In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah,

View I Critics point to a seeming conflict between this statement by Daniel regarding the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign, and the statement by Jeremiah in which he says that the event occurred in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (; ).

View 2 Another possible view is that, in Judah, Daniel used the old Jewish calendar year that began in the month Tishri (September/October) and Jeremiah used the Babylonian calendar that began in the spring in the month Nisan (March/April).

The Hebrews maintained two calendars:

1) the religious calendar that began with Nisan in the spring and

2) a civil calendar that began with Tishri in the fall. An event occurring between Nisan and Tishri would date one year differently. Any event in this period could be attributed to either year.

View 3 A third view is that was an earlier raid on Jerusalem not recorded elsewhere in Scripture. In the battle at Carchemish in May-June 605 B.C.,

Nebuchadnezzar met Pharaoh Necho and destroyed the Egyptian army in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (). occurred before this battle.

Nebuchadnezzar could not have avoided Carchemish to conquer Jerusalem first. In this case, the capture of Daniel would be about 606 B.C.

Pharaoh invaded Babylon but Nebuchadnezzar defeated him at Carchemish. After Nebuchadnezzar’s defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish, he moved south on his way to the Sinai to take Syria and eventually Jerusalem (an ally of Pharaoh).

The Babylonian Chronicle gives the result of the Carchemish battle:

“Nebuchadnezzar conquered the whole area of the Hatti-country.”

God made a covenant with Israel just before she crossed Jordan to enter the land ().

The conditions of this covenant included how God would deal with the obedience and disobedience of the nation Israel.

Disobedience would bring discipline upon Israel ().

This included invasion of Gentile nations and dispersion of Israel to Gentile countries ().

This discipline would not be lifted until Israel turned back to God and obeyed His commandments ().

The Northern Kingdom of Israel had gone into the captivity of Assyria in 722 B.C. Now Judah went into captivity almost 100 years later.

The reason for this delay was the leadership of godly kings during that period. Eventually Jehoiakim, king of Judah, rebelled against the warning of Jeremiah.

Judah went into idolatry () and neglected the Sabbath Day and the sabbatical year (), so God sent Nebuchadnezzar as His instrument of discipline upon Judah.

PRINCIPLE:

The Bible is the veritable Word of God.

APPLICATION:

Clearly, Daniel’s account is genuine. Daniel’s account can be reconciled with accounts both outside the Bible and in other books of the Bible.

Clearly, critics want to discredit the book of Daniel because of its many prophecies of absolute accuracy.

Many of Daniel’s prophecies have already come true – prophecies of the kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar, Persia, Greece and Rome.

That is why critics want to date Daniel after these historical events.

An attack on Daniel is an attack on the Word of God itself.

Ezekiel classifies Daniel with Noah and Job (, ; ).

Jesus places his stamp of approval on Daniel.

He calls Daniel a “prophet.”

If we reject Daniel as authentic, we reject the authenticity of the Lord Jesus.

“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place… ”

If the book of Daniel was written in 175-165 B.C. as the critics claim, why did it get into the Septuagint which was completed in 285 B.C.?

Why did Josephus, the Jewish historian, say that the struggle with Antiochus Epiphanies (175-165 B.C.) was prophesied by Daniel 408 years before?

Josephus said that these things came to pass “according to the prophecy of Daniel which was given 408 years before.”

When Alexander the Great was told of Daniel’s prophecies, and that he himself was prophesied in Scripture (), he spared the city of Jerusalem.

Therefore, Daniel must have been written before 332 B.C.

Do you believe the Bible to be the veritable Word of God?

Either you do or you don’t.

There is no middle ground on that question.

Whoever denies the integrity of Daniel impeaches the credibility of Christ.

“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.”

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it

During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar assaulted Jerusalem in about 605 B.C.

He took the city and carried captives to Babylon.

Daniel and his three friends were among this first group of captives.

Jehoiachin became king of Judah after Jehoiakim died.

He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar again besieged Jerusalem.

Jehoiachin and all the vessels of the house of the Lord were taken to Babylon along with a larger group of captives.

Ezekiel was among this latter group (2 Kg 24:6-16).

Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah became king and also rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, who then destroyed the temple and burned Jerusalem.

Nebuchadnezzar killed Zedekiah’s sons in his presence and then put out Zedekiah’s eyes.

Nebuchadnezzar carried him to Babylon with yet another group of captives in 588 or 587 B.C.

This fulfilled a prophecy of Jeremiah ().

Nebuchadnezzar ruled forty-three years (605-562 B.C.) during the Neo-Babylonian period.

He was an outstanding statesman, military strategist and builder.

The book of Daniel calls him “king” in a proleptic (anticipatory) sense because he was shortly to become king (as does Jeremiah in 27:6).

He was co-sovereign with his father until he returned to Babylon.

They summoned him to Babylon on the death of his father Nabopolassar this same summer and crowned him on September 6th.

PRINCIPLE:

The wheels of God’s justice grind exceedingly slow but also exceedingly sure.

APPLICATION:

Ignoring God’s Word and God’s principles ultimately brings judgment on the believer.

God always warns before judgment.

His discipline never comes unexpectedly.

No one can escape His judgments.

God takes no pleasure in executing judgment.

He pleads for erring Israel to turn back to Him (; ).

It is never too late to turn to God.

When the world captures the hearts of Christians, they do not capture the world for Christ.

(1-2) Nebuchadnezzar conquers Jerusalem.

a. Jehoiakim king of Judah:

This was a Judean king placed on the throne by the Pharaoh of Egypt. His name means “Yahweh raises up,” but the LORD did not raise him up at all – Pharaoh did.

b. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon:

This was the mighty ruler of the Babylonian Empire. The name Nebuchadnezzar is a Hebrew transliteration of the Babylonian name Nebu-kudduri-utzur, which means “Nebu protects the crown.”

c. Came to Jerusalem and besieged it:

Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem because the Pharaoh of Egypt invaded Babylon. In response, the young prince Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians at Charchemish, then he pursued their fleeing army all the way down to the Sinai. Along the way (or on the way back), he subdued Jerusalem, which had been loyal to the Pharaoh of Egypt.

i. This happened in 605 B.C. and it was the first (but not the last) encounter between Nebuchadnezzar and Jehoiakim. There would be two later invasions (597 and 587 B.C.).

ii. Some say that this mention of the siege of Jerusalem is a historical blunder made by a pseudo-Daniel. This is based on the fact that this invasion in 605 B.C. is not mentioned in the book of Kings. But the Jewish historian Josephus quotes the Babylonian historian Berossus, showing that the Biblical account of three separate Babylonian attacks on Judah is accurate (Against Apion, I 19 and Antiquities, X 11, 1).

iii. This specific attack mentioned by Daniel is documented by the Babylonian Chronicles, a collection of tablets discovered as early as 1887 and kept in the British Museum. Nebuchadnezzar’s 605 B.C. presence in Judah is documented and clarified in these tablets.

iv. When the Babylonian Chronicles were finally published in 1956, they gave us first-rate, detailed political and military information about the first 10 years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. L.W. King prepared these tablets in 1919. He then died, and they were neglected for four decades.

v. Excavations also document the victory of Nebuchadnezzar over the Egyptians at Carchemish in May or June of 605 B.C. Archaeologists found evidence of battle, vast quantities of arrowheads, layers of ash, and the shield of a Greek mercenary fighting for the Egyptians.

vi. This campaign of Nebuchadnezzar was interrupted suddenly when he heard of his father’s death and raced back to Babylon to secure his succession to the throne. He traveled about 500 miles in two weeks – remarkable speed for travel in that day.

vii. Therefore, we know that the siege of Jerusalem in 605 B.C. was cut short by Nebuchadnezzar’s return to Babylon. This was not specifically detailed in the Babylonian Chronicles, but it is entirely consistent with the record.

d. In the third year of the reign:

There is also no contradiction between Daniel (who said this happened in the third year of Jehoiakim) and (which said it was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim)

Daniel reckoned a king’s years after the Babylonian method: the first year of a king’s reign began at the start of the calendar year after he took the throne. Jeremiah used the Jewish method.

i. “It was customary for the Babylonians to consider the first year of a king’s reign as the year of accession and to call the next year the first year… Having spent most of his life in Babylon, it is only natural that Daniel should use a Babylonian form of chronology.” (Walvoord)

e. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand:

In this 597 B.C. deportation Jehoiakim, Ezekiel, and others were taken away. This deportation is described in .

i. This was prophesied in : And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. This prophecy leads some to think Daniel and his companions were made eunuchs. Certainly, the Hebrew term saris was used of literal eunuchs; but the word derives from a phrase that simply means to be a servant of the king. It wasn’t exclusively applied to literal eunuchs.

ii. The LORD gave Judah into the hands of the Babylonians for mainly two reasons. The first was Israel’s idolatry and the second was their failure to observe the Sabbaths for the land ( and 26:2-35). This shows that God always settles accounts with those who refuse to respond to His warnings. In the 587 B.C. invasion the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed ().

f. Some of the articles of the house of God:

Nebuchadnezzar did not take all the furnishings of the temple, only some. The remaining furnishings were either hidden before Nebuchadnezzar came or they were brought to Babylon later.

i. The confiscation of these items and their deposit in a Babylonian temple was a dramatic declaration by Nebuchadnezzar saying, “my god is better than your God.” Now the God of Israel had to vindicate Himself.

ii. This was a low time for Judah and God’s people. It seemed that the God of Israel lost out to the gods of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon. The Book of Daniel shows God vindicating Himself at a time when the conquest of Israel might have brought God’s reputation into disgrace.

More Introduction to Daniel Chapter 1

Chapter one is an introduction to the rest of the book Daniel. Here, we learn Daniel’s background and the cause of his success, with God and men. Daniel begins in the year 605 B.C. a period of upheaval in the world, when Jehoiakim was king of Judah.

Before 605 B.C., God had warned Jerusalem and Judah of coming judgment, largely through the Jeremiah’s ministry. Israel, the northern kingdom, captured by the Assyria in 722 B.C., ceased to exist. Judah, the southern kingdom, averted God’s judgment through the ministry of Isaiah, and Hezekiah, a righteous king, in 701 B.C. (