted by an astonishing event: In the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other. (Dan. 5:5-6) Belshazzar's composure was destroyed at the sight that unfolded before his eyes.
The king did not see the entire hand that was writing but only the fingers, a sight that jolted him awake from his drunken stupor. He obviously sensed that he was viewing a preternatural phenomenon.
As the writing appeared clearly on the wall that had been plastered with lime, the king's countenance changed instantly. His face turned ashen, and he was stricken in his conscience. The record says his knees knocked together in uncontrolled terror. The reference to the loosening of his joints indicated that his hips were no longer firm enough to support the weight of his body.
In his terror, Belshazzar summoned various classes of Babylonian wise men to interpret the writing that haunted him: The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom." Now all the king's wise men came, but they could not read the writing, or make known to the king its interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, his countenance was changed, and his lords were astonished.
(Dan. 5:7-9) It is significant that all three groups of wise men called to the banquet site to interpret the words on the wall were pagans. There was no immediate call for Daniel or any other leaders from the Jewish people. It was only after the pagan wise men failed to interpret the writing that Daniel was summoned. The king had offered an extravagant reward to the person who could read the message, indicating the depth of his desperation. He promised the purple cloth, the golden chain, and a third of the kingdom. These accouterments were all symbols of high rank in the ancient world.
It was the queen who suggested that Daniel be called to interpret the words on the wall. In all probability this was the queen-mother, not the wife of Belshazzar (since the king's wives were noted as being present at the feast). If this was Nebuchadnezzar's widow, she would have ample knowledge of Daniel's prophetic and interpretative gifts. In response to her suggestion, Daniel was summoned: Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, "Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my father the
king brought from Judah? I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not give the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations and explain enigmas. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom." (Dan.
5:13-16) Daniel was not impressed with the flattering words spoken to him by Belshazzar.
He declined the king's offer of reward and reminded Belshazzar of the encounter his father had had with God: "O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. And because of the majesty that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses." (Dan. 5:18-21) The final comment of this record displays Daniel's warning to Belshazzar that even the king of Babylon is subject to the transcendent rule of Providence. God rules the kingdom of men and appoints whom He wills to rule. Then Daniel spoke God's words of indictment over Belshazzar before he proceeded to interpret the handwriting on the wall: "But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the
gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written." (Dan. 5:22-24) Daniel explained that the inscribed message had come from the hand of God.
The words were indeed a divine indictment. The reason given was that "the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified." These words anticipate the words used by Saint Paul at the Areopagus in Athens when he rebuked the pagan philosophers for their superstition. When he beheld their altar "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" Paul chided them for their ignorance, saying it was in God that they lived and moved and had their being (see Acts 17:16-32). Likewise, Daniel reminded Belshazzar that the very breath of his life was held in the same hand that wrote on the wall.
We might wonder about the severity of this indictment. After all, Belshazzar was not a Jew. How could he be expected to know about the God of Israel? The answer is that he was culpable on two counts. In the first place God has revealed His true character to all people (including Belshazzar and including you and me) in creation. As Paul teaches in Romans 1, this general revelation is so clear that no philosopher or king—in Belshazzar's day or in ours— has any excuse to ignore it. In the second place, Belshazzar had the special knowledge of God that had been made manifest to his own family; Belshazzar could not claim ignorance as an excuse. With these words Daniel then proceeded to interpret the mysterious message: "And this is the inscription that was written: ΜΕΝΕ, ΜΕΝΕ, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: YOU have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."
Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. (Dan. 5:25-29)
Belshazzar had been weighed in the balance and had been found wanting on the divine scales; he was too light. He was deficient in moral worth. His kingdom was to be dissolved. The glory of Babylon was about to end. She would be conquered by another nation. The text then declares that on "that very night, Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain."
From this incident in biblical history the expression "the handwriting is on the wall" was born. It survives to this day as an expression that harbinges ruin and the certainty of impending defeat or judgment. In Belshazzar's case, the handwriting on the wall demonstrated the futility of victory when the invisible hand of Providence became visible in His hand of judgment.