My Name Is Belshazzar...

An Unrepentant King’s Chronicle Before the Fall

To the survivors and steadfast in the faith of the God of Israel,

I am Belshazzar, the last king of the Babylonian empire, whose name has been whispered through the annals of time as a byword for sacrilege and pride. From 553 BC to the fateful night in 539 BC when the Medes and Persians closed in like a vise on my great city, I sat upon the throne in the splendor of a kingdom that was the envy of the world.

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I confess that the tales of my revelry and impudence are not unfounded. I held a feast to end all feasts, where the wine flowed as freely as the rivers of Babylon and the air was thick with laughter and wanton merrymaking. "Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein." (Daniel 5:2, KJV)

The sacred vessels of your temple served as cups in my banquet hall. In my arrogance, I mocked the power of your God, failing to heed the lessons of my forebear Nebuchadnezzar, who was humbled by the Most High and learned to praise and honor Him who lives forever (Daniel 4:34).

But then, a hand appeared, and fingers wrote upon the plaster of the wall of my palace, and my thoughts troubled me. Daniel, the prophet esteemed by my predecessor, was called forth. "Then was Daniel brought in before the king." (Daniel 5:13, KJV) With a presence that commanded silence, he deciphered the writing: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." (Daniel 5:25, KJV)

His interpretation was a judgment from your God: I had been weighed in the balance and found wanting; my kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:26-28). In my folly, I had not humbled my heart, though I knew all that had transpired with Nebuchadnezzar, how the Most High God had ruled over his kingdom and brought him low (Daniel 5:21-22).

That very night, as the words of judgment still hung in the air, my fate was sealed, and my life was taken from me. "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain." (Daniel 5:30, KJV)

To you who serve the Living God, I offer no tales of repentance or redemption. My chronicle is one of warning, a stark reminder of the perils of hubris and the impermanence of earthly kingdoms before the sovereignty of God. "The Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses." (Daniel 5:21, NKJV)

As you peruse the pages of my life, take heed lest you fall into the same snare of pride that ensnared me. Remember, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18, NKJV) Let my downfall be a clarion call to all who lift themselves above the ordinances of the Almighty, for He is patient, but His justice will not sleep forever.

I, Belshazzar, now a mere whisper from the past, leave you with this: the God of Daniel is not one to be mocked, for He alone sets up kings and deposes them. He watches the affairs of men with an unblinking gaze, and before Him, every knee shall bow, either in this life or the next.

With the finality of a kingdom passed, Belshazzar, the last King of Babylon.

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