Daniel’s Library
Daniel 9:2 records that Daniel “observed in the books” that the exile would last 70 years, and apparently realized that the time was nearly up. The book of Jeremiah is mentioned specifically, but the reference to plural “books” begs the question of what kind of collection Daniel had. One of the first questions, which can be answered with a fair amount of certainty, is the nature of these “books.” The book with pages as we know it, otherwise referred to as a codex, can be excluded altogether since it would not be......
Daniel and the 70 Years of Jeremiah
Daniel 9:1-3 introduces us to the prayer of Daniel for his people. It occurred in the first year of Darius the Mede, which was late 539 BC or early 538 BC. Daniel read in the writings of the Prophet Jeremiah that the exile in Babylon would last for 70 years, after which God would return his people to the land of promise. Jeremiah was a prophet at the height of his ministry when Daniel was a boy, and Daniel had probably seen and heard him while he was still living in Jerusalem.......
2,300 Mornings and Evenings
Daniel 8:13-14 includes an enigmatic statement about the length of the desolation of the holy place. “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, ‘How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?’ And he said to me, ‘For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored‘” (NAS). There are at least three questions that relate to......
