“So!
I!
Daniel!
Was overcome!
I lay sick
For some days.
Then I arose.
I went about
The king’s business.
But I was dismayed
By the vision.
I did not understand it.”
Daniel was sick for a couple of days. Then he got up to help the king of Babylon with his business at Susa. However, he was still shaken and dismayed. He still did not fully understand that vision, even after the explanation of Gabriel.
“I,
King Nebuchadnezzar,
Was living at ease
In my house.
I was prospering
In my palace.
I saw a dream
That frightened me.
My fantasies in bed
Terrified me.
The visions of my head
Alarmed me.”
This author of the Book of Daniel has the king of Babylon speaking in the first-person singular. He was living at ease in his house, prospering in his palace. Everything was all good. Then he had a dream that frightened him. These fantasies and visions terrified and alarmed him.
“Thus says Yahweh God!
I will bring against Tyre,
From the north,
King Nebuchadnezzar
Of Babylon,
King of kings.
He will come together
With horses,
With chariots,
With a cavalry,
With a great number
Of soldiers,
With a great army.”
Yahweh was going to send the king of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, to attack Tyre from the north. This Babylonian king was also called the king of kings. He would come with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a large army of soldiers.
“From the city,
Nebuzaradan
Took an officer,
Who had been in command
Of the soldiers.
He took
Seven men
Of the king’s council
Who were found in the city.
He took the secretary,
Of the commander of the army,
Who mustered the people
Of the land.
He also took sixty men
Of the people
Of the land
Who were found
Inside the city.
Then Nebuzaradan,
The captain of the guard,
Brought them
To the king of Babylon
At Riblah.
The king of Babylon
Struck them down.
He put them
To death
At Riblah
In the land of Hamath.”
This section is practically word for word from 2 Kings, chapter 25. Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian captain of the guard, took the commander of the army, the men of the king’s council, the secretary of the army, and anyone still left in Jerusalem. Here it is 7 men, while in 2 Kings, it was only 5 men. He brought them to Riblah, a city in Syria, in the land of Hamath, that was on the border with Palestine on the main route from Syria. There the king of Babylon killed them.
“At the sound of their fall,
The earth shall tremble.
The sound of their cry
Shall be heard
At the Red Sea.
Look!
He shall mount up.
He shall swoop down
Like an eagle.
He shall spread his wings
Against Bozrah.
The heart of the warriors
Of Edom,
On that day,
Shall be
Like the heart
Of a woman in labor.”
The fall of the Edomites would be so loud that the earth would tremble like an earthquake. The sounds of the cries from Edom could be heard as far away as the Red Sea in Egypt. As in the preceding chapter about Moab, the king of Babylon would swoop down like a spread eagle upon the major capital city of Bozrah. Then, just like in the preceding chapter again, the Edomite warriors, like the Moabite warriors, would become like women in labor. However, there is no mention of a restoration of Edom, like earlier for Moab and Ammon.
“Then Johanan,
The son of Kareah,
With all the leaders
Of the forces with him,
Took all the rest
Of the people
Whom Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
Had carried away captive
From Mizpah.
This was after
He had slain Gedaliah,
The son of Ahikam.
This included
Soldiers,
Women,
Children,
Eunuchs,
Whom Johanan brought back
From Gibeon.
They set out.
They stopped at
Geruth Chimham
Near Bethlehem.
They intended
To go to Egypt
Because of the Chaldeans.
They were afraid of them.
Because Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
Had killed Gedaliah,
The son of Ahikam,
Whom the king of Babylon
Had made governor
Over the land.”
Johanan and his forces, along with the now freed captives of Mizpah that included soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, were going to go to Egypt. They set out on their way in a reverse kind of Exodus. However, they stopped at Geruth Chimham, near Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem. They were afraid that the Chaldeans would be mad at them, because of the death of Governor Gedaliah, who had been appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.
“King Nebuchadnezzar
Of Babylon
Gave a command
Concerning Jeremiah,
Through Nebuzaradan,
The captain of the guard.
Saying.
‘Take him!
Look after him well!
Do him no harm!
But deal with him
As he may ask you.’”
There was no mention of the prophet Jeremiah in 2 Kings at all, which has led many to speculate about his existence. Obviously this book has a lot to say about Jeremiah. King Nebuchadnezzar liked Jeremiah because he had constantly told the Judean king and others to serve the king of Babylon. Thus the Babylonian king told the captain of his guard Nebuzaradan to care for Jeremiah and not hurt him. In fact, Nebuzaradan was to do whatever Jeremiah asked him to do. Thus Jeremiah may have been a traitor to Judah as a collaborator with the king of Babylon.
“Baruch,
The son of Neriah,
Did all
That the prophet Jeremiah
Ordered him
About reading
From the scroll
The words of Yahweh
In Yahweh’s house.
In the fifth year
Of King Jehoiakim,
The son of King Josiah,
Of Judah,
In the ninth month,
All the people in Jerusalem,
With all the people
Who came from the towns
Of Judah to Jerusalem,
Proclaimed a fast
Before Yahweh.
Then,
In the hearing
Of all the people,
Baruch read
The words of Jeremiah
From the scroll,
In the house of Yahweh,
In the chamber of Gemariah,
The son of Shaphan,
The secretary,
Which was in the upper court,
At the entry
Of the New Gate
Of Yahweh’s house.”
Baruch did exactly as Jeremiah had told him to do. He read the scroll of Jeremiah that had the words of Yahweh that had been dictated to him by Jeremiah, in Yahweh’s Temple. This occasion was a great fast that had been called to ward off the king of Babylon. This was about a little over a year after the original oracle of Yahweh to Jeremiah, about 604 BCE. Thus at this assembly, Baruch read from the scroll in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of a friend of Jeremiah, Shaphan, who was a secretary. All this took place in the upper court at the entry to the New Gate at the Temple.
“Now therefore
Thus says Yahweh!
The God of Israel!
Concerning this city
About which you say.
‘It is given
Into the hand
Of the king of Babylon
By sword,
By famine,
By pestilence.’”
Yahweh, the God of Israel, clearly says that Jerusalem, his city, will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. He will accomplish this, as per usual, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts!
The God of Israel!
‘I have broken the yoke
Of the king of Babylon.
Within two years,
I will bring back
To this place
All the vessels
Of Yahweh’s house
That King Nebuchadnezzar
Of Babylon
Took away from this place.
He carried them
To Babylon.
I will also bring back
To this place
King Jeconiah,
The son of King Jehoiakim
Of Judah,
With all the exiles
From Judah
Who went to Babylon.
I will break
The yoke
Of the king of Babylon.’
Says Yahweh.”
Hananiah, the prophet from Gibeon, then uttered an oracle of Yahweh, the God of Israel, much like Jeremiah had done. He claimed that he had broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. He said that within 2 years all the vessels from the Temple sanctuary would be returned to Jerusalem. He was also going to bring back the deposed King Jeconiah or King Jehoiachin or King Coniah as he was known as, who had been king for only a couple of months in 598 BCE after his father King Jehoiakim or King Eliakim (609-598 BCE) had been killed. In the meantime, King Nebuchadnezzar had put King Jeconiah’s uncle on the throne, King Zedekiah or King Mattaniah (598-587 BCE). The exiled King Jeconiah was in Babylon in captivity. He was part of the first captivity of 598 BCE, when the sacred vessels and the other exiles also went to Babylon. Clearly, Hananiah the prophet said that Yahweh wanted to break the yoke of the king of Babylon. However, Jeremiah the prophet had said that Yahweh was in favor of this yoke. Let’s see what happens as these 2 prophets interpret the will of Yahweh as regards Babylon.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 