Manuscript Releases, vol. 10 [Nos. 771-850]

MR No. 823—Belshazzar Admitted to Kingly Authority in His Youth

Admitted to a share in kingly authority and power at fifteen years of age, Belshazzar gloried in his power, and lifted up his heart against the God of heaven. He despised the One who is above all rulers, the General of all the armies of heaven. “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand” (Daniel 5:1). The profane orgies of royal mirth were attended by men of genius and education, by masters of architecture. On this occasion there was music and banqueting and wine drinking. Decorated women with their enchantments were among the revelers. Exalted by wine, and blinded by delusion, the king himself took the lead in the riotous blasphemy. His reason was gone, and his lower impulses and passions were in the ascendancy. His kingdom was strong and apparently invincible, and he would show that he thought nothing too sacred for his hands to handle and profane. To show his contempt for sacred things, he desecrated the holy vessels taken from the temple of the Lord at its destruction.—Letter 51a, 1897, pp. 3-4. (To Dear Friends, July 8, 1897; See Prophets and Kings, pp. 523-4.) 10MR 307.1

White Estate

Washington, D. C.,

October 24, 1980.