The Book of Daniel is concerned with the exile
of the Jews and how they survived under foreign oppression. It looks ahead not
only to a return from the exile but to a restoration of the theocratic kingship
under a descendant of King David.
Jeremiah had said that the Babylonian
captivity would last seventy years. (Jeremiah 25:11, 12; 29:10.) This period of
time had been decreed by God because for almost five centuries his people had
failed to keep the Sabbath years set forth in Leviticus 25. In this way God saw
to it that the land enjoyed its rest. (2 Chronicles 36:21.)
The Babylonian captivity was one of the great
turning points of history. The people of God had been troubled by many nations,
from Egypt to Assyria, but the divinely established dynasty of David had still
continued to rule from the time of its founding around 1010 B.C. until the rise
of the new Babylonian empire. In 609 B.C. the last righteous king of Judah,
Josiah, was slain by Pharaoh Necho. Josiah's son, Jehoahaz, reigned a few
months, but Necho replaced him with his brother, Jehoiakim, who ruled from
609-597 B.C.
In the year 605 B.C. under the reign of
Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, the heir apparent of the throne of Babylon, invaded
Judah and forced Jehoiakim into submission. As part of training in the service
of the empire, Daniel and his three companions were among these first, noble
captives from Judah. (Daniel 1:1-7.)
However, the real desolations to Jerusalem did
not come in 605 B.C., but began after Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar
some three years later. (2 Kings 24:1.) Nebuchadnezzar eventually laid siege to
Jerusalem and captured it in 597 B.C. Though Jehoiakim died during this time,
his son, Jehoiachin, was taken captive to Babylon after a reign of only three
months. This marked the first major deportation of the Jews; in addition to King
Jehoiachin, most of the nobility and much of the treasury was removed to Babylon
in 597 B.C. And, "None remained except the poorest people of the
land." (2 Kings 24:11.)
Nebuchadnezzar then placed on the throne of
David, Jehoiachin's uncle, Zedekiah, the son of godly King Josiah. In the course
of time, in spite of many warnings from the prophet Jeremiah, Zedekiah, too,
rebelled, and the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem once again on January 10,
587 B.C. This siege produced devastating famine and pestilence within the city,
which finally fell to the Babylonians on July 9, 586 B.C. They wrought terrible
destruction to the city, burning down the temple several weeks later on August 1
(the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, the same day of the same month that
Titus destroyed the Second Temple, six hundred, fifty-six years later, in 70
A.D..), and then destroying the walls of Jerusalem.
King Zedekiah was eventually captured by
Nebuchadnezzar. The last sight he had before having his eyes put out was to see
his two sons slaughtered. (2 Kings 25:7.) So came to an end the glorious reign
of the sons of David.
Yet, the prophet Isaiah had foretold that out
of this seemingly dead stump of Jesse (David's father.), a green shoot would
spring forth. (Isaiah 11:1.) This branch from David's chopped-down tree would
rule all nations and cause them to submit to the God of Israel. (Isaiah 2, 11.)
Then, not only Israel, but all nations, would enjoy the great Sabbath-year
Jubilee (Isaiah 61:1-4.) of which the Levitical Jubilee as but a dim
foreshadowing. (Leviticus 25.)
The Lord Jesus began proclaiming that great
gospel Jubilee in his thirtieth year in the synagogue of Nazareth. (Luke 4:16-
21.) At the time of his second coming, he will bring his great work to
consummation, and we will live in the new Eden (Isaiah 11.), the new heavens and
new earth, in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13.)
In the book of Daniel, the exile of the Jews
in the Babylonian captivity and their return to the land of Judah under the
Persians is the backdrop of the drama of a greater captivity and a greater
deliverance. Through a series of visions, God proceeds to unfold his plan for
his people. The seventy years of exile would come to an end with the fall of
Babylon, but the true liberation of Israel and the restoration of the fallen
house of David would take, not seventy years, but seventy times seven. (Daniel
9.) And instead of the passing of Babylon marking the time of true fulfillment,
empires yet unknown to the Jews would rise and fall.
These empires are revealed to Daniel in a
series of terrifying visions. History records that after Babylon's fall in 539
B.C., the Jews became subject to the empire of the Medes and Persians, under
whose yoke they remained until 331 B.C., when Alexander the Great conquered the
Persians, and Israel came under the influence of Greece. At Alexander's death in
323 B.C., his empire was divided among his generals, four of whom eventually won
out: Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. The history of Israel
for the next century or so is a record of conflict between two of these
generals' dynasties: the Seleucids in Syria and the Ptolemies in Egypt.
In 165 B.C. Israel won her independence from
the Hellenistic kings under Judas Maccabaeus. But this independence did not last
long, nor did it see the house of David restored, for a more ominous empire was
menacing the Middle East. In the year 63 B.C. the Roman general, Pompey, entered
the city, thus beginning the subjugation of the Jews to the fourth great empire,
Rome.
These four great empires are portrayed by
various means to Daniel. Early in his reign Nebuchadnezzar had a nightmare which
is recorded in Daniel 2. Nebuchadnezzar's dream centered around a colossus with
a head of gold (Babylon, 2:32, 38.), a chest and arms of silver (Medo-Persia,
2:32, 39.), a stomach and thighs of bronze (Greece, 2:32, 39.), and legs of iron
with feet of iron and clay. (Rome, 2:33, 40-43.) During the time of the last
empire, Rome, God would begin the long awaited deliverance. (2:34, 35, 44, 45.)
He would strike this metallic colossus with a stone cut without hands, and the
colossus would disintegrate: "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven
will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to
another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but
it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut
out of a mountain, but not by human hands -- a rock that broke the iron, the
bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the
king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the
interpretation is trustworthy." (Daniel 2:44, 45.)
In the seventh chapter of Daniel these same
empires are depicted as four terrifying beasts. Babylon is a lion with eagle
wings (7:4.), while Persia is a bear. (7:5.) The four Hellenistic kingdoms are
portrayed as a four-headed, four-winged leopard. (7:6.) Rome is so terrifying it
cannot be compared to any earthly creature, a ten-horned beast with iron teeth
(7:7-12; 23-29.). Once again, the coming of the fourth empire is the omen of the
doom of all man centered attempts at world dominion, for then God intervenes to
save his people: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was
one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the
Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and
sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom
is one that will never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13, 14.)
Two of these empires receive special attention
in a vision in Chapter 8: the Medo-Persian kingdom is seen as a two-horned ram
(8:3, 4.), which is defeated by a he-goat (Greece.). This goat has one horn
(Alexander the Great.). But this great horn is broken off, and four take its
place (Alexander's four generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and
Ptolemy.). (8:8.) Out of one of these horns a little horn rises who persecutes
God's people. (8:9-14.) This little horn represents the last of the Greeks to
rule over God's people, Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled the Seleucid kingdom from
175-163 B.C.
Antiochus receives special attention in Daniel
(8:9-14; 23-25; 11:21 ff.) not only because he would desecrate the temple of the
Lord with pig's blood in honor of the Olympian Zeus and would wreak more havoc
on Israel than any ruler from the time of Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century
B.C. until Titus the Roman in 70 A.D., but because he is the great foreshadowing
of the ultimate persecutor of God's people, the man of sin. But Daniel, like its
New Testament counterpart, Revelation, does not end on a negative note, but on
the triumph of the Lord at the consummation of history: "At that time
Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a
time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until
then. But at that time your people -- everyone whose name is found written in
the book -- will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth
will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who
lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." (Daniel
12:1-3.)