The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-01-18

thou hast praised the gods of silver, of
gold, of brass, iron, wood and stone,
which see not, nor hear. nor know, and
the God in whose hand thy breath is' and
whose are all tiny ways thou hast not
glorifed. Then was that part Of the
hand sent from Him. and this is the writ
ing that was written:
MEME, MEME, TEKEL UPHARSIN."
And this is the interpreta ton Of the
thing:-Mene,' God has numbered thy
kingdom and finished it; 'tekel' thou
are weighed in the balances and art
found wanting; 'peres,' thy kingdom is
divided and given 70 the AIedes and Per-
SLAMS
And in that night was BelshazZar the
king of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius
the Median took the kingdom.
WHAT THE WORDS REALLY MEANT.
Now was this Interpretation correct?
Ages have passed since the biblical rec
ord of that famous feast was written,
and the searchlight of modern science
has been turned upon these mysterious
words This is what they really meant:
THERE HAVE BEEN COUNTED y
= A. -
The meaning of the phrase is as follows:
The NINA was the name of che largest
Babylonian weight, and. being the largest
might have been used as an allusion to
the great king observation-disclosures. The
"shekeI'' on the other hand. was only
one-sixtieth as valuable as a nina, and
might have been used as the symbol OF
Beishazzar, whom the author considered
TO be the unworthy son and successor
of the founder of the Babylonian empire.
The parts" meant two half minas. thus
referring TO the division of the kingdom
between the Modes and Persians. The
sentence would mean, therefore:
THERE HAVE BEEN COUNTED
NEBUCHADNEZZAR, BELSHAZZAR
AND THE MEDES AND PERSIANS."
Nor wa sit at all strange that the
names Of weights should have been thus
used in the inscription 10 designate GER
tain persons, for in the language of the
Talmud an inferior son OF a worthy father
was called "a half nina son Of a nina.
and son equal to his father as "a nina
son of a nina Bearing this in mind,
it seems not unlikely that the biblisal
author might have had some such aIlus-
ion in mind when he described the aD-
pearance of the inscription. The myster-
ious sentence, therefore. lmpeiled a scath-
ing comparison Of the unworthy last king
of Babvion with his great predecessor and
a prophesy Of the speedy downfall Of the
native Babylonian dynasty and the divis-
ion Of the empire. Nebuchadnezzar prac-
ticaIly the founder Of the Bsbylonian en-
pire and really the greatest man OF the
time, might well be called n nina
THE sCRIBEs WERE IGNORANT.
But why is IL that the author pictures
the learned scribes whom the king sum
rnoned to decipher the inscription as be-
ing totally unable to read and interpret
the sentence2 Some scholars hold the be-
lief that the mysterious writing was in
tended as a vision 20 the king alone
which no one save the supernaturaily
gifted Daniel could Interpret. But moth
ing in the text OF the chapter describing
the scene seems 70 indicate that the az
thor had any such idea n mind The
evident terror not only Of the king, but
Of the whole court. and The statement
-bat the wise men could neither read nor
interpret the writing seem % show thai
The author had no intention Of represent I
ing the por;ent as merely freak q the
kings brain
II is much more likely that IRE writer I
wished 70 represent that the mysterious +.
sentence appeared either in fo-eiEn Jan /
e1age or in an unusual form = t1e yer 4
uacular. Hyow. had TIE warning been .
written in q foreign Language TIC pr7ha- !
bslirv IS that e. would have been iHrze- 4
slatslT recognized a. 80 cosmopolitan 8 4
court as the EzbyJonlan. Sjoch hid cor17 4
IN contact win 80 many foreign nations I
Then. too. had the writing appeared n au .
r.7,,rav-1 sdlom the effect ~ Tie inls-grs-
,n-soa vyousE have been 20 . great extent 4
iosr on the king. Thls idea Therefore. +
cauIl hardy have been 50 TIE agf7or's i
mind Z is usuch D7re probak.e thzt the 4
mysterious sentence as De- used i was al f
A-z-nlc cerrgpEssa - soue orsgznal A.
sv~8sa D-ovega or SAYING wh4ch Bad de-
soe7sed 70 TIRE Maceabaeau arthor q .
Dzn!el. Ee EzEy have believed thzg he