The Writing on the Wall

The Story

King Belshazzar of Babylon threw a huge party for a thousand of his nobles. As the wine flowed, he gave an order: bring out the gold and silver cups that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem.

So the king, his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from the holy vessels of God’s house. And as they drank, they praised their gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

In that same hour, the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began writing on the plaster wall of the palace, near the lampstand.

The king watched the hand write. His face went pale. His knees knocked together.

None of his wise men could read the words. Then the queen remembered a man named Daniel, who had served Nebuchadnezzar years before.

Daniel was brought in. He refused the king’s gifts, but he read the writing: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

Then he explained. Mene: God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. Tekel: “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” Peres: your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

That very night, Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Mede took the kingdom.

Reflection