Willmar tribune., 1899-07-19
HANDWRITING ON THE. WALL.

HANDWRITING ON THE. WALL.
lnternationaf sunday school Lesson
for July .s23,:as 500 s-T Text, Daniel
15.l7-s1-Aiemory yerses. &4-2s, !.
Especially Adapted from Peloubet's Notes.1
GOLDEN TExT.-God is the judge
Psa. 75:7. T. r.
READ Chapters4 and s. 49,. "
LIGHT FROM OTHER SCRIPTURES
The Judgment.-AIatt. Is: Mark l3:32-35:
Eccl. 11:9: 12:14; Rom. 2:1-10 Reverence VS..
Profaneness.-Matt. l2:31, 80; the Third
Commandment. Capture df Babylon.-1sa.
l3:1-22; 2l:1-9: 45:1-4. -.
T1ME.-5sS B. c. HHommel. makes it 5ss).
The year that Babylon was taken by Cy.
rus; 10 or 50years after our last lesson.
PLACE.-Probably In Babylon on the
Euphrates. The book OF Daniel does not
say where, and an inscription on a tablet
speaks Of him as beingin Accad. :
THE JEWs.-It was near the close of the
twenty years captivity. and just before the
return permitted by Cyrus.
RULERs:-Na bonidus. the king of Baby
lonia. Belshazzar. his eldest son. Cyrus,
emperor Of the Persians and the Manda OF
Nomads and the Medes. and afterwards
Of Babylon.
EXPLANATORY.
1ntroductory.-The new Babvlonian
empire was short lived, beginning with
Nabu-pal-uzur, the father of Nebuchad.
nezzar (B. c. 500. 1t rose in grandeur.
power. and extent of dominion till Baby.
lon was taken by Cyrus (B. C. $500. At
the time of this lesson Nabonidus was
the king We have learned lately from
the stone tablets that he had a son,
I3elshazzar, of whom nothing was
known before. He was the crown
prince, and may we'll have been acting
as king during his father's absence
from the city at this time, though he
is not called king on the tablets. Neither
do they, say that he was the son ;often
equivalent to grandson in Hebrew) OF
Nebuchadnezzar (5:1D; but there ia
nothing opposed to the view that Ma.
bonidus, of another dynasty, married
the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and
thus Belshazzar would be his grand.
son. Delshazzar was but youth OF Il
or 16 years, rash, wild and giddy with
his uncontrolled power. Secure in his
defenses, he made great feast to a
thousand of the mobiles. He thought
how he could enrich the splendor OF
his feast by the sacred goblets and
dishes of gold that tNebuchadnezzarh had
taken from the temple at Jerusalem.
The wickedncss of this act consisted
(D In profaning these sacred utensils
to base uses. (2) Increasing the insult
by doing it at feast to an idol. thus
implying that the idol was superior tc
the living God. (3) In doing it at an
immoral and drunken revel, thus insult
ing the moral law of God.
Daniel Interpreting the Handwriting
Vs. 17-2s. V. II. Let thy gifts be to
thyself:" AS prophet of God he can.
not speak for money or any reward. "
IS. 1.-The most high God gave Nebuchad.
nezzar:" The true God is shown to be
over all and above all. It was not Bel
or Merodach, that controlled the affairs
of the world. Then Daniel repeats the
story told in chap. 4. V. %. "And thou
hast not humbled thine heart
though" etc.: You have not sinned
through ignorance, but have gone on in
wicked course in spite of, in defiance
of, Gods lessons of warning. V. %.
But hast lifted up thyself:" Exalted
thyself as if thou couldst defy and dis
obey with impunity ''the Lord of heav.
en-" the God above all, over all, as heav-
en- envelops the earth-the God of all
that greatness and purity and goodness
and power which Heaven symbolizes.
'Vessels of His house," From the tenn
pie of Bel, where they had been treas.
ured up since the conqueror had carried
them from Jerusalem. "Drunk wine in
them" Drinking wine from the YES.
sells taken out of Jehovah's temple in
Jerusalem was intended as an insult to
his majesty. V. "a. ''Then was the part
of, the hand sent:" AS warning mes
sage. V. &c. Meme; God hath num-
bered thy kingdom:" Counted out the
term allotted to it, which has now
reached it's limit.-Prof. Green. "And
finished it," The days of its existence
are counted out in full. "Mene" is re-
peated for the sake of emphasis. V. ~.
''Tekel:" which means weighed (hence
a shekel, which was originally a certain
| weight), resembles word which signi.
fed light" light of weight, like coun'
terfeit coin. God had tested him, and
he had failed. V. 20. "Peres" is the
singular, while upharsin is the plural
of the same word with "u," equals
"and," prefixed.> 1t is given in v. Is in
the plural, for emphasis, just as ''mene"
is doubled. 1T means divided, but has
| the same. consonants as Persians, and
suggests them. ''Thy kingdom is divid.
ed:" Not divided into two parts, but
broken into pieces, destroyed.
II. Daniel Rewarded. - v. 90
"Clothed Daniel with scarlet: " The roy
al purple. Third ruler of the king
dom:" Either, one of three; or, more
probably, neXt under Belshazzar, who
was the second, being his father, Nab
onidus, the king over all.
III.-The Destruction of Babylon
VS.. so, 81. I'm that night was Belshaz'
zar = :slain:" According tc
Herodotus, Babylon itself was be-
sieged by Cyrus for months, and was
taken only by statagem. The Persian
invader drained off the waters of the
river; and his army, under the shelter
of night, crept into the city through the
empty channel" V. 81. "And Darius
the Median took, the kingdom:" Nc
such person is known in history, as lit
tie while ago neither Sargon nor the
Hittites were known. It has generally
beer held by conservative writer's that
he reigned under Cyrus for a time
i ~ .l.r - PRACTICAL.