Of all the prophecies in the Bible, Chapter 9 seems to be one of the more evasive or allusive in its meaning(s), application, and understanding. We certainly grasp 70 weeks but fail to take to heart that Daniel’s 70 weeks vision is NOT 70 consecutive weeks. There are three portions that have distinct beginnings and ends.

Daniel 9:1-19 is distinct in its nature from Daniel 9:20-27. Daniel 9:1-19 is a prayer. He was a nose-in-the-books follower of God. Daniel spent perhaps 75 years of his life as a servant to Babylonian rulers. His entire life was a strong believer in Jehovah God. He was well-versed in Jeremiah’s writings and prophecies. When Jeremiah was old, Daniel was young. They were contemporaries for a few years. Jeremiah wrote about many things including his warnings to Judah about a pending invasion and captivity by Babylon but written prior to 603 B.C. Daniel was taken to Babylon with the first of three waves of Judean captives. The prophet and Bible book writer Ezekiel was taken captive in the second wave.

NOTE: For almost as long as the Jewish nation has existed coming out of Egyptian captivity and its eventual split into two separate kingdoms, it has been persecuted and forced to wander from land to land. It started with slavery in Egypt, to the destruction of both temples in Jerusalem and the Romans, to the Crusades, the pogroms, the Holocaust, and finally, modern-day anti-Semitism.

As a reminder, since we are currently examining the fall of both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and 120 years later the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah, we include a Judean Babylonian timeline.

Babylonian Timeline
All dates are B.C.

605 Nebuchadnezzar becomes king of Babylon
605 The Babylonians invade Judah
605 First wave of deportation of Jews to Babylon. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are taken captive
605 Daniel is taken captive and begins to interpret dreams
601 Babylonians battle Egypt, both sides suffer great losses
601 Judah decides to realign itself with Egypt, Jeremiah warns against it
597 Jehoiachin becomes king of Judah (very short 3-month reign)
597 Babylonians capture Jerusalem
597 Second wave of deportation to Babylon of Judean Jews. Ezekiel is taken is captured.
597 Ezekiel is taken to Babylon
597 Zedekiah is appointed king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar
593 Ezekiel begins to prophesy
586 The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the Temple
586 Jerusalem’s walls and gates are burned
586 Third wave of Jews deported to Babylon. All but poor Jewish farmers remain in the land.
586 End of Biblical (First Temple) Period; destruction of Temple by Nebuchadnezzar
586 The end of Judah as an independent kingdom
539 The Fall of Babylon to the Persians; no longer is there a Kingdom of Judah
539 The Persian power Period continued up to 332 B.C. before Alexander the Great.
539 The Decree of Cyrus II allowing Jews to return (538 B.C.)
516 The Jews begin to rebuild their Temple (over 70 years to get it done)
479 (approximate) Esther becomes queen of Babylon/Persia.

Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—

Clarification…This Darius, son of Ahasuerus, has a mixed bag of histories and subjective narratives.  The Ahasuerus here may or may not be the first ruler with that name. What we do know is that the Mede who initially conquered Babylon was Darius the Mede. It seems that Darius #1 is a different person from the Darius of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

In Ezra 4:6 Ahasuerus is mentioned as a king of Persia. The Ju-deans that wished to return to their initial homelands had already done so under Zerubbabel. In Ezra 4:5 we read [NKJV]: “[They]…and hired counselors against them (Judeans who returned to Jerusalem) to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius I king of Persia. King Ahasuerus followed Cyrus. Darius the I^st followed his father Ahasuerus/Xerxes…possibly a son of Esther. Darius the Mede is a forgotten ruler in Babylon. He was 62 years of age when his Median forces conquered Babylon. He was appointed a Satrap-King over Babylon by Cyrus the Great of Persia. He is the King with whom Daniel had to deal in his latter days. Ahasuerus/Xerxes was the Babylonian king who challenged Greece shortly after Daniel’s death and during the time of the Book of Esther. We apologize for the facts of history needing clarifications plus being a mixed and tossed salad. When in doubt, follow the history of the Bible.

What we do know is that Babylon by the time of Jesus was at the edge of its decline. By 1000 A.D., it had been abandoned and desolate. Also, note that some name confusions come from the fact that there were two distinct Babylonian dynasties. We know of the famed Hammurabi. Hammurabi was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from *1792 to 1750 BC. Daniel’s Babylon was over a thousand years later. One could go into deep historical studies about the Babylonians that existed for about 2,000 years. We are concentrating on Daniel 9…somewhere up to and around 440 B.C.

*Take note that Abraham wandered in the northern parts of Hammurabi’s kingdom. It is possible that when Abraham went up against five different kings to rescue Lot, Hammurabi was one of the five kings with whom Abraham did battle.

One of the greatest authorities on Daniel 9 is Dr. John Walvoord, former President of Dallas Theological Seminary. It is highly recommended that you click here and get one of the finest possible explanations of Daniel 9.

Rev. Dr. Jstark
2023