God’s Word for You

Daniel 5:29-30 A shadow of Christ

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, October 24, 2025

29 Then Belshazzar gave this command, and Daniel was dressed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, to be the third highest ruler in the kingdom. 30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain.

Verse 29 is written carefully. Daniel does not give one single hint about anything Belshazzar felt. No expression, no emotion, not one twitch of the corner of his mouth is described. He fulfills the public promise he made to Daniel and to all of his magi. Without delay, Daniel found himself dressed in a purple robe with a gold chain around his neck, and a title.

But that same night, Belshazzar was killed. The history of the Persian conquest of Babylon tells us that Belshazzar’s father Nabonidus survived. But on this October night in 539 BC, Belshazzar died.

There are two details here it would be good to take time to examine. The first is minor, the second is major.

First, this passage refutes one of the books of the Apocrypha. The fourteen usual books of the Apocrypha include a couple of fictional hero-tales (Tobit and Judith), two wisdom books similar to Proverbs (The Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach, sometimes called Ecclesiasticus), two additions to Jeremiah (Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah), three additions to Daniel (Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, and the Prayer of Azariah), two histories (1-2 Maccabees), a retelling of Ezra-Nehemiah (1 Esdras), the Prayer of Manasseh, and a poem about David and Goliath titled Psalm 151.

The book of Baruch is one of the better texts in this group. Its five chapters touch on majestic subjects and comes close to the words of the Scriptures in many instances. But it is not written in Hebrew. It has idioms alien to the Hebrew language, such as calling ten years a “generation” (Baruch 6:2) when referring to the seventy-year captivity. It was not written by Jeremiah the prophet nor his scribe Baruch, or it would have been written in Hebrew. Jerome (translator, fifth century) said, “The Hebrews have not read this book.” It conflicts with the canonical books of the Bible in several places. Notice Baruch 1:1, where the supposed writer says that “Baruch son of Neraiah… wrote in Babylon after Jerusalem was burned with fire (Baruch 1:1,2). But Baruch never went to Babylon. He and Jeremiah were forced to go to Egypt (Jeremiah 43:6). And along with other things, the text says that at the beginning of the captivity, when Nebuchadnezzar had only just captured the Jews, “on the tenth day of Sivan” (this would have been in 605 BC), the Jews send money for offerings and for prayers “for the life of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and for the life of Belshazzar his son” (Baruch 1:11). But Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, and was born 25 years later.

Let us set this minor issue aside, and consider the text here as one of many foreshadowings of Christ. I do not mean anything at all about Belshazzar in this sense, but in the sense that here, like Joseph before him (Genesis 41:40) and Mordecai after (Esther 10:3), Daniel is set in charge of Babylon, only subject to King Belshazzar and his father alone.

In each of these three instances, Joseph, Mordecai and Daniel, we see Gentiles yielding willingly to an Israelite, a Jew, as their Lord, and very nearly their king, doing the work and with all the authority of kings. None of these men were supreme kings, but they held power in government and did much to help, watch over, and preserve the nations of Egypt, Babylon, and Persia.

And so it should come as no surprise that we have the evidence of our very own eyes and experience, and the history told in the Gospels, in Acts, and throughout the history of the last two millennia, that it is the Gentiles who have embraced the one Jew, Jesus Christ, as Lord over all, serving under the authority of another king, his Father (and ours) in Heaven. And in a time when, sadly, racism and race-hatred of all kinds has boiled over in our own country, we should be able to see another kind of handwriting on the walls of our hearts. For Luther said, “Gentiles have always shown greater hostility toward the Jews than toward any other nation, and have been unwilling to tolerate their dominion, laws, or government. How is it then that the Gentiles should now so reverse themselves as to willingly and steadfastly surrender themselves to this Jew, Jesus Christ, and with heart and soul confess him King of kings and Lord of lords, unless it be that here is the true Messiah, to whom God by a great miracle has made the Gentiles friendly and submissive in accordance with so many prophecies?” (LW 45:220).

Christ lifts our hearts out of our sinful hatreds, bigotries, and preferences, and makes all of that drop away into the dust, because he has forgiven our sins, including even those hatreds and bigotries, with his innocent blood. He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). And although bigotry will last until Judgment Day, and I fear that for the Jews, suffering will remain the badge of all their tribe, it seems that bigotry can now be found under the stones in Israel as well as under the stones of the Gentiles. But this is why Christ came, to forgive all, not just the Jews and not just the Gentiles, but all people. For the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 1:16). “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentiles—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:12-13).

Those three men stand prefiguring Christ: Joseph as the master of all the grain and bounty of Egypt, who was not recognized by his own brothers (Genesis 42:8), Mordecai, master of Haman’s estate and wearing Haman’s signet ring, to help his people (Esther 8:2), and Daniel, dressed in royal purple and with gold around his neck and a mighty title in Babylon, but each in the service of God Almighty. These men each served God, and their shadows in the Scriptures show something of the outline of our Savior. He has all the authority in heaven and earth, given to him by the Father (Matthew 28:18), and he alone has rescued us from our sins, inherited, petty, huge, or terrible—all are covered by his blood. Put your faith in him, and trust in him. Death has no power over you. Christ is all, and in faith, we belong to him.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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