- Mar 14, 2020
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Not sure why I am so obssessed with chronology and getting things in their proper timeline, but I clearly am...maybe I just like elegant and beautiful patterns, and am drawn to symmetry. Anyways after reading the opening lines of each chapter of Daniel I couldn't help but notice that the timelines were out of place as well as the order of the reign of the kings.
Daniel 1 begins precisely with the 3rd Year of king Jehoiakim of Judah which marks the 1st Year of king Nebuchadnezzar I. This lines up with what we read in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Jeremiah who all tell us near the end of their narratives that the complete carryng off of the Jews occured in the 19th Year of Nebuchadnezzar I:
Beginning from the 3rd Year of king Jehoiakim of Judah
8 Years (Jehoiakim)
3 Months (Jehoiachin)
11 Years (Mattanih/Zedekiah)
19 Years 6 Months (19th Year of Nebuchadnezzar I)
The addtional 3 Months is from king Joahaz who ruled prior to Jehoiakim which I added to truly show how much time had passed from then to the 19th Year of Nebuchadnezzar I. From Daniel 2 thru 4 we read of the 2nd Year of Nebuchadnezzar II to the end of his reign: prior to him we read that Evil-Merodach reigned for an unspecified amount of time in the three above mentioned writings. From here we should read Daniel 7, 8, and then 5 for the fifth chapter tells us the end of Belshazzar's reign and his death at the hands of Darius the Mede who was then 62 Years old (Daniel 5:30-31); this is important to know because Belshazzar would've been reigning in the absence of his father Nebuchadnezzar II who was driven into madness by God for 7 Years as he lived in the wild like a beast.
The histories of Darius the Mede are covered in Daniel 6, 9, 11, and 12; and finally the book of Daniel should conclude with the 3rd Year of Cyrus the Great in Daniel 10. This is the true order of the kings:
Judah
3 Months (Joahaz)
11 Years (Jehoiakm)
3 Months (Jehoiachin)
11 Years (Mattaniah/Zedekiah)
22 Years 6 Months
Babylon (Head of Gold)
43 Years (Nebuchadnezzar I)
?? Years (Evil-Merodach)
22 Years (Nebuchadnezzar II)
7 Years (Belshazzar)
72 Years
Medo-Persia (Chest & Arms of Silver)
17 Years (Darius the Mede)
...here ends the kingdom of the Medes, from here the Persians rule..
43 Years ([36] Cyrus the Great + [6] Artaxerxes)
38 Years (Darius in whose reign the Temple was rebuilt by Zorobabel.)
32 Years (Artaxerxes)
6 Years (Darius was defeated by Alexander of Macedon)
136 Years
While I couldn't find any explicit evidence of Esther and Mordecai doing anything during the reign of Cyrus the Great: Esther would've lived during the reign of the later Artaxerxes with her uncle; and, Ezra 6 only mentions three Persian kings which means Ezra and Nehemiah would've likely died toward the end of the later Artaxerxes. However Ezra 1 does mention the 1st Year of Cyrus which means at the very least that Ezra & Nehemiah still being young men would've lived around this time..Mordecai would've lived later as he is the uncle--not the grandpa--of Esther.
In closing the correct chronological order in which Daniel should be read is as follows:
Daniel 1 begins precisely with the 3rd Year of king Jehoiakim of Judah which marks the 1st Year of king Nebuchadnezzar I. This lines up with what we read in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Jeremiah who all tell us near the end of their narratives that the complete carryng off of the Jews occured in the 19th Year of Nebuchadnezzar I:
Beginning from the 3rd Year of king Jehoiakim of Judah
8 Years (Jehoiakim)
3 Months (Jehoiachin)
11 Years (Mattanih/Zedekiah)
19 Years 6 Months (19th Year of Nebuchadnezzar I)
The addtional 3 Months is from king Joahaz who ruled prior to Jehoiakim which I added to truly show how much time had passed from then to the 19th Year of Nebuchadnezzar I. From Daniel 2 thru 4 we read of the 2nd Year of Nebuchadnezzar II to the end of his reign: prior to him we read that Evil-Merodach reigned for an unspecified amount of time in the three above mentioned writings. From here we should read Daniel 7, 8, and then 5 for the fifth chapter tells us the end of Belshazzar's reign and his death at the hands of Darius the Mede who was then 62 Years old (Daniel 5:30-31); this is important to know because Belshazzar would've been reigning in the absence of his father Nebuchadnezzar II who was driven into madness by God for 7 Years as he lived in the wild like a beast.
The histories of Darius the Mede are covered in Daniel 6, 9, 11, and 12; and finally the book of Daniel should conclude with the 3rd Year of Cyrus the Great in Daniel 10. This is the true order of the kings:
Judah
3 Months (Joahaz)
11 Years (Jehoiakm)
3 Months (Jehoiachin)
11 Years (Mattaniah/Zedekiah)
22 Years 6 Months
Babylon (Head of Gold)
43 Years (Nebuchadnezzar I)
?? Years (Evil-Merodach)
22 Years (Nebuchadnezzar II)
7 Years (Belshazzar)
72 Years
Medo-Persia (Chest & Arms of Silver)
17 Years (Darius the Mede)
...here ends the kingdom of the Medes, from here the Persians rule..
43 Years ([36] Cyrus the Great + [6] Artaxerxes)
38 Years (Darius in whose reign the Temple was rebuilt by Zorobabel.)
32 Years (Artaxerxes)
6 Years (Darius was defeated by Alexander of Macedon)
136 Years
While I couldn't find any explicit evidence of Esther and Mordecai doing anything during the reign of Cyrus the Great: Esther would've lived during the reign of the later Artaxerxes with her uncle; and, Ezra 6 only mentions three Persian kings which means Ezra and Nehemiah would've likely died toward the end of the later Artaxerxes. However Ezra 1 does mention the 1st Year of Cyrus which means at the very least that Ezra & Nehemiah still being young men would've lived around this time..Mordecai would've lived later as he is the uncle--not the grandpa--of Esther.
In closing the correct chronological order in which Daniel should be read is as follows:
- Daniel 1 thru 4
- Daniel 7, 8, & 5
- Daniel 6, 9, 11, & 12
- Daniel 10
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