T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
711
JULY 16, 1922. THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL (Temperance Lesson) Golden Text: God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it-be evil. Eccl. 12:14. LESSON TEXT Dan. 6:10-23. (Read Dan. 6:1-9; Jer. 38; Dan. 3; Ac. 12:1-19; 23:12-35; 20-23.)
(17) Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I w ill read the w riting unto the king, and make known to him the Interpretation. (18) O thou king, the most high God gave Ne buchadnezzar thy father a kingdom , and majesty, and glory, and honour: (19) And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared be fore him: whom he would he slew ; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put diw n . (20) But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: (21) And he was driven from the sons o f men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the w ild asses; they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew o f heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and Outline: (1) .The Banquet Hall, vs. 1-4. (2) The Burning Message, vs. 5-16. (3) The Bar of God, vs. 17-31. Introduction: In the chapter assigned for our study are four graphic pictures, easily under stood and susceptible of being painted in vivid colors. We suggest to teachers t h e picture-painting LESSON of these Bible stories. EXPOSITION Old and young love to T. O. Horton hear them and the les sons are readily print ed upon the memory of the scholars. (1) The Feast. (2) The Message on ■the Wall. .(3) The Queen’s Appearance. (4) Daniel’s Interpretation. (1) THE BANQUET HALL, vs. 1-4. “ The king, made a great feast” v. 1. The king Belshazzar made a great
that he appointeth over it whom so ever he w ill. (22) And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest ail this; (23) But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord o f heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, ahd thy concubines, have drunk wine in them ; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, o f brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know : and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: (24) Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this w riting was written. (25) And this is the w rit ing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin. (26) This is the in terpretation o f the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom , and finished it. (27) Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. (28) Peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. feast. A thousand of his lords were there. He is pictured as sitting at a private table tasting the wine before the guests. The enemy was at the gate of the city, but the king abandoned him self to a season of debauchery. It may have been the anniversary o f ' his ac cession to the throne. A drunken carousal, evidently, for he sent for the golden vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar front the house of God, the temple at Jerusalem (1:2 ) giving praise with these sacred golden bowls to the false gods. (Isa. 42:8) “I am the Lord; that Is my naifie: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” They were flaunting themselves in royal, riotous revelry. The king, who should have been leading his people in sobriety, was guiding them into de bauchery.
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