Daniel 1.1-King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon Attacked Jerusalem in the Third Year of the Reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday November 17, 2011
Daniel: Daniel 1:1-King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon Attacked Jerusalem in the Third Year of the Reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah
Lesson # 6
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 1:1.
Daniel chapter one contains historical narrative and can be divided into three sections: (1) We have the record of Daniel’s deportation to Babylon (1:1-7). (2) We have the record of Daniel’s devotion to the Lord as demonstrated by his strict observance of the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law (1:8-16). (3) In His providence, God blesses Daniel’s loyalty to Him and obedience to His commands by promoting him in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom (1:17-21).
Daniel 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god. 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, 4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king’s personal service. 6 Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego. (NASB95)
This pericope deals with the deportation to Babylon of Daniel and his three friends and is divided into five sections: (1) Nebuchadnezzar conquers Jerusalem and deports the king of Judah to Babylon (verses 1-2). (2) Nebuchadnezzar orders certain Israelites including the royal family and nobles to be indoctrinated into Babylonian society and trained to serve him (verses 3-4). (3) Nebuchadnezzar stipulates the food they should eat and orders them trained to serve him (verse 5). (4) The identification of four of the Israelites specially chosen to go through this indoctrination and training for service (verse 6). (5) The overseer of the officials gives Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah Babylonian names as part of their indoctrination to Babylonian society (verse 7).
“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah” is composed of the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth), “in” and its object is the feminine singular construct form of the noun šā∙nā(h) (שָׁנָה) (shaw-naw), “the year” which is modified by the masculine singular form of the numeral šā∙lîš (שָׁלִישׁ) (shaw-leesh), “third” and this is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “of” and its object is the feminine singular construct form of the noun mǎl∙ḵûṯ (מַלְכוּת) (mal-kooth), “the reign of” and then we have the masculine singular form of the proper name yehô∙yā∙qîm (יְהֹויָקִים) (yeh-ho-yaw-keem), “Jehoiakim” which is modified by the masculine singular construct form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “king of” and this is followed by the masculine singular form of the proper name yehû∙ḏā(h) (יְהוּדָה) (yeh-hoo-daw), “Judah.”
The proper name yehô∙yā∙qîm, “Jehoiakim” means “Yahweh raises up” or “Yahweh has established” or “Yahweh has caused to stand” and refers to the name of one of the last kings of Judah.
He is mentioned many times in Scripture (Daniel 1:1-2; 2 Kings 23:34-36; 24:1, 5-6, 19; 1 Chronicles 3:15-16; 2 Chronicles 36;4-5, 8; Jeremiah 1:2; 22:18, 24; 24:1; 25:1; 26:1, 21-23; 27:1, 20; 28:4; 35:1; 36:1, 9, 28-30, 32-37:1; 45:1; 46:2; 52:2).
His father was Josiah and he succeeded Jehoahaz as king of Judah (609-597 B.C.).
“Jehoiakim” was the name given to him by Pharaoh Neco of Egypt as a mark of vassalage and his original name was “Eliakim” (2 Kings 23:34).
Jehoiakim or Eliakim became king at twenty-five and reigned for 11 years and is recorded in 2 Kings 23:34-24:6 and 2 Chronicles 36:4-8.
At the beginning of his reign, Judah was subject to Egypt but Babylon defeated Egypt and Jehoiakim transferred his allegiance to Babylon but he rebelled after three years.
Jehoiakim was guilty of shedding innocent blood (2 Kings 24:4) and had the prophet Uriah assassinated for opposing him (Jeremiah 26:20-21).
He opposed Jeremiah (36:26) and even personally burnt the scroll from which Jehudi read the words of the prophet to him (verse 22).
A comparison of Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:18-19; 36:30) with 2 Chronicles 36:6 indicates he died while being dragged off to exile.
His life and reign was characterized by faithlessness to the Lord and compromise with Israel’s and God’s enemies.
The proper name yehû∙ḏā(h), “Judah” refers to the southern kingdom.
After the death of Solomon, the nation of Israel had a civil war and was divided into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom.
The noun šā∙nā(h) means “year” referring to a unit of time involving a complete cycle of seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter.
The noun šā∙nā(h) is modified by the number šā∙lîš, which means “third” defining the year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah when Jerusalem was attacked by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
It is the object of the preposition bĕ, which is a marker of an extent of time within a larger unit and thus means “during.”
Therefore, it denotes that “during” the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, which would have been in approximately 605 B.C.
Now, Daniel 1:1 conflicts with Jeremiah 25:1 and 46:2, which state that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign.
The critics of the Bible have seized upon this “apparent” contradiction, which can be easily resolved.
First of all, for both the Babylonians and the Jews, a king’s “ascension” year was the year he ascended to the throne and that “year” would often last only a few months.
Also, for both the Babylonians and the Jews, the first “regnal” year or in other words his first full year of reign began with the first day of the new civil year.
For the Babylonians this would have been the first of Nisan (late March and early April) whereas the Jews began their civil year on the first of Tishri (late September and early October).
Now, Pharaoh Neco of Egypt installed Jehoiakim as a vassal king under Egyptian authority in the fall of 609 B.C., changing his name from Eliakim to Jehoiakim.
The first regnal year of Jehoiakim according to the Babylonian reckoning of time would have been the spring, in the month of Nisan 608 B.C.
Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem in September 605 B.C.
Therefore, if we do the math, we can see that according to the Babylonian reckoning of time, Nebuchadnezzar attached Jerusalem during the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign.
Thus, Daniel 1:1 is using the Babylonian reckoning of time.
On the other hand, the first regnal year of Jehoiakim according to the Jewish reckoning of time would have been the fall, in the month of Tishri 609 B.C. since Pharaoh Neco of Egypt installed Jehoiakim as a vassal king under Egyptian authority in the fall of 609 B.C., changing his name from Eliakim to Jehoiakim.
As we noted Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem in September of 605 B.C.
Therefore, if we do the math we can see that according to the Jewish reckoning of time (Jewish civil year begins in the month of Tishri), Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign.
“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it” is composed of the third person masculine singular qal active perfect form of the verb bôʾ (בּוֹא) (bow), “came to” and this is followed by the masculine singular form of the proper name neḇû∙ḵǎḏ∙ně(ʾ)ṣ∙ṣǎr (נְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר) (neb-oo-kad-nets-tsar), “Nebuchadnezzar” which is modified by the masculine singular construct form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “king of” and then we have the feminine singular form of the proper noun bā∙ḇěl (בָּבֶל) (baw-bel), “Babylon” and this is followed by the feminine singular form of the proper name yerû∙šā∙lǎ∙yim (יְרוּשָׁלַםִ) (yer-oo-shaw-lah-im), “Jerusalem” and then we have the conjunction waw (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb ṣûr (צוּר) (tsoor), “besieged” and then we have the preposition ʿǎl (אַל) (al), “upon” and lastly we have the third person feminine singular pronomial suffix hî(ʾ) (הִיא) (hoo), “it.”
The proper name neḇû∙ḵǎḏ∙ně(ʾ)ṣ∙ṣǎr, “Nebuchadnezzar” refers to the second ruler of the Chaldean dynasty of Babylon.
When Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem during the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah, he had not yet ascended the throne as king of Babylon.
At that time in 605 B.C. his father Nabopolassar was king of Babylon.
However, while fighting in battle, Nebuchadnezzar rushed back to Babylon to ascend the throne when he heard of his father’s death.
In Daniel 1:1, the verb bôʾ means “to arrive at” since it refers to linear movement to a particular reference point, which is identified by the proper name yerû∙šā∙lǎ∙yim, “Jerusalem” which functions as an accusative direct object.
The city of Jerusalem is located along the central mountain ridge of Palestine, 36 miles east of the Mediterranean and 16 miles west of the northern tip of the Dead Sea and is situated 2100-1500 ft. above sea level in a relatively level plateau of the Benjaminite highlands.
On the east, is the Kidron valley, which separates it from the Mount of Olives and on the west and south by the Hinnom valley.
The conjunction waw is emphatic meaning that it is emphasizing that Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem.
The verb ṣûr means “to lay siege” in the sense of encircling a fortified area as an aggressive military strategy to defeat a city or a nation.
Here it is used of Nebuchadnezzar encircling the city of Jerusalem as an aggressive military strategy to defeat the city of Jerusalem or to make her capitulate.
The word denotes relentlessly attacking Jerusalem, which would involve cutting off supplies to the city and preventing people from escaping from her.
The tactics included building a mound to reach the wall and using battering rams and towers to breach it.
The inhabitants of a besieged city were threatened with death and famine.
Some surrendered to the enemy in order to preserve their lives.
Nebuchadnezzar’s attack of Jerusalem in 605 B.C. during the third year of Jehoiakim, Judah’s king resulted in the first of three deportations of the Jewish people (Daniel 1:1; 2 Kings 24:1-2, 13; 2 Chronicles 36:5, 6, 7).
This attack also resulted in the beginning of an important prophetic period called “the times of the Gentiles,” which is described in Daniel 2:31-45 and Daniel 7 and is referred to by our Lord in Luke 21:23-24.
This prophetic period refers to an extended period of time when the Gentiles are the dominant world powers and Israel is subject to those powers and extends from the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar (586 B.C.) and continues through the Tribulation (Revelation 11:2).
This period of history includes the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the church age and the Tribulation period.
This phrase does not rule out temporary Jewish control of Jerusalem as has occurred in the past during the Maccabean era (164-63 B.C), the first Jewish revolt against Rome (A.D. 66-70), the second Jewish revolt (A.D. 132-135) and now since 1967 and the Six-Day War.
However, this control is only temporary because Revelation 11:1-2 predicts at least another three-and-one-half years of Gentile domination during the last half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, also known as the Tribulation.