ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 Monite Tisema 4, 2023

The Handwriting on the Wall

Ko e Tohi nima ‘i he holisi

DANIEL 5:5, 25

IMMEDIATELY THE FINGERS OF A HUMAN HAND APPEARED AND WROTE ON THE PLASTER OF THE WALL OF THE KING'S PALACE, OPPOSITE THE AND THIS IS THE WRITING THAT WAS LAMPSTAND INSCRIBED: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, AND PARSIN.

TANIELA 5:5, 25

5 ‘I he houa ko ia na‘e nga‘unu mai ‘a e louhi‘i nima ‘o ha tangata, ‘o ne fai tohi ‘i he ‘aofi palasi fe‘unga mo e tu‘unga maama: pea na‘e mamata ‘e he tu‘i ki he konga ‘o e nima na‘e fai ‘a e tohi.

25 Pea ko eni ‘a e me‘a kuo tohi, MINE MINE TIKELI U-PASINI.

Belshazzar had no excuse. He'd seen firsthand what happened to Nebuchadnezzar when his head bloated with pride and God hammered him into humility (5:18-22). Belshazzar knew better but did no better. He and his fellow partiers guzzled wine from sacred vessels taken as spoils from Jerusalem's temple. As if that were not enough, he also "praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone" (5:4). This was spitting-in-the-face-of-God blasphemy. When the handwriting on the wall appeared, and

four Aramaic words were inscribed by divine fingers, his doom was sealed. Mene: his days were manah ("counted" or "numbered"). Tekel: in the balances, he had been taqal ("weighed") and found deficient. Peres or Parsin: a double meaning, for his kingdom would be paras ("divided") and given to the paras ("Persians"). This story, which has become proverbial in our language, remains a dire warning that God will not be mocked. 

Let us take heed. Let us repent. And let us ever throw ourselves on the mercy of the one who "wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us...,   having nailed it to the cross" (Col. 2:14 NKJV).

Write on our hearts, O Lord, your words of truth, that we may bear witness to your holy name.