Almost a similar thing happen between Belshazzar and Pharaoh, but the way both of them responded to what happened to them was different. Knowing this difference will always save any christian from evil, at any time, any day and anywhere.
The Difference Between Belshazzar And Pharaoh.
Observably, Belshazzar had a lot of things in common with Pharaoh.
To start with, both of then were Kings. Of course, Pharaoh ruled in Egypt while Belshazzar ruled in Babylon.
In addition, they were both rich in material possession.
At a time, Daniel recorded Belshazzar organized a party to host a thousand guests who were his lords.
Daniel 5:1
Belshazzar the king made a great feast for A THOUSAND OF HIS LORDS, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand.
Of course, none of these thousand lord lacked wine. If a similar case of wine not being enough occurred here, as it happened at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-10), one wouldn’t have been wrong to say Belshazzar was not a rich king.
Undoubtedly, hosting that large number of people at a single party with his numerous wives and concubines revealed the level of his wealth.
And then for Pharaoh who ruled during the time of Joseph, he was also rich. Mind you, he got almost all his wealth after Joseph became his governor.
As recorded in the Bible, Pharaoh was not the owner of the pieces of land Egyptians built on. The 7 years famine was what necessitated the sale of all the lands of Egypt to the king.
Joseph who supervised the exchange bought all the pieces of land by trading food, bread, for them.
Genesis 47:20
Then JOSEPH BOUGHT ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT FOR PHARAOH; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s.
Before then, Joseph sold bread to them, plus people from different countries of the world then. Of course, the purchase was made with money.
All the Egyptians bought bread with all the money they had until there was no money with anyone in the house.
Genesis 47:15
So when the MONEY FAILED in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”
Without gainsaying, both Pharaoh and Belshazzar were rich in material possession.
Here come another striking similarity between them.
At this point, you may feel like strolling down to check that great difference between them, as that is really the tip of the iceberg every Christian should be after.
For the sake of emphasis and also to lay a good foundation is the reason I started with the similarities between them.
And then to round off the similarities, both Belshazzar and Pharaoh had the opportunity of seeing into the future events ever before they occurred.
Pharaoh dreamt twice. As you know, his first dream was about 7 fat and fine looking cows which were eaten up by 7 ugly and gaunt looking cows while his second dream was about 7 plump and good heads of grain which were devoured by 7 thin heads of grain.
...All that revealing the pertinent 7 years famine in the land of Egypt.
Similarly, God revealed to Belshazzar what would happen to him for dishonoring God with the desecration of the temple vessels at the party which he organized for his 1,000 lords.
The invisible hand wrote out the vision on the wall right before his eyes…
Daniel 5:24-25
Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written.
“And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
Going by the meaning of that inscription, we won’t be wrong to say Belshazzar knew what the future held for him.
Now The Difference Between Belshazzar And Pharaoh
This is the part we’ve all been waiting for…
In my Christian Life journey, I’ve come to realize that many Christians have had serious issue with great men of God because of the vision God showed them concerning these Christians.
At any time, a Christian hears a negative vision from a man of God, he or she quickly rebukes the vision and later on develops great dislike for the man of God. Some even go to the length of castigating men of God for speaking out such a negative vision.
This makes me wonder why and how the fault became that of the men of God who saw these negative visions.
If God reveals something to a man of God, can we say the man of God is stupid to see such a vision as shown to him by God?
For this reason, do I call our generation the “Ahabites generation” because all we want to hear from men of God is simply what is already in our hearts. Anything other than what we feel is good isn’t acceptable to us.
King Ahab (King of Israel) told King Jehoshaphat not to bother about Prophet Micaiah, the son of Imlah, as he knew the man of God would not never give good prophecy.
Just as he expected, like the people of our generation, all the other prophets working for the king prophesied good and victory. In fact, they went as far as instructing Micaiah, the son of Imlah, to do likewise.
1 Kings 22:13-14
Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Please, let your word be like the word of one of them, and SPEAK ENCOURAGEMENT.”
And Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, WHATEVER THE LORD SAYS TO ME, THAT I WILL SPEAK.”
Thank God for men of God like Micaiah, Daniel and Joseph. Daniel gave the exact interpretion of the inscription on the wall to Belshazzar even though it pertained to his downfall.
Even Joseph interpreted King Pharaoh’s dream without any word of encouragement.
Here comes the difference between Belshazzar and Pharaoh…
The moment Belshazzar heard of what will happen to him, he did nothing about it. He just accepted it and eventually it happened to him.
Daniel 5:26-28
“And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, 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.”
Daniel 5:30
That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain.
On the contrary, when Pharaoh heard of the famine that would come upon the land of Egypt and the advice given by Joseph, he wasted no time in appointing Joseph himself to work towards reserving one-fifth of all the food production in the land.
Had Belshazzar sought the advice or possible solution to the impending evil that would befall him, he would have saved himself from his own downfall like Pharaoh did.
This teaches us to not always rebuke what true men of God tells us even though their prophecies seem to be on the negative side.
Rather than rebuke the evil prophecy, which might have been established in the spirit realm in most cases, let’s endeavor to seek their advice or possible solution to the prophecy like Pharaoh did and saved himself and the lives of hundreds of thousands of other people in the world of then.
Peace unto us all.
