Writing on the wall meaning: in Daniel 5, MENE, TEKEL, PERES were weights used for money. A king was weighed and found light, and he was warned years before.
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What Is Acedia? The Noonday Demon and the Psalm Behind It
What is acedia? The old name for a restless, anywhere-but-here boredom. Why desert monks called it the noonday demon, and the Psalm 91 word that answers it.
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What Is Reformation Day? Forget the Door, Read Thesis One
What is Reformation Day? On 31 October 1517 Luther sent out 95 theses. Whether he nailed them up is still debated. What his very first thesis said is not.
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Why Do We Say Bless You When Someone Sneezes?
Why do we say bless you when someone sneezes? The plague-pope story is younger than the habit. Rome, Greece and an old Jewish tale reveal the real history.
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What Is Stoicism? The Day the Stoics Argued With Paul in Athens
What is Stoicism? A fair, plain answer, plus the day Stoic thinkers argued with Paul in Athens, and the Stoic word he later borrowed to describe contentment.
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Medieval Family Graves: DNA Says Most Weren’t Family
Medieval family graves in Sweden held adults and children who were rarely related, ancient DNA from 142 people shows. So who were they buried beside, and why?
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Herculaneum Scrolls: Why Scientists Burned Their Own to Read Them
The Herculaneum scrolls were burned black by Vesuvius. To read them, scientists baked scrolls of their own and found a trace of lead in ink changes everything.
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What Is Michaelmas? The Angel Who Wouldn’t Trade Insults
What is Michaelmas? September 29 honours Michael the archangel, and the only words the Bible gives him are a refusal to trade insults with the devil. Here’s why.
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Who Was Gamaliel in the Bible? The Advice His Own Student Ignored
Who was Gamaliel in the Bible? The Pharisee who told the council to leave the apostles alone in Acts 5 – while his own star student, Saul, did the opposite.
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Who Was Methuselah? The Longest Life, the Shortest Story
Who was Methuselah? The oldest man in the Bible lived 969 years and gets one line. Add the ages in Genesis 5 and his death lands in the very year of the Flood.