the tradition… hostage student interpreter protected visionary statesman

The Tradition…

Hostage

Student

Interpreter

Protected

Visionary

Statesman

The Challenge…

Porphyry

232-305 A.D.

Jewish Philosopher

Attacked Christianity

Because of Daniel!

Daniel a fiction!

Written after the fact!

The Continuation…

18th Century

Enlightenment

Skeptical of ALL

Biblical history

Skeptical of Daniel

Continues to this day!

The Maccabees…

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Attacked Jews

Prohibited Practices

Defiled the Temple

Maccabees Revolted

Hannukah!

Daniel 11

Original View Modern View

Real Daniel


Real Daniel Fake Daniel


Real Daniel

Written 6th Century B.C.

Fake Daniel


Real Daniel


Fake Daniel

Written 2nd Century B.C.


Real Daniel


Prophecy foretelling

history

Fake Daniel



Real Daniel


Prophecy foretelling

history

Fake Daniel


History in the guise of

prophecy


“Daniel is now accepted as a pseudepigraph written, at least

in its present form, in the Maccabean period, and few Christians lose sleep over

this.”

Maurice Casey, “Porphyry and the Origin of the Book of

Daniel,” JTS, 27 (1976), p. 15.

Contents of Daniel

1. Historical Dates

2. Historical Names

3. Two Languages

4. Dated Dreams and Visions

5. References to Other Books

“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim

king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king

of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and

besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house

of God, which he carried into the land of

Shinar…

to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the

treasure house of his god… [along with]

certain of the children of Israel, and of the

king’s seed, and of the princes; children in

whom was no blemish, but well-

favored, and skilful in all wisdom…

Daniel 1:1-4

“The Word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah

the prophet… against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt which was by the river Euphrates in

Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of

Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim…

Jeremiah 46:1-2

Which is it?

Daniel 1:1-4 --

THIRD YEAR of Jehoiakim

Jeremiah 46:1-2 --

FOURTH YEAR of Jehoiakim

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The Babylonian Chronicle

605-594 B.C.

Translated 1956!

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter

Fall FallSpring Spring

608 B.C.

1st Year Jehoiakim

607 B.C.

“0” Year Year

609 B.C.

2nd Year

1st Year Jehoiakim

Ancient Calendars

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter


607 B.C.

2nd Year Jehoiakim

606 B.C.

1st Year

608 B.C.

3rd Year

2nd Year Jehoiakim

Ancient Calendars

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter


606 B.C.

3rd Year Jehoiakim

605 B.C.

2nd Year

607 B.C.

4th Year

3rd Year Jehoiakim

Ancient Calendars

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter


605 B.C.

4th Year Jehoiakim

604 B.C.

3rd Year

606 B.C.

5th Year

4th Year Jehoiakim

Ancient Calendars

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter


605 B.C.

4th Year Jehoiakim

604 B.C.

3rd Year

606 B.C.

5th Year

4th Year Jehoiakim

Ancient Calendars

Battle of Carchemish

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter


605 B.C.

4th Year Jehoiakim

604 B.C.

3rd Year

606 B.C.

5th Year

4th Year Jehoiakim

Ancient Calendars


August 16

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter


605 B.C.

4th Year Jehoiakim

604 B.C.

3rd Year

606 B.C.

5th Year

4th Year Jehoiakim

Ancient Calendars


August 16September 7

BEROSUSBabylonian historian,

3rd Century B.C.“Nabopolassar… committed to his son

Nebuchadnezzar, who was still but a youth, some parts of his army, and sent him against

Pharaoh Necho of Egypt’. So when Nebuchadnezzar had given battle… he beat

him,… and made that country a branch of his own kingdom; but about that time it happened that his father Nabopolassar fell ill, and died in

the city of Babylon, when he had reigned twenty-one years.

And when he heard this,… that his father had died, and having settled the affairs of Egypt, and the other countries, as also those that concerned the captive Jews, Phoenicians,

Syrians, and those of the Egyptian nations, and having committed the conveyance of them to

Babylon to certain of his friends,… he hurried… over the desert, and came to Babylon.”

History of Babylon, Book 3; Josephus, Antiquities, Bk 10, Chap. 11, par. 219-222.

BEROSUSBabylonian historian,

3rd Century B.C.

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter


605 B.C.

1st of King Nebby

604 B.C.606 B.C.

5th Year

0th of King Nebby

Ancient Calendars


September 7

If the author of the Book of Daniel

wrote in the 2nd century BC in Jerusalem, he

would have used the Jerusalem

system of dating, and the year

stated by Jeremiah.

Instead, the author used the

Babylonian calendar, as

would be expected, if he were actually

living IN Babylon at the time he

wrote the book.

This information was lost in 482

B.C. when Xerxes I razed and

destroyed the city of Babylon,

burying all of Babylon’s

chronicles until rediscovered in the last century.

Modern

Jerusalem

Babylon

Winter Winter


605 B.C.

1st of King Nebby

604 B.C.606 B.C.

5th Year

0th of King Nebby

Ancient Calendars


September 7

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Hananiah) (Mishael) (Azariah)

“Hanunu - Chief of Royal Merchants”

“Mushalim Marduk - Overseer of the Harem”

“Aridi-Nabu - Secretary to the Prince”

Five-sided Clay Prism,

Istanbul Museum; J.B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, pp. 307-308

It was common practice in the ancient middle east to erect a

statue of the ruling emperor in the provinces and vassal territories,

and to demand that all the citizens of the region bow down in

obeisance to that statue as an act of loyalty to the emperor.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Hananiah) (Mishael) (Azariah)

Chronicle of Sargon I

Sargon, King of Agade, by Ishtar’s royal insignia was exalted…… in the eleventh year his hand subdued the west to its full extent.He united them under one control;

He set up his images in the west.


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Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder

Describes the various buildings and civil works Nebuchadnezzar built in Babylon during his reign

Nebuchadnezzar, Builder of Babylon




Brick inscribed in honor of Nebuchadnezzar

One of 15,000,000 found so far




‘Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who cares for Esagila and Ezida, eldest son of

Nabopolassar, king of Babylon’


East India House Inscription

Describes Nebuchadnezzar’s many building projects in Babylon




Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder

Describes Nebuchadnezzar’s many building projects in Babylon

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BEROSUS

“Now in his palace he erected very high walkways, supported by stone pillars, and by

planting what was called pensile Paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he

recreated an exact resemblance of a mountainous country. This he did to please his

queen, because she had been brought up in Media, and was fond of a mountainous view.”

Book III; Josephus, Antiquities

The Babylonian Chronicle

Toward the end of his life, Nebuchadnezzar disappears from his own chronicle for

several years.

Abydenus∆Abudhnov~

A Greek historian, author of “A History of the Chaldeans

and Assyrians,” wrote:

Abydenus∆Abudhnov~

“In his latter days, the king was possessed by some god or

other while in his palace,… and disappeared.”

Quoted in Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, 9.41.1

Nabonidus and Belshazzar

Absentee King and Playboy Prince


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Nabonidus Chronicle

556-530 B.C.In his third year, he names his son

Belshazzar as his coregent.



Nabonidus Cylinder

Names his son as crown prince and coregent





Nabonidus-Belshazzar Cylinder

Contains prayers in behalf of the king Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar

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In the third year of his reign (553 B.C.), Nabonidus made his son Belshazzar his coregent, and

entrusted the rulership of Babylon to his son, while he went south to live in the oasis of Tema in Arabia.



“Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with

scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a

proclamation concerning Daniel, that he should be the THIRD ruler

in the kingdom.”

Daniel 5:29



First in the kingdom - Nabonidus

Second in the kingdom - Belshazzar

Third in the kingdom -- Daniel



Cyrus Cylinder



“A weakling has been installed as the ruler of his country… He

interrupted in a fiendish way the regular offerings… The worship of

Marduk, the king of gods, he changed into abomination.”

Cyrus Cylinder



“We shall presumably never know how our author learned that the new Babylon was the

creation of Nebuchadnezzar as the excavations have proved… and that

Belshazzar, mentioned only in Babylonian records, in Daniel, and in Baruch 1:11, which is based on Daniel, was functioning as king

when Cyrus took Babylon.”

R. H. Pfeiffer, Introduction to the Old Testament, pp. 758-759

GUBARU

And Darius the Mede

Babylon fell to Cyrus’ forces on October 13, 539 B.C.

[Babylonian Chronicle]

“So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-

two.”

Daniel 5:31

GUBARU

And Darius the Mede

Cyrus placed Gubaru, a Median, in charge of Babylon, while he continued his conquests

westward. According to Babylonian Records, Gubaru was born in 601 B.C., making him 62

years old in 539 B.C.

The word “Darius” refers to his position, rather than his name.

GUBARU

And Darius the Mede

“On the 16th day, Gubaru… along with the army of Cyrus, entered Babylon without

opposition… The city was no longer at war, peace being restored. Cyrus then sent his

best wishes to the residents living there. His governor, Gubaru, then installed leaders to

govern over all Babylon.”

Babylonian Chronicle

GUBARU

And Darius the Mede

According to the Babylonian/Persian Chronicles, GUBARU was the son of

Ahasuerus, a ruler of the Medes.

“He WAS MADE king over the realm of the Chaldeans.”

Daniel 5:32; 9:1; 11:

Sirach and Solomon Schechter

And Daniel 8In 1899, a medieval synagogue in Cairo,

Egypt, under renovation, was found to have a secret room - a GENIZAH - which

contained over 100,000 ancient Jewish manuscripts.

One of those manuscripts was a Hebrew version of

THE WISDOM OF BEN SIRACH

‘ECCLESIASTICUS’


And Daniel 8


And Daniel 8

This “Hebrew Original” behind the LXX Greek translations could only be dated to more than a

century BEFORE the time of the Maccabees.

IT CONTAINS DIRECT QUOTATIONS FROM

DANIEL 8 - 12.

Given these discoveries, and more, it is impossible to date the writing of the Book of Daniel to

after the time of the Maccabaean Revolt of 165 B.C.

Given these discoveries, and more, it is impossible to date the writing of the Book of Daniel to

after the time of the Maccabaean Revolt of 165 B.C.

The ONLY way for the author of Daniel to have known these

things was if he were actually there in Babylon in the 6th century B.C. as claimed!

WHAT WE KNOW –

Daniel became a hostage in 605 B.C., age 13

Daniel interpreted the king’s dream in 603 B.C.

Daniel’s beastly dream happened in 553 B.C.

Daniel’s second vision occurred in 550 B.C.

Daniel’s encounter with Gabriel happened in

538 B.C.

Daniel was still working in Babylon as late as

535 B.C., the third year of Cyrus.

Why is this important?

1.Prophecy is REAL

2. Daniel PREDICTS Jesus

3. Daniel PINPOINTS when

4. Daniel EXPLAINS “Why?”

the tradition… hostage student interpreter protected visionary statesman

Documents

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year of jehoiakim jeremiah

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wisdom daniel

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