Walking With Christ

Daniel 5:24-28
(24)“Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. (25)And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. (26) This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; (27)TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; (28)PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”(ESV)

This part of Daniel is eerie to me, and it was terrifying to those who witnessed it. A disembodied hand appeared and started writing into the plaster of the wall. The bible tells us in verse 8 that nobody could read or understand the writing.

The queen, who had heard of Daniel and his blessings, had him summoned to interpret the message. The king had promised the highest possible position to the person who could explain what the words meant—akin to being appointed to a prestigious position like Speaker of the House in the U.S. today.

Here’s what caught my attention: These words are often believed to have been written in Aramaic. At that time, the ruling class of Babylon—the Chaldeans—would have spoken and written in Aramaic because it was the official language of law and diplomacy. While Akkadian was the native language of Babylon, Aramaic had taken precedence in government matters. This tells me that the writing must have been obscured in some way, making it impossible for anyone to read. Furthermore, Daniel not only had to interpret the message but also explain the meaning of the words themselves (verses 26-28). If these words were written in common Aramaic, the king and his wise men would have understood their meaning.

Some suggest these words might have been written in ancient Hebrew, which is possible. But if that were the case, why were the words not translated like the rest of the bible? These specific words were left untranslated, and even modern linguists struggle to trace them back to a definable meaning. Everywhere else in the bible, language shifts are usually followed by explanations or translation, yet here the original words are left as they are.

My conclusion is that these words were divinely obscured and required divine revelation to be understood. The language used was likely unknown to anyone at the time, further emphasizing the need for divine interpretation.

I also have a theory about the hand and where it came from. In John 8, when a woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus, He bent down and wrote in the dirt while the Pharisees tested Him. Jesus exists outside of time, so it’s possible He could have reached through time to write on the wall in Daniel’s account. Perhaps He wrote in the heavenly language used in the garden of Eden, which could explain why the words Jesus wrote in John 8 are not recorded in the bible. Some argue that the words Jesus wrote in the dirt didn’t matter, but I disagree—Jesus never did anything without a purpose. The author of John may not have included the words simply because they were unreadable. Those words, like the ones in Daniel, may have required divine revelation to be understood, It’s just a theory, and while it can’t be proven or disproven, it offers an interesting possibility.