The Bible In Paintings: THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

[Hebrews 11:6]

The Bible In Paintings 2
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S MESSAGE

THE HANDWRITING
ON THE WALL

DEDICATED TO FReeper
MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

who has kept alive here God's devastating
rebuke of all tyrannical kings who ignore Him.

D A N I E L
CHAPTER 5

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet and gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

1
FREDERIK VAN VALCKENBORCH
"The Feast of King Belshazzar"

2
JUAN CARREÑO DE MIRANDA
"Belshazzar's Feast"

3
FRANS FRANCKEN
"Belshazzar's Feast"

4
FRANCESCO MAGLIULO
"Belshazzar's Feast"

5
ANDREA CELESTI
"Belshazzar's Feast"

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.

6
VASILY SURIKOV
"Belshazzar's Feast"

7
PIETER DE GREBBER
"Belshazzar's Feast"

8
Source

9
HUGO LOFFLER
"Belshazzar's Feast"

10
JOHANN HEISS
"Belshazzar's Feast"

11
FRANCESCO MONTI
"Belshazzar's Feast"

12
Source

13
BARTHOLOMEUS STROBEL
"Belshazzar's Feast"

14
LOUIS DE CAULLERY
"Belshazzar's Feast"

15
MATTIA PRETI
"Belshazzar's Feast"

The king said to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

The king’s wise men could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.

16
JUSEPE DE RIBERA
"Vision of Belshazzar"

17
DOMENICO FIASELLA
"El Festín de Baltasar"

18
GIOVANNI BATTISTA RANIERI DEL PACE
"Belshazzar's Feast"

19
Source

20
Source

21
Source

22
ANTON KERN
"Belshazzar's Feast"

23
"The Handwriting on the Wall"

24
Source

The queen said. “There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”

So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

“O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, UNTIL HE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THE MOST HIGH GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE KINGDOMS OF MEN AND SETS OVER THEM ANYONE HE WISHES.

“But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. BUT YOU DID NOT HONOR THE GOD WHO HOLDS IN HIS HAND YOUR LIFE AND ALL YOUR WAYS. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

“This is the inscription that was written:

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

“This is what these words mean:
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.”

25
Source

26
Source

27
WASHINGTON ALLSTON
"Belshazzar's Feast"

28
JOHN MARTIN
"Belshazzar's Feast"

29
GUSTAVE DORÉ
"Daniel Interpreting the Writing on the Wall"

30
Source

→ a n d... f i n a l l y ←

31
REMBRANDT
"Belshazzar's Feast"

32
Detail 1
Source

33
Detail 2
Source

34
Detail 3
Source

Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added
Best viewed with the Firefox browser

[Hebrews 11:6]

The ground at the foot of the cross is dead-level for absolutely everyone.

[null and void]

Touché!

[Hebrews 11:6]

Consistency, thou art a jewel.

[null and void]

Predictability, thou art fatal.

[SisterK]

Hhhmmm....I would like to add #30 to my collection.
Will you take cats for trade?

[left that other site]

Good Morning, Dan. :-)

[Hebrews 11:6]

Only if they are d-e-a-d dead. The more dead cats, the more art you may have--knock yourself out, Sis. You need not deliver them to me, as long as the deed is adequately documented. I suggest gunny-sacks out beyond the three-mile limit.

I gave this book as a Christmas gift to my wife one year, and I followed up (following up is the secret to successful living) on her birthday in January with its sequel:

[Hebrews 11:6]

I trust your appointments went well, Mary-Lou.

[SisterK]

LOL
one of my brothers gave my Mom the first book (she is a cat lover)
did not know there was a sequel

[Hebrews 11:6]

Actually, I believe there is now even a third—but I retired undefeated, and I want to stay married.

One of my daughters says that once I’m fully senile they’re going to give me a cat and tell me it’s a lap-dog.

[left that other site]

Most did, but I forgot a very important one in the rush. (sigh)

[Big Red Badger]

The Old Rugged Cross,
Thank Jesus!
.
‘It is Finished!’
Was the
Shout of Victory !

[Hebrews 11:6]

Ah, yes, The Tyranny of the Urgent. I know it well.

[SisterK]

There are cat cartoons on youtube called Simon’s Cat.
They are funny and oh so cat.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Pardon me while I drop everything to watch them.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

marktwain wrote:

So Daniel was made third highest in the Kingdom of Babylon. Then Belshazzar was killed.

So, what happened to Daniel?

The Bible makes it clear in the very next verse:

Daniel 6:1 It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel.

Since Darius and Cyrus shared the rulership (Medes and Persians) that put Daniel tied for 3rd. But look at what was on Darius' mind in the 3rd verse:

3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

That would make Daniel a clear 3rd. This is the only example in history where a ruler of a conquered people retained a position in the government of the empire that conquered them. Sure, kings could remain if they obeyed the emporer--but that was over their kingdom. Daniel was at the Federal level.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Rembrandt for the win! The pop-eyed Belshazzar is perfect for this scene.

That said, I had to look up Mene, Mene Tekel Upharsin in the original Hebrew:

וּדְ נָה 5:25
u·dne
and·this(A)
כְ תָ בָ א
kthb·a
writing·the(A)
דִּ י
di
that(A)
רְ שִׁ ים
rshim
he-was-signified(A)
מְ נֵא
mna
account(A)
מְ נֵא
mna
account(A)
תְּ קֵ ל
thql
weighing(A)
And this [is] the writing
that was written, MENE,
MENE, TEKEL,
UPHARSIN.
25
וּפַ רְ סִ ין
u·phrsin
and·bisecting(A)
:
:

You see, I’m learning Hebrew by writing the Bible down in Hebrew and then I copy the transliteration. I’ve made progress. I know the alphabet, some of the vowel markings, and some of the words.

I’ve copied Psalms 1, 2, 3, 112, and 119 and Genesis 1, 2, 3 so far.

Here’s the link to the Hebrew interlinear I’m copying: https://scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/dan5.pdf

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Rembrandt for the win! The pop-eyed Belshazzar is perfect for this scene.

That said, I had to look up Mene, Mene Tekel Upharsin in the original Hebrew:

וּדְ נָה 5:25
u·dne
and·this(A)
כְ תָ בָ א
kthb·a
writing·the(A)
דִּ י
di
that(A)
רְ שִׁ ים
rshim
he-was-signified(A)
מְ נֵא
mna
account(A)
מְ נֵא
mna
account(A)
תְּ קֵ ל
thql
weighing(A)
And this [is] the writing
that was written, MENE,
MENE, TEKEL,
UPHARSIN.
25
וּפַ רְ סִ ין
u·phrsin
and·bisecting(A)
:
:

You see, I’m learning Hebrew by writing the Bible down in Hebrew and then I copy the transliteration. I’ve made progress. I know the alphabet, some of the vowel markings, and some of the words.

I’ve copied Psalms 1, 2, 3, 112, and 119 and Genesis 1, 2, 3 so far.

Here’s the link to the Hebrew interlinear I’m copying: https://scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/dan5.pdf

[Hebrews 11:6]

How ambitious of you, Jeff!

About thirty years ago I tried to learn Greek and made good headway for awhile, but eventually life interfered.

Now, when I need an interlinear, I like BibleHub. Used it this morning to good effect.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Thank you. Too busy at work earning money to pay taxes to support some of the modern representations in those paintings.