64. B.C. 588 to 535

B.C. 588 to 535

Chapter 1

Timeline View:

In order to preserve the continuity of the history of Palestine, it is necessary to follow into their exile that favored race, on whose account the Holy Land has acquired that celebrity which must ever attach to its name.

1. Again, the children of Abraham, the chosen people, were in exile, and the land of their inheritance lay desolate. But we are not on that account to imagine that the purposes for which they had been set apart as a peculiar people among the nations, had been rendered nugatory. This was by no means the case. They were still destined to fulfill their vocation of keeping alive in the world the knowledge of the true God, the Creator of all things, and of being the depositories of his designs towards the race of man.

2. The later exiles found themselves not altogether strangers at Babylon. Their countrymen of the earlier captivities were settled in various stations and employments, and some of them held posts of trust under the government. By that government they were regarded not as prisoners, but as useful emigrants; and after a while they appear to have experienced no other inconveniences than those which naturally flowed from their regrets for their own pleasant land , from their position as foreigners in a strange country; from the derision of the natives at the peculiarities of their religion; and, probably, from a distinctive poll-tax from which the Babylonians were exempt. This much may be gathered from dispersed intimations; but the principal known facts of the captivity are connected with the history of Daniel, one of the earlier exiles, who rose to the highest distinction under the Babylonian kings.

3. Daniel was one of the young men of high family who were carried away as hostages for the fidelity of king Jehoiachin. He and some others were put under the chief eunuch, to be properly trained in the language and learning of the Chaldeans, to fit them for employments at the court. This training lasted three years, when they were examined in the presence of the king; and Daniel and three of his friends were found to have made far greater progress than any of those who had been educated with them. They were therefore enrolled among the magians or learned men.

4. A few years after Nebuchadnezzar was greatly troubled with a dream, which made a profound impression upon his mind; but the particulars of which quite passed from his memory when he awoke. Great importance was attached to dreams in those clays, and men skilled in the sciences were supposed to be able to discover their meaning. Therefore, the king sent for his court magians, and required them not only to interpret the dream, but to discover the dream itself, which he had forgotten. This they declared to be impossible; on which the exasperated tyrant ordered all the magians to be massacred. Daniel and his friends, although not present, were included in such a sentence. On learning this, he begged a respite for the whole body, undertaking to find, through his God, the solution of the difficulty. The respite was granted; and at the earnest prayer of Daniel, the Lord made the secret known to him. A colossal image which the king saw, with a head of gold, arms and breast of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and toes partly iron and partly clay, was struck down by a stone, which itself grew and filled the whole earth. This, in the interpretation of Daniel, figured forth “the things to come;” describing by characteristic symbols the succession of empires to the end of lime; and it is wonderful to observe how precisely the greater part of what was then future has since been accomplished. The king was not only satisfied but astonished; he was almost ready to pay divine honors to Daniel; and raised him at once to the eminent station of Archimagus, or chief of the magians, and governor of the metropolitan province of Babylon. His three friends, also, were, at his request, promoted to places of trust and honor.

5. Not long after, Nebuchadnezzar set up a colossal image in the plains of Dura, and commanded that, when music sounded, every one should worship it, on pain of death. He soon learned that this command was utterly neglected by Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and his rage grew so high, at the example of disobedience given by persons in their high station, that he ordered them to be at once cast into “the burning furnace.” The heat of the furnace was so great as to destroy the men who cast them in; but they themselves remained unhurt, and not even a hair of their heads was singed. They came forth when the king called them; and he was so much astonished and convinced by this prodigy, that he publicly acknowledged the greatness of the God whom they served.

Ancient Babylonians

6. There appeared to have been some good and generous qualities in the character of Nebuchadnezzar; but the pride with which he contemplated the grandeur of his empire, and the magnificence of his undertakings, was most inordinate, and he required to be taught that “the Most High ruleth over all the kingdoms of the earth, and giveth them to whomsoever he will.” He was warned of this in a dream, which was interpreted to him by Daniel; but, neglecting the warning, “his heart was changed from man’s, and a beast’s heart was given to him.” He was afflicted with a madness which made him think himself a beast, and, acting as such, he remained constantly abroad in the fields, living upon wild herbs. In this debased and forlorn condition the mighty conqueror remained seven years, when he was restored to his reason and his throne; and one of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, humbly acknowledging the signs and wonders which the Most High God had wrought towards him, and declaring his conviction, that “those who walk in pride he is able to abase.” He died soon after. He was succeeded by Evil-Merodach, who had administered the government during the insanity of his father. On his accession, he released Jehoiachin from his long confinement, and gave him the first place among the fallen kings who sat at his table in Babylon. After three years, Evil-Merodach was defeated, and killed in a battle with the combined Medes and Persians under Cyrus.

Ancient Babylonians

7. His son Belshazzar succeeded. Of him nothing is recorded but the circumstances in which his reign concluded. There was a great festival, which Belshazzar celebrated by a magnificent feast to all his nobles. They talked of their gods, whose power had proved so much greater than that of the gods of other nations; and this suggested to the king to send for the sacred vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, to be used as wine-cups in their riotings. While thus profanely engaged, their attention was arrested by a mysterious hand, tracing on the wall words which no one understood. The magians tried in vain to interpret them. Daniel was then sent for, and he, after solemnly rebuking the king for his profanation of that Great Name which his proud grandfather had been compelled to honor, explained the terrible purport of the inscription to be, that the end both of his life and dynasty was close at hand. He lost his life that very night by the conspiracy of two nobles, whom he had grievously wronged; and a year after, the death of his son, a boy, named Laborosoarchad, left the heritage to Darius (or Cyaxares) the Mede, who accordingly took possession of the kingdom. Thus the Babylonian empire was merged in that of the Medes and Persians.

8. A very high place in the favor of Darius was occupied by Daniel; and in re-distributing the government of the provinces, the prophet was set at the head of all. This excited the jealousy and discontent of many, and the destruction of Daniel was determined. His hands were too clean, and his conduct too upright, to allow them to hope that they could fasten any charge upon him, except on the score of his religion. They therefore persuaded the weak old king to issue a decree, that no one should, for thirty days, make prayer to any god but himself, under pain of being cast alive into the den of lions. Daniel, however, made no change in his usual habits of prayer to the God of Israel, with his face turned towards Jerusalem. He was, therefore, accused to Darius, who saw too late the folly into which he had been drawn, and would fain have spared his friend. But being reminded, that among the Medes and Persians a royal decree could not be revoked or altered, he reluctantly consented that his own should take effect. Daniel was then thrown into the den of lions. The unhappy king spent the night in sorrow; and early in the morning he hastened to the den, hoping that perhaps the Mighty God whom Daniel served had not allowed him to perish. The cheerful voice of the prophet from within the den answered to the call, for the lions had not been allowed to hurt him. Daniel was taken from the den, and his accusers cast in; and on them the lions had no mercy. This produced from Darius a remarkable proclamation of the greatness and supremacy of “the Most High God,” whom Daniel served.

9. Darius occupied the throne of Babylon only two years; and on his death it was usurped by a Babylonian noble, named Nabonadius. Cyrus, the illustrious nephew of Darius, was for several years too much engaged in other wars to attend to him. But, at length, he led his troops against Babylon. The city held out for two years against him; and was then only taken by the remarkable stratagem of diverting the course of the river Euphrates, which flowed through the city, and entering by night through the dry channel This taking of Babylon, with all its circumstances, was minutely described by the prophet Isaiah, and Cyrus mentioned by name, above a century before that conqueror was born.

10. The prophet Daniel was still alive when Babylon was taken by Cyrus; and there is reason to conclude, that this venerable personage was high in the esteem of that conqueror. In some decrees, Cyrus intimates his knowledge of those prophesies in Isaiah which speak of himself, and there is little question that Daniel had called his attention to them. We know that the prophet had at this time looked much into the writings of former prophets (Dan 9:1-2), and had ascertained that the duration of the captivity was to be seventy years (Jer 25:11-12; Jer 29:10); and now he found that the expiration of the seventy years left the sovereign power in the hands of Cyrus, of whom Isaiah had so particularly prophesied as the person destined “to restore the captivities of Judah.” The communication of these facts must have made a strong impression on the conqueror, accompanied as it was by the claim, that the Jehovah whom the Hebrews worshipped was He who had raised him up, and had given to him all that greatness and glory by which he was now surrounded.

11. Sacred Writers—The most eminent writer of this period was Daniel, whose history has been given above. Ho lived throughout the captivity in great esteem and honor. He did not return with his countrymen to Judea, but remained at Babylon, and probably died soon after, either there or at Susa, from which metropolitan city the last of his visions is dated, when he was about ninety-four years old. His writings are in the form of visions, which describe, almost with the distinctness of history, the events of future times. The Messiah is also mentioned by him; and the time of his coming is set down with such precision, as produced among the Jews a general expectation of his advent at the time when Jesus Christ appeared.