The Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

A hand appeared at the party and wrote a kingdom's obituary on the wall.

King Belshazzar throws a feast for a thousand nobles and does something his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar never dared: he brings out the gold and silver goblets looted from Jerusalem's temple and drinks from them while praising Babylonian gods. In the middle of the revelry, a human hand appears and writes four words on the plaster wall. The king's face goes white. His knees knock together. No one can read it. Daniel is summoned. The message: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN — your days are numbered, you've been weighed and found wanting, your kingdom is divided. That very night, the Persians breach the city. Belshazzar is killed. Babylon falls.

• Judgment
• Pride
• God's Sovereignty
• Consequences