What is the meaning ofmene mene tekel upharsin? What is the meaning of the handwriting on the wall?

But what about this writing that king Belshazzar saw? Daniel now says to the king, "Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." And what did these words mean? They were only four Chaldean words, and at least one was repeated twice. MENE, meant numbered. The king knew the word meant numbered, and that TEKEL meant weighed, and UPHARSIN divided. Yes, numbered, weighed, and divided. What has that to do with me? the king might have said. He was soon told. "This is the interpretation of the thing: "MENE; God has numbered thy kingdom, and finished it." Your history is over. You have got to the full length of your tether. God has numbered thy kingdom on earth, and finished it. Belshazzar heard this, but I do not think he believed it.

"TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." That was true of Belshazzar, and it is true of you and me too, my friend. It is true of every one. Only One there is of whom it was not true, and that was the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. He was put into God's balances and was found full weight. The Holy One — the true One — the devoted One — the One, who loved God with His whole heart, and soul and mind, the man Christ Jesus has been put in the balances, and has been found full weight. You and I have been found wanting. The things that we ought to have done, we have left undone, and the things we ought not to have done, we have done. That is man.

It will readily be seen that even if such a sentence had been read, its signification could not have been known apart from the teaching of God. Each word appears to have had a hidden meaning which was revealed to Daniel. Thus the kingdom was 'numbered' and finished. As we say of a person, 'his days are numbered.' The king had been 'weighed' in the balances, and was found wanting, as none can come up to God's standard. The kingdom was 'divided,' and given to the Medes and Persians (Peres). Thus, as always, God alone can interpret what He has caused to be written. The prediction was fulfilled by the city and kingdom being taken that same night.

Thus the open sin of sensual gratification linked with awful impiety against the living God, brought the terrible witness of divine displeasure in the handwriting on the wall, causing trembling and astonishment, and fixing the doom of the daring guilty king. God, so sinned against, deigns to make Daniel His mouth to tell the writing, as well as to give the solemn interpretation.

Brief are the words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," and striking their significance. "Mene: God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. Peres: Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians" (Dan. 5:25-28). So ended the pride, glitter, and boast of kingly greatness and glory, where responsibility to the God of heaven was despised and His name blasphemed in exalting the god of gold and the god of pleasure. If the past judgment is fulfilled with its recorded history and warning, scripture is no less clear and emphatic regarding the day of the Lord, and the solemn judgment by which it will be introduced and established.

Before entering upon it, attention may be drawn to the fact that Daniel does not merely translate the words which had been written, but he gives out the mind of God intended to be conveyed. This could not have been done unless he himself had received a direct communication from God. The words themselves, if rendered according to their meaning, are "numbered," "weighed," and "divided"; but no human ingenuity could have discovered their divine significance, and it is this which Daniel explains. The first word was repeated. The reason for this may be doubtless found in Joseph's words to Pharaoh: "And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass" (Genesis 41:32).

"This," says Daniel, "is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it" (v. 26). In expounding Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the great image, Daniel had said to him, "Thou art this head of gold," and, inasmuch as Babylon was to be succeeded by the Medo-Persian kingdom, it is evident, as previously remarked, that Nebuchadnezzar's dynasty was included in this term, Belshazzar being its last member. God Himself had committed the sovereignty of the earth to Nebuchadnezzar in responsibility, and He alone determined the duration of his kingdom. When therefore Daniel said to Belshazzar. "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it," he meant that, according to the divine appointment, the termination of Babylon's sovereignty had arrived; that its days were numbered, and were now ended.

The ground of this annunciation is found in the next verse: "TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" (v. 27). If God had committed the government of the earth to Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, for the accomplishment of His purposes in His ways with His people, He held them responsible for the way in which they fulfilled their trust. The verdict is now pronounced upon Belshazzar. Nebuchadnezzar had also failed, if not to the same extent; but, under chastisement from God, he had humbled himself, owned Him as the source of his authority, as the omnipotent Ruler in heaven and on earth, and had extolled and honoured Him as the King of heaven. Belshazzar, blind to all the teachings of the past, had more grievously sinned by magnifying his idols above the God in whose hand his breath was, and had thus lifted up himself against the Lord of heaven. His probation was now ended, and Daniel declared to him the result that, as shown by the mysterious word "Tekel," weighed in God's unerring balances, he was found wanting.

Judgment is contained in the next word, PERES,* the public judgment consequent upon Belshazzar's failure in the use of the power entrusted to him in the government of the earth: "Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." The long suffering of God towards the "head of gold" was ended; and hence there is no exhortation to repentance, nothing but the announcement of the result of God's verdict, together with the accompanying judgment. Altogether "this narrative," as has been well said, "gives us the last character of the iniquity of the sovereign power of the Gentiles, in opposition to the God of Israel, and the judgment which falls in consequence upon the monarchy of which Babylon was the head, and to which Babylon had given its own character."

(V. 25). There was no difficulty as to the meaning of the words. Literally translated they mean, "numbered," "weighed," "divided." The difficulty was that, as mere isolated words, they conveyed no meaning without a divinely-given interpretation. What, then, was the message from God that they were intended to convey?

(V. 26). Daniel, the prophet of God, gives the significance of the words. "This," says he, "is the interpretation of the thing." The king is then told that "Mene," or "numbered" signifies that God has numbered his kingdom and finished it. Many years before, Daniel had told Nebuchadnezzar that God had given him "a kingdom, power, strength, and glory." But he also warned him that after his kingdom another would arise. For sixty-eight years the kings of Babylon had exercised sovereign power over the whole habitable world. Now the termination of the Babylonish Empire had come. Its days were numbered and its universal rule was finished.

(V. 27). The next word "Tekel," meaning "weighed," tells this impious king why his empire had reached its end. The ruler of the empire is weighed in the balances and found wanting. Nebuchadnezzar and his successors had entirely failed in their responsibility to govern the world in the fear of God. Under the chastening hand of God, Nebuchadnezzar had indeed repented. Belshazzar, the last ruler, though fully aware of all God's dealings with Nebuchadnezzar, had sinned more grievously than his predecessors. Openly and impiously he had defied God. His actions had been weighed in the unerring balances of God and found wanting.

(V. 28). The third word, "Peres," (another form of the word Upharsin — both words being merely different parts of the same verb) means "divided." The result of the king's impiety was to bring immediate judgment upon the king. Daniel plainly tells the king, "Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

(Vv. 29, 31). The king makes much of the messenger, but apparently pays little heed to the message. Nevertheless, on that night the judgment fell. Belshazzar is slain, and Darius the Mede takes the kingdom. Thus the Babylonish Empire comes to its end, and the second great world power — the Medo-Persian — commences to run its course.

*As the writing was in the Chaldaic language, it was not that the king's wise men did not understand the words. It was the connection, application, and interpretation that they could not unfold. So many separate words would appear to them, being without the clue, as disjointed and meaningless.

The words were four: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN, and we have next Daniel's authoritative interpretation.

*As the writing was in the Chaldaic language, it was not that the king's wise men did not understand the words. It was the connection, application, and interpretation that they could not unfold. So many separate words would appear to them, being without the clue, as disjointed and meaningless.

The words were four: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN, and we have next Daniel's authoritative interpretation.

The words written on the wall at Belshazzar's feast. Dan. 5:25. There are two things said of the king's wise men: they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king its interpretation. Dan. 5:8. Various suggestions have been made as to why the wise men could not read the writing. It may have been because the letters were the ancient Hebrew characters, which, though known to Daniel, would be unknown to them. The words and their meanings stand thus ( peres is the singular of upharsin which is plural):

MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN.

By the writing on the wall a warning was given, though only a few hours were to elapse before the blow fell. The word, 'numbered' was twice written, as if it was a point to be emphasized. The God, who can number the stars, as well as the hairs on a human head, had observed and numbered the proud sins of the Babylonian empire. The word, 'weighed' showed that Belshazzar himself had been tested and condemned. By 'divided', the immediate overthrow of the empire was announced.

The warning produced no change in Belshazzar, for he invested Daniel with honours, as though his kingdom was to continue, and that in spite of Daniel having renounced them. He wore those honours for just a few brief hours, for that night the predicted judgment fell. Darius the Median took the city and the kingdom, and Belshazzar was slain.

God had noted the idolatrous feast which would even make sport of the holy vessels of the temple. So Daniel continued his terrible indictment. Each word must have fallen like a crushing blow on the heart of the intoxicated monarch. MENE: God has numbered thy Kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES: Thy Kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.