The Writing on the Wall

When King Nebuchadnezzar had reigned forty-three years, he died. He was an energetic man, and more fortunate than the kings before him. Berosus mentions his deeds in the third book of his History of Chaldea, where he says: “When his father Nebuchodonosor heard that the governor he had set over Egypt and over the regions around Coele-Syria and Phoenicia had revolted from him, and he was no longer able himself to bear the hardships of war, he entrusted part of his army to his son Nebuchadnezzar, who was then a grown man, and sent him against the rebel. Nebuchadnezzar gave battle, fought the rebel and beat him, brought the country back under his rule, and made it a part of his own kingdom. About that time his father fell ill and died in the city of Babylon, having reigned twenty-one years. When Nebuchadnezzar learned, as he soon did, that his father was dead, he settled the affairs of Egypt and the other countries, and also those concerning the captive Jews, Phoenicians and Syrians and those of the Egyptian nations. He entrusted the conveyance of them to Babylon to some of his friends, together with the heaviest part of his army and the rest of the spoils, while he himself hurried across the desert with a few companions and came to Babylon. There he took over the management of public affairs and of the kingdom, which had been kept for him by the chief of the Chaldeans, and he received the whole of his father’s dominions. He gave orders that when the captives came they should be settled as colonies in the most suitable places in Babylonia. [a]

“Then he adorned the temple of Bel and the other temples magnificently with the spoils he had taken in the war. He also added another city to the one that stood there of old, and rebuilt it, so that those who besieged it in future could no longer turn the course of the river and so attack the city itself. He therefore built three walls around the inner city and three around the outer, and he did this with baked brick. When he had walled the city fittingly and adorned its gates splendidly, he built another palace in front of his father’s palace, adjoining it. To describe its vast height and immense riches would perhaps be superfluous; yet large and lofty as the buildings were, they were completed in fifteen days. In this palace he also raised high stone terraces and made them look as much like mountains as possible, planting them with every kind of tree. And he made what was called the hanging garden, because his wife wanted things like those of her own country, having been brought up in the land of Media.” Megasthenes too, in the fourth book of his Account of India, mentions these things, and tries to show from them that this king surpassed Hercules in courage and in the greatness of his deeds; for he says that he conquered a great part of Libya and Iberia. Diocles also mentions this king in the second book of his Account of Persia; and Philostratus, in his Accounts of both India and Phoenicia, says that this king besieged Tyre for thirteen years, while Ethbaal was reigning at Tyre at the same time. These are all the histories I have come across concerning this king.

After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, his son Evil-merodach succeeded to the kingdom. He at once released Jeconiah, the king of Jerusalem, from his chains and counted him among his closest friends. He also gave him many presents and honored him above the other kings who were in Babylon; for his father had not kept faith with Jeconiah when he surrendered of his own accord, with his wives and children and all his kindred, for the sake of his country, so that it would not be taken by siege and utterly destroyed, as we said before. When Evil-merodach died after a reign of eighteen years, his son Niglissar took the government and kept it forty years, and then died. After him the succession passed to his son Labosordacus, who held it only nine months in all. When he died, it came to Belshazzar, whom the Babylonians called Naboandelus. Cyrus the king of Persia and Darius the king of Media made war on him. [j]

While he was besieged in Babylon, a wonderful and portentous vision appeared. He was reclining at supper and drinking in a large hall built for royal banquets, and he had his concubines and his friends with him. Then he resolved to have the vessels of God brought out of his own temple, the ones Nebuchadnezzar had plundered from Jerusalem and had not used but had put into that temple. Carried away by presumption, he went on to use them in the middle of his drinking, drinking from them and blaspheming God. Meanwhile he saw a hand come out of the wall and write certain syllables on the wall. Disturbed at the sight, he called together the magicians and Chaldeans, and all the men of that kind among the Babylonians who could interpret signs and dreams, so that they might explain the writing to him. But when the magicians said they could make nothing of it and did not understand it, the king was in great distress of mind and very troubled at this strange event. So he had it proclaimed through all the country, and promised that whoever could explain the writing and give the meaning hidden in it would receive a gold chain for his neck and leave to wear purple, as the kings of Chaldea did, and a third part of his own dominions. When this proclamation was made, the magicians came running together all the more eagerly, very ambitious to find out the meaning of the writing; but they were as much at a loss as before. When the king’s grandmother saw him dejected at this event, she began to encourage him. She said there was a certain captive who had come from Judea, a Jew by birth, brought from there by Nebuchadnezzar when he destroyed Jerusalem, whose name was Daniel: a wise man, of great insight in discovering what was impossible for others to find out and known to God alone, who had brought to light and answered for Nebuchadnezzar such questions as no one else could answer when they were consulted. So she urged him to send for Daniel and ask him about the writing, and so to condemn the lack of skill of those who could not find its meaning, even if what God meant by it should prove to be grim.

When Belshazzar heard this, he called for Daniel. He told him what he had learned about him and his wisdom, that a divine spirit was with him and that he alone was fully able to discover what others would never have thought of, and he asked him to declare what this writing meant. If he did, he would give him leave to wear purple and put a gold chain around his neck, and would give him a third part of his dominion as a reward of honor for his wisdom, so that he might be distinguished in the eyes of those who saw him and asked how he had come by such honors. But Daniel asked him to keep his gifts for himself; for what comes from wisdom and divine revelation admits no gifts, but gives its benefits to those who ask freely. Still, he would explain the writing to him. It meant that he would soon die, and this because he had not learned, from the punishments his forefather had suffered for the wrongs he had done to God, to honor God and not to aspire to things above human nature. Nebuchadnezzar had been driven out to feed among wild beasts for his impieties, and had not recovered his former life among men and his kingdom except through God’s mercy to him, after many supplications and prayers; and had then praised God all the days of his life as one of almighty power who takes care of mankind. Yet Belshazzar had forgotten all this, had greatly blasphemed God, and had used his vessels among his concubines; God had seen this and was angry with him, and by this writing had declared beforehand what a sad end his life would come to. And he explained the writing this way: “Maneh: this, if it is rendered in the Greek language, may mean ‘number,’ because God has numbered so long a time for your life and for your reign, and only a small part of it remains. Thekel: this means ‘weight,’ and signifies that God has weighed the time of your reign and finds it already going down. Phares: this too in the Greek tongue means ‘a broken piece.’ So God will break your kingdom in pieces and divide it among the Medes and Persians.” [p]

When Daniel had told the king that the writing on the wall meant these things, Belshazzar was in great sorrow and distress, as was natural when the interpretation was so heavy against him. Yet he did not withhold what he had promised Daniel, though Daniel had become a foreteller of misfortunes to him, but gave it all to him. He reasoned that what he was rewarding belonged to himself and to fate and had nothing to do with the prophet, and that it was the part of a good and just man to give what he had promised, even though the events were grim. So the king decided to do it. A little while later both he and the city were taken by Cyrus, the king of Persia, who was fighting against him; for it was under Belshazzar that Babylon was taken, after he had reigned seventeen years. This, as history tells us, was the end of the descendants of King Nebuchadnezzar. When Babylon was taken by Darius, and he with his kinsman Cyrus had put an end to the rule of the Babylonians, Darius was sixty-two years old. He was the son of Astyages, and had another name among the Greeks. He took Daniel the prophet with him into Media, honored him very greatly and kept him by his side; for Daniel was one of the three presidents he set over his three hundred and sixty provinces, that being the number into which Darius divided them. [q]

While Daniel was in such high office and such favor with Darius, and was alone entrusted with everything by him, as one who had something divine about him, he was envied by the rest; for those who see others more honored than themselves by kings envy them. Those who resented the great favor Daniel had with Darius looked for an occasion against him, but he gave them none at all. He was above every temptation of money, despised bribery, and thought it a very base thing to take anything by way of reward, even when it might justly be given him; so he gave those who envied him not the slightest handle for an accusation. When they could find nothing to slander him with to the king, nothing shameful or disgraceful by which to deprive him of the honor he had with him, they looked for some other way to destroy him. Seeing that Daniel prayed to God three times a day, they thought they had found an occasion to ruin him. So they came to Darius and told him that the princes and governors had thought it proper to give the people a respite for thirty days, during which no one might offer a petition or prayer either to him or to the gods, but that anyone who broke this decree would be thrown into the lions’ den to perish.

The king, not knowing their wicked design or suspecting that it was a plot of theirs against Daniel, said he was pleased with their decree and promised to confirm what they asked; and he issued an edict proclaiming to the people the decree the princes had made. So all the rest took care not to break those orders, and kept quiet. But Daniel paid no attention to them; as was his custom, he stood and prayed to God in full view of them all. The princes, having found the occasion they had so eagerly sought against Daniel, came at once to the king and accused him: Daniel was the only one who broke the decree, while not one of the rest dared to pray to their gods. They made this discovery not because of any impiety of his, but because they had watched him and spied on him out of envy. For they supposed that Darius had acted out of greater kindness to him than they expected, and that he was ready to pardon him for this contempt of his orders; and, begrudging Daniel even this pardon, they did not treat him any more kindly, but demanded that he be thrown into the den of lions according to the law. So Darius, hoping that God would deliver him and that he would suffer nothing terrible from the wild beasts, told him to bear this misfortune cheerfully. When Daniel had been thrown into the den, the king put his seal on the stone that lay over the mouth of the den in place of a door, and went away. But he spent the whole night without food and without sleep, in great distress for Daniel. When it was day he got up and came to the den, and found the seal he had left on the stone unbroken. He opened the seal, cried out, called to Daniel and asked him if he was alive. As soon as Daniel heard the king’s voice and said that he had come to no harm, the king ordered him to be drawn up out of the den. [s]

When his enemies saw that Daniel had suffered nothing terrible, they would not admit that he had been preserved by God and by his providence. They said the lions had been filled full of food, and that this, as they supposed, was why the lions would not touch Daniel or come near him; and they put this to the king. But the king, in disgust at their wickedness, ordered a great deal of meat to be thrown to the lions; and when the lions had eaten their fill, he ordered Daniel’s enemies to be thrown into the den, so that he could learn whether the lions, now that they were full, would touch them or not. And it was plain to Darius, once the princes had been thrown to the wild beasts, that it was God who had preserved Daniel; for the lions spared none of them, but tore them all to pieces as if they had been starving and in need of food. I suppose, then, that it was not their hunger, which had been satisfied a little before with plenty of meat, but the wickedness of these men that provoked them; for their wickedness was plain even to irrational creatures, and it brought on their punishment, since God so willed.

When those who had meant to destroy Daniel by treachery had been destroyed themselves, King Darius sent word throughout the country, praising the God whom Daniel worshiped and saying that he was the only true God and had all power. He also held Daniel in very great esteem and made him the chief of his friends. Daniel, having become so distinguished and famous because men believed he was loved by God, built a tower at Ecbatana in Media. It was a most elegant building and wonderfully made, and it is still standing and preserved to this day. To those who see it, it looks as if it had been built recently and were no older than the very day anyone looks at it, so fresh, flourishing and beautiful it is, and not aged at all in so long a time; for buildings suffer the same as men do: they grow old as men do, and with the years their strength is dissolved and their beauty withers. They bury the kings of Media, Persia and Parthia in this tower to this day, and the one entrusted with its care is a Jewish priest, a custom kept to this day. But it is right to give an account of what this man did, which is most wonderful to hear. For there came to him in an extraordinary way, as to one of the greatest of men, the esteem and applause of both the kings and the people while he was alive, and now that he is dead he keeps a memory that will never fail. For the several books he wrote and left behind are still read among us to this day, and from them we believe that Daniel conversed with God. He did not only prophesy future events, as the other prophets did, but he also fixed the time when they would come to pass. And while the prophets usually foretold misfortunes, and so were disliked by both the kings and the people, Daniel was to them a prophet of good things, so much so that by the welcome nature of his predictions he won the goodwill of all men, and by their fulfillment he won belief in their truth and a reputation for divinity among the people. [t]

He also wrote and left behind what showed the accuracy and undeniable truth of his predictions. He says that when he was in Susa, the capital of Persia, and had gone out into the field with his companions, there was a sudden movement and shaking of the earth; that he was left alone, his friends fleeing from him; and that he was troubled and fell on his face and on his two hands, and someone touched him and at the same time told him to get up and see what would happen to his countrymen after many generations. He also relates that when he stood up he was shown a great ram with many horns growing out of its head, the last of them higher than the rest. After this he looked to the west and saw a male goat carried through the air from that direction. It rushed violently at the ram, struck it twice with its horns, threw it to the ground and trampled on it. Afterward he saw a very great horn growing out of the goat’s head, and when it was broken off, four horns grew up facing each of the four winds; and he wrote that out of them arose another, smaller horn, which, he said, grew great. And God showed him that it would fight against his nation, take their city by force, throw the temple worship into confusion, and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for one thousand two hundred and ninety-six days. Daniel wrote that he saw these visions in the plain of Susa, and he has told us that God interpreted the vision in this way. The ram signified the kingdoms of the Medes and Persians, and the horns the kings who were to reign in them; the last horn signified the last king, who would surpass all the kings in wealth and glory. The goat signified that one would come and reign from among the Greeks, who would fight the Persian twice, defeat him in battle, and take over his whole dominion. The great horn that sprang out of the goat’s forehead meant the first king; and the springing up of four horns when it fell off, each of them turned toward the four quarters of the earth, signified the successors who would arise after the death of the first king and the division of the kingdom among them, who would be neither his children nor his kin, and who would reign over the inhabited earth for many years. And from among them a certain king would arise who would overcome our nation and their laws, take away their form of government, plunder the temple, and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for three years.

And this is just what happened: our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, as Daniel saw in his vision and wrote many years before they came to pass. In the same way Daniel also wrote about the Roman government, and that our country would be laid waste by them. All these things this man left in writing as God had shown them to him, so that those who read his prophecies and see how they have been fulfilled must wonder at the honor God gave Daniel. From them they may also discover how mistaken the Epicureans are, who cast providence out of human life and do not believe that God takes care of the affairs of the world, or that the universe is governed and kept in being by that blessed and immortal nature, but say that the world runs on of its own accord, without a ruler or a guardian. If it were without a guide to steer it, as they imagine, it would be like ships without pilots, which we see sunk by the winds, or chariots without drivers, which overturn; so the world would be dashed to pieces by being carried along without a providence, and so perish and come to nothing. So, by the predictions of Daniel just described, those men seem to me to stray very far from the truth who decide that God exercises no providence over human affairs. For if that were so, and the world ran on by chance, we would not see all things come to pass according to his prophecy. As for me, I have described these matters as I found and read them; but if anyone is inclined to a different opinion about them, let him keep his own view without any blame from me.