The Jewish exiles must have been pitiable – at least at the outset. They had been defeated, decimated, deported and degraded. Some might have risen up the Babylonian food-chain, but they were still described as ‘Judean exiles… brought from Judah’ (5:13).

And, yet, time and time again, God used these ‘foolish’ people to declare his significance. Time and time again, they pointed to the significance of God in how they conducted themselves.

Here, at the reign of the last ruler of Babylon, Belshazzar, the evidence is inscribed in the records of history… and this king has ignored all the evidence, truth and fact that he has seen. He grabs significance for himself, he demeans God… and God continues to use the ‘foolish things’ to shame the proud, and to save those who listen.

Does that sound familiar?