Biblically, want and desire are used pretty much interchangeably. It usually refers to the desire/wants or lack thereof in our relationship with God. Dictionary.com defines want with terms like craving, need, and requirement. It can also mean the lack of those same things. Desire implies craving, soliciting, having aspirations for, and even hunger.
Issues (sin) happen when our wants and desires do not align with God’s or His Holy Word. Often depicted as twin scales, we can never fully balance ourselves against God. However, as is the case of King Belshazzar in our text today, outright rebellion, seeking out our own wants and desires will surely tip the scales against us.
CONTEXT:
THIS chapter gives an account of a feast made by King Belshazzar, attended with drunkenness, idolatry, and profanation of the vessels taken out of the temple at Jerusalem, ver. 1, 2, 3, 4 and of the displeasure of God, signified by a hand-writing on the wall, which terrified the king, and caused him to send in haste for the astrologers, &c. to read and interpret it, but they could not, ver. 5, 6, 7, 8. in this distress, which appeared in the countenances of him and his nobles, the queen-mother advises him to send for Daniel, of whom she gives a great encomium, ver. 9, 10, 11, 12. upon which he was brought in to the king, and promised a great reward to read and interpret the writing; the reward he slighted, but promised to read and interpret the writing, ver. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and after putting him in mind of what had befallen his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, and charging him home with pride, idolatry, and profanation of the vessels of the Lord, ver. 18–23, reads and interprets the writing to him ver. 24–28. when he had honour done him, and was preferred in the government, ver. 29 and the chapter is concluded with an account of the immediate accomplishment of ancient prophecies, and of this hand-writing, in the slaying of the king of Babylon, in the dissolution of the Babylonish monarchy, and the possession of it by Darius the Mede, ver. 30, 31.
John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament, vol. 6, The Baptist Commentary Series (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1810), 304.
The exposition of the word TEKEL, (V.27), to weigh, now follows:—Since thou hast been weighed in the balance, or scale, and found wanting. Here Daniel shews God so moderating his judgments, as if he was carrying a balance in his hand. The emblem is taken from the custom of mankind; for men know the use of the balance for accurate measurement. So also God is said to treat all things by weight and measure, since he does nothing with confusion, but uses moderation; and, according to ordinary language, nothing is more or less than it should be. (Wisdom 11:21.) For this reason, Daniel says God weighed Belshazzar in a balance, since he did not make haste to inflict punishment, but exacted it with justice according to his own uniform rule of government. Since he was found deficient, that is, was found light and without weight. As if he had said, Thou thinkest thy dignity must be spared, since all men revere thee; thou thinkest thyself worthy of honour; thou art deceived says he, for God judges otherwise; God does not use a common scale, but holds his own, and there thou art found deficient; that is, thou art found a man of no consequence, in any way. From these words there is no doubt that the tyrant was greatly exasperated, but as his last end was approaching, he ought to hear the voice of the herald. And God, without doubt, restrained his fierceness, that he should not rise up against Daniel.
John Calvin and Thomas Myers, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Daniel, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 343–344.
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