The rest of the way is easy. We have only to follow the Jewish calendar of Rabbi Hillel II and we learn that the “23rd day of the SECOND month” corresponded with the
4th day of May B.C. 141,
the great day of National Independence. Having thus far followed exclusively the years of the Seleucidæ as common among Greeks and Orientals, let us now turn to the system of the Babylonians. Their era began, as already explained, with the spring of B.C. 311. Accordingly, their 171st year began with the spring of B.C. 141, and the SECOND month of course coincided with Apr./May, or the Jewish month Iyar. It matters not, therefore, whether you follow the system of the Greeks or that of the Babylonians, you will arrive at the same goal, viz:—May 4th B.C. 141.
One can hardly overestimate the importance of this discovery, because a knowledge of the National Independence day gives a fixed starting point for that mysterious group of DAYS—2300, 1290 and 1335—as revealed by the angel Gabriel to “Daniel the Prophet.”
NOTE A.
DARIUS, OR CYAXARES. [DANIEL V. 31.]
“And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” In the first verse of the 9th chapter we are told that Darius was the son of Ahasuerus, the same Assuerus spoken of in the 15th verse of the 14th chapter of Tobit, the Astyages of Median history. Astyages was king of the Medes and reigned for 35 years from B.C. 593-558. His son Cyaxares [Josephus X. 11, 4.] succeeded him on the throne and his daughter Mandané married Cambyses of Persia. Their offspring was Cyrus the Great, who thus represented the Royal houses of both Media and Persia. Cyaxares therefore was the uncle of Cyrus. As a boy Cyrus was brought up by his grandfather and accompanied his uncle on shooting expeditions. A very strong attachment was formed with the latter so that in after years when Cyrus deposed his grandfather, in B.C. 558, he made his uncle the king of Media. Still later when Cyrus took Babylon and pacified the inhabitants he made his uncle Cyaxares king pro tem, who occupied the throne from B.C. 538-536. Cyrus of course continued to be, as the annalistic tablet relates, “the powerful king, the king of Babylon, ‘the king of Sumar and Akkad’—the king of the four zones.” But the laws of Persia as outlined by Herodotus [VII. 1. 2. and III. 66] made it necessary for him to appoint a successor before starting out to war, who would govern during his absence. So we find, “after Gobryas the governor of the country of Ararat and the soldiers of Cyrus, without fighting entered Babylon,” the country became submissive and attention could be directed elsewhere; that “when in the course of their march they arrived in the Median territory Cyrus turned off to visit Cyaxares; and after they had embraced each other, Cyrus first told Cyaxares that there were domestics and palaces set apart for him in Babylon, that when he came thither he might have what was his own to come to.” [Xenophon VIII.] It is hard to imagine how Cyrus could have paved the way more perfectly for the reign of his uncle Cyaxares in Babylon, whom we believe was Darius the Mede of Scripture. His reign was of short duration, but it came at a critical period in the history of the Jews. Only two years remained to complete the Babylonian captivity and Divine influences were at work for the return of the chosen people. [Daniel X. 13.] More than a century previous to that time the Scriptures had named Cyrus as the “shepherd,” [Isaiah XLV. 1, 3.] and when Cyrus placed his uncle temporarily on the throne of Babylon, a heavenly messenger was sent to Darius who “stood to confirm and strengthen him.” [Daniel XI. 1.] This gave the Jews a friend at court who paved the way for that celebrated emancipation proclamation which Cyrus issued on his return to Babylon. Naturally such a document belonged among the state papers and should have been found “in the house of the rolls where the treasures were laid up in Babylon,” but diligent search proved of no avail. [Ezra VI. 1.] However, as the document was dated in the time of Darius the Mede, official attention was next directed to “the palace that is in the province of the Medes,” where a careful search proved successful. [Ezra VI. 2.] There they found the original “roll” stowed away among the royal documents and forwarded it to King Darius Hystaspes. The king promptly ratified the decree of Cyrus and added, “Let it be done with speed.” The history of Darius the Mede is therefore one of peculiar interest in the life of the Jewish people.
NOTE B.
“THE SUM OF THE MATTERS.” [DANIEL VII. 1. AND 25.]
The vision of the four great beasts is now complete and we have reached the sum of the matters in verse 25. Already in chapter II. the same subject was summarized by the following language: “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed ... and it shall stand forever.” The present summary differs from the first in that it localizes the endless kingdom, and tells the year when it would be set up. Whenever we send a telegram and wish to conceal our meaning from the public we employ single words to express conditions and quantities. Twice, Daniel was told by his heavenly visitor:—“shut thou up the vision,” it is therefore proper to infer that the word TIME was used to express a certain number of years and TIMES to express a greater number of years. But what heavenly measure of time do we find in the Bible, associated with the punishment of nations, that can be taken as the unit period for measuring seasons of God’s displeasure? Turn to Zech. I. 12th and we read:—“Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years.” For other examples, see Note D. If then the word TIME was inserted in the heavenly message as a symbol for 70 years, and the numeral 7 conveyed to the Jewish mind the idea of a perfect quantity, then a week of TIME, or 7 times 70 might very naturally be symbolized by the word TIMES. We find in Gen. II. 4. that the 7 DAYS of creation are spoken of in the singular as, “the DAY the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” Besides every 7th year was a Sabbatic year. So that whatever the word TIME means in the singular, we may reasonably take the word TIMES to mean a 7 fold quantity in the plural. We find another measure in Matt. XVIII. 22. where the Divine idea of forgiveness is expressed in numerals. The apostle Peter thought that he did well in fixing the unit of forgiveness at 7 fold, but he was told to multiply his scant number by 70 before he could attain to the Divine standard. If now we substitute these values for their symbols in the formula: “Time, Times and Half-time” we shall obtain, 70 plus 490, plus 35, equals to 595 years. Verse four supplies the initial date for this series of years. From it we learn that the “sum of the matters” started with the Medo-Persian kingdom of Cyrus, who united in his own person the blood of both royal houses and became king in B.C. 558. From this date to the Christian era was 557 years and from the era to A.D. 39 was 38 years more, making a total of 557 plus 38, or 595 years. From which we learn that the “sum of the matters” or the full time arrived for the setting up of the kingdom in A.D. 39. The prophecy therefore gives us the year, and we shall find that the 12th verse of the 12th chapter supplies the day when “all these things” were finished. The apostle Peter in describing the events of that day said:—“Forasmuch then as God gave them (the Gentiles) the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also on the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” Acts XI. 17, 18.
The admission of the Gentiles was deemed a matter of so great importance that the formula has been repeated in the 7th verse of the 12th chapter, also material has been given in the 12th verse of the same chapter by which the very day itself can be computed. The passages stand to each other in the relation of demonstration to proof.