T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S wall. How fortunate it is to have such a reputation that those in trouble in stinctively turn to such a one for help. Such a reputation does not spring up over night. It is the product of a long and faithful life. WEDNESDAY, July 12. Dan. 5:25-31. The Explanation. The hand was sent from God to por tray in the most vivid and powerful manner the doom of the king and the destruction of the nation because of their idolatry and sin. It required the direct help of God to enable Daniel to give the proper interpretation to these three simple words. Mene means a weight. Tekel means another kind of weight. Upharsin means divided. The end was near. It would come that very night. As a merchant might weigh the g;old and silver received in payment for his goods and find it short in weight, so Belshazzar had fallen short of what he should be as the king of a great nation. Peres is the singular form of the plural “ pharsin” , the prefix “ u” meaning “ and” . The Medes and Persians had been united by Cyrus into one nation. He diverted the river Euphrates which flowed through Babylon from its natural channel and his troops entered the city through the bed of the river. Thus the punishment foretold had a speedy ful fillment, for in that night was Belshaz zar slain. “ Belshazzars grave is made, his king dom passed away; He in the balance laid, is light and worthless clay, The shroud his robe of state, his canopy the stone, The Mede is at his gate, the Persian on his throne.” THURSDAY, July 13. 2 Cor. 5:1-11, The Scales of God. There are mechanical contrivances for weighing people in various public places.- You drop a penny in the slot and the hand upon the dial indicates your weight. People amuse themselves in this way, some in careless curiosity, some in evident anxiety lest they should not be as heavy and healthy as the day before. Is there some place where spir itual scales are set up to weigh our thoughts and words and deeds? Can we find a. church where no false weights are used and where the preacher tells us the plain unvarnished truth? We must get on God’s scales and allow Him
738 form hqd a brief duration and a most unsatisfactory termination. The people became impatient with and intolerant of it and unanimously repudiated it. 1 Sam. 8:6-7. Nevertheless, it is the ideal and ultimate form, predicted and pre destined in the counsels -of eternity. 2 Sam. 23:3-5. The seventy-second Psalm sets forth the kingly office of the Son of God in His Millennial reign more fully than any other passage of Scrip ture in its universality, permanency and beneficence. The kingdom is His de jure now at God’s right hand. It will be His de facto at His second coming. MONDAY, July 10. Daniel 5:1-4. The Drunken Feast. The army of Cyrus was encamped around Babylon. Belshazzar thought himself secure because the city was so strongly fortified. There seemed to be no possible way for the Persians to gain entrance into the city. The king and his courtiers therefore gave themselves over to feasting and revelry. While under the influence of wine, Belshazzar had the golden drinking vessels which had been taken from the temple in Jerusalem brought in, and they were desecrated by the drunken revelers. In addition to this sacrilege' the feasters gave honor and acclaim to the gods of Babylon. Their blasphemy deserved and received severe rebuke. Drunkenness makes every other sin possible.’ Reason is in abeyance, conscience is stiffed and with a reckless disregard of conse quences, the inebriate blunders on into deeds of crime and folly from which when sober he would recoil in horror and dismay. Drunkenness is not an extenuation but an aggravation. TUESDAY, July 11. Dan. 5:5-9. The Handwriting on the Wall. In the midst of the profane revelry a hand suddenly appeared writing some mysterious words upon the wall of the banqueting room. Belshazzar and his guests were affrighted at this strange interruption of their feast and straight way sought for some interpretation of the words. . The wise men of the king dom were utterly at fault in their at tempts to decipher the meaning. The queen mother asked for Daniel, the Jewish captive, for she had confidence in his skill and learning. He was prob ably more than eighty years old at this time. The king repeated his offer of great reward if he could rightly inter pret the meaning of the writing on the
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