PORTRAITS OF THE PAST/ Cyrus the Great - "THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL"

 On the night of Cyrus' surprise attack, Babylonian King Belshazzar was feasting with "a thousand of his grandees" when a hand miraculously appeared before the eyes of all, the hand wrote "MENE, MENE, TEKEL and PARSIN" on the plaster of the palace wall." - DANIEL 5:1, 5, 25. 

The prophet Daniel interpreted the riddle to terrified Belshazzar.  In belief, Daniel told the king was "finished," that he had been "weighed in the balances" and found wanting, and that Babylon had been "given to the Medes and the Persian." (Daniel 5:26-28) Every word came true.  Moreover, to this day in some languages, the saying "the handwriting is on the wall" means that catastrophe, or failure, is imminent. 

Next time: A Word in Turmoil-How Can You Cope? 

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