Belshazzar (6th century BC), son of the last king of the Neo-Babylonian empire, Nabonidus, has inspired many works of art and cultural allusions, often with a religious motif. While a historical figure, depictions and portrayals of him are most often based on his appearance in the biblical story of Belshazzar's feast in the Book of Daniel. This story is the origin of the idiomatic expression "the writing is on the wall".
In chapter 5 in the Book of Daniel, a hand writes Hebrew letters on a wall, which Daniel interprets as "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin". These words mean that Belshazzar is doomed. The phrase "The writing is on the wall", or "The writing on the wall", has become a idiomatic expression referring to the foreshadowing of any impending doom, misfortune, or end. If "the writing is on the wall" something bad is about to happen. A person who does not or refuses to see "the writing on the wall" is being described as ignorant to the signs of a cataclysmic event that will likely occur in the near future. [1] [2]
One of the earliest known uses of the phrase in English is in the writings of a Captain L. Brinckmair in 1638, during the Thirty Years' War. Brinckmair writes: "Remarkable Prodigies..are in themselves like the writing on the Wall in Beshazzars Palace, which Sooth-sayers, Astrologians, and Chaldeans could neither understand nor reade’." [3]
Shortly before midnight on 21 April 1947, Meir Feinstein or Moshe Barazani wrote "Mene! Mene! Tekel Upharsin!" on the walls of their shared death row cell in Jerusalem Central Prison in British-controlled Palestine, shortly before they then blew themselves to pieces. [4] [5] [6] Their deaths are also commonly associated with another Bible quote – let me die with the Philistines – the words of Samson from Judges 16:30. [6]
Belshazzar had a letter—
He never had but one—
Belshazzar's Correspondent
Concluded and begun
In that immortal Copy
The Conscience of us all
Can read without its Glasses
On revelation's wall—
—Emily Dickinson, 1879
The Jewish terrorists Feinstein and Barazini were to have been executed at dawn to-day. However, they blew themselves to pieces shortly before midnight. The two men occupied the same cell. They were visited by Rabbi Jacob Goldman , Jewish chaplain to prisons, and he administered to them the last rites. Tile men committed suicide shortly after he left. Rabbi Goldman was immediately taken to the police headquarters. Feinstein and Barazini are reported to have inscribed the Biblical words, "Mene! Mene! Tekel Upharsin!" on the walls of their ceil before killing themselves with hand grenades. The words quoted are those mentioned in the Book of Daniel, chapter five, verse twenty-five.
the two Jewish condemned terrorists, Meyer Feinstein and Moshe Barazani, who were to have been executed before dawn to-day, committed suicide in Jerusalem central prison to-night by blowing themselves to pieces … The British United Press representative states that Feinstein and Barazani are reported to have in scribed the Biblical words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel Uphaisin" on the walls of their cells before killing themselves. The words quoted are mentioned In the Book of Daniel, chapter 5, verse 25.
They received a note from underground members about a plan to take their own lives while killing some British policemen during the moments preceding the hanging. It was termed "Operation Shimshon" after the biblical Samson who brought down with him the crowded Philistine temple, claiming "let me die with the Philistines ". Barazani and Feinstein were eager to carry out the plan.
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