1 Layout of Daniel’s Chapters 1 2 5 3 6 4 7 10 8 11 9 12 2 1 3 Chronological Order of Daniel’s Visions 4 2 Kings of Assyria SINSARISKUN (killed in Battle of Nineveh in 612 B.C.) ASHUR-UBALLIT II (defeated at Harran 609 B.C.) 5 612 BC Pharaoh Necho II, who had come to aid Assyria, marched on to conquer Harran. His army entered it, but the garrison which the king of Akkad (Nabopolassar) had left there defeated them. 6 3 NEO-BABYLON MEDES PERSIANS Cyaxares 690-584 BC Achaemenes 700-675 BC Nabopolassar 626-605 BC Teispes 675-640 BC Nebuchadnezzar Amytis 630-565 BC Astyages 605-562 BC (Dan. 1-4) 620-554 BC Cyrus I 640-600 BC Ariaramnes 640-615 BC Evil-Merodach 562-560 BC (2 Kings 25:27) Mandana 584-559 BC Cambyses I 600-559 BC Arsames 610-615 BC Neriglissar/Labashi-Marduk (Jeremiah 39:13) 560-556 BC Cyrus The Great 559-530 BC Hystaspes 588-521 BC Nabonidus / Belshazzar (Darius the Mede) 556-539 BC (Dan. 5) (2 Chr. 36:22-23; Ezr. 1:1-4, 7-8; 5:13-17; 6:3; Is. 44:28; 45:1; Dan. 1:21; 5:30; 6:28; 10:1) Cambyses II Smerdis (Bardiya) Darius I the Great 522-486 BC 530-522 BC 522 BC (Ezr. 4:5; 5:6-7; 6:1; Hag. 1:1; Zec. 1:1) Pseudo Smerdis (Gaumata) Xerxes I 486-465 BC Artaxerxes I Longimanus 465-424 BC (Est. 1:1-4; Neh. 2:6) Darius II 424-404 BC (Neh. 12:22) 7 The Kings of the Neo-Babylonian Empire 8 4 Lineage of the Neo-Babylonian Kings NABOPOLASSAR 627-605 B.C. NEBUCHADNEZZAR 605-562 B.C. AMEL-MARDUK Daughter married Daughter married 562-560 B.C. NERIGLISSAR NABONIDUS 560-556 B.C. 556-539 B.C. LABASHI-MARDUK BELSHAZZAR 556 B.C. 553-539 B.C. 9 Ruins of Ehulhul, the temple of the moon god Sin in Harran Priestess Addagoppe of the moon god Sin, mother of Nabonidus 10 5 Mood god Sin on a Chief god Marduk’s symbol, the temple-like throne mušḫuššu or “snake-dragon” 11 The Akitu festival was dedicated to the rebirth of the sun god Marduk (Chaldean new year) 12 6 Rising above the city was the Esagila, the Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, south of the huge ziggurat Etemenanki that seemed to reach to the heavens. 13 Nabonidus conquers Cilicia and Edom but was Nabonidus chose to exile himself from the city in not celebrated by Babylonians who despised him the north Arabian desert oasis of Tema or Tayma. because he was displacing Marduk. He appoints his son Belshazzar rule Babylon. 14 7 485 Miles 15 Nabonidus Chronicle Stela of Harran Nabonidus delegated rulership of Babylon to Nabonidus conquered his son Bel-shar-usur in 552 BC six oases in while settling in Tayma Northwest Arabia for ten years. including Tayma 16 8 Nabonidus Chronicle Cyrus defeats Nabonidus in Opis. Sippar was captured without battle. Gubaru, governor of Gutium, entered Babylon without a fight. 17 I returned to these sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time, the images which used to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned them to their habitations. ~Cyrus Cylinder 18 9 Cyrus decrees return of Jews to Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar invades Jerusalem three times Babylonian Rule begins 587 B.C. 609 B.C. 562 560 556 553 606 B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. 536 B.C. 539 B.C. 597 B.C. Amel- Nerig- Belshazzar Darius Nebuchadnezzar Marduk lisser Nabonidus Cyrus Rise of Seventy-year Fall of Babylon prophecy Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11) 19 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ~Jeremiah 25:11 20 10 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 ~2 Chronicles 36:22 21 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” ~Ezra 1:2 22 11 23 Daniel’s Historical Chiasm Vision of kingdoms (God’s) >Chapter 2 Trial of God’s People (furnace) >Chapter 3 Juicial Exaltation of God (conversion) >Chapter 4 Exaltation of God (judgment) >Chapter 5 Confrontational Trial of God’s People (lions’ den) >Chapter 6 Vision of kingdoms (Son of Man) >Chapter 7 24 12 Exaltation of God through the Judgment of a King 25 Inviolable 26 13 In DECADENCE 27 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. ~Daniel 5:1 28 14 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. ~Daniel 5:2 29 Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. ~Daniel 5:3-4 30 15 30 gold dishes 1,000 silver dishes, 29 silver pans, 30 gold bowls, 410 duplicate silver bowls, 1,000 miscellaneous items. All told, there were 5,400 gold and silver articles ~Ezra 1:9-11 31 ~Malcolm Muggeridge 32 16 Why do Americans feel so bad when they’ve got it so good? It’s a moral mess, a cultural mess! 33 After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for. God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret. ~Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 34 17 It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God, and naturally, hope there is no God, I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that. ~Thomas Nagel 35 “If there is no God, everything is permitted.” ~Fyodor Dostoevsky 36 18 He puffed out some smoke into the air and said: “God, that’s for you.” CAZUZA (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer and singer) 37 He died a horrible and painful death shortly thereafter at the age of 32 from AIDS. 38 19 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. ~Acts 12:22-23 39 In DECADENCE In DELUSION 40 20 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. ~Daniel 5:5 41 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. ~Daniel 5:6 42 21 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. ~Daniel 5:7-8 43 The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. ~Daniel 5:10 44 22 There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods…and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father the king made him chief of the magicians ~Daniel 5:11 45 because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams… were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. ~Daniel 5:11 46 23 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel… “Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be…the third ruler in the kingdom.” ~Daniel 5:13, 16 47 “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make know to him the interpretation. ~Daniel 5:13, 16 48 24 “O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty…But when his heart was lifted up …he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. ~Daniel 5:18, 20 49 “He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast…until he knew the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. ~Daniel 5:21 50 25 “And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted yourself against the Lord of heaven.