Nebuchadnezzar's "Chief of the Bodyguard&...

by Olympiad 2 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Olympiad

  The following scriptures shed some interesting light on the second chapter of Daniel, which record events that happened in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule if read direct. Our publications however place this reading in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s so called "world rulership" after desolating Jerusalem. This would have been his 20th year as ruler of the Babylonian Empire. According to our publications this would have been in the year 605 BC [585BC]. Daniel states in the second chapter that in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar he dreamed dreams. Further the account tells in verse fourteen Nebuchadnezzar’s “Chief of the Bodyguard” was a man named Arioch.

  Daniel 2:1
  1 And in the second year of the kingship of Neb·u·chad·nez'zar, Neb·u·chad·nez'zar dreamed dreams; and his spirit began to feel agitated, and his very sleep was made to be something beyond him. 2 So the king said to call the magic-practicing priests and the conjurers and the sorcerers and the Chal·de'ans to tell the king his dreams. And they proceeded to come in and to stand before the king. 3 Then the king said to them: “There is a dream that I have dreamed, and my spirit is agitated to know the dream.” 4 At that the Chal·de'ans spoke to the king in the Ar·a·ma'ic language: “O king, live on even for times indefinite. Say what the dream is to your servants, and we shall show the very interpretation.

  Daniel 2:14
  14 At that time Daniel, for his part, addressed himself with counsel and sensibleness to Ar'i·och the chief of the king’s bodyguard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15 He was answering and saying to Ar'i·och the officer of the king: “For what reason is there such a harsh order on the part of the king?” Then it was that Ar'i·och made known the matter itself to Daniel. 16 So Daniel himself went in and asked from the king that he should give him time expressly to show the very interpretation to the king.

  Jeremiah tells us that in the nineteenth year and the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign that his “Chief of the Bodyguard” was a man named Nebuzaradan.

  2nd Kings 25:8
  8 And in the fifth month on the seventh [day] of the month, that is to say, the nineteenth year of King Neb·u·chad·nez'zar the king of Babylon, Neb·u'zar·ad'an the chief of the bodyguard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 And he proceeded to burn the house of Jehovah and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; and the house of every great man he burned with fire.

  Jeremiah 52:12
  12 And in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, that is, [in] the nineteenth year of King Neb·u·chad·rez'zar, the king of Babylon, Neb·u'zar·ad'an the chief of the bodyguard, who was standing before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. 13 And he proceeded to burn the house of Jehovah and the house of the king and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every great house he burned with fire. 14 And all the walls of Jerusalem, round about, all the military forces of the Chal·de'ans that were with the chief of the bodyguard pulled down.

  Jeremiah 52:30
  30 In the twenty-third year of Neb·u·chad·rez'zar, Neb·u'zar·ad'an the chief of the bodyguard took Jews into exile, seven hundred and forty-five souls.

  From these scriptures we see that Arioch does not fit into the chronology of events that would allow him to have served as the “Chief of the Bodyguard” in the 20th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, hence the interpretation is lacking. Therefore chapter two of Daniel is to be read direct which further substantiates that chapter one should be read direct as well.
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  Larsguy

  What a wonderful post! I hadn't noted that little detail before and now I have it! Thank-you, very much.

  I don't know how much detail you know, but here are a few things to add to your details in case you hadn't noticed.

  It is true, that in the 2nd of Nebuchadnezzar Daniel went to interpret the dream, but you must realize the king did not know Daniel at this time and his three years were not up yet. Daniel was taken into exile to Babylon during the accession year of Nebuchadnezzar and then they were to be prepared for 3 years before coming before the king. Their three years were not up yet, so this was the first encounter with Nebuchadnezzar. If you'll check the background, after the three Hebrew children finished their 3 years they became famous wise men in Babylon so it doesn't fit that Daniel would not have been contacted first as one of the leading wise men to interpret this dream.

  Other critical notes are regarding the several deportations. The next deportation was in the 7th year of Nebuchadnezzar during which time Ezekiel was deported, but it was not until the following year, the 8th year that Jehoiachin and his royal relatives were deported. Thus the exile of Jehoiachin and the rulership of Zedekiah are parallel which comes into play in dating the rule of Nebuchadnezzar later on.

  Then there was another deportation, as you noted, in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar, and another one in the 19th year when Zedekiah was deported which was Zedekiah's 11th year.

  Sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in the fifth month, Zedekiah was appointed as governor and some time passed by, enough time to send out word to other Jews in the surrounding area to return to Jerusalem and harvest summer fruits, including wine, which is an early summer crop. So also contrary to what the JWs teach, Zedekiah was still alive in the 20th year of Nebuchadnezzar and it was in the 20th year of Nebuchadnezzar that he actually died, a year and 2 months after the fall of Jerusalem, not simply 2 months later. This is confirmed by comparing Zechariah 1 and 7 which shows that there is a 2-year gap between the fall of Jerusalem and the mourning for Gedaliah, confirming that he must have died the following year after the fall of Jerusalem.

  Then, finally, the Jews remaiing, including Jeremiah and Baruch were "kidnapped" down to Egypt where God sent Nebuchadnezzar again to kill off the majority of those rebelling. But a few "remaining ones from the sword" would return to Jerualem (Jeremiah 44:14,28), which we presume would include Baruch and Jeremiah. And it is these last remaining Jews returned from Egypt that were deported in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, and they are the ones who served the 70 years. Thus the 70 years did not begin until the last deportation in year 23 of Nebuchandezzar (Jer. 52:30) This is confirmed, of course, by Josephus who dates the 70 years of servitude prophesied by Jeremiah as being fulfilled by those last deportees. He also confirms that it was the Jews in Egypt who were deported in the 23rd year. (Ant. 11.1.1).

  And finally, while the WTS is incorrect as you noted about when Daniel was taken into exile, they are also incorrect in following the revised chronology for this period as far as the length of the rule of Nebuchadnezzar which the revised secular records state is only 43 years. In fact, 2 years were extracted from Nebuchadnezzar's reign in the revision. But the Bible confirms that he ruled for 45 years since in the 37th year of Jehoiachin was the accession year of Evil-Merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. As noted, since the 11th year of Zedekiah was also the 11th year of Jehoiachin's exile which was the same as the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar, there was an 8-year difference. (19-11=8). So year 37 would have been year 45 of Nebuchadnezzar!

  So that's a little more background for you in case you were looking closely at this information.

  Thanks, again, for noting this fine detail, it certainly shows the WTS is very much in the dark and embarassed by their false teachings.

  Cheerio,
  L.G.
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  cyberguy

  I posted this same finding about a 10 months ago on this board. But what you bring out shows a glaring inconsistency in Watchtower chronology!

  Thanks for bringing this out again.