The Hand of God in Daniel 5

In the Bible, the hand of God is often a metaphor for God's sovereignty.  Sometimes the imagery is used to simply illustrate this attribute of God, as in Joshua 4:24.  Sometimes, a negative picture is portrayed.  For example, Job pleads, "Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, for the hand of the Lord has struck me (Job 19:21).  When the Philistines had captured the ark of the covenant and brought it back to Ekron, there was great confusion (or destruction) in the city as a result, because "the hand of the Lord was very heavy there" (2 Samuel 5:11).

This phrase "hand of the Lord" can also convey a positive idea, as in 2 Chronicles 30:12, where the hand of God guided the tribe of Judah "to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord."  This concept is extremely significant to the theology of the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, who declares that "There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good.  This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God" (2:24) and "righteous men, wise men, and there deeds are in the hand of God" (9:1).

Furthermore, the Bible often portrays the hand of God as a place of safety, divine protection, and rest for His people: "Indeed He loves the people; all Your holy ones are in Your hand" (Deuteronomy 33:3); "my times are in your hand" (Ps.31:15a); "My soul clings to you; Your right hand upholds me" (Ps.63:8), and so on.

This hand imagery plays heavily in Daniel 5, and the theological implications are profound.  In verse 5, Belshazzar sees a disembodied hand appear and begin to write on the wall.  Then in verses 18-23, the prophet Daniel delivers what can only be called a sermon of judgment, concluding with these condemning words: "But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified."  As a result of this failure to recognize God's sovereignty, that very hand which holds Belshazzar's life was sent to deliver the message of judgment (verse 24).

What a picture!  For those who do not fear God and do not give Him the glory and honor which is His, the hand of God is a place of judgement and destruction.  No one can escape His hand, for in it He holds "the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind" (Job 12:9-10).

But for the people of God, His hand is not one of judgment, but of safety and rest, a place of comfort and protection.  No more clear is this reality expressed then in the words of Jesus, who as He died on the cross declared, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46).

Soli Deo gloria