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| THE BIBLE in Daniel 1:1-2 states: |
| "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. |
| And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god." |
| The fact that Nebuchadnezzar pillaged lands which included Israel during his first year as king is recorded on Babylonian tablets known as the Babylonian Chronicles. |
| They record that kings from the territory known as Hatti-land came before him and offered him heavy tribute. Those cities which did not submit to him, he came against and carried its spoils back to Babylon. |
| According to the Bible in Daniel 1:3-4, During the invasion of Jerusalem in 606 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon instructed Ashpenaz the Master of his eunuchs, to bring back some of the children of Israel to serve in the king's palace and to teach them the language and literature of the Chaldeans. |
| He picked Daniel along with his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. |
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| Remarkably the Babylonian office of Master of the Eunuchs has been confirmed by Archaeology. In the British Museum is a clay tablet with the words "Rab-Saris" inscribed on it. In Aramaic, the word Rab interpreted means Master and Saris (saw-reece') means Eunuchs. |
| Another amazing fact about the book of Daniel is that in 1947 the first of the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. They contained fragments of all the books of the Old Testament except the book of Esther. Among them is a copy of Daniel. Chapters 2:4 through chapters 7:28 are written in the ancient Aramaic language known as Chaldee (the language of Babylon), the same language used in documents of the 7th century B.C.. |
| This is another confirmation of the fact that the events spoken of in the book of Daniel were written down by Daniel during the time of his captivity in Babylon. |
| One of the greatest stories in the bible is found in Daniel chapter 2, where Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has a dream which troubles him greatly. |
| He calls on all the wise men of Babylon to interpret his dream. But since he doesn't trust his wise men, Nebuchadnezzar refuses to explain the dream to them. |
| Since not one of his wise men could tell the king what he dreamed, he gave a decree to put all of them to death. |
| Daniel, along with his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, prayed to God that night, that he would reveal the dream to them so that their lives might be spared. |
| During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and Daniel praised the God of Heaven. |
| The next morning Daniel goes to Nebuchadnezzar and explains to him his vision. The Bible records the following in Daniel 2:31: |
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| "You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. "This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, "its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. |
| "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. |
| Daniel told him that the head of gold represented |
| Nebuchadnezzar (The kingdom of Babylon.) |
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| The chest arms of silver would be another kingdom that would arise after him that would be inferior to his gold kingdom. (The Medo-Persian Empire.) |
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| Then a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. (Alexander the Great's Empire of Greece) |
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| And the fourth kingdom that with legs as strong as iron, in that iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. (The Roman Empire) |
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| And a fifth kingdom that will arise with ten toes (comprised of ten nations), a kingdom that shall be divided; the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. (The final Empire that will arise before the second coming of Jesus Christ.) |
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| GOD MAKES KNOWN TO DANIEL THAT HE WOULD SEND A STONE TO CRUSH ALL NATIONS AND TO SET UP AN EVERLASTING KINGDOM |
| |
| "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it |
| broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure." |
| Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. The king answered Daniel, and said, "Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret." Daniel 2:44-47 |
| |
| AND WHO IS THIS STONE ? |
| |
| "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. |
| "This is the STONE which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' |
| "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:10-12 |
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| This article is a chapter from our 3 volume book series "Bible Believer's Archaeology" which can be downloaded for your ebook reader or mobile device by visiting our resource download page by Clicking Here. |
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| Photo Links to Artifacts Mentioned in this Article |
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| Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet Mentioning the title RabSaris |
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| Daniel Aramaic |
| Dead Sea Fragment |
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| Babylonian Chronicle BM21946 |
| Nebuchadnezzar's |
| receives tribute from Hatti-land |
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| Assyrian Label |
| Mentioning the |
| title RabSaris |
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| Sources: |
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| Babylonian Chronicles mention that in the ascension year of Nebuchadnezzar, he marched through Hatti-territory unopposed and took heavy tribute of the Hatti-territory back to Babylon (this included the land of Israel), British Museum BM21946, "Jerusalem Chronicle - (ABC 5)" |
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| The Bible inthe British Museum, Author T.C. Mitchell (1988) page 67 Clay tablet mentioning Rabsaris, British Museum inventory #81-2-4,147 |
| |
| Dare to be a Daniel Vol.I, Author: David Hocking, |
| Pg.5 (Master of the Eunuchs) |
| Pg.V-VI ( Aramaic language of Daniel) |
| |
| Halley's Bible Handbook, Author: Henry H Halley |
| ISBN 0-310-25720-4 |
| Pg.342 (Chaldee language used in Daniel) |
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| Illustration:"Captive Judean King before Nebuchadnezzar" |
| Illustrated in Cassell's. Illuminated Family Bible. Vol.2 from Matthew to Revelation pg.573, Publisher: Cassell, Petter & Calpin (1860) |
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