# The Hand on the Wall - The Book of Daniel

An episode of [Kids Bible in a Year with Julia Jeffress Sadler](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696638708), 23 Jan 2024, 13 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f8ddd7fd-69c6-48d0-804f-b4d6010c327c/974c8d2e-0a85-4ee8-8217-b4d601884b91/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=14e8ed60-20b2-4d5c-a832-b4d6010c3283

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 137. In this exciting episode of our podcast, we dive into the story of King Belshazzar from the book of Daniel in the Bible. At a grand party, King Belshazzar uses stolen goblets from God's Temple, leading to a mysterious hand writing a message on the wall. Daniel, known for his wisdom, interprets the message, revealing that Belshazzar's kingdom will be taken over. That very night, the prophecy comes true, and Daniel later learns from an angel about God's long-term plan for Jerusalem and the coming of a Savior. Sign up to receive Kids Bible in a Year devotionals in your inbox every weekday: https://www.kidsbibleinayear.com/ Get ready to experience the Bible designed specifically for children with the official KidsBibleinaYear.com podcast, led by Julia Jeffress Sadler. This captivating audio series presents the age-old wisdom of the Bible in an engaging format that will captivate your kids. Each episode Julia translates biblical teachings into real-life applications, making Bible comprehension a breeze for young minds. And if you want more Christian resources and content, you can download the Pray.com app. Pray.com is the digital destination for faith, offering over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime Bible stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible. For more resources on how to live a successful Christian life, visit Julia Jeffress Sadler's website at https://ptv.org/julia/. This episode is sponsored by Little Passports. Visit LittlePassports.com/blessed and use promo code BLESSED to receive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood,
[0:05] Speaker 1: and stone, which don't see or hear or know. And
[0:10] Speaker 1: you have not glorified the God in whose hands you
[0:13] Speaker 1: breathe is and whose are all your ways. Daniel 5.23
[0:20] Speaker 1: Dear God, our breath and our life is in your hands.
[0:24] Speaker 1: Thank you that you are the true God. the living
[0:28] Speaker 1: God who sees us, hears us when we pray, and
[0:31] Speaker 1: knows everything we need. Help us to learn even more
[0:36] Speaker 1: about how precious you are in our story today. Thank
[0:40] Speaker 1: you for loving us.
[0:41] Speaker 2: We love you.
[0:42] Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, amen.
[0:46] Speaker 3: Thank you for praying with us today. The Kids Bible
[0:49] Speaker 3: in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
[0:53] Speaker 3: monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world.
[0:57] Speaker 3: Cultivate curiosity and discover new interests with hands-on crafts and
[1:01] Speaker 3: activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more. All with a
[1:05] Speaker 3: unique cultural twist. Visit littlepassports.com slash blessed to learn more
[1:10] Speaker 3: and save 20% with code blessed.
[1:20] Speaker 2: The Hand on the Wall In our last story, Daniel
[1:24] Speaker 2: interpreted the King Nebuchadnezzar's dream prophesying that he would live
[1:28] Speaker 2: like a wild animal and lose his kingdom, but that
[1:33] Speaker 2: it would be restored after he humbled himself before God.
[1:37] Speaker 2: In this story, as King Belshazzar drinks from the goblets
[1:40] Speaker 2: taken from God's temple, a hand will write on the
[1:44] Speaker 2: wall and declare his fate, as inspired by Daniel.
[1:53] Speaker 1: Hi, it's Julianne Thompson, guest hosting for Julia Jeffress Sadler
[1:56] Speaker 1: with the Kids Bible in a Year podcast. I'm so
[1:59] Speaker 1: happy you're here. Today, we get to hear a story
[2:03] Speaker 1: about a floating giant hand and a mysterious message about
[2:08] Speaker 1: what matters the most. What's going to happen? Well, let's
[2:12] Speaker 1: jump in and find out.
[2:16] Speaker 2: Belshazzar, King Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, was king of Babylon. One day,
[2:22] Speaker 2: the king wanted to have a party with important people
[2:25] Speaker 2: of the kingdom. He ordered goblets to be stolen from
[2:29] Speaker 2: Jerusalem so that they could drink wine and praise false gods.
[2:35] Speaker 2: While King Belshazzar and the nobles were drinking from the
[2:38] Speaker 2: goblets at the party, a floating hand appeared out of nowhere.
[2:43] Speaker 2: The hand wrote on the wall for everyone to see
[2:47] Speaker 2: and vanished. King Belshazzar was afraid. for he did not
[2:51] Speaker 2: understand what was written on the wall. It was in
[2:55] Speaker 2: a secret code. The king summoned counselors in Babylon and
[2:59] Speaker 2: told them, Help me figure out what was written by
[3:01] Speaker 2: the hand. Whoever can read the writing on the wall
[3:04] Speaker 2: and interpret it will be rewarded greatly. He will be
[3:07] Speaker 2: promoted to the third highest ruler in the kingdom. However,
[3:12] Speaker 2: no one was able to understand the writing. King Belshazzar
[3:16] Speaker 2: grew anxious, but the queen remembered Daniel. whom God had
[3:20] Speaker 2: given the ability to interpret dreams and riddles. The queen
[3:24] Speaker 2: told King Belshazzar, Do not fear. There is a wise
[3:29] Speaker 2: man in Babylon with a special spirit inside him. Nebuchadnezzar
[3:34] Speaker 2: appointed him a chief ruler. His name is Daniel, and
[3:37] Speaker 2: he can interpret dreams and riddles. Find him to see
[3:42] Speaker 2: what the writing says. The king summoned Daniel and asked
[3:46] Speaker 2: him for help. He offered Daniel many rewards, including the
[3:50] Speaker 2: finest clothes and a promotion. Daniel told the king, You
[3:54] Speaker 2: do not have to reward me. I will interpret the
[3:57] Speaker 2: writing for you. Your Majesty, do you remember your grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar,
[4:03] Speaker 2: who ruled many kingdoms? God gave him the authority to rule.
[4:09] Speaker 2: When Nebuchadnezzar became prideful of his success, God sent him
[4:13] Speaker 2: away to live like a wild animal. until he followed God.
[4:18] Speaker 2: From that day on, he humbled himself and followed God
[4:23] Speaker 2: the rest of his days. But you, Belshazzar, have become
[4:27] Speaker 2: very prideful and rebelled against the Lord. You do not
[4:31] Speaker 2: acknowledge God as supreme authority. Instead, you worship false gods
[4:36] Speaker 2: with stolen goblets. As a result, God sent the hand
[4:41] Speaker 2: to write three words, numbered, weighed, and divided. Numbered means
[4:47] Speaker 2: that God has totaled your ruling. Your days of being
[4:51] Speaker 2: king are numbered and finished. Weighed means that you have
[4:55] Speaker 2: not measured up to God's scale. Divided means that God
[5:00] Speaker 2: will let the Medes and Persians take over the kingdom
[5:03] Speaker 2: and divide it. Belshazzar thanked Daniel for the interpretation and
[5:08] Speaker 2: rewarded him. Daniel became the third highest ruler in Babylon.
[5:14] Speaker 2: That night, The king Belshazzar was killed by soldiers, ending
[5:18] Speaker 2: his kingship. The Medes and Persians swept in to invade
[5:24] Speaker 2: and take over Babylon. They liked Daniel and let him
[5:28] Speaker 2: become a counselor in the Persian court as they ruled Babylon.
[5:33] Speaker 2: Years later, Daniel was reading the prophet Jeremiah's letters. He
[5:37] Speaker 2: noticed that Jerusalem would be in ruins for 70 years.
[5:41] Speaker 2: Daniel asked God, God, what will happen after? God answered
[5:47] Speaker 2: his prayer through an angel. The angel told Daniel, God
[5:52] Speaker 2: will order Jerusalem to be rebuilt from the ground up.
[5:56] Speaker 2: This will be a call for God's people to return
[5:59] Speaker 2: to him. This will take 490 years. 483 years into
[6:02] Speaker 2: that time frame, a savior will come. He will be
[6:04] Speaker 2: killed immediately. and Jerusalem will be destroyed again. Then the
[6:14] Speaker 2: last seven years will include a ruling destroyer who will
[6:18] Speaker 2: make a peace treaty with Israel. He will do evil works,
[6:22] Speaker 2: but God will have him defeated in the end. This
[6:26] Speaker 2: is what will happen. Wow.
[6:33] Speaker 1: Can you imagine seeing a huge floating hand without a body?
[6:39] Speaker 1: or watching it write a mysterious message on your wall,
[6:43] Speaker 1: King Belshazzar definitely couldn't have imagined it until he saw
[6:48] Speaker 1: it himself. And then I'm sure he wished he hadn't
[6:51] Speaker 1: seen it. But this king of Babylon had made some
[6:56] Speaker 1: bad choices. And today's story is a good example of
[6:59] Speaker 1: a very important truth. Those who honor God, God will honor.
[7:05] Speaker 1: And those who choose not to honor God will not
[7:09] Speaker 1: be honored by God. Do you remember what happened? King
[7:13] Speaker 1: Belshazzar was King Nebuchadnezzar's grandson. He had the same position
[7:17] Speaker 1: as his famous grandfather, but he hadn't done anything to
[7:21] Speaker 1: earn it. And he wasn't interested in leading well or
[7:25] Speaker 1: taking care of his people. He just cared about himself
[7:29] Speaker 1: and making people like him. And because he only cared
[7:33] Speaker 1: about himself and making people like him, he did some
[7:37] Speaker 1: crazy things. Like throwing a huge party for a thousand people. Now,
[7:45] Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with getting people together for a fun party.
[7:48] Speaker 1: But King Belshazzar used this party to do something very
[7:53] Speaker 1: disrespectful to the Lord. What made it so disrespectful? Well,
[7:58] Speaker 1: let's remember, back, back, back to when Moses and the
[8:02] Speaker 1: Israelites were in the desert, God instructed them to build
[8:05] Speaker 1: a special house for him called the tabernacle. At the
[8:09] Speaker 1: heart of the tabernacle was the golden ark of the covenant.
[8:14] Speaker 1: Inside the golden ark were the stone tablets on which
[8:18] Speaker 1: God had written the Ten Commandments with his finger. In
[8:22] Speaker 1: front of the ark hung a beautifully embroidered curtain, and
[8:27] Speaker 1: in front of the curtain, gold lampstands kept light burning
[8:31] Speaker 1: throughout the night. In front of the gold lampstand lay
[8:35] Speaker 1: a gold table, and on the gold table lay golden cups, dishes, spoons, bowls,
[8:42] Speaker 1: and pitchers used to worship the Lord. When Solomon became king,
[8:47] Speaker 1: he built the temple in Jerusalem and moved all that
[8:51] Speaker 1: gold into it. And when King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple
[8:55] Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, he took that gold and brought it to
[8:59] Speaker 1: Babylon with all the Jews. King Belshazzar knew where his
[9:04] Speaker 1: grandfather had gotten that gold.
[9:06] Speaker 2: And where he had put it.
[9:07] Speaker 1: So when he threw his huge party because he only
[9:11] Speaker 1: cared about himself and making people like him, He had
[9:14] Speaker 1: those gold cups brought out and he honored false gods
[9:19] Speaker 1: with them. Gods made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and stone. Now,
[9:26] Speaker 1: God's people use golden things to worship him. But God
[9:30] Speaker 1: is not made out of gold. He is way, way
[9:34] Speaker 1: more valuable than that. And he wrote a message on
[9:38] Speaker 1: the wall to teach King Belshazzar a lesson about what
[9:41] Speaker 1: is most valuable. You see, King Belshazzar valued fun and popularity.
[9:48] Speaker 2: But he didn't value God or wisdom.
[9:51] Speaker 1: Daniel had been the wisest man in Nebuchadnezzar's court, and
[9:55] Speaker 1: Belshazzar didn't even know who he was. But when Daniel
[9:59] Speaker 1: interpreted the mysterious message, it became clear to Belshazzar that
[10:04] Speaker 1: he'd been valuing all the wrong things. Nebuchadnezzar had once
[10:10] Speaker 1: valued his own power more than God, and he learned
[10:14] Speaker 1: that a good relationship with God is more valuable than
[10:18] Speaker 1: anything else in life. And because Belshazzar hadn't learned from
[10:21] Speaker 1: his grandfather's example, he didn't think the Lord was worthy
[10:25] Speaker 1: of worship. The hand that wrote the Ten Commandments also
[10:29] Speaker 1: wrote that Belshazzar himself was unworthy. And that very night,
[10:35] Speaker 1: Belshazzar lost his kingdom to the Medes and Persians. You see,
[10:41] Speaker 1: gold and riches, popularity and power don't make you valuable
[10:45] Speaker 1: in God's eyes. In honest heart, that loves and obeys
[10:50] Speaker 1: him is what the Lord values most. And because Daniel
[10:54] Speaker 1: honored God, God honored him by giving him another important
[10:59] Speaker 1: job in the new kingdom with the new king, Cyrus.
[11:02] Speaker 1: Belshazzar didn't honor God, and so God didn't honor him.
[11:06] Speaker 1: He didn't even live to see the kingdom come into power. Well,
[11:11] Speaker 1: I'm so glad you joined me for today's story. Come
[11:14] Speaker 1: back next time to hear what happens when Daniel faces
[11:17] Speaker 1: some hungry, hungry lions. Remember, the Bible is the best
[11:22] Speaker 1: story ever told. It's God's story to you.
[11:24] Speaker 2: And it's all true.
[11:26] Speaker 1: Did our podcast make your day? We'll drop a review
[11:29] Speaker 1: to guide other families to us and scatter joy across
[11:33] Speaker 1: the world. Thank you for listening to Pray.com's Kids Bible
[11:36] Speaker 1: in a Year. For more inspiring stories and wisdom to
[11:39] Speaker 1: last a lifetime, download the Pray.com app for free today.
[11:43] Speaker 1: See you next time. Thanks for listening to Kids Bible
[11:54] Speaker 1: in a Year. I want to invite our adult listeners
[11:56] Speaker 1: to check out my other show, Unapologetic, God's Truth on
[12:00] Speaker 1: Today's Topics. It's unfiltered, important, inspiring, and we have awesome
[12:06] Speaker 1: conversations and amazing guests such as Candice Cameron Bray, Vice
[12:11] Speaker 1: President Mike Pence, Dr. Robert Jeffress, Shannon Bream, Maddie Pruitt,
[12:16] Speaker 1: and so many others. We are helping you have conversations,
[12:21] Speaker 1: that empower you to have bold faith in a broken world.
[12:26] Speaker 1: You'll be excited, inspired, and encouraged in your faith as
[12:30] Speaker 1: you check out Unapologetic. Remember that you can tune in
[12:33] Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts and on Pray.com.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.