What is the story about Aminadi who interpreted the writing on the wall of the temple? Alma 10:2

What is the story about Aminadi who interpreted the writing on the wall of the temple? Alma 10:2

Amulek describes himself as the son of Giddonah, the son of Ishmael, a descendant of Aminadi "who interpreted the writing which was upon the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God." Aminadi in turn was a descendant of Nephi, son of Lehi, who came out of Jerusalem. Lehi was a descendant of Manasseh, son of Joseph sold into Egypt.

This is the only mentioning of Aminadi in the scriptures at all, and it is intriguing. Who was he? What is the story? Clearly, there is more to this that we don't know yet.

There is a similar story found in the Old Testament, though. Daniel (the same one who was thrown into the lion's den) had a similar experience. Daniel lived from 620-538 BC. He was carried off to Babylon when Jerusalem was destroyed - I mean, the time that Lehi and Nephi prophesied about it getting destroyed (that place sure does seem to get destroyed a lot!). Stories of Daniel may have reached down through the generations to Amulek, but I think the story about him interpreting the writing on the wall of the king's palace was more likely something that happened after Lehi had already left.

It goes like this: Daniel was taken captive. Tragically, he was turned into a eunuch and made to serve King Belshazzar, who was wicked, gluttonous, and defiled the temple. They took the golden vessels out of the temple and used them for partyware at a big party for idol worship. As they did so, fingers of a man's hand came and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster wall of the palace, and the king saw part of the hand. This freaked him out. He called all his wise men to interpret the writing, but none of them could. His wife, the queen, remembered that Daniel was there and could interpret the writing. They called Daniel before them, and offered him a huge reward in exchange for interpreting the words. Daniel responded by saying, "Keep your gifts and rewards, but I will interpret the writing for you. God made you King, and you should have known better and humbled yourself before him, but you didn't. The writing says:

MENE: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

TEKEL: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

PERES: They kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."

Balshazzar was shocked. He gave Daniel the reward, and that night he was murdered by the Chaldeans and Darius became the next king.

This is the stuff that fodders children's stories, to be honest. It would make a lovely picture book.

I've often noticed that people in different eras seem to respond to similar kinds of prophecies. I think it's likely that Aminadi and Daniel lived roughly around the same time. As they were both Jews, and both had to deal with living with non-Jews, they may have had similar struggles and issues.

Answer:

We do not know very much about Aminadi, but maybe someday we will!