The Disembodied Hand – A Halloween Story

So you like a spooky story, do you? Well, I’ve got just what the creepy doctor ordered. We’ll be reading straight from the fifth chapter of Daniel. Of course, I’m just dying to add some commentary here and there, but I’ll put my thoughts in italics to make double dog sure there’s no misunderstanding.

Once upon a time in a land for away a royal named King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he 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.  This is like bringing out the fine china to impress your guests— only you stole the dishes from the communion table. Bad idea.

So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, meaning our partygoers doubled down on stupid because the gods they were praising weren’t gods at all! Cue the spooky music. The One True God is about to make that abundantly clear.  

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. 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. A disembodied hand scratching out a message in the glow of a candle light tends to have a chilling effect on a throw down.   

The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these 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.” Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant, which is strange because the writing was right there on the wall. Ba-da-bing!

So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled. The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. We’re not told whether or not she rolled her royal eyes when she saw her man having a conniption fit, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the next lines were tinged with sarcasm.

“O king, live forever!” she said. “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! 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. King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king, I say—appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”  The king must’ve thought this was a solid good idea because he moved on her advice faster than quick.

So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. 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.”  Wow. The stage is set for our hero but as we’ll see, he isn’t the least bit swayed by the king’s bribe.  

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. Thanks but no thanks.  I’d rather keep my distance.

“O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. 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. Yep! This king’s daddy had experienced his only comeuppance some years before, having lost his mind and fallen from the castle to the pasture. He didn’t eat crow, he ate grass at the crow’s feet until he was ready to acknowledge the One True God. And according to Daniel’s next words, the current king had witnessed his daddy’s frightening fall.

“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. Note: the gods who aren’t gods are totally useless when push comes to shove.

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.”

GOD sent the disembodied hand! And folks want to tell me the Bible is boring…

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.

It’s hard to know what King Belshazzar’s motives were here. Perhaps he thought he could get on God’s better side by being good to God’s man. Wrong again. The words written on the wall were fulfilled that very night. Bring the music back up and cue the final scene.  

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