by Wendy Widder | Apr 7, 2013 | Apocalyptic literature, Daniel 7, The Book of Daniel
My first disclaimer is that I don’t care about college hoops. Every couple years I get moderately interested in mid-March and sorta follow – but really, Don’t Care. However, on a particularly dull day at work a few weeks ago, I joined the company’s “NCAA Challenge”...
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...
by Wendy Widder | Mar 3, 2013 | Aramaic, Daniel 5, The Book of Daniel
Belshazzar may not have finished swallowing his first sip of wine from God’s goblets when a disembodied hand appeared, writing on the palace wall. The narrator bothers to tell us that the hand was opposite the lampstand. Maybe he wants to explain why the king could...
by Wendy Widder | Feb 25, 2013 | Babylon, Daniel 5, The Book of Daniel
A twisted source of pride for many students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (and a source of chagrin and consternation for administration) is its ranking as one of America’s top party schools. I can assure you that although I spent six years at this, um,...
by Wendy Widder | Feb 9, 2013 | Babylon, Daniel 5, The Book of Daniel
The villain of Daniel 5 is Belshazzar, who only appears in this chapter. Who is this flash-in-the-pan character, Belshazzar? You might consider this a gimme question since the text says pretty clearly who he is: he’s Nebuchadnezzar’s son. The narrator says as much in...
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