Daniel In God I Trust

By Practical Christianity Foundation

In God I trust The prophet Daniel was a man both tested and exalted. His commitment to the Lord God Almighty never fluctuated. He relied upon God for both life-saving miracles and the smallest of provisions. In this intriguing book, we will examine this one man’s unwavering faith in his God, beginning from the time that he arrived in Babylon as a young Jew and continuing throughout his years of service under the authority of several kings and kingdoms. There is perhaps no better example of godly faith, dependency, trust, and worship than in the character of the prophet Daniel. He was faithful to God and commendable before men.
"This chapter by chapter and verse-by-verse exegesis of the wonderful prophetic work of Daniel—in itself one of the most readable books of the Bible—is a triumph. This major collaborative undertaking provides a format for devotional study that challenges any other work of its kind. For any reader with a thirst for irrefutable Bible knowledge, this scholarly but practical approach to the study of Daniel is enthusiastically recommended." The Late Dr. James Kennedy, Ph.D Senior Minister, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

• Language: English
• Publisher: Practical Christianity Foundation
• Release date: Aug 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781600980688

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Notes

From the conception of the Practical Christianity Foundation, it has been the goal of the organization to convey the truth in Scripture through verse-by-verse devotional studies such as this one. As part of that goal, we agree in an attempt neither to prove nor disprove any traditional or alternative interpretations, beliefs, or doctrines, but rather to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth contained within the Scriptures. Any interpretations relating to ambiguous passages that are not directly and specifically verifiable by other scriptural references are simply presented in what we believe to be the most likely intention of the message based upon those things that we are specifically told. In those instances, our conclusions are noted as interpretive, and such analyses should not be understood as doctrinal positions that we are attempting to champion.

This study is divided into sections, usually between six and eight verses, and each section concludes with a Notes/Applications passage, which draws practical insight from the related verses that can be applied to contemporary Christian living. The intent is that the reader will complete one section per day, will gain a greater understanding of the verses within that passage, and will daily be challenged toward a deeper commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Also included at certain points within the text are Dig Deeper boxes, which are intended to assist readers who desire to invest additional time to study topics that relate to the section in which these boxes appear. Our prayer is that this study will impact the lives of all believers, regardless of age, ethnicity, or education.

Each of PCF’s original projects is a collaborative effort of many writers, content editors, grammatical editors, transcribers, researchers, readers, and other contributors, and as such, we present them only as products of the Practical Christianity Foundation as a whole. These works are not for the recognition or acclamation of any particular individual but are written simply as a means to uphold and fulfill the greater purpose of our Mission Statement, which is to exalt the Holy Name of God Almighty by declaring the redemptive message of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the lost global community and equipping the greater Christian community through the communication of the Holy Word of God in its entirety through every appropriate means available.

Practical Christianity Foundation

Value Statements

1.We value the Holy Name of God and will strive to exalt Him through godly living, committed service, and effective communication. As long as you live, you, your children, and your grandchildren must fear the Lord your God. All of you must obey all his laws and commands that I’m giving you, and you will live a long time (Deuteronomy 6:2).

2.We value the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for a lost world and will strive to communicate His redemptive message to the global community. Then Jesus said to them, ‘So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News’ (Mark 16:15).

3.We value the Holy Word of God and will strive to communicate it in its entirety. ¹⁶Every Scripture passage is inspired by God. All of them are useful for teaching, pointing out errors, correcting people, and training them for a life that has God’s approval. ¹⁷They equip God’s servants so that they are completely prepared to do good things (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

4.We value spiritual growth in God’s people and will strive to enhance that process through the effective communication of God’s Holy Word, encouraging them to be lovers of the truth. But grow in the good will and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to him now and for that eternal day! Amen (2 Peter 3:18).

5.We value the equipping ministry of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and will strive to provide resources for that ministry by the communication of God’s Holy Word through every appropriate means available. ¹¹He also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as gifts to his church. ¹²Their purpose is to prepare God’s people to serve and to build up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11–12).

The book of Daniel focuses upon many of God’s past and future judgments upon His people, the Israelites (view image). The prophet Daniel lived during the same time period as Ezekiel, Ezra, and Jeremiah, and a study of these books reveals several coinciding accounts and prophecies. However, the book of Daniel is also a discourse on world history from the Babylonian Empire (view image) to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the beginning of His eternal reign as King of kings.

During its time, Babylon was the greatest city in the world. Ancient historians have calculated that the city’s wall was sixty miles in circumference, fifteen miles on each side, three hundred feet high, and eighty feet thick. It also extended thirty-five feet below the ground to prevent enemies from tunneling underground. The massive wall featured over two hundred towers and one hundred brass gates. In addition, the waters of the Euphrates River flowed through the city and provided water for the city’s moat. This large moat ran along the city wall and somewhat protected Babylon from invasion.¹

Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, led a revolt against the Assyrians and established the Babylonian Empire in 625 B.C. In 609 B.C., Necho II, the pharaoh of Egypt (view image), invaded Palestine to protect his political interests there. Necho then fought King Josiah (view image) of Israel at Megiddo (view image) in 608 B.C. As a result, Josiah was killed, and Necho II returned victoriously to Egypt with a large army and extended his territory to the Euphrates River:

²⁹In Josiah’s days Pharaoh Necoh (the king of Egypt) came to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to attack Necoh. When Pharaoh saw him at Megiddo, Pharaoh killed him. ³⁰His officers put his dead body in a chariot and brought it from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried Josiah in his tomb. (2 Kings 23:29–30)

In 605 B.C., Nabopolassar sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to fight Necho’s Egyptian army. This bloody battle at Carchemish (view image) drove the Egyptians back to their own land and subjugated Judah (view image) to Babylon. During this time, Nebuchadnezzar received news that his father had died; therefore, Nebuchadnezzar returned to ascend Babylon’s throne. After its subjection, Judah rendered tribute to Nebuchadnezzar for three years and then revolted:

¹During Jehoiakim’s reign King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked [Judah], and Jehoiakim became subject to him for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned against him and rebelled. ²The LORD sent raiding parties of Babylonians, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim to destroy Judah as the LORD had predicted through his servants the prophets. (2 Kings 24:1–2)

In response, Nebuchadnezzar went to Palestine (view image) to suppress this revolt and then returned to Babylon after defeating Jehoiakim, king of Judah and son of Josiah. Nebuchadnezzar dispersed the Jewish captives to different parts of the Babylonian Empire and thereby obtained the slave labor needed to construct his numerous projects, including the Great Wall of Babylon, several majestic temples, and a magnificent palace. In addition, he commissioned the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, (view image) one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, for his wife. He also built a great reservoir for irrigation that records indicate measured 140 miles in circumference and 180 feet deep.²

This brings us to the time when Daniel, as a teenager, was transported with the other captive Jews to Babylon. The name Daniel means my judge is God, and at this time, God’s judgment did fall upon Israel (view image).³ Daniel was a man both tested and exalted. However, regardless of external circumstances, his commitment to the Lord God Almighty never fluctuated. He relied upon God for both lifesaving miracles and the smallest of provisions. As we begin to study this intriguing book, we will see this one man’s unwavering faith in his God, beginning from the time that he arrived in Babylon as a young Jew and continuing throughout his years of service under the authority of several kings and kingdoms. There is perhaps no better example of godly faith, dependency, trust, and worship than in the character of the prophet Daniel.

1.The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., s.v. Babylonia.

2.The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1960), 225.

3.J.B. Jackson, A Dictionary of Scripture Proper Names (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1909), 25.

ISRAEL — The most common name in the Old Testament for the land where the history of Israel takes place is Canaan. It occupies about 9,500 square miles, an area about the size of the state of Vermont, the upstate of South Carolina, or the country of Belgium. Canaan, or Palestine, reaches from the Mediterranean Sea on the west, to the Great Arabian Desert on the east, to the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains on the north, and the Sinai Desert on the south. It is about 150 miles from north to south and 75 miles from east to west. The very location of Israel profoundly affected what was to happen to her over the centuries, for she sat uncomfortably in the middle of the Fertile Crescent (including Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Armenia, or to use modern names: Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, and Iran). This area was the very matrix of humankind, a veritable cradle for civilization.

Due to its strategic location, it served as a land bridge between Asia and Africa, a meeting place, and a contested battlefield for many ancient powers, including Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. To this day it remains one of the most geopolitically sensitive and important areas of the world.

From west to east the topographical features are the coastal plain, Galilee and the central hill country, flowing in a southerly direction from the Lebanon range; the Jordan Rift Valley, continuous with the Bekaa Valley, continuing south to the Dead Sea in the Arabah; and the Transjordanian highlands as the southern continuation of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in Phoenicia/Lebanon on into the Moab-Edom plateau. It is an arid and exotic land of great variety. Mountains in the north are in stark contrast to the Arabah and the lowest point on the earth, the Dead Sea, some 1,300 feet below sea level.¹

¹ Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Charles W. Draper, Israel, Land Of, ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 844.

EZEKIEL (the strength of God) — one of the four greater prophets. [… READ MORE]

He was the son of a priest named Buzi, and was taken captive in the captivity of Jehoiachin, eleven years before the destruction of Jerusalem. He was a member of a community of Jewish exiles who settled on the banks of the Chebar, a river or stream of Babylonia. He began prophesying B.C. 595, and continued until B.C. 573, a period of more than twenty-two years. We learn from an incidental allusion, Ezekiel 24:18, that he was married, and had a house, Ezekiel 8:1, in his place of exile, and lost his wife by a sudden stroke. He lived in the highest consideration among his companions in exile, and their elders consulted him on all occasions. He is said to have been murdered in Babylon and to have been buried on the banks of the Euphrates. The tomb, said to have been built by Jehoiachin, is shown, a few days journey from Bagdad.

Ezekiel was distinguished by his stern and inflexible energy of will and character and his devoted adherence to the rites and ceremonies of his national religion. The depth of his matter and the marvelous nature of his visions make him occasionally obscure.

Prophecy of Ezekiel.—The book is divided into two great parts, of which the destruction of Jerusalem is the turning-point. Chapters 1-24 contain predictions delivered before that event, and chapters 25-48 after it. Again, chapters 1-32 are mainly occupied with correction, denunciation and reproof, while the remainder deals chiefly in consolation and promise. A parenthetical section in the middle of the book, chapters 25-32, contains a group of prophecies against seven foreign nations, the arrangement being apparently intentional. There are no direct quotations from Ezekiel in the New Testament, but in the Apocalypse there are many parallels and obvious allusions to the later chapters—40-48.¹

¹ William Smith, Smith's Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997).

EZRA — Priest and scribe of the fifth century B.C. He descended from Aaron through Phinehas and later Zadok (Ezra 7:1–5; 1 Chronicles 6:4–14). Ezra was sent with a large company of Israelites to Jerusalem by King Artaxerxes of Persia in 458 B.C. (Ezra 7:7). His mission was to study the law of the LORD, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel (7:10 NASB).

He was supplied with silver and gold and the vessels of the former temple from the king’s treasury and given the power to appoint public officials to enforce the law. After he divided up the supplies among the tribes of Israel, he made sacrifices unto the Lord and began to initiate reform. His first act of reform was to deal with the issue of mixed marriages. The Israelites had intermarried among the surrounding nations. Through prayer, intercession, and preaching he quickly achieved some measure of success (10:19). Nehemiah records that he read the law before all of the people in 444 B.C. at the reinstitution of the Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8). Ezra was of profound importance to Israel and biblical scholars today. He was the main instigator of reform just after Israel’s return from exile and one of the most important preservers and teachers of law in Jewish history. (He was probably the author of the books of Chronicles and Ezra and the final editor of the Old Testament.) Additionally, he is the main source of information about the first return from exile.¹

¹ Kevin Burns, Ezra, ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 542.

JEREMIAH (whom Jehovah has appointed) — the son of Hilkiah of the priests that were in Anathoth (Jeremiah 1:1). [… READ MORE]

Jeremiah was called by the Lord at a very young age (B.C. 626) to the prophetic office, and prophesied forty-two years; but there is little mention of him during the eighteen years between his call and Josiah’s death, or during the short reign of Jehoahaz. During the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin, B.C. 607–598, he opposed the Egyptian party, then dominant in Jerusalem, and maintained that the only way of safety lay in accepting the supremacy of the Chaldeans. He was accordingly accused of treachery, and men claiming to be prophets had their word of Jehovah opposed him (Jeremiah 14:13; 23:7). As the danger from the Chaldeans became more threatening, the persecution against Jeremiah grew hotter (18). The people tried to kill him; then follows the scene in Jeremiah 19:10-13. He was set, however, as a fenced grazen wall, (15:20), and went on with his work, reproving king and nobles and people.

The danger which Jeremiah had so long foretold at last became reality. First Jehoiakim, and afterwards his successor Jehoiachin, were carried into exile, 2 Kings 24; but Zedekiah, B.C. 597– 586, who was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, was more friendly to the prophet, though powerless to help him. The approach of an Egyptian army, and the consequent departure of the Chaldeans, made the position of Jeremiah full of danger, and he tried to effect his escape from the city; but he was seized and finally thrown into a prison-pit to die, but was rescued. On the return of the Chaldean army he showed his faith in God’s promises, and sought to encourage the people by purchasing the field at Anathoth which his kinsman Hanameel wished to get rid of (Jeremiah 32:6-9). At last the blow came. The city was taken, the temple burnt. The king and his princes shared the fate of Jehoiachin. The prophet gave utterance to his sorrow in the writings of Lamentations.

After the capture of Jerusalem, B.C. 586, by the Chaldeans, we find Jeremiah receiving better treatment; but after the death of Gedaliah, the people, disregarding his warnings, took refuge in Egypt, carrying the prophet with them. In captivity his words were sharper and stronger than ever. He did not shrink, even there, from speaking of the Chaldean king once more as the servant of Jehovah (Jeremiah 43:10). After this all is uncertain, but he probably died in Egypt.

It is easy to understand Jeremiah’s state of mind when we consider his circumstances. He saw the nation going straight to hopeless ruin, turning a deaf ear to all the Lord’s warnings. A reign of terror began in the preceding reign, during which not only the prophets but all who were distinguished for religion and virtue were cruelly murdered. The nation tried to wipe out the religion of Jehovah; idolatry was openly established, dishonesty was so universal that no man trusted another, and society was utterly disorganized. How could one who saw the nation about to reap the awful harvest they had been sowing, and yet had a vision of what they might have been and might yet be, refrain from recording his despair in the writings of Lamentations?¹

¹ 1 William Smith, Smith's Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997).

BABYLONIA/BABYLONIANS — Both Ashurbanipal and Kandalanu, his viceroy in Babylon, died in 627 B.C. For a year Babylonia had no recognized ruler. Then the throne was seized by the Chaldean prince Nabopolassar (625–605 B.C.) who established the 10th dynasty of Babylon, which has come to be called the Chaldean or Neo-Babylonian dynasty. With the accession of the 10th dynasty the Babylonian independence movement gained its long-sought goal: freedom from Assyrian domination. Yet history depreciated the triumph; the Chaldean dynasty was Babylonia’s last.

Aided by Media, the kingdom of the Iranian plateau, Nabopolassar put an end to the Assyrian empire. By 612 B.C. Assyria’s chief cities had fallen: Asshur, then the religious center; Nineveh, the administrative center; and Nimrod, the military headquarters. The last light of Assyria was snuffed out by Nabopolassar in 609 B.C. Under his son Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 B.C.), Babylonia inherited the Assyrian empire. For a moment in history, Babylonia was master of the whole Near East. Nebuchadnezzar brought about the end of the Hebrew kingdom of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., deporting part of its population to Babylonia in the event referred to as the exile (2 Kings 24:1–25:21).

Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon became the fabled city of luxury and splendor with which its name is commonly associated. Partly because of the king’s haughty belief that he alone was responsible for his kingdom’s glory, partly because of his tyrannical oppression of the poor, God struck Nebuchadnezzar with a fit of temporary insanity. For a period of time, according to the Book of Daniel, the great Babylonian monarch believed himself an animal, lived out-of-doors with the beasts of the field, and ate grass like an ox, until his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws. When his reason finally returned, Nebuchadnezzar was a humbler king (Daniel 4).

Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, son-in-law, and grandson within the space of six years. Thereafter, one of his high diplomatic officials, Nabonidus, one of history’s most enigmatic personalities, took the throne (555–539 B.C.). During his reign, the Medes, formerly allies of the Chaldeans, came under a new ruler, Cyrus II of Persia (559 B.C.), who over the next 10 years conquered an empire nearly 3,000 miles in extent, from the Aegean Sea to the Pamirs (mountains in central Asia).¹

¹ Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988) 248.

NABOPOLASSAR — the Babylonian founder of the Chaldean dynasty (626–539 B.C.) and ruler of Babylon for twenty-one years (626–605 B.C.). No mention is made of his father’s name, which probably indicates that he was not of royal blood. In the early years of his reign, he battled the Assyrian occupiers of Babylonia. Eventually, in league with the Medes and possibly the Scythians, he conquered Nineveh in 612 B.C. Though Nabopolassar’s name is not mentioned in the Bible, this defeat of the Assyrians is celebrated in the book of Nahum. Nabopolassar’s son, Nebuchadnezzar II, defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish shortly before the death of his father (Jeremiah 46:2; 2 Chronicles 35:20).¹

¹ David B. Weisberg, Nabopolassar, ed. Mark Allan Powell, The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated) (New York: HarperCollins, 2011), 678.

ASSYRIA/ASSYRIANS — Ancient empire considered the symbol of terror and tyranny in the Near East for more than three centuries. Assyria received its name from the tiny city-state Asshur, on the western bank of the Tigris River in northern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). The city was the seat of worship of the sun god Asshur (also spelled Ashur). The Hebrew name occurs frequently in the Bible and is translated Assyria (Genesis 2:14), Assur (Ezra 4:2; Psalm 83:8), or left as Asshur (Genesis 10:11 KJV). The form of the name comes originally from the Akkadian language.

Originally Assyria was a small district in northern Mesopotamia, lying in a rough triangle between the Tigris River and the Upper Zab, a tributary of the Tigris. Eventually Assyria gained control of northern Syria, securing an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea, and took possession of the fertile Mesopotamian plain, extending Assyrian domain over all of Babylonia to the Persian Gulf.

The final phase of Assyrian power was instituted by the usurper Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 B.C.), known also by his adopted Babylonian throne-name Pul (2 Kings 15:19; 1 Chronicles 5:26). His reign began the process by which Assyria recovered and consolidated control of all its territories and established itself firmly as the dominant military and economic power in the Near East. Tiglath-pileser first secured control of the mountain passes in the north in order to eliminate the threat of invasion from that direction. Next he subjected Syria and Palestine in the west and took control of the road to Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Finally, through diplomacy, he gained the throne of Babylonia also. Under the name of Pulu he governed Babylonia, creating the remarkable situation of two crowns united in one ruler bearing two different names. His political prudence was not usually found in the ruthless Assyrian monarchs.

From the year 743 B.C. Tiglath-pileser III waged a number of campaigns in Syria and Palestine. King Menahem of Israel (752–742 B.C.) paid him tribute (2 Kings 15:19, 20), as did Tyre, Byblos, and Damascus. In 738 B.C. he subjugated the north central state of Hamath (modern Hama). Responding to an appeal from King Ahaz of Judah (735–715 B.C.) to help resist the pressures of a proposed anti-Assyrian coalition, Tiglath-pileser conquered Damascus in 732 B.C., and Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, a decade later. On both occasions deportations of people to Assyria took place. The fall of Samaria in 722 B.C. marked the end of the kingdom of Israel. The ten northern tribes disappeared from the face of the earth. Only the two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained to fulfill the God’s covenant with Abraham.¹

vKJV The King James Version

¹ Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988) 221.

NECHO — The reign of Neco II (ca. 610–595 B.C.) was a turbulent political period. Assyria, a former world power, was on the decline. The Neo-Babylonian Empire was exerting new influence under the leadership of Nabopolassar. The nation of Judah, an unwilling vassal of the Assyrian Empire, viewed the emergence of the Neo-Babylonian Empire as a potential ally to rid Judah of Assyrian oppression. Egypt was again unified under the leadership of Neco II’s father Psammetichus I (Psamtek I), who founded the 26th Dynasty. Neco II wanted to maintain the balance of power and was concerned about the aggressive posture taken by the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

When Babylon attacks the Assyrian Empire, Egypt sends an army to assist Assyria. Judah, acting as an ally of the Babylonians, sends an army to block the Egyptian advance. Neco II attempts to avoid a confrontation with Judah; however, Josiah forces a battle—the army of Judah is overwhelmed and Josiah is killed (2 Chronicles 35:20–22).

Neco II continues on to Haran, where the Assyrians and Egyptians defeat the Babylonian garrison; the Babylonians counter-attack. While the battle is perhaps a draw, the Assyrian king is likely killed and Babylonian forces plunder much of the Assyrian Empire. Meanwhile, Judah anoints Jehoiakim as king, and he rules for three months in Jerusalem. After the battle with the Babylonians, Neco II returns to Egypt, deposing Jehoiakim and placing his brother on the throne. Judah and the area up to the Euphrates River becomes a vassal of Egypt, and Judah pays tribute to Neco.

In the summer of 605 B.C., Egypt and Babylon meet in battle at Carchemish for control of the area. Babylon decisively wins and after the battle, Babylon takes control of the region—including Judah (2 Kings 24:1, 7). Neco II remains in Egypt for the balance of his reign (2 Kings 24:7) and does not try to regain control of the region. In 601 B.C. (see the Babylonian Chronicles), Nebuchadnezzar attempts an invasion of Egypt and both armies suffer significant losses. Nebuchadnezzar retreats to Babylon for a year to rebuild his forces. Judah, perhaps sensing weakness, rebels against Babylon, refusing to pay tribute. This move leads to a series of conflicts between Judah and Babylon and three deportations from Judah—beginning the period of the Babylonian exile (2 Kings 24:10–20). Judah is destroyed in 586/7 B.C.

Neco II moves to solidify power in Egypt, nurturing internal unity and international trade. Over the remaining years of his reign, Neco II develops profitable trade relationships with Greek merchants, restoring the financial supremacy of Egypt. He begins cutting a canal to connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea (a project completed by the Persian king Darius), and commissions a Phoenician fleet to circumnavigate Africa (Herodotus 4.42).¹

¹ Bryan C. Babcock, Pharaoh Neco (Necho) II, ed. John D. Barry and Lazarus Wentz, The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

EGYPT — The first mention of Egypt in the biblical narrative is in Genesis 12:10–20 when Abram flees to Egypt because of a famine in Canaan. The text mentions Pharaoh, but it does not give any clues regarding the specific ruler of Egypt, making it difficult to tie this event into Egyptian chronology.

The story of Joseph introduces how the Israelites came to live in Egypt. After being sold by his brothers, Joseph ends up living as a servant in Egypt (Genesis 37:28–36). He eventually rises to a position of power and is able to secure a place for his family in Egypt during a widespread famine (Genesis 41:1–47:12). After Joseph, the Israelites lived in Egypt for several generations. They became slaves to the Egyptians (Exodus 1:7–14) before Moses led them to the Promised Land (Exodus 12:33–42). While the precise dating of the exodus is disputed, it most likely occurred during the New Kingdom.

During the period of the judges, Israel had little contact with Egypt. And after the monarchy was established, Egypt and Israel had occasional interaction. Solomon eventually made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh’s daughter (1 Kings 3:1) and maintained a trading relationship with Egypt by importing horses and other goods from them (1 Kings 10:28–29).

Apparently the relationship between Egypt and Solomon broke down towards the end of Solomon’s reign as several of Solomon’s enemies—most notably Jeroboam, the future king of the northern kingdom—were able to take refuge in Egypt (1 Kings 11:40). This account mentions that Jeroboam takes refuge with Shishak. Also known as Shoshenq I, Shishak ruled Egypt in the Third Intermediate Period from 945 to 914 B.C. Later, he attacked and looted Rehoboam in Rehoboam’s fifth year, probably about 923 B.C.

During the Assyrian aggression, the northern king Hoshea reached out to the Egyptian king and stopped paying tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 17:4). The Egyptian king is listed as So, which is most likely a reference to the city Sais, commonly abbreviated as Sa. When Assyria besieged Jerusalem during Hezekiah’s reign, his attack was interrupted by a conflict with the Egyptian king Tirhakah (2 Kings 19:9). Tirhakah was most likely not king at this point, but he was the younger brother of the current pharaoh, Shabaka, who reigned until about 700 BC.

Egypt and Assyria apparently joined forces as the Babylonian kingdom began to rise. Pharaoh Neco II, who reigned from 610 to 595 BC, sent an army to join Assyria in their battle against Babylon. King Josiah tried to oppose Neco and, despite Neco’s warning, was killed in battle with the Egyptian army (2 Chronicles 35:20–24). Neco later deposed Josiah’s son Johoahaz, establishing his brother Jehoiakim—who then paid tribute to Egypt—as king in Judah instead (2 Kings 23:31–35).

At the end of Judah’s monarchy, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon (2 Kings 24:20). He most likely did this by allying with Pharaoh Psammetichus II. Psammetichus, who ruled in Egypt from 595 to 589 B.C., had extended Egypt’s influence into the Levant. Egyptian help failed, and Judah was exiled to Babylon. Some from Judah fled to Egypt, despite a warning by Jeremiah against doing this (Jeremiah 42–44).¹

¹ Miles Custis, Egypt, History Of, ed. John D. Barry and Lazarus Wentz, The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

JOSIAH — Sixteenth king of the southern kingdom of Judah (640–609 B.C.). A godly man, he stood in marked contrast to his grandfather, Manasseh, and his father, Amon. In fact, Scripture declares there was no king either before or after him that was as obedient to the Law of Moses (2 Kings 23:25). The Greek form of his name, Josias, appears in Matthew 1:10, 11 (KJV).

When Josiah became king in 640, the international scene was about to change drastically. After the great Assyrian king Ashurbanipal died in 633 mediocre rulers followed him on the throne, and there was considerable unrest in the empire. Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, seized the kingship in Babylon and established the Neo-Babylonian Empire late in 626. Soon Babylonians and Medes combined forces to topple the Assyrian Empire, and in 612 completely destroyed the city of Nineveh. As Babylonian power rose in the east, Assyrian control over the province that had once been the kingdom of Israel relaxed and Assyrian pressure on Judah virtually ceased. After the fall of Nineveh the Assyrians established their capital at Haran. There they were defeated by Babylonians and Scythians in 610. At that point Pharaoh Neco II of Egypt decided to support Assyria. In the late spring of 609 he advanced through Judah, defeated and killed Josiah, and spent the summer campaigning in Syria.

Judah had capitulated to gross idolatry during the reign of Manasseh (696–642 B.C.). Baalism, Moloch worship, and other pagan religions had invaded the land, as had occultism and astrology. A false altar even stood in the temple in Jerusalem, and human sacrifice to pagan deities was practiced near Jerusalem. The land was thoroughly corrupted. Although some reform occurred in Manasseh’s latter days, conditions reverted to their former baseness during the reign of his son Amon (642–640 B.C.). In 640 officials of Amon’s household assassinated him, and the people of the land put Josiah on the throne (2 Kings 21:26; 22:1; 2 Chronicles 34:1).

Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king. Evidently he had spiritually motivated advisers or regents; by the time he was 16 he began of his own accord to seek the God of David (2 Chronicles 34:3). When he was 20, he became greatly exercised over the idolatry of the land and launched a major effort to eradicate the pagan high places, groves, and images from Judah and Jerusalem. So intense was Josiah’s hatred of idolatry that he even opened the tombs of pagan priests and burned their bones on pagan altars before these were destroyed.

Josiah carried his reform movement beyond the borders of Judah, venting his fury especially on the cult center at Bethel, where Jeroboam had set up his false worship. In fulfillment of prophecy (1 Kings 13:1–3), he destroyed the altar and high place and burned the bones of officiating priests to desecrate the Site (2 Kings 23:15–18). What he did at Bethel, he did everywhere else in the kingdom of Samaria (2 Kings 23:19, 20).

When Josiah was 26, he launched a project to cleanse and repair the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:3). Shaphan, the king’s administrative assistant, commissioned the work; Hilkiah the priest exercised direct supervision of renovation and construction. In the process of restoring the temple, Hilkiah found the book of the law, the nature and contents of which are otherwise unknown. Possibly in the dark days of Manasseh a deliberate attempt had been made to destroy the Word of God. At any rate, evidently there was little knowledge of Scripture in Judah.

When Shaphan read the book of the law to Josiah, the king was devastated by the pronouncements of judgment against apostasy contained in it; he sent a delegation to Huldah the prophetess to find out what judgments awaited the land. The prophetess replied that the condemnation of God would indeed fall on Judah for its sin, but sent word to Josiah that because his heart was right toward God, the punishment would not come during his lifetime.

The king called together a large representative group for a public reading of the law—evidently sections especially concerned with obligations to God. The king and the people covenanted before God to keep his commandments.

Faced with the importance of maintaining a pure monotheistic faith, the king was spurred on to even more rigorous efforts to cleanse the temple and Jerusalem. He destroyed the vessels used in Baal worship, the monument of horses and chariot of the sun given by the kings of Judah for sun worship, the homosexual community near the temple, and shrines built by Solomon and in use since his day. Moreover, he made stringent efforts to eliminate the pagan shrines and high places in all the towns of Judah (2 Kings 23:4–14).

Precisely why Josiah opposed Pharaoh Neco’s advance through Judean territory is unknown. He may have wanted to prevent aid from reaching the hated Assyrians or to maintain his own independence. Josiah was mortally wounded in the conflict and was greatly lamented by Jeremiah and all the people (2 Chronicles 35:25). Well they might weep, for their godly king was gone, and within a few years the judgment withheld during his lifetime would descend on the nation.¹

¹ Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1223.

MEGIDDO — According to archaeological exploration, Megiddo was occupied before the thirty-third century B.C. and was heavily fortified by the early part of the third millennium. Texts indicate that the city was subject to Egypt as early as the first half of the nineteenth century; it took an important role in anti-Egyptian resistance prior to its defeat by Thutmose III ca. 1468. Megiddo was assigned to the Israelite tribe of Manasseh, but despite an early victory (Joshua 12:21; cf. Judges 5:19) the Israelites did not completely expel the Canaanites from this and other cities in the valley of Jezreel (Joshua 17:11–12; Judges 1:27–28). The city was in Israelite hands at the time of Solomon (1 Kings. 4:12; 9:15), who rebuilt it as an administrative and military center. It was to Megiddo that King Ahaziah of Judah fled from King Jehu of Israel (2 Kings. 9:27); the city was then under Egyptian control, having been conquered along with other towns in Judah and Israel by Pharaoh Shishak (Sheshong I) ca. 925. In 733 the Assyrians defeated Megiddo and established it as a provincial capital. In 609 King Josiah of Judah battled Pharaoh Neco at Megiddo and died there (23:29–30; 2 Chronicles 35:22–24). Use of Megiddo as a fortress ended at that time. In the second century A.D. Legio (modern el-Lejjun), a Roman camp, was established south of and adjacent to Megiddo.

The large Megiddo mound, covering ca. 6 hectare (15 acres), has been subject to more extensive archaeological excavations than any other site in Palestine. Some twenty strata have been determined. Among the finds are city walls and gates built at the time of Solomon, a huge grain storage pit dug during Israelite occupation, and the seal of Shema servant of King Jeroboam (probably Jeroboam I) bearing the image of a roaring lion. Structures originally identified as stables dating to Solomon’s time have more recently been assessed as storehouses contemporary with the Omride dynasty of Israel. A water system consisting of a vertical shaft extends down into bedrock, and a tunnel leads from the shaft to a spring at the foot of the mound so water might be obtained during sieges.¹

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¹ Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 706.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR — Also known as Nebuchadnezzar II. Spelled interchangeably with Nebuchadrezzar. Reflects the Babylonian Nabû-kudurri-uṣur, meaning (the god) Nabû protect my offspring. King of Babylon from 605–562 B.C. Established Babylon as the leading power in the ancient Near East. Destroyed Jerusalem and carried Judah into captivity.

After the death of Ashurbanipal, Nabopolassar, who was Nebuchadnezzar’s father (625–605 B.C.), seized the throne of Babylon and established a new dynasty. Nebuchadnezzar ruled from 605–562 B.C. Babylon reached the zenith of its power during the early part of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Also known as Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Empire, Babylon flourished until the arrival of the Persians in 539 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar and his predecessors were Chaldeans, a term the Greeks used to denote the tribes of Kaldu who eventually overthrew the powerful Assyrian Empire and established their capital at Babylon.

The Babylonian texts present Nebuchadnezzar as an efficient military leader and firm administrator. Nebuchadnezzar’s building activities are the primary concern for Babylonian chronicles and Greek writers. Additional emphasis on Babylon’s expansive authority through conquest would strengthen his image as the king primarily responsible for the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Nebuchadnezzar is found in 2 Kings, Jeremiah, and Daniel. On three occasions, Jeremiah referred to him as the servant of Yahweh (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10). These passages show that Jeremiah was pro-Babylonian and considered Nebuchadnezzar the great liberator from injustice and oppression. Old Testament evidence (Jeremiah 39:10) and earlier discoveries of cuneiform texts show that Nebuchadnezzar had genuine concern for the poorer classes. The basic perception of Nebuchadnezzar in the Jeremiah tradition is probably a theological: he is an earthly king appointed by Yahweh to rule over Syria-Palestine as punishment against Judah’s sin. That the people are to be destroyed because of their sin is a common idea in Jeremiah. After the events of 597 B.C., this general conviction crystallized around Nebuchadnezzar.

Characterization of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel stresses his interest in the Babylonian scribal and priestly arts, susceptibility to religious influences, and dominance over his court officials. Nebuchadnezzar’s anger is prominent in Daniel 1–3:

•In chapter 1, Nebuchadnezzar attacks and besieges Jerusalem (Daniel 1:1).

•In chapter 2, he threatens to cut people into pieces and to turn houses into piles of rubble (Daniel 2:5).

•In chapter 3, he orders everyone to bow and worship, threatening them with a blazing furnace (Daniel 3:1–6).

In Daniel 4, God judged Nebuchadnezzar for looking over Babylon with pride. He is a caution against being led astray by power and achievement and a model of how to respond to chastisement and humiliation. The biblical account of his reign represents a promise that earthly authorities are in the hand of God, not merely for their judgment, but for His glory.¹

¹ Enrique Báez, Nebuchadnezzar, ed. John D. Barry and Lazarus Wentz, The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

CARCHEMISH — Fort of Chemosh; modern Jerablus. An important city on the great bend of the Euphrates River. It was on the west bank of the river, at an important river crossing point on the international trade route. Carchemish lies mostly on the Turkish side of the modern Turkish-Syrian border.

Carchemish is mentioned about 1800 B.C. as the capital of a kingdom in alliance with the Assyrian king Shamshi-adad I against Yahdunlim, king of Mari.

After the Mari period, there is a short break in the known history of the city. When sources again become available, Carchemish was first under Hurrian influence, then was included within the Hittite sphere. Carchemish was a vassal and ally of the Hittite King Muwatallis against the Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II at the important battle of Kadesh in 1286 B.C.

Following the destruction of the New Hittite Kingdom at the hands of the Sea Peoples shortly after 1200 B.C., Carchemish became the most important heir of the Hittite culture. The land of Hatti and the Hittites mentioned are probably these successors to the Anatolian Hittites centered on Carchemish. Carchemish again became the head of an independent kingdom and successfully resisted capture by the Assyrian Empire during the whole of its first period of expansion. Only under Sargon II were the Assyrians able to capture and destroy Carchemish in 717 B.C. Sargon helped to rebuild the city, and it became the capital of a western Assyrian province. Assyria’s