Babylonian king Belshazzar doesn't just see the handwriting on the wall about the fall of Babylon. He sees the terrifying disembodied hand writing on the palace wall.
Belshazzar threw a party for an elite group of 1,000 nobles. He drank with them at the feast.
Still drinking, he ordered servants to bring out some war trophies. The trophies were gold and silver cups his father, Nebuchadnezzar, took from the Jerusalem Temple. Belshazzar wanted his nobles, wives, and concubines to drink from them. So he brought out the gold cups from the Jerusalem Temple and everyone drank from them. Cheers. They had a good time drinking the wine and celebrating their gods crafted from gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
Disembodied hand writes on palace wall
Suddenly a human hand appeared in thin air. The king saw it. He watched as it began writing on the plaster wall, in the light of a nearby lampstand.
Blood drained from the king’s face. Terrified, he shook so hard that his knees clicked against each other. The king screamed for his spirit guides. He said, “I’ll reward anyone who can read this. I’ll dress you in royal purple, accessorize you with a gold neckless, and promote you to my top official.”
The message
Daniel says the three words written on the wall means that the Medes and Persians will conquer Babylon and divide the territory between the two neighboring empires.
Where to find more Bible maps
The Casual English Bible® has more than 900 Bible maps, many in 3D style. You can search for maps by place name, such as "Sea of Galilee."
Dedicated Bible map search engine
But you can also search for maps by Bible book, such as searching for all the maps in the book of Joshua. In addition, you can search by country, region, or era on a timeline, such as when Israel had kings or when Jesus was on earth. Here's a link to the dedicated Map Search Engine.
For more Bible features
- Stephen M. Miller's website and blog
- The Casual English Bible blog
- Bible YouTube channel
- New song from the Book of Habakkuk, on Spotify
