“PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”
The fulfillment of the prophecy thus declared by Daniel is described thus briefly: “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.”
The King was on his throne,
The Satraps[153-1] throng’d the hall;
A thousand bright lamps shone
O’er that high festival.
A thousand cups of gold,
In Judah deem’d divine—
Jehovah’s vessels hold[154-2]
The godless Heathen’s wine.
In that same hour and hall
The fingers of a Hand
Came forth against the wall,
And wrote as if on sand:
The fingers of a man;—
A solitary hand
Along the letters ran,
And traced them like a wand.
The monarch saw, and shook,
And bade no more rejoice;
All bloodless wax’d his look,
And tremulous his voice:—
“Let the men of lore appear,
The wisest of the earth,
And expound the words of fear,
Which mar our royal mirth.”
Chaldea’s[154-3] seers are good,
But here they have no skill;
And the unknown letters stood
Untold and awful still.
And Babel’s[154-4] men of age
Are wise and deep in lore;
But now they were not sage,
They saw—but knew no more.
A Captive in the land,
A stranger and a youth,
He heard the king’s command,
He saw that writing’s truth;
The lamps around were bright,
The prophecy in view;
He read it on that night,—
The morrow proved it true!