THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.-- Daniel 5:1-12; Daniel 5:25-28. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting._ -- Daniel 5:27. TIME. --According to Sir Henry Rawlinson, B. C. 538. PLACE. --Babylon. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Esther 1:1-22; Daniel 1:1-10; Jeremiah 52:19; Isaiah 21... [ Continue Reading ]
BELSHAZZAR, WHILE HE TASTED WINE. While engaged in wine drinking and under its influence. Inflamed, half crazed with wine, he dared to do. sacrilegious act that he would not have done had he been sober. Nothing is more common when men surrender their reason to the influence of the cup. Countless nu... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DRANK WINE AND PRAISED THE GODS OF GOLD, ETC. The sacred vessels, unused for more than sixty years, were brought forth and filled with glowing wine. Then king, nobles and women drank from them and offered praises and libations to their idol gods. The sacred vessels from Jehovah's temple, by th... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE SAME HOUR CAME FORTH THE FINGERS OF. MAN'S HAND. Suddenly the laughs ceased, the shouts grew still, every tongue is silent and every eye is fixed upon the plaster of the wall beyond and in the bright light of the golden candlestick with seven branches which had also been profaned on this occ... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE KING'S COUNTENANCE WAS CHANGED. All were sobered in an instant. The king, so bold. moment before, is pale and trembling. His knees smite together and his whole form shakes with terror. It is not only the marvelous sight, such as no man has seen before, but the consciousness of his own sin.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING CRIED ALOUD TO BRING THE ASTROLOGERS, THE CHALDEANS, AND THE SOOTHSAYERS. He cries for the men whose business it is to interpret omens, dreams, and to foretell the future. The _astrologers_ are those who read fates in the stars, by casting the horoscope and finding the stars that rule the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY COULD NOT READ THE WRITING. If the characters were Hebrew the wise men were not familiar with them. They may not have belonged to any human language.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WAS KING BELSHAZZAR GREATLY TROUBLED. His alarm filled him with intense anxiety. It certainly portended something and yet its significance was wrapped in dreadful obscurity. The whole court was filled with terror, amazement and perplexity.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE QUEEN... CAME INTO THE BANQUET HOUSE. The wives and concubines were already there, but the queen only came on account of hearing of the awful portent. This convinces us that the queen was not the wife of Belshazzar at all, but his mother and the wife of king Nabonedus, his father, who was b... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS. MAN IN THY KINGDOM. The queen, after the usual salutation, bids the king dismiss his anxiety, for there is. man who can solve every dark mystery and had been put to the test again and again in the reign of the great Nebuchadnezzar. Her memory easily reached backward to the period when Dan... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW LET DANIEL BE CALLED. After recounting the wisdom and former exaltation of Daniel she bids that he be called. This seems to imply that he still lived in the palace, probably in an obscure position. It must be remembered that in an eastern royal palace, itself. city, there were often as many as... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS IS THE WRITING... MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Daniel, before the interpretation, takes occasion to explain why the judgment has come. The king is reminded of his awful sin. Then the hand disappears but the words remain. The characters are read by Daniel, either by inspiration or because h... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD HATH NUMBERED THY KINGDOM, AND FINISHED IT. The first word, repeated, was _Mene._ It is the participle of. Hebrew verb that means "to number." The words written were, "_ Numbered, Numbered!_ ". man's days are numbered when his death draws nigh. This significant word here implies either that the... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES AND FOUND WANTING. The second word is _Tekel,_ which is from. Hebrew verb and means "weighed." The first word applies to the kingdom, the second to the king. The scales have always been the emblem of justice; the suffering Job asks: "Let me be weighed in an even bal... [ Continue Reading ]
PERES; THY KINGDOM IS DIVIDED. _Upharsin,_ found in the 25th verse, is the plural of _peres,_ which means "divided." The king had been tested in the balance and was wanting; his lords were also wanting; so was the kingdom; therefore it was numbered and divided. It would be taken away and given to t... [ Continue Reading ]