by Wendy Widder | Aug 14, 2013 | Aramaic, Daniel 5, The Book of Daniel
Apparently, I missed a holiday yesterday: International Left-Handers Day! Somehow – I can’t imagine how – this important day was not on my calendar. I certainly would have figured out the, er, left way to celebrate. As it is, I’ll have to...
by Wendy Widder | Jun 24, 2013 | Aramaic, Daniel 5, The Book of Daniel
Elementary school teachers learn how to read the indecipherable. It just goes with the territory. By Christmas time, they can fairly accurately sort and grade a batch of papers even if half the class forgot to put their names on the papers. (Though in my class, you...
by Wendy Widder | Jun 1, 2013 | Aramaic, Daniel 5, The Book of Daniel
People have asked me on occasion why I like Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament) better than Greek (the language of the New Testament). There’s a variety of ways to answer this question, but today’s answer is that Hebrew is friendly to lefties. If you’ve had the...
by Wendy Widder | Apr 28, 2013 | Daniel 5, The Book of Daniel
I have kept Daniel waiting in the wings too long. The queen has made her speech, Belshazzar has made his, and Daniel has been patiently waiting his turn while I’ve done this, that, and the other for the past couple weeks. Today’s the day. Bring the man on stage and...
by Wendy Widder | Apr 6, 2013 | Babylon, Daniel 5, The Book of Daniel
You can learn a lot about people from what they say – which is one reason it’s often a very good idea to keep your mouth shut. Or, as the inimitable 16th president of the United States is said to have said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak...
by Wendy Widder | Mar 23, 2013 | Daniel 5, How to read the Bible, The Book of Daniel
One of the unusual features of the story of Belshazzar and the handwriting on the wall (Dan 5) is the amount of space it devotes to people talking. There are three unusually long speeches by three different characters. The first is by the queen (vv. 11-12), who is...
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