 |  |
"To all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from to Babylon
. . . . . For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will
visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place."
A further passage that would have been of help to Daniel is found in Jer. 27: 7:--
"And all nations shall serve him (Nebuchadnezzzar, verse 6), and his son, and his
son's son (Belshazzar), until the very time of his land come; and then many nations and
great kings shall serve themselves of him."
The proclamation of Cyrus.
Another item that bears upon this part of our study is found in Dan. 9: 1:--
"In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was
made king over the realm of the Chaldeans."
Sir H. Rawlinson has shown that the name Ahasuerus is, like Pharaoh, an appellative,
meaning "Venerable King", and not used exclusively of any one monarch. Similarly the
name Darius, according to Professor Sayce, means, "The Maintainer", an appellative of
more than one king--rather like the English, "Defender of the Faith", which belongs to
no one monarch in particular. It is considered by those who have made chronology their
study that the Darius of chapter 9: is the Cyrus of chapter 10:; the reader will find
Appendixes 50 (7: 5) and 57 of The Companion Bible helpful in this connection. It
would be an unwarranted digression here to enter into the arguments concerning the
genealogy of the kings of Persia; but we do feel that our readers should realize the
importance of the conclusion that the Ahasuerus of Esther 1: 1, the Artaxerxes of
Ezra 6: 14 and Neh. 2: 1, and the Darius of Dan. 5: 31 represent the same person
under different names. The king married Esther, whose son is the Cyrus of Scripture.
It is most interesting to see that Daniel's prayer in chapter 9: concerning the
restoration of Jerusalem is dated in the first year of the king under whose edict the
restoration was commenced.
We must now consider, together with Dan. 9:, the opening words of Ezra 1::--
"Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth
of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that
he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the
kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem,
which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? his God be with him, and
let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of
Israel (He is the God), which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place
where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and
with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in
Jerusalem" (Ezra. 1: 1-4).