The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1899-07-20
HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.
for July %, 1900 - Text, Daniel
1bt17-31-Memory Verses, 24-2S.


READ Chapters 4 and s.
LIGHT FROM OTHER SCRIPTURES
The Judgment.-Matt. 25; Mark l3:32-35:
Eccl. 11:9; 1874: Rom. 2:1-10. Reverence VS..
Profaneness.-Matt. 1891, 80; the Third
Command -lent. Capture of Babylon.-lsa.
1922; 21:i-9: 45:1-4
TIME.-53S B. C. NIommel makes It 5S9).
The year that Babylon was taken by Cy-
rus; 40 or SO years sfter 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 being In Accad.
THE JEWS.-It was near the close of the
twenty years captivity, and just before the
return permitted by Cyrus
RJLERS.-Nabonidus, the king Of Baby
lonia. Belshazzar. his eldest son. Cyrus.
emperor Of the Persians and the Manda or
Nomads, and the Medes, and afterwards
of Babylon.
EXPLANATORY.
Interchangeable new Babylonian
empire was short lived, beginning with
Nabu-pal-uzur, the father of Nebuchad-
nezzar (B. G. 526). 1t rose in grandeur,
power and extent of dominion till Baby
Ion 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 son,
Belshazzar, of whom nothing was
known before. He was the crown
prince, and may well have been acting
as king during his fathers 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 toften
equivalent to grandson in Hebrew) of
Nebuchadnezzar (5:1D; but there is
nothing opposed to the view that Ma
bonidns, of another dynasty, married
the daughter of Nebuchatlnezzar, and
thus Belshazzar would be his grand
son. Delshazzar was but youth of IA
or l6 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 Nebuchadnczzar had
taken from the temple at Jerusalem.
The wickcdness of this act consisted
U) 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 to
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.. 1928. V. II. LET thy gifts be to
thyself:" AS prophet of God he can
not speak for money or any reward. V.
1s. "The most high God gave Nabuchad-
nezzar:" The true God is shown to be
oil oh Do1
or Merodach, that controlled the affairs
of the world. Then Daniel repeats the
story told in chap. 4. v. 20. "And thou
hast not humbled thine heart,
though" etc.: You have not sinned
through ignorance, but have gone on in
a 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 ves-
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. 26. "Mene; God hath num-
bered thy kingdom:" Counted out the
term allotted to it, which has now
reached its limit.-Prof. Green. "And
finished it," The days of its existence
arc counted out in full. "Mene" is re-
peated for the sake of emphasis. V. 81.
''Tekel:" which means weighed (hence
shekel, which was originally certain
weight), resembles word which signi-
fled Eight" light of weight, like coun-
terfeit coin. God had tested him, and
he had failed. V. 2s. "Peres" is the
singular, while upharsin is the plural
of the same word with "u," equals
"and," prefixed. 1t is given in v. rs 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.. 80, 81. "In that night was Belshaz-
Ear slain:" According to
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" No
such person is known in history, as a lit
tie while ago neither Sargon nor the
Hittites were known. 1t has generally