What scriptural connections exist between Daniel 5:5 and God's judgment in Exodus?

Setting the Scene in Daniel 5:5

Belshazzar mocks the sacred vessels from the Jerusalem temple. Suddenly,

“the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace” (Daniel 5:5). Terror seizes the banquet hall; God has intervened without warning.

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Echoes of Exodus: “The Finger of God”

• Exodus 8:19 – After the third plague, Pharaoh’s magicians admit, “This is the finger of God.”

• Exodus 31:18 – God gives Moses “the two tablets of the Testimony… written by the finger of God.”

• Deuteronomy 9:10 – Moses recalls tablets “inscribed by the finger of God.”

The identical expression links Daniel’s scene to Exodus. In each case, God’s own finger confronts human rebellion.

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Parallels of Judgment

• Target of Judgment

– Exodus: Pharaoh defies God, oppressing Israel.

– Daniel 5: Belshazzar desecrates holy vessels, exalting idols.

• Setting

– Exodus: Egypt’s court, filled with magicians.

– Daniel 5: Babylonian court, filled with wise men.

• Human Experts Fail

– Magicians cannot replicate the plague of gnats (Exodus 8:18).

– Babylon’s wise men cannot read the writing (Daniel 5:8).

• Divine Determination Pronounced

– Exodus plagues culminate in death of the firstborn (Exodus 12).

– Daniel’s writing foretells the fall of Babylon that very night (Daniel 5:26-30).

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God Writes, God Judges

• In Exodus 31:18 God writes covenant law; violating it brings judgment (Exodus 32:27-35).

• In Daniel 5 God writes a sentence: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN” (Daniel 5:25). The same divine handwriting that inscribed life-giving law now inscribes a verdict of death.

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Themes Woven Together

• Sovereignty – Whether confronting Pharaoh or Belshazzar, God alone rules kingdoms (Exodus 9:16; Daniel 4:34-35).

• Holiness – Sacred vessels and covenant tablets cannot be treated casually (Exodus 20:7; Daniel 5:23).

• Swift Justice – Judgment falls the night Babylon celebrates, just as the plague strikes Egypt at midnight (Exodus 12:29; Daniel 5:30).

• Revelation – God makes His verdict unmistakable: by plagues in Egypt, by written words in Babylon.

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A Closing Takeaway

The same “finger of God” that liberated Israel and etched commandments now writes an irrevocable summons to account. When human pride challenges His glory, His judgment is certain, His word final, and His sovereignty unchallenged.