Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts > Handwriting on the Wall

Scores of common English expressions come from the pages of the Bible. Some examples of biblical cliches are: cast the first stone, feet of clay, a drop in the bucket, an eye for an eye.

Another expression from the pages of holy writ is handwriting on the wall, a foretelling of ill fortune.

The players in the story that inspired this phrase are Beltshazzar, a splendidly wealthy king of ancient Babylon; Daniel, the heroic Israelite prophet; and a mysterious, disembodied hand.

One day king Beltshazzar arranged an opulent feast for his entire court. Feeling expansive from drinking wine, Beltshazzar commanded that all the plundered goods from the temple of Jerusalem be brought out and laid on the banquet tables. Suddenly, as the royal guests were eating and drinking from the stolen vessels, the fingers of a man's hand magically appeared and wrote a cryptic message on the plaster wall of the palace. Terrified, Beltshazzar called Daniel the prophet to interpret the mysterious hieroglyph.

According to Daniel, the text said that the king had been tested by God and found wanting. His reign was coming to an end and his kingdom was about to fall and be divided among his enemies.

This was the original handwriting on the wall that later came to allude to any portent of doom or misfortune.

Radio Script > Handwriting on the Wall