A Chaldean word, signifying, what Daniel interpreted it, together with the word Tekel, or Thechel, he was weighed. "Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin." (Dan 5:25.) The whole taken together was the doom which, by a miraculous hand written upon the wall, was directed to the impious monarch Belshazzar, and explained by Daniel. There appears in the first reading of it some little difficulty. The hand - writing upon the wall was, as I have stated it, Mene, Merle, Tekel Upharsin - - but Daniel renders it Mene, God hath numbered thykingdom, and finished it - - Tekel, thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting. Upharsin, Daniel makes Peres; but the sense is the same. Parsin, or Upharsin, is Hebrew, and signifies the Persians - - and Paresin, in the Chaldean language, signifies dividing. Daniel therefore takes both together, and renders it Peres, thy kingdom is divided. Solemn as this event was, and faithfully as Daniel’s prediction was fulfilled, yet there is nothing uncommon in it. Doth not every day an hand - writing, even the solemn word of God, appearon the wall of every sinner’s conscience? And are not the awful judgments threatened thereon fully executed? Who shall describe the trembling loins of sinners, and the paleness of soul, which seizeth them in the dying hour, on entering eternity?
He is numbered; TEKEL, he is weighed; UPHARSIN, and they are dividing; Chaldee words supernaturally traced on the wall at Balshazzar’s impious feast, and significant of his impending doom, Dan 5:1-31 . The astrologers could not read them, perhaps because they were written in antique Hebrew characters; still less could they explain, even if they had dared to do it, what was so portentous. Daniel, however, received skill to understand and courage to declare their awful meaning; and the same night witnessed their fulfillment. Over how many proud heads often found in scenes of ungodliness and reveling, the hand that has recorded their past history is even now preparing to record their doom\par
("numbered"), Chaldee. The first word of the mysterious handwriting (Dan 5:25-26), "God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it," i.e. fixed its number of years, and that number is now complete. The doubling of "Mene" marks its awful certainty.
Mene (me’ne), Tekel, Upharsin. This sentence, which appeared on the wall of Belshazzar’s banqueting-hall to warn him of the impending destruction of Babylon, is in the Chaldee language. Translated literally, Mene, "he is numbered;" Mene, "he is numbered;" Tekel, "he is weighed;" Upharsin, "they are divided." "Peres," in the original language, is the same word with "Upharsin," but in a different case or number. It means "he was divided." Dan 5:25.