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#2.
The times of the Gentiles begin (1: 1, 2).
pp. 33 - 36
"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" (Dan. 1: 1, 2).
With these words the book of Daniel opens, and it may not be too much to say that
they are only paralleled by the words of Acts 28: in their burden of crisis and
dispensational change. With such vast issues hanging upon these momentous words, vast
because they cover the whole sweep of Gentile dominion, and vaster still because they
lead steadily on to that kingdom of Christ which is to last for ever, with such issues and
such a burden, no pains should be spared in acquainting ourselves with all that God has
written for our learning in relation to this crisis in the history of man. Space will not
permit of the full quotation of Jer. 25: 1-26. We can but point out one or two features
that connect this passage with the opening words of Daniel.
The reader will be struck by the fact that whereas Dan. 1: 1 speaks of the "third" year
of Jehoiakim, Jer. 25: 1 speaks of the "fourth" year of that same king in connection
with the coming of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem. This apparent discrepancy has
not passed unnoticed by the critic, and is one of his many "proofs" of the
untrustworthiness of the book of Daniel.
The Hebrew word translated "came" in Dan. 1: 1 is bo, and it frequently has the sense
of "went" or "marched". This, however, has been denied. Dr. Samuel Davidson says:
"The verb bo does not means to set out . . . . . but to arrive at" (Introduction to the O.T.,
Vol. 3:, page 181), and, when men of such standing and authority speak thus, who are
we to oppose them? Humility is indeed a grace to seek and preserve, but while Gal. 2:
remains for our encouragement, we may still dare to bring all statements to the
touchstone of the Word. Dr. Davidson's statement but illustrates the uncritical character
of so-called "higher criticism", for it has been computed that the Hebrew word bo is used
in the sense of "to set out" in each of the five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth,
Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and six out of the twelve minor prophets!
Let us look at Jonah 1: 3 and translate it as Dr. Davidson would have it: "And Jonah
. . . . . went down to Joppa, and he found a ship arriving at Tarshish!" If this could be
sense, then in some miraculous way Jonah would have no sooner set foot on board at
Joppa than he would have "arrived" at Tarshish. Doubtless this would have made the
journey far more pleasant than it actually was, but the simple fact is that the Hebrew
word bo does mean that the ship was "going" or "setting out" for Tarshish. The plain fact
of Dan. 1: and Jer. 25: is that the former writer tells us the year in which
Nebuchadnezzar "set out" from Babylon, while the latter tells us when he arrived.
Moreover, Jeremiah tells us what occupied Nebuchadnezzar on his journey from one
capital to the other:--