The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-30
BOOK OF DANIEL HOAX
HOW CRITICISM sPOILs THE STORY
OF BELsHAZZAR's FEAST.
Certain Historical Facts Mingled in
Daniels Pamphlet and Full of
Inaccuracies.
professor John Dyneley Prince, in New
York Herald.

professor John DyneIey Prince, in New
York Herald.
Every reader of the Bible is familiar with
the story of the feast of Belshazzar and
the mysterious writing which appeared
upon the wall as warning to the last
King of Babylon The sentence has always
| been considered one Of the most obscure
of the many difficult scriptural passages
which have awakened the interest ard baf
fled the ingenuity of scholars. Indeed, up to
the present decade no really satisfactory
explanation of the inscription has ever been
attained Even if it be admitted that the
events described in the fifth chapter of
Daniel actually occurred, there are still two
striking difficulties presented by the biblical
record; first, the true meaning of the sem
tence and second. the reason why the writ
ing was unintellgible to those present. The
Bible thus describes how it came to appear
on the wall:
Then Belshazzar the King, made great
feast to thousand of his lords and drank
wine before the thousand. Belshazzar,
while he tasted the wine, commanded his
servants to bring in the gold and silver YES
sells which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had
| taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, that
bines might drink therein. Thus they drank
wine and praised the gods of gold, of sill
| yer, brass, IRON wood and stone.
I'm the same hour came forth fingers of
| a mans hand and wrote over against the
wall, and the King saw that part of the
| hand that wrote Then his countenance
| changed and his thoughts troubled him so
| that the joints of his loins trembled and
he cried aloud to bring in the astrologers
and the soothsayers. And the King spake
! and said to the wise men of Babylon:
| 'Whosoever shall read this writing and
! sho.V me the Interpretation thereof shall be
clothed in scarlet and have gold chain
about mis- neck and shall be the third ruler
in the kingdom
Then came in all the wise men, but they
could not read the writing nor make known
| to the King the Interpretation of it. Then
was Belshazzar greatly troubled and his
| lords were astonshed."
| Now it was not strange that they could
not read it, for if the mysterious inscrip-
ton had appeared in Babylonian characters,
it is easy to explain the inability of the
| king and his lords and even of the most
| skilled Scribes of the time 10 decipher the
| writing. For the characters might have in
Tb f o, Sf iettS - inpt for IN
stance, have had fifteen different meanings,
and the other characters might likewise
| have been interpreted in variety of ways.
| Then, again, in such an inscription 1t makes
wonderful difference how the characters
were written, for by writing them with no
| spaces between or spaces in the wrong
| places it could easily have made the sem
tence an almost undecipherable puzzle.
DANIEL SENT FOR.
The biblical account is very graphic.
/ Dumfounded and amazed the great assem-
blage sat as they gazed with fear at the
]
! thought herself of Daniel and addressed
| Belshazzar, saying:
80 King live forever, for there is man
| in the kingdom in whom is the spirit of
the holy gods, and in the days of thy
| father light and understanding and wis
dom of the gods was found in him, whom
| thy father made master of the magicians,
! astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers.
| Forasmuch as an excellent spirit and
| knowledge and understanding interpreting
of dreams and showing of hard sentences
| and dissolving of doubts were found in the
! same Daniel now let Daniel be called and
| he will solve the interpretation
Then was Daniel brought in before the
| King, who said to him: 1 have heard of
| thee, that thou canst make interpretations
and dis dissolve doubts now Il thou canst
! the Interpretation thereof, thou shalt be
clothed in scarlet and have a gold chain
| about thy neck and shalt be the third ruler
| in the kingdom
''Then Daniel answered: Let thy gifts be
to myself and give thy rewards to another.
| make known to you the interpretation o
thou King, the most high God gave Nebu-
chadnezzar,, thy father, a Kingdom and a
heart lifted up and his mind hardened
with pride he was depOsed from his kingly
| throne and they took his glory from him.
And he was driven from the sons of men,
| and his heart was made like the beasts and
| his dwelling was with the wild asses. They
fnd i'm md h f- bod
| was wet with the dew of heaven, till he
| knew that the most high God ruled over the
! kingdom of men and that He appointeth
| over it whomsoever He will.
And thou his son, 0 Belshazzar hast
| not humbled thine heart, although thou
| knewest all this But hast lifted UP thyself
| against the Lord of heaven and brought
| the vessels of his house before thee, and
| thou and thy lords thy wives and con-
| cubines have drunk wine in them, and thou
| hast praised the gods OF silver, of gold. of
| brass, iron, wood and stone, which see thee
| not, nor hear, nor know. and the God in
| whose hand thy breath is and whose are all
| thy ways thou hast not gloritied. Then was
that part of the hand sent from Him, and
| this is the writing that was written:
MEME, MEME, TEkEL UPHARSIN.''
"'And this is the Interpretation of the
thing: 'Mene," God has numbered thy
kingdom and finished it; "teke,'' thou art
weighed in the balances and art found
wanting; 'peres," thy kingdom is divided
and given to the Modes and Persians'
"And in that night was Balshazzar the
King of the Chadeans slain, and Darius the
Median took the kingdom
Now. was this Interpretation correct? Ages
have passed since the biblical record of that
famous feast was written, and the search
| light Of modern science has been turned
upon these my sterious words. This is what
they really meant:
There have been counted a Nina a
shekel and parts"
The meaning of the phrase is as follows:
The NINA was the name of the largest
Babylonian weight, and being the largest,
might have been used as an Illusion to the
great King ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1.-The shekel,''
on the other hand, was only one-sixtieth as
valuable as a nina, and might have been
used as the symbol of BeShazzar 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 Per-
slams. The sentence would mean therefore:
Ear. Belshazzar and the Modes and Per-
slams"
A SIMPLE EXPLANATION
Nor was it at all strange that the names Of
weights should have thus been used in the
inscription to designate certain persons, for
in the language of the Talmud an inferior
son of a worthy father was called "a half
nina son of a NINA" while son superior to
his father was spoken of as "a nina son
of half NINA" and a son equal to his