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# The Book of Daniel - Number Twenty-Five

The Unveiling of Babylon’s Decline: A Prophetic Passage from Nebuchadnezzar to Belshazzar

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

December 20, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Nebuchadnezzar symbolizes the rise and early phase of Babylon; Belshazzar symbolizes its fall.
- Babylon’s seventy-year reign parallels prophetic symbols of the United States’ dominance and eventual decline.
- The “seven times” judgment of Nebuchadnezzar equates to twenty-five hundred and twenty prophetic days/years.
- Belshazzar’s judgment, represented by the handwriting on the wall, totals twenty-five hundred and twenty gerahs, symbolically connecting his fate with Nebuchadnezzar’s.
- The prophetic “seven times” judgment is linked to themes of divine wrath, scattering, and judgment found throughout Scripture.
- The original fall of Babylon at Nimrod’s tower involves scattering and symbolizes the union of church and state (the “image of the beast”).
- Babylon’s fall is prophetically repeated at key historical and future events, emphasizing spiritual apostasy and judgment.

The fall of Belshazzar in chapter five had been typified by Nebuchadnezzar’s fall in chapter four.

> “To the last ruler of Babylon, as in type to its first, had come the sentence of the divine Watcher: ‘O king, . . . to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.’ Daniel 4:31.” Prophets and Kings, 533.

Nebuchadnezzar represents the beginning and Belshazzar the end of the kingdom that ruled for seventy years, and thus symbolized the reign of the earth beast of Revelation chapter thirteen (the United States), that was to reign during the time when the whore of Tyre (the papacy), was forgotten.

> And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Isaiah 23:15.

Nebuchadnezzar therefore represents the beginning of the United States, and Belshazzar represents the end of the United States. Nebuchadnezzar represents the beginning of the Republican horn and the beginning of the Protestant horn. Belshazzar represents the ending of the Republican and Protestant horn.

The judgment brought upon Nebuchadnezzar was “seven times.” The story of Nebuchadnezzar’s living as a beast for twenty-five hundred and twenty days, was employed by William Miller in his application of the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six, though he did not address the twenty-five hundred and twenty, that is symbolized in Belshazzar’s judgment.

> And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Daniel 5:25–28.

Beyond the interpretation Daniel assigned to the mysterious handwriting on the wall, the words “mene” and “tekel,” represent a measurement of weight, and those words also represent a specific value of coinage (Exodus 30:13, Ezekiel 45:12). A “mene” is fifty shekels, or one thousand gerahs. “Mene, mene” therefore equates to two thousand gerahs. A “tekel” is twenty gerahs. Therefore “mene, mene, tekel” equates to two thousand and twenty gerahs. “Upharsin” means “to divide” and therefore means is one-half of a “mene,” and represents five hundred gerahs. Combined they represent the sum of twenty-five hundred and twenty.

The last reference of Sister White identifies that Belshazzar was typified by Nebuchadnezzar, but more specifically she emphasized their mutual judgment, and both judgments are represented as a symbol of the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six. There are a few terms that the Scriptures employ to represent the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six. Jeremiah represents it as God’s indignation.

> How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger! The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire. The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. Lamentations 2:1–8.

The Lord’s anger is represented as the “indignation of his anger,” and his anger was accomplished upon both the northern kingdom and southern kingdom of Israel. This is why the book of Daniel identifies a “first” and a “last” indignation. Jeremiah identifies a “line” that the Lord “hath stretched out,” when he exercised his anger towards his chosen people. That line is also referred to in second Kings.

> And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies. 2 Kings 21:10–14.

The “line” of God’s indignation that is Moses’ “seven times,” was first stretched over the northern kingdom (the house of Ahab), and then over Judah. Another biblical term for the “seven times” that is derived from Leviticus twenty-six is the term “scattered”.

> Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. Leviticus 26:28–35.

The scattering among the heathen was fulfilled for Daniel when he was carried as a slave into Babylon, at the captivity of Jehoiakim. Then, while Daniel was in the “enemies’ land” the land rested and enjoyed “her sabbaths.” Second Chronicles informs us that the period of time was the seventy years of Jeremiah, which Daniel came to recognize in chapter nine.

> And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. 2 Chronicles 36:20–23.

The term “scattering” is a symbol of the “seven times.” The judgment of Nebuchadnezzar of “seven times” living as a beast, typified the judgment of Belshazzar, as represented by the mystical words upon the wall, “mene, mene, tekel upharsin.” Belshazzar’s judgment was represented by the handwriting that equated to twenty-five hundred and twenty, the same number of days that Nebuchadnezzar lived like a beast, and the same number of years represented with the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six.

The judgment of Belshazzar, that was typified by the judgment of Nebuchadnezzar, was symbolically represented by the “seven times,” and both of those judgments represented a “fall of Babylon,” which is the symbol of the second angel’s message. The first fall of Babylon was when Nimrod’s tower was brought down.

> And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Genesis 11:1–8.

At the judgment of Babel, which was the judgment of Nimrod, the Lord “scattered” Nimrod’s rebels across the “face of the whole earth.” Nimrod and his cohorts knew their rebellion would cause them to be scattered, for they had said the motivation for building the tower and city was to “make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

A “name” prophetically is a symbol of character. The character that Nimrod and his cohorts established is represented by their works, for by the fruits you shall know the character. The fruit of Nimrod’s rebellion, and therefore the symbol of his character, was the construction of the tower and the city. A “tower” is a symbol of a church, and a “city” is a symbol of a state. The name of Nimrod’s rebels, which represents their character, was the combination of church and state, which is also symbolically represented as the image of the beast.

The passage identifying the fall of Babel has the expression “go to” repeated three times. The third is when God brings the judgment of confounding their language, and scattering them abroad. The first “go to” was the preparation for the second “go to,” when they constructed their city and tower. When they had accomplished their work during the history of the second expression of “go to,” God came down to visually consider their rebellion. The third “go to,” was judgment, and the second “go to” was a visual test. The first “go to” represents their first failure, and prophetically the three times “go to” is expressed identifies the three-step testing process of the everlasting gospel. There is much more information in the testimony of Nimrod’s rebellion and fall, but we are simply identifying that the first time Babylon (Babel) fell, the symbol of “seven times,” as represented by the “scattering,” is identified. Nimrod’s judgment was represented by a scattering, Nebuchadnezzar’s by “seven times” and Belshazzar’s by “twenty-five hundred and twenty”.

The signature of the Alpha and Omega identifies that the line of prophecy represented by chapters four and five, is the latter rain message of the second angel and Midnight Cry. The line begins with the fall of Babylon represented by Nebuchadnezzar, identifying 1798, which is when spiritual Babylon (the papacy) fell the first time. Then at the end of the line, Belshazzar’s Babylon falls, marking the beginning of the progressive fall of spiritual Babylon (the papacy again), beginning at the Sunday law crisis. There are two witnesses of the fall of Babylon at the beginning of the line and two witnesses at the end of the line. Prophetic logic recognizes the signature of the great Beginning and Ending, while seeing the subject of Babylon’s fall testified to by four witnesses in the line represented by Daniel chapters four and five.

In the type and antitype relationship of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, when aligned with the last days, we find the earth beast in its lamblike condition represented by Nebuchadnezzar, and then, when it speaks as a dragon, we see Belshazzar. We see in the prophetic relationship, the Republican horn being led by the Constitution of the United States represented by Nebuchadnezzar, and the overturning of the Constitution represented by Belshazzar. We will also see Nebuchadnezzar as a wise virgin and Belshazzar as a foolish virgin.

We will continue our consideration of Daniel chapters four and five in the next article.

> “Belshazzar had been given many opportunities for knowing and doing the will of God. He had seen his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar banished from the society of men. He had seen the intellect in which the proud monarch gloried taken away by the One who gave it. He had seen the king driven from his kingdom, and made the companion of the beasts of the field. But Belshazzar’s love of amusement and self-glorification effaced the lessons he should never have forgotten; and he committed sins similar to those that brought signal judgments on Nebuchadnezzar. He wasted the opportunities graciously granted him, neglecting to use the opportunities within his reach for becoming acquainted with truth. ‘What must I do to be saved?’ was a question that the great but foolish king passed by indifferently.

> “This is the danger of heedless, reckless youth today. The hand of God will awaken the sinner as it did Belshazzar, but with many it will be too late to repent.

> “The ruler of Babylon had riches and honour, and in his haughty self-indulgence he had lifted himself up against the God of heaven and earth. He had trusted in his own arm, not supposing that any would dare to say, ‘Why doest thou this?’ But as the mysterious hand traced letters on the wall of his palace, Belshazzar was awed and silenced. In a moment he was completely shorn of his strength and humbled as a child. He realized that he was at the mercy of One greater than Belshazzar. He had been making sport of sacred things. Now his conscience was awakened. He realized that he had had the privilege of knowing and doing the will of God. The history of his grandfather stood out as vividly before him as the writing on the wall.” Bible Echo, April 25, 1898.

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