Writing in the Bible: Part 4 The Writing on the Wall

In Daniel 5, we read the story of the Babylonian king’s feast, where the fingers of a hand appeared writing on a wall. The four words were, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin. This deeply distressed the King. The Babylonian magicians, fortune-tellers and wisemen couldn’t interpret what this meant. But the Queen Mother remembered Daniel. He was called and was able to interpret the message.

This message was written in Aramaic and not Hebrew:

• Mene means a weight of 60 shekels or to be numbered

• Tekel means a shekel or to be weighed

• Parsin means Persians or half-shekels (the word is a plural)

Daniel interprets the meaning of these words in the following way:

Daniel 5 v 26-28

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

By the morning, the Babylonian Empire had fallen. The Persians (& Medes) attacked the city and the Babylonian King Belshazzar was killed. According to extra-biblical sources, this happened in October 539 BC.

On a side note, an academic has pointed out that if you add up the number of shekels mentioned in those three words (assuming Parsin means 2 half shekels):

60 + 1 + (2 x 1/2) = 62 shekels

This is the age of King Darius when he conquered Babylon (v 31).

This is a rabbit hole which I will not fall into just yet. Wait until the next post.

Fingers of a Hand

As with my previous post in the series, we see a finger mentioned again. We read in v 24, the hand was sent by God.

If we look at the previous incidents of when the Finger of God is mentioned in Scripture, we see it in the Plagues of Egypt and the writing of the Ten Commandments.

It is almost like a written decree.

When something is written down, it becomes more permanent than an oral account. It can be read by anyone, even without the author being present. It stands as a ‘testament’ and has authority.

The Writing on the Wall was like a decree. If a monarch gives a pronouncement like this, it’s a royal decree. As God is the King of Kings, His decrees are absolute.

And we see this decree was fulfilled that night, when the king was killed.

Recreation of the Temple

In this story, we read how the king brings the cups from the Jewish Temple, and drinks from them. We also see that the lampstand is next to where the hand starts writing. It could be assumed that this lampstand may have been from the Temple too.

This gives the impression that the king is transforming his banqueting hall into the Jewish Temple. And those rules associated with the Temple would now apply. Therefore the king is desecrating the sacrilegious space.

The Fall of a King

In verse 6, we see the fall of the king. It starts at the head and goes through the rest of his body.

• His face goes pale and bloodless

• His thoughts in his heart are troubled

• His loins become loose (he involuntarily defecates)

• His legs become weak and knock together

Symbolically, the king is defeated first and then the kingdom is lost. This is a judgement from God. As a human enemy would have to fight through the armies protecting the king, before the he would fall. In this story, the king is killed first.

The Dust of the Wall

Plaster is made up of dust and water mixed together. It is then spread on the wall and sets.

Symbolically, it is the ‘dust of the wall’. And if we think about the plague of gnats, which is part of the judgement of God on Egypt. We know that this plague started when the staff touched the dust. The Egyptian magicians could not replicate this plague as it was made by the Finger of God.

Just like the decree against the King of Babylon, the Finger of God touches the ‘dust of the wall’, and judgement comes.