Daniel 5:25

"And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE; MENE TEKEL, U - PHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end. TEKEL; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."

DANIEL'S INTERPRETATION OF THE HANDWRITING

In the interpretation, it should be noticed that Daniel read the last word as Peres, instead of U-Pharsin. The reason for this was that, "The `U' in Aramaic is a simple connective such as `and.' The `Ph' is an aspiration of `P' to accommodate the preceding vowel sound. The passage reads: `Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Peres, the Mene being repeated for emphasis.'"[28]

The words could be pointed in two different directions, thus making two different meanings of the passage possible. The two meanings are (1) "a mina, a mina, a half shekel (Tekel = shekel), and half minas."[29] (2) The other meaning is that given in the passage above. Keil noted, however that "divided" in the meaning of PERES does not mean merely, cut in two. "The word means to divide into pieces or to dissolve the kingdom."[30] We would say that it was to be shattered or smashed.

Of particular interest is the announcement that the kingdom will be given to "The Medes and Persians." This cannot mean that part would be given to Medes and another part to the Persians. "The writing indicates that the Babylonian kingdom would be turned over to the Medes and Persians; here the Medes and Persians are taken to be a single unit. Also, the Medes and Persians are noted as combined in Daniel 6:8,12,15."[31] This makes it positively certain that no "Median Empire" was developed between Babylon and the Greeks. Only this one government, that of the Medes and Persians, existed between Babylon and the Greeks, meaning that the Greek empire was the third, not the fourth world kingdom identified with the Great Image in Daniel 2.

The meaning of those three mysterious words of this passage may be reduced to only three words in English, as follows: NUMBERED; WEIGHED, and DIVIDED, or NUMBERED; WEIGHED; AND SMASHED.[32] Culver preferred, COUNTED; WEIGHED, and DIVIDED.[33]

"Daniel 5:28 proves conclusively that the author of Daniel believed that the successor to Babylon was a dual kingdom, including two national elements; he was not guilty of supposing that the second and third empires of Daniel 2 were the Median and Persian powers respectively. Unbelieving criticism is `hung' by this verse!"[34] Amen!