Strange Story: Daniel 5 A Hand Wrote on the Wall Part 3

They Called for Daniel

Since the other experts could not make out the meaning of the writing on the wall, they called Daniel. I find it interesting that the text tells us many words spoken by Daniel but there is no record of him saying the typical phrase, “O king live forever.” I think Daniel knew that if Belshazzar did not repent, his life would not last very much longer. Before Daniel gave the meaning of the message, he delivered a strong rebuke in the form of the very comparison that Belshazzar was so fond of promoting.

We pick up the narrative in verse 22.

Here Is That Word Again

Once again we see that word that means “in front of or because of.” The original language (Aramaic) says the same thing twice, “you knew it, you had it in front of you.” Belshazzar had no excuse for not repenting because he had the example of the one he was trying to emulate. Belshazzar and his father had been poor leaders and had accomplished nothing of importance. On the other hand, he wanted to be great like Nebuchadnezzar, so he called him his father (or grandfather) and tried to be like him.

Did he succeed in being like his role model? Well, he was not a great king, but he was arrogant like Nebuchadnezzar. However, he failed to be like him when it came to repentance. On this night God was giving him one final chance to repent of his pride; the message on the wall included a clear warning and we can assume it also included an opportunity.

Daniel’s Rebuke

Daniel did not hold anything back. He pointed his finger right at the king and said, “You have acted unwisely, arrogantly and in defiance of the true God.” He mentioned specifically the use of the vessels brought from the temple in Jerusalem. Did he mention the lampstand? Well, He did not mention it specifically, but the use of the term “breath” may have been a hint in that direction. The Jews saw the ideas of life, breath and spirit as being inextricably connected. Any mention of one of those three things brought to mind the other two because life, breathe and spirit always went together. The lampstand was a symbol of the Spirit of God because it held oil and oil represented God’s Spirit. Thus, this statement could have double meaning expressing two ideas like this – you have not honored the God who holds your breath in his hand, and you have disrespected His spirit who grants life. As you can see, the double meaning is actually saying the same thing twice.

Not only had the king chosen to defile the articles from the temple of the true God, but he had chosen throughout his life to misuse the life and breath this same God had granted him. That was another way in which he dishonored God.

God gives all of us life and everything that makes life possible. He expects us to live it for His glory, but He gives us a choice; we can live for Him or for ourselves. None of us are very far removed from this seemingly wicked king, Belshazzar. We may not be defiling things taken from the temple in Jerusalem, but many of us are taking the gift of life that God gave us and using it for our own pleasure instead of for His glory. Yet, just like Belshazzar, we have a chance to repent. Don’t ignore this opportunity.

Why Just the Palm of the Hand?

If this use of the “palm of the hand” seems strange to you, that is because it is not about what physical part of the hand was being seen; it was about the root word from which the word “palm” came. Its origin was in a word meaning first of all “to disappear or disperse,” then by implication “something flat which could disperse things,” e.g. the flat part of the hand, i.e. the palm of the hand. The question is not “What did he see?” but rather “What did it mean?”

Did the Chaldean Experts Recognize the Words?

There are two major ways to view the trouble the Chaldean experts experienced in interpreting what was written on the wall.

1. Some scholars think that the words were written in characters that they did not recognize, i.e. not Aramaic characters but old Hebrew characters which only Daniel would know. (Old Hebrew had very rounded letters, but then Hebrew adopted Aramaic style lettering and what we now call Hebrew is actually Hebrew words and grammar expressed with Aramaic style letters which are very block-like.) They say this is the reason that the actual words that were written on the wall have not been given until this point in the narrative. They suggest that this means that only Daniel was able to read the letters that formed the words. If these scholars are correct, God was giving them an indication that they needed to look to the Jewish God for answers instead of ignoring Him or disrespecting Him.

2. Other scholars think that the wise men of Babylonia knew what those words meant, but they could not interpret the writing on the wall because they did not have the spiritual perception necessary to do so. Daniel knew the heart of God and because of spiritual insight accumulated over decades of following God, his human brain sensed the direction this was probably pointing. Then he prayed and asked God for a confirmation and God confirmed his first thoughts and probably clarified the message even more. That is why the actual message was just four words long (it used three words but one word was repeated). It was not intended to be super clear to everyone; it was designed to require spiritual discernment in order to understand it. Proponents of this view say that these three words appear in Ninevite inscriptions, so they were indeed known and used in that area. They say that the experts were not able to explain the message because these three words did not make much sense standing independently as they did on the wall. The pulpit commentary says it would be similar to saying in English: “A pound, a pound, an ounce and quarters.” If you heard or read such a statement you would likely say, “I understand the words, but I have no clue what is being said.”

I believe they could read the writing and understand the individual words but had no clue what the intended message was. They lacked the spiritual perception to discern the intended meaning.

The Basic Meaning of the Words on the Wall

The message was simply a set of measurements by which one designates weight (or value when applied to silver). The statement is arranged in two phrases of two words each, the first word being repeated a second time to make it appear balanced with the second phrase. Each component of the statement has a double meaning.

Mene meant “numbered” and was a unit of weight equal to 50 (or sometimes 60) shekels. Therefore it became a unit of money, which by New Testament times was called a Mina.

Teqel meant “weighed” and often pointed to something that was weighed and found to be overly “light” (i.e. a false weight in a scale). Keep “weighed” and “light” in mind as we move to the next three verses. Teqel corresponded to the Hebrew word Shekel, which was both a unit of weight and a designation for an amount of money.

Pharsin was the plural of Peres, and meant “divided.” As a measurement it was a half mina, or about 25 shekels instead of 50 shekels. The singular form was similar to the name Persia.

Daniel Knew the Spiritual Context

As is often the case, context is needed in order to interpret things correctly. In the case of the words carved on the wall, there was so little to go on that context was more important than usual, but from a human perspective, there wasn’t even any context shared. However, from a spiritual perspective, the context was overpowering. Belshazzar had acted arrogantly by challenging the power of the true God. God had responded with a message that required spiritual insight to understand. Although all three words referred to money, money was not in view at all. It was the idea of measuring that was the key. Belshazzar’s life and kingdom had been measured and found to be morally inadequate (Mene and Teqel), therefore the consequences will be severe (all three of them communicate this). The short version was simply– “it’s over.”

Belshazzar’s Response

The Bible tells us what happened next, but the most powerful part of that last verse is what is not mentioned because it did not happen. What did not happen was that Belshazzar did not repent.

After Daniel finished his pronouncement of God’s impending judgement, there was probably a long pause during which the following realities slowly penetrated Belshazzar’s alcohol-soaked brain:

1. That everyone was looking at him and expecting a response.

2. That Daniel’s interpretation could not be denied; the incriminating pieces of evidence (wine filled bowls and the lampstand from the temple in Jerusalem) were in plain view.

3. That Daniel’s God is a true God with power to act. The evidence had been chiseled with a finger on the wall where paintings or carvings of Belshazzar had previously been.

4. That he had to make a choice. He could repent in front of all those people, or he could keep playing the game of pretend that he had been playing all evening.

If he truly wanted to honor Daniel he would have repented, but repenting was not an acceptable option to him, so he kept playing the game. Oblivious to how vacuous it made him look, he proceeded to show outward demonstrations of honor to the man who was the mouthpiece of divine judgment upon him. He proceeded to give this man great authority in a kingdom that by then everyone knew was over, done, finished. He continued to pretend that the god Bel was going to save all of them, despite the fact that the God he had just dishonored had shown up on the scene in terrifying fashion and spoken to the contrary. Where was Bel’s response? Why didn’t his god Bel have anything to say about the matter?

Bel Failed to Protect “Bel Protect the King”

Belshazzar’s arrogance, his dishonoring of the True God, and his unwillingness to repent were given their due punishment within hours. While it is thought that his father was spared and taken captive, Belshazzar was killed. He was given the chance to see that his god Bel had not kept his attackers out of the city. He got to feel the sword piercing or striking his flesh because Bel had not protected the king. He died with the realization that his faith in Bel had been ill-founded and that there was another God out there, a True God, who has real power. That True God had given him the opportunity to repent, but he had refused it.

Belshazzar, who had always wanted to be like his predecessor, the great king Nebuchadnezzar, failed to do so in almost every way. He was not the leader of a powerful empire, but the king of a declining empire, thanks in large part to the ineptness of his father. He was proud and arrogant, like Nebuchadnezzar, but unlike his predecessor he did not repent.

It is not difficult to imagine the panic in which the guests of Belshazzar’s banquet fled from the banquet hall. They all knew that their city would fall to the invading army and that their kingdom would be dissolved. Being officials and nobles in the Babylonian empire, they knew their own lives were in grave danger.

Spiritual Takeaway

1. Don’t allow even a small amount of pride in your life because it is likely to turn into arrogance.

2. Living your life for yourself instead of for God is a form of disrespect to God, the giver of life.

3. As long as you have life and breath, you have an opportunity, given to you by God, to repent, so take it.

4. If you get close to God you will be able to see and understand what others cannot.