“There's a Little Hand Writing on the Wall”

Description

"There's a little hand writing on the wall, There's a little hand writing on the wall, All I say and all I do, that hand writing on the wall."

Notes

The "hand writing on the wall" is obviously an allusion to Daniel 5. But, as 5:24-28 reveal, it was not writing the actions of King Belshazzar (who, incidentally, was never King of Babylon; he was the son of the last King, Nabonidas, if he is historical at all). Rather, the hand wrote a message of condemnation.

The bit about "all I say and all I do" may be an allusion to John 8:6, 8, where Jesus writes upon the ground. A few late manuscripts say that he wrote "the sins of every one of them," though most omit (and the earliest manuscripts all omit John 7:53-8:11).

If it is not an allusion to John 8, it may be a reminiscence to John 4:29, where Jesus told the Samaritan woman "all that I ever did." - RBW

References

1. BrownIII 519, "There's a Little Hand Writing on the Wall" (1 fragment)
2. Roud #11814
3. BI, Be3519