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MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN(PARSIN)
The prophecy is found in Daniel chapter 5 and the surface meaning of the
handwriting of God incident is provided in the verses Daniel 5:25-28.
Dan 5:25 And this is the inscription that was written:
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
:26 This is the interpretation of each word.
MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished
it;
:27 TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and
found wanting;
:28 PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to
the Medes and Persians.
Most prophetic scriptures clearly portray a time dimension. This prophecy
cleverly hides its prophetic nature behind the narrative.
To fully understand this prophecy it is necessary to look at the meanings
of the words.
MENE - 'numbered' or 'mina'
Mina is a measure of money and weight
TEKEL - 'weighed' or 'shekel'
Shekel is a unit of money and weight
UPHARSIN - ie 'Parsin' (singular Peres (verse 28)),
Parsin - 'to divide (into many pieces)'
Peres - 'to divide (once)'
As can be seen the words 'mene' and 'tekel' carry meanings which indicate
monetary value. (As a result of this observation many have felt the word
'upharsin' should likewise be understood as 'half mene' or 'half shekel'.
However, in this prophecy it is not necessary to render a monetary unit
to the word 'upharsin'.)
To determine the time periods being suggested it is only necessary to
follow the instructions of the prophecy.
NUMBER 
NUMBER
WEIGH 
DIVIDE 
Number twice by weight and divide!
In other words: Number the 'mene' twice by shekel weight
and then divide into many pieces.
Conveniently a single text found in a prophetic book provides the critical
information.
Ezek 45:10 You shall have just balances, ...
:12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs;
twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels,
and fifteen shekels shall be your mina.
This verse is commonly thought to be suggesting the mina of the sanctuary
was composed of 60 shekels. However, this view fails to explain why the
verse breaks the apparent 60 shekels into twenty, twenty-five and fifteen
shekels.
Some theories have attempted to explain the text and different renderings
have been suggested.
A more literal rendering of this verse yields the following.
Ezek 45:12 And the shekel twenty gerah: twenty shekels five
and twenty shekels ten and five shekel shall be
your mina.
This can provide the rendering.
Ezek 45:12 And the shekel twenty gerah: twenty shekels by five
and twenty shekels by ten and five, shekel shall be
to your mina.
In other words: ... '100'(20x5) and '300'(20x15), shekel
shall be to your mina!
Now, notice the New Testament presentation of the mina by weight.
1) John 19:39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night,
also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh an aloes,
about a hundred pound(mina - Strong's 3046).
2) John 12:3 Then Mary took a pound(mina - Strong's 3046) of
very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet
of Jesus, ...
:5 "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for
three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"
In both cases we encounter a mina weight, the first reference is
associated with the number 100 and the second with the number 300.
(The second reference is also connected with coinage, the denarii.)
The following two Old Testament example appear to confirm the
100 shekels per mina ratio.
100 SHEKELS OF GOLD PER MINA - The Shields
The following verses suggest a mina of gold was the equivalent of
100 shekels of gold. (Note, the word 'shekels' in 2 Chr 9:16 is not
actually present in the original Hebrew.)
1 Kin 10:17 He also made three hundred shields of hammered
gold; three mina of gold went into each shield.
And the king put them in the House of the Forest
of Lebanon.
2 Chr 9:16 He also made three hundred shields of hammered
gold; three hundred shekels of gold went into
each shield. The king put them in the House of
the Forest of Lebanon.
100 SHEKELS OF SILVER PER MINA - Solomon's Vineyards
The following two references when cross referenced suggest 200 pieces of
silver, presumably 200 bekah (the half shekel mentioned in Exod 38:26),
equal one mina.
Song 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
he leased the vineyard to keepers;
everyone was to bring for its fruit
a thousand pieces of silver.
:12 My own vineyard is before me.
You, O Solomon may have a thousand,
And those who keep its fruit two hundred.
Isa 7:23 It shall happen in that day, that wherever
there could be a thousand vines worth a
thousand shekels of silver, ...
[In the Hebrew text the word 'shekels' is
not actually present - the most likely
measure indicated is 'mina'. ]
So Song 8:11-12 indicates 1,000 pieces of silver (bekah) were paid by
each vinedresser, and that Solomon owned 1,000 vineyards, and that in
each vineyard there were 200 vinedressers.
A total income of 200,000,000 bekah, ie 100,000,00 shekels.
And Isa 7:23 indicates that a 1,000 vineyards would be worth 1,000
mina each.
A total income of 1,000,000 mina.
Hence suggesting 100 shekels = 1 mina.
FURTHER REFLECTION UPON EZEKIEL 45:12
The revised translation raises two issues;
Ezek 45:12 And the shekel twenty gerah: twenty shekels by five
and twenty shekels by ten and five, shekel shall be
to your mina.
1) With two ratios between the mina and the shekel, either there
are two different shekel weights linking to one mina weight or
there is a single shekel weight linking to two different mina
weights.
2) The form of expression used to identify the number of shekels
in both cases starts with the mention of 'twenty shekels'.
There has to be a reason for this.
Were there two shekel weights or two mina weights or both different
shekel and mina weighs?
DIFFERENT SHEKELS
Scripture indicates there were some different shekel weights
THE SHEKEL OF THE SANCTUARY
Exod 30:13,24,25,26, Lev 5:15 27:3,25, Num 3:47, 3:50,
Num 7:13,19,25,31,37,48,49,55,61,67,73,79,85,86, 18:16,
Ezek 45:12.
This shekel is repeatedly identified as being the equivalent of
20 gerahs.
Exod 30:13, Lev 27:25, Num 3:47, 18:16, 45:12.
SHEKEL OF THE MERCHANTS
Gen 23:16 And Abraham listened to Ephron and Abraham weighed
out the silver for Ephron which he had named in
the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred
shekels of silver, currency of the merchants
[literal = passing to the merchant].
SHEKEL OF THE KING'S STANDARD
2 Sam 14:26 And when he cut the hair of his head - at the
end of every year he cut it because it was
heavy on him - when he cut it, he weighed
the hair of his head at two hundred shekels
according to the king's standard [literal
= stone/weight of the king].
The following contrasting verses also suggest there was another shekel
weight.
Exod 30:13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered
shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel
of the sanctuary ...
:16 And you shall take the atonement money of the
children of Israel, and shall appoint it for
the service of the tabernacle of meeting, ...
Neh 10:32 Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact
from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for
the service of the house of God.
The existence of the half shekel weight is well documented in Scripture,
but the third shekel weight of Neh 10:32 is not. (It is possible that
the word 'third' in Neh 10:32 does not relate to the weight to be given,
but to the occassion in that year when the census weight was to be given
(ie on the third 'newmoon' or at the third festival of the year).)
While there appears to be two different shekel weights the initial
portion of Ezek 45:12 "And the shekel twenty gerah ..." identifies that
the shekel of the sanctuary is being referenced.
This means that indeed two different mina weights are being defined in
Ezek 45:12.
A TWENTY SHEKELS WEIGHT
The repeated mention of twenty shekels,
Twenty shekels by five
Twenty shekels by ten and five
suggests the existence of a twenty shekel weight.
The actual existence of this twenty shekel weight is also suggested
by,
Exod 3:47 you shall take five shekels for each one
individually, you shall take them in the
currency of the shekel of the sanctuary,
the shekel of twenty gerahs.
A more literal translation is as follows,
Exod 3:47 and you take five of five of shekels to
the skull in shekel of the sanctuary you
shall take, twenty gerah the shekel.
Notice, in the original Hebrew the repetition, "five of five of".
Translators not being able to understand the repetition have simply
left it out.
The calculation result (Num 3:50), 273 individuals at 5 weights each
equalling 1,365 weights, does not need the second 'five of' presence.
So the indication is that the presence of the second 'five of' is a
descriptive reference alluding to the actual weight.
The 100 weight mina could be described as being being a 'five of' as
it is composed of five '20 weight' weights.
Having now reviewed the likely meaning of Ezekiel 45:12 we can consider
the teaching of this prophecy.
TEACHING OF THE PROPHECY
With this understanding it is now possible to derive the periods of time
being prophesied by the handwriting on the wall.
NUMBER ONCE
- 100 shekels divided into gerahs(20 per shekel) = 2,000 gerahs
ie 2,000 years!
NUMBER TWICE
- 300 shekels divided into gerahs(20 per shekel) = 6,000 gerahs
ie 6,000 years!
These periods would be counted backwards from the close of the age of
man.
** 100 Shekels ** ** 300 Shekels **
- 6,000 yrs (20x(10+5))
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- 2,000 yrs |
| (Gospel to Nations) |
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- 0 yrs - 0 yrs
(Kingdom of God) (Kingdom of God)
These periods of time, being a predetermined warning!
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