Belshazzar, king of Babylon, threw the banquet that ended his dynasty. The Mekhilta cites (Daniel 5:1) — "King Belshazzar made a great banquet" — and reads it as the culmination of Babylonian arrogance. This was no ordinary feast. Belshazzar used the sacred vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had looted from the Temple in Jerusalem, drinking wine from golden cups consecrated to God.
The prophet Habakkuk had already pronounced judgment on exactly this kind of behavior. (Habakkuk 2:15) warns: "Woe unto him who makes his neighbor drink! You pour out your wrath even unto intoxication." The verse cuts both ways — Belshazzar made others drink from holy vessels, and God would pour out wrath upon him in return. (Habakkuk 2:16) adds the consequence: "You will be sated with shame rather than glory."
The banquet that was meant to display Belshazzar's power became the stage for his destruction. That very night, as the revelry continued, the mysterious hand appeared and wrote upon the wall. The words were weighed, numbered, divided. (Daniel 5:30) records the outcome with chilling brevity: "That very night King Belshazzar was killed."
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael (Tractate Shirah 6:9) places this story alongside the drowning of Pharaoh — another ruler who defied God and discovered that the very instruments of his arrogance became the instruments of his end.