Mene, Tekel, Ufarsin, Dan 5, 25.

In the book of the prophet Daniel, we read about King Balthasar arranging an excellent feast for his royal court. He had the gold and silver vessels brought, which Nebuchadnezzar once dragged from the Jerusalem temple, and from them, he and the entire royal court drank wine. They drank wine and glorified their pagan gods, as well as gold, silver, metal, iron, wood, and stone. In this, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall of the royal palace. They were the words: Mene, Tekel, Ufarsin (Dan 5, 1-6; 25).

The king invited the wise men of Babylon to read this scripture to him and explain its meaning. He will richly reward the one who explains them to him. But they found no one. Here they remembered Daniel, whom Nebuchadnezzar once exalted for „reason, wit and wisdom“ (Dan 5, 11; 5, 14).

Daniel was summoned, appeared before the king, and said: Keep your gifts and give your rewards to another! I will read the scripture and interpret its meaning… King, the most high God has given your father Nebuchadnezzar kingdom, power, and glory. Because of the greatness he gave him, all nations and tribes trembled before him. He killed whomever He wanted and left whomever He wanted alive. Whom He willed He exalted, and whomever He willed He humbled. However, when his spirit became strong in pride, he was thrown from the throne, and his glory was taken from him. They drove him out; his heart resembled that of an animal. He stayed with wild donkeys, and they gave him grass to eat like cattle, until he knew that the ruler over the human kingdom was the supreme God, and whosoever He willed, he would build it on the day. And you, his son Balthasar, did not humble your heart, although you knew all this, but exalted yourself above the Lord of heaven. They brought before you the vessels of his house, and you, your nobles, drank wine from them. You praised your gods who do not see, hear, and understand, but you did not glorify God in whose hand is your breath and all your ways. That’s why he sent these fingers and wrote this font. And this is the meaning of the words. Name: God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. Tekel: They weighed you on the scale and found you adjacent. Peres: Divided is your kingdom and given to the Medes and Persians ( Dan 5, 17-28).

We further learn that Balthasar rewarded Daniel, deciding that he was to rule third in his kingdom… But later that night, they killed Balthasar in the middle of a feast, and his kingdom was given to Darius the Mede. (Dan 5, 29-6, 1).

This Old Testament event about King Balthasar wants to teach us that everything has an end – that is, our actions, in which we make light of God’s things, and the matter of our salvation. That once God can also tell us: Mene, Tekel, Ufarsin. – He counted, weighed, and divided. A certain poet sent a collection of his poems to the Russian Tsar. The Tsar sent him as many banknotes as there were letters in the book. When the poet spent the notes, he sent another collection of poems to the Tsar. The Tsar sent him a bundle of banknotes again. When he wasted them, he sent him a book of poems again. The Tsar, in turn, sent him a bundle of banknotes, inscribed: “It is the last shipment.”

Maybe even in our life there is some „ God’s term“ in which God waits and creates prerequisites for us, gives us an opportunity, gives us a chance to realize that we belong to God alone, only God should we serve, to the one who knows our every breath and our every path (Dan 5, 23). If we do not appreciate it and humiliate our hearts before it, God will count our deeds, find them inadequate, and put an end to our lives. So St. warns us. The apostle Paul, when he wrote: „ Make no mistake: God cannot be mocked. What a person sows, he will also reap…“ (Gal 6:7).