The Handwriting on the Wall

“In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.”  Daniel 5:5

The event of the passage from which the above verse was taken occurred sometime after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, whose reign was estimated to have ended around B.C. 562.  After his death his grandson, Belshazzar, eventually became king after a succession of other family members who reigned for a time.  From scripture we learn that Belshazzar was not a humble man.  He apparently learned nothing from the experience of his grandfather, who was also arrogant, yet was humbled by a drastic experience that I will write about another time.  For now, just know that Nebuchadnezzar was brought very low in order to look up to his Creator.  Belshazzar did not regard the God of Israel and was very egotistical.  His grandfather’s spiritual awakening apparently had no influence on him.

Belshazzar, accustomed to a lifestyle of “the rich and famous”, made a great feast for all the “movers and shakers” in his realm.  There were about 1,000 men along with their wives and concubines.  The wine flowed freely and was served in vessels taken from Israel’s temple by Nebuchadnezzar before his transformation.  One would have thought he would have returned them to the temple, but he did not.  For these consecrated vessels to be used by idolaters was an affront to the LORD God and to the people of Israel.  In the arrogance of the party goers, they toasted and praised their false gods with these sacred vessels.  As the revelers were partying and becoming greatly intoxicated, God sent a warning to Belshazzar by means of a sign that was humanly impossible and jarred the king from his drunken stupor.

Within minutes of the king and his guests imbibing from the sacred vessels, a man’s hand appeared, no body, just a hand, and with it’s fingers wrote words on the wall beside the candlestick near the wall.  Picture a dimly lit room and the disembodied hand glowing in the light of the nearby burning candle as the fingers began to move and write upon the wall.  It scared the daylights out of Belshazzar.  Of course, that would scare the daylights out of anyone.  His jovial countenance suddenly changed into one of fear and grief.  His knees began to knock against one another, he became very weak, and was most likely having a panic attack.

Belshazzar called for his astrologers, soothsayers, and the Chaldeans to come and interpret the words that were written on the wall.  He promised some rather valuable gifts to anyone who could tell him the message.  Of course, they could not interpret it.  The king was making such a commotion that the queen came to see what she could do to calm him down.  She told him of a man who had the ability to interpret dreams.  This man was Daniel.  He had been shuffled into the realm of obscurity after Nebuchadnezzar was deceased, but God had not forgotten him.  Daniel would be allowed to serve God once again in a memorable way.  He was brought into the palace in which he had likely not been in a long time.  After being told of the rewards for interpreting the message, Daniel said that he was not interested in rewards, but that he would make the interpretation.

Daniel began by reminding Belshazzar that his grandfather had been a prideful man who learned through a very humbling and difficult experience to acknowledge the God of Israel as LORD.  Belshazzar was aware of his grandfather’s experience, but rather than submitting to God as Nebuchadnezzar had done, he continued to be impudent, arrogant, and live an ungodly manner of life.  This was the reason for the message which was written either in the Chaldean language or in Aramaic, a dialect spoken by many Jews.  It was written in such a way that it made no sense to those whom Belshazzar had summoned to read it.  The words were : MENE, MENE, TEKAL, UPHARSIN, which, taken together, as Daniel interpreted, meant that Belshazzar’s days as king were numbered, that he was found as an immoral and ungodly ruler, and that Babylon would be divided among the Medes and the Persians, adversaries of Babylon.

One would think that Belshazzar would have been ready to fall on his knees and repent, but he did not.  He must have been under conviction, but like many, he probably wanted to think about it for a while.  However, he wasn’t going to have that much time to think about it because he would be slain that very night by an unknown assailant.  A sinner may continue on in his or her sin for a long time, like Belshazzar, but a time of accountability and judgment will come.  The good news is that Jesus stands ready to forgive anyone who will own up to their sin, turn from it, and make Christ the Lord of his or her life.  Who knows what good that Belshazzar could have done had he humbled himself and repented before God.