DANIEL;

WITH NOTES,

CRITICAL, EXPLANATORY, AND PRACTICAL,

DESIGNED FOR BOTH PASTORS AND PEOPLE.

BY
REV. HENRY COWLES, D. D.

CHAPTER I.

This chapter introduces Daniel; gives his early personal history and that of his three young friends. They refuse the delicacies of the king's table, and at their own request are proved on purely vegetable king's (vs. 8-16). They appear before the Chaldean king and are approved (vs. 17-21).

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

This first attack upon Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, said here to have been in the third year of Jehoiakim, appears to be assigned by Jeremiah (chap. 25: 1, and 46: 2) to his fourth year. For he makes the fourth year of Jehoiakim coincide (at least in part) with the first year of Nebuchadnezzar.——In the introduction (p. 283)³ it was shown on the authority of Berosus that Nebuchadnezzar smote Pharaoh Necho and his army of Egyptians and allies at Carchemish, and wrested from their hand Jerusalem and the sovereignty of Judah immediately before he ascended the throne. Probably the latter part of this series of events occurred in the fourth year of Jehoiakim and the former part in his third. The Jewish captives might have left Jerusalem before the close of Jehoiakim's third year, and have arrived in Babylon in the early part of his fourth. Often such small discrepancies may be explained by reference to the Jewish usage of counting a fraction of a year in the number of years. Moreover Daniel may have followed Chaldean usage as to the time of beginning his year, while Jeremiah followed the Jewish.——A discrepancy of this sort would scarcely call for explanation were it not that captious critics have sought by means of it to impeach the historical accuracy of Daniel.

2. 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.

Daniel is careful to say (with historical accuracy) that at this time the king of Babylon took away only a part of the vessels of the temple. Many more were taken during the short rein of Jeconiah (see 2 Kings 24: 13) and yet some were left behind then, to be taken at the final destruction of the city in the reign of Zedekiah. Of the latter, special mention is made by Jeremiah (chap. 27: 19-22).——This matter of the sacred vessels of the temple was to the Jews of the utmost moment.——This heathen king carried these sacred vessels into the house of his god as trophies of victory gained by the favor of his idol over the God of Israel. It was common for heathen kings to honor their own gods in this way.

³ Editor's addition: Page 283 refers to the original publication. See the later part of the Introduction.