Reading the writing on the wall

James Cathcart August 08, 2026 0 0

Playlists

Add to Favourites

Save for later

Listen to this daily worship

Daniel 5: 1-6, 13-17, 25-31 (NIV-UK)

1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2 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. 3 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. 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

5 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. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

13 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? 14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. 15 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. 16 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 round your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.’

17 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.

25 ‘This is the inscription that was written:

mene, mene, tekel, parsin

26 ‘Here is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.’

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

30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

Our week ends with another intensely visual and atmospheric sequence from the Bible. We venture into the Book of Daniel — apocalyptic literature bursting with vivid imagery from snapping drooling lions, and raging roaring furnaces, to a ghostly ethereal hand. Despite the fact ‘apocalypse' and ‘end of the world/collapse of all society’ have become mutually exchangeable terms, the root of the word apocalypse is ‘revelation’. Think: truth bombs. Apocalypses could be thought of as ancient ‘mic-drops’; there’s going to be a squeal of feedback, consternation, and shock. Because that’s what happens when you bring a blistering takedown of power and empire to the door of power and empire.

Apocalypse, alongside prophecy, is a rich theme of religious, social and political criticism  in the Bible where people empowered and inspired by God deliver alternative takes on the past, present and future that call people away from ruin and towards flourishing. 

So here we have the decadent king, the hollow idols, the fawning court, the strange hand… and the writing is on the wall. It’s an iron age partygate if you will. 

All the signs are there but Belshazzar can’t read them. This can’t last long. It won’t end well. Surrounded by stolen goods, tat, and yes-men it’s already over. In Daniel we see that tyrannies have sell-by-dates. Corruption, idolatry, cruelty and appropriation lead to implosion.

Prayer:

Thank you God

for captivating, compelling imagery like this

that still haunts our language and culture today.

Help us to see the writing on the wall in our times

to do our best to read it and speak truth to power.

Draw us to the vivid scenes playing out around us

that depict the sell-by-dates of corruption, ignorance and malice.

Amen.