Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.

by Alejandro Roque Glez.

“In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote … MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN… You are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting… In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain; and Darius the Median took the kingdom.”

(Daniel 5:1-31)

Belshazzar, second in command of the kingdom (5:7b,16b, 29b) and co-regent with his father Nabonidus (555-538 BC), and last king of the Babylonian Empire; he was wasting his time and money in a disordered orgy, plentiful of disproportionate drunkenness (v.1-4),using for this purpose the utensils and holy vessels of the Temple of God in Jerusalem (v.2) brought and conserved over since when his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar burned the holy city and destroyed its Temple (586 BC). At the peak of his happiness and very confident in his prosperity, proud and safe celebrating his power, a mysterious human hand appeared (v.5), and his fingers wrote on the wall in front of their noses––and to the astonishment of the king––one terrible sentence that soon approached him and his entire empire.

The sculpted writing said: “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.” Before continuing, dear reader, please note that the strange writing on the wall was carved––not just written––that is, the power of God was behind those fingers. Nobody can burn a finger on a stone or something similar, it would be needed chisels and several hours.

This fact was a major shock for a nation and empire which makes us remember what happened in the city of New York, on September 11, 2001 (911).

The king and co-regent Belshazzar called his politicians, magicians, soothsayers (v.7), santeria, babalaos, spiritualists, visionaries, and whoever among the people in the kingdom who boasted to decipher unknowns and knew anything about the future could translate such enigma. Nobody could (v.8), because this was not coming from demons and dark world, but directly from God; thus no tricks of those which use the supposed mediators between men and the ethereal world worked to achieve the riddle. It was needed and took a real man of God.

That man of God was the wise prophet Daniel (v.11-17), who in an imminent prophecy––like if knocking on the king’s door––and once he first made him to realize and remember his rebellious spirit, abominations, disobedience, and pride before God (v.18-25) then clearly deciphered the business, ensuring that his kingdom had been corrupted and delivered (v.28) to the Medes and Persians with their nascent Empire (538 BC).

Take in account this was a true man of God. Not those they used to meet today at the White House or at their homes––with the U.S. Presidents––and exchange smiles, photos, hugs, slogans and wishes for prosperity, mentioning of mutual friends and contacts, peace and friendship, and there everything remains in stillness. No, no, no... this was a true man of God. He told to the most influential and powerful politician of his time together with his entourage of sycophants and flatterers, which were wicked, abominables and manipulatives, that evil against him and them was coming imminently.

Was he hanged because of that? King Belshazzar was stunned, and apparently had no choice but to believe the impetuous and already advanced in age man of God Daniel. He then made––even as Daniel refused, including the riches offered him––to dress the prophet as a true king in purple, setting on his neck the gold chain representing imperial authority, used since ancient times as a title of dignity (Gn 41:42); adding to be officially named third in command in the Kingdom after both the king Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar co-regent in the Empire. Behind everything God was preparing Daniel to continue being an important character and personage in the incoming Medo-Persian Empire, and thus have his human spokesman well near to the historical events laid ahead (6:28).

That same night, while probable Belshazzar was not believing the certainty about that prophecy to be so near nor happening so fast, Darius the Mede invaded the city of Babylon; Belshazzar was killed, and the kingdom was taken together with its armies, beginning that Medo-Persian Empire history recorded as in 538 BC. The writing carved on the wall for Belshazzar meant this: “God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it. You are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. Your kingdom is divided,and given to the Medes and Persians” (v.25-28).

The boiling point is approaching. (Read the author's book entitled: 'Revelation of Saint John. Interpretation of the Book;' and the literary work: 'The Great Peacemaker from Hell,' which is recreated in the form of a narrative).

[These and other Old Testament prophecies are explicatively compiled in the author's book entitled: 'Major Prophets of the Old Testament;' in print and digital editions] 

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