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198 gold and silver from the sanctuary in the House of God in Jerusalem were brought in; and the king and his nobles, his concubines and courtesans, drank from them; they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron and of wood and stone." As the pagan merriment and de- filement of the sacred objects from Yahweh's temple continued, Suddenly, There appeared the fingers of a human hand, and it wrote upon the plaster of the palace wall, opposite the candelabra; And the king could see the wrist of the hand as it wrote. The sight of a human hand—disembodied, floating by itself unconnected to an arm and a body—was disconcerting; the suddenness of the appearance only added to the sense of foreboding. "The king's mind was filled with terror, his countenance turned pale, every limb of his became limp, his knees knocked together." He must have realized that the desecration of the vessels from the Temple of Yahweh had triggered an ominous Divine Encounter with some unknown dire consequences. He shouted for the seers and diviners of Babylon to be rushed in. Addressing the "wise men of Babylon" he an- nounced that whoever could read the writing and interpret the meaning of the apparition shall be rewarded and elevated to the third highest rank in the kingdom. But none could interpret the vision nor understand the written message. And "Belshazzar sat pale and utterly scared and his nobles all perplexed." Upon this scene of fear and desperation in walked the queen; and when she heard what had happened, she pointed out that the wise man Daniel had been known for his ability to understand and interpret dreams and divine messages. So Daniel was called in and was told of the promised rewards. Refusing the rewards, he nevertheless agreed to interpret the DIVINE ENCOUNTERS