Ah, the power of the written word. Did you know that this phrase comes from the Bible? This phrase, which we use to tell that something’s sure to happen, comes from Daniel, one of the latest books of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Today’s RefDesk.com quote of the day puts a new spin on it. Here’s an excerpt from Bible Babel that explains the phrase’s biblical roots:
“According to the postexilic books of Esther and Daniel, those Babylonians were quite the partyers, and we all know (if not firsthand) that strong drink can make a person do stupid things. Dan 5:1–31 tells how King Belshazzar, deep in his cups with a crowd of rowdy revelers, decided that drinking out of the sacred vessels pillaged from the Jerusalem temple sounded like a good idea. When they then toasted the greatness of their idol gods, a human hand emerged out of thin air and began to write on the wall in front of them. Utterly terrified by the apparition, and by the words, which even his magicians could not decipher, Belshazzar called in the Jewish exile Daniel to see what he could make of it. After chastising Belshazzar for his haughtiness, Daniel translated with ease the writing on the wall, mene mene tekel parsin (Aramaic words for specific denominations of weight or currency), as meaning that God would soon end Belshazzar’s rule and kingdom, that the king himself was judged to be a light-weight, and that his kingdom would be divided between the Medes and the Persians. Today, “the writing is on the wall” still sounds the ominous note of a done deal—a fait accompli” (112-113).
Ralph Hodgson observed, “The handwriting on the wall may be a forgery.” Makes me think of that pastor in Florida, Terry Jones, so certain that God wanted him to burn Qur’ans… then changed his mind. Hmmm.
