Daniel 5.25-Daniel Reads Aloud The Inscription For Belshazzar
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 24, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 5:25-Daniel Reads Aloud The Inscription For Belshazzar
Lesson # 166
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 5:1.
Daniel 5:1 King Belshazzar threw an enormous banquet for a thousand of his nobles. He even drank wine excessively directly in front of the thousand. 2 Belshazzar issued an order while under the influence of the wine causing the gold and silver articles to be brought in which Nebuchadnezzar, his great-grandfather caused to be confiscated from the temple, which was in Jerusalem, in order that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 3 Therefore, the gold and silver articles were brought in, which were confiscated from the temple, which was God’s house, which was in Jerusalem so that the king, his nobles as well as his wives and in addition his concubines could drink with them. 4 They drank wine while they praised gods composed of gold as well as silver, bronze, iron, wood and in addition stone. 5 During this time, the fingers of a human hand appeared while writing on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, directly in front of the lampstand so that the king observed the palm of the hand which was writing. 6 Then the king, his countenance was changed for him. Also, his thoughts caused him to be terrified so that his hip joints gave way resulting in his knees knocking together, one against the other. 7 The king authoritatively shouted out an order for the purpose of causing the necromancers, astrologers as well as diviners to be brought in. He declared to the city of Babylon’s wise men, “Any person who can read aloud as well as can make known its interpretation to me will be clothed with a purple robe as well as a golden chain around his neck. Indeed, they will rule as third in the kingdom.” 8 Therefore, each and every one of the king’s wise men came in but they were totally unable to read or cause the interpretation to be made known to the king. 9 Thus causing the king to be extremely terrified so that his countenance was changed on him as well as causing his nobles to be perplexed. 10 The queen entered the banquet hall because of the king’s words as well as his nobles. The queen responded and said, “O king, live forever! Please, by no means let your thoughts cause you to be terrified so that they by no means cause your countenance to be changed! 11 There is a man in your kingdom who possesses God’s Holy Spirit in him. Specifically, during the days of your great-grandfather, illumination, discernment as well as wisdom in accordance with God’s wisdom were observed in him. Indeed, King Nebuchadnezzar, your great-grandfather, your great-grandfather the king, promoted him to be commander over the occult priests, necromancers, astrologers and diviners 12 because in him, in Daniel whom the king assigned him the name Belteshazzar, was found an extraordinary spirit, knowledge, discernment interpreting dreams, explaining riddles as well as solving difficult problems. Please summon Daniel right now in order to cause the interpretation to be known.” 13 Consequently, Daniel was ordered to enter the king’s presence. The king asked a question and said to Daniel, “Are you Daniel, who is one of the deported people from Judah whom my great-grandfather the king ordered to be brought from Judah? 14 Likewise I heard concerning you that God’s Spirit is in you so that illumination, discernment as well as extraordinary wisdom were observed in you. 15 Now at this time, the wise men, the necromancers were ordered to enter my presence in order that they could read aloud as well as to make known to me its interpretation. However, they were totally unable to cause the message’s interpretation to be made known to me. 16 But I myself personally heard concerning you that you are able to provide interpretations as well as solve difficult problems. Now, if you are able to read aloud the inscription as well as cause its interpretation to be made known to me, you will be clothed with a purple robe as well as a golden chain around you neck. Indeed, you will rule as third over the kingdom. 17 Then Daniel responded and said in the presence of the king, “Please, keep your gifts for yourself or please give your rewards for another. However, I will read aloud the inscription to the king as well as cause the interpretation to be made known to him. 18 As for you, O king, the Most High God gave to Nebuchadnezzar, your great-grandfather a kingdom, yes a great kingdom as well as honor, yes, great honor. 19 Indeed, because of this greatness, which He gave to him, each and every person belonging to the nations, ethnicities as well as language groups was in state of trembling, yes in a state of fear from being in the presence of him. He was characterized as putting to death whomever he desired whereas he was characterized as sparing whomever he desired. He was also characterized as promoting whomever he desired while on the other hand he was characterized as demoting whomever he desired. 20 However, when his mind was in a state of arrogance, namely, his attitude was obstinate so that he was proud, he was ordered to be removed from his royal throne so that honor was taken away from him. 21 Specifically, he was driven away from members of the human race. For his benefit, his mind was even transformed into the mind of a wild animal so that his dwelling place was among the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like cattle. Furthermore, his body was continually drenched with the dew from heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God was the sovereign authority over mankind’s realm so that He can establish over it whomever He desires. 22 However, as for you, his great-grandson, you by no means humbled your heart even though you are well acquainted with all this. 23 Instead, you caused yourself to become arrogant against the Lord ruling the heavens. Specifically, the vessels which are from God’s house were brought into your presence. Consequently, you, yourself along with your nobles, your wives as well as your concubines drank wine excessively with them while you, praised the gods composed of silver as well as gold, bronze, iron, wood and in addition stone, which never see as well as never hear likewise, never communicate. Thus, you never honored the God who holds your life in His hand so that every one of your ways originates from Him. 24 Then, the palm of the hand was sent from Him so that this inscription was written.” (My translation)
Daniel 5:25 “Now this is the inscription that was written out: ‘MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN.’” (NASB95)
This verse is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “now” which is followed by the demonstrative pronoun denā(h) (דְּנָה) (dane-awe), “this” which is modifying the masculine singular noun keṯāḇ (כְּתָב) (keth-awb´), “the inscription” and then and then we have the relative particle dî (דִּי) (dee), “what” which is followed by the third person masculine singular peʿil (Hebrew: qal passive) participle form of the verb rešǎm (רְשַׁם) (resh-am´), “was written out” which is followed by the masculine singular noun menē(ʾ) (מְנֵא) (men-ay´), “MENĒ” which is repeated and then we have the masculine singular noun teqēl (תְּקֵל) (tek-al´), “TEKĒL” and this is followed by the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “U” which is prefixed to the masculine plural form of the noun perēs (פְּרֵס) (per-as´), “PHARSIN.”
The conjunction wa is used in a transitional sense and means “now” since the word is introducing a statement that marks a transition from Daniel’s statement in Daniel 5:24 to his statement here in Daniel 5:25.
So the transition is from Daniel telling Belshazzar that the palm of the hand was sent from God so that the inscription was written to communicating to him what the inscription says.
The demonstrative pronoun denā(h) means “this” and is kataphoric meaning that the word is pointing forward to the statement to follow, i.e. Daniel communicating to Belshazzar what the inscription said.
The noun keṯāḇ means “writing” or “inscription” referring to the symbols or letters inscribed on the wall behind the lampstand in the banquet room where Belshazzar threw an enormous banquet for his nobles.
The word refers specifically to the content of the inscription as indicated by the fact that Daniel is communicating to Belshazzar what the inscription said.
The particle dî means “what” since it functions as a marker of discourse with emphasis upon the content to follow which the word introduces.
The verb rešǎm means “to write” referring to the action of the palm of the hand producing the inscription on the wall, which was a message that originated directly from the presence of God.
The inscription contained only three words with the first word repeated.
All the words refer to measures of weight.
The noun menē(ʾ) is an Aramaic noun which means “numbered” referring to a weight of 50 shekels (a mina, equal to 1 1/4 pounds).
It is from the verb menâh, “to number, to reckon.”
Daniel understood this word to signify that the number of years that God had prescribed for the Neo-Babylonian Empire had expired.
Its repetition emphasizes this point.
The noun teqēl means “weighed” and refers to a shekel (2/5 of an ounce) and is from the verb teqāl, “to weigh.”
Daniel interpreted this word as indicating that God had weighed Belshazzar and had found him deficient.
He was a terrible ruler.
He should have been an excellent ruler if he had learned from God’s treatment of his great-grandfather Nebuchadnezzar to be humble.
However, Belshazzar obstinately refused to acknowledge God’s sovereignty.
The noun perēs means a half-mina (25 shekels, or about 2/3 of a pound).
It is from the verb peras, “to break in two, to divide.”
Uparsin means “and half-shekels.”
Parsin is the plural form of peras, which means “broken in two” or “divided.”
Daniel interprets this word as referring to the division of Belshazzar’s kingdom into two parts, one part for the Medes and the other for the Persians.
Interestingly, the same radicals that spell out this third word furnish the root for the “has been divided,” which is perīsat.
Also, this word points to paras, which means “Persian.”
This nation was the dominant kingdom in the Medo-Persian alliance.
This means that Daniel believed the kingdom following Babylon was the Persian.
Thus prs had a triple meaning.
Daniel 5:25 “Now, this is the content of the inscription to follow that was written: MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN.” (My translation)
The expression “MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN” literally means “numbered, weighed and divided.”
Daniel’s interpretation in Daniel 5:26-28 indicates that God was bringing to an end Belshazzar’s days as king of the Neo-Babylonian empire since he did not measure up to God’s standards and this kingdom would be divided between the Medes and the Persians.
Daniel 5:26 “This is the interpretation of the message: ‘MENĒ’—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. 27 ‘TEKĒL’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. 28 ‘PERĒS’—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.” (NASB95)
Pentecost writes “Even if the wise men could have read the words (which they couldn’t), they could not have interpreted them for they had no point of reference as to what had been numbered, weighed, and divided.”
Archer writes “Observe that even if the court diviners had been able to make out the three consonants m-n-ʼ correctly, they still would not have known what vowel points to give them. For example, it could have been read as menâ or mina-a heavy weigh equivalent to sixty Babylonian shekels.”
We can understand why the wise men couldn’t interpret but it seems strange that they could not read the inscription since it was written in Aramaic.
The wise men’s difficulty in reading the writing may have been that it was written in Aramaic script without the vowels being supplied.
However, if it was written in cuneiform, the vowels would have been included.
Daniel does not explain the difficulty in reading the writing on the wall, but the problem apparently was not that it was a strange language but rather what the words signified prophetically.
The vowels would be supplied in ordinary discourse.
However, in a cryptic statement such as found with this inscription the addition of vowels is a problem.
The inscription on the wall may have appeared like this, “MN’ MN’ TQL UPRSN.”
The order of the letters in the Aramaic, of course, would be the reverse of this, that is, from right to left.
Also, if, some unfamiliar form of these characters was used, it would indeed have required divine revelation to not only provide an interpretation for the inscription but also to read it.
This helps us to understand why Belshazzar requested that someone read the inscription for him.
This inscription was revelation from God.
The purpose of this revelation was to communicate to the king the will of God for his life.
Through this inscription, God the Holy Spirit was telling Belshazzar that both his kingdom and his life were coming to an end immediately.
Unfortunately, the king’s response to this revelation was not one of repentance.