In the heart of London within the recesses of The National Gallery, a painting by the great Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn solves the riddle to the Book of Daniel.
By DAVID NEKRUTMANBelshazzar’s Feast 311(photo credit: Courtesy)
In the heart of London within the recesses of The National Gallery, a painting by the great Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn solves the riddle to the Book of Daniel.In his depiction of Belshazzar’s Feast, the artist shows the moment when a hand appeared and wrote on the wall a phrase that only Daniel could decipher. Coming at the height of the king’s prosperity and power, while he was feasting on Temple cutlery, the writing on the wall foretells Belshazzar’s downfall. With his distinctive manipulation of light and shadow by means of altering the texture, potency and direction of the stroke, Rembrandt captures the mood as banqueters stare in amazement and terror at the mysterious hand.Artistic commentators fault Rembrandt for transcribing the Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin (counted, counted, weighed, and divided – Daniel 5:25) by arranging the Hebrew letters in columns rather than right to left, as Hebrew is written. However, the artist should be praised for his depiction of the Hebrew letters at all, for it elucidates one of the most troubling questions regarding this entire episode – of all the sages in Babylon, there were none who could read Hebrew?In reviewing the previous verse (v. 24), it seems that Daniel is repeating himself in verse 25: “Then a hand was sent from before Him and inscribed this writing. This is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin.” He should have just said: Then a hand was sent from before Him and inscribed this writing: Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin. It can be deduced from these verses that the writing was in the form of a cryptogram, so only with the help of ruach hakodesh (God’s Divine Spirit) could Daniel unravel the secret code along with its meaning.The actual arrangement of letters in the cryptogram is an argument among Jewish commentators; however, the one depicted by Rembrandt is consistent with the Jewish thought of his day. In fact, as legend records it, Rembrandt was well-acquainted with the Jewish community of Amsterdam, and one of his best friends, Menasseh ben Israel, was Jewish. Menasseh actually gave Rembrandt a Jewish commentary which he used to paint the Hebrew inscription in Belshazzar’s Feast.Daniel 5:22-23 becomes the key to understanding the encryption. King Belshazzar knew the past because of how God judged his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar for pride, yet still took silver and gold goblets from God’s holy Temple and used them in the orgy that exalted pagan gods. The king dared God, and He called his bluff.The rubble of history should be the greatest indicator that pride and taking God out of the equation does not bode well for any empire. The tendency of every great nation is to believe it will always be a superpower. In the end, God judges every nation to see if its technology or power become a new Tower of Babel.As people who believe in the God of Israel, we must read the writing on the wall. We are accountable for our actions, and should serve to glorify His kingdom on earth. There will be a judgment based on what we have done with what we received from our respective faith communities. In a time of postmodernism, God is being sidelined from society. All is relative! We must rescue God and bring Him back into our national conversation.In Daniel 4 a pagan king was humbled and then radically changed by God. In Daniel 5 another pagan king was judged and sentenced the same night. It is better to learn from the mistake of Belshazzar than to suffer a similar fate. We have an opportunity to demonstrate that religion can be a force to repair a broken world and help the global community understand that the God of Israel is the one who truly represents peace, justice, compassion, morality and love.Just as God humbled proud kings of old, He can humble modern nations and peoples. We must therefore incorporate the first rule of spiritual life: God is God, and we are not.The rest is commentary.David Nekrutman is Executive Director for The Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding & Cooperation in Efrat, Israel
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
