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<p>We have in these verses an account,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. Of the first descent which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, made upon Judah and Jerusalem, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, and his success in that expedition (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.1.1,Dan.1.2" href="/passage/?search=Dan.1.1,Dan.1.2"><span class="bibleref" title="Dan.1.1">Dan. 1:1</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Dan.1.2">2</span></a>): He <i>besieged Jerusalem</i>, soon made himself master of it, seized the king, took whom he pleased and what he pleased away with him, and then left Jehoiakim to reign as tributary to him, which he did about eight years longer, but then rebelled, and it was his ruin. Now from this <i>first</i> captivity most interpreters think the seventy years are to be dated, though Jerusalem was not destroyed, nor the captivity completed, till about nineteen years after, In that first year Daniel was carried to Babylon, and there continued the whole seventy years (see <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.1.21" href="/passage/?search=Dan.1.21">Dan. 1:21</a>), during which time all nations shall serve Nebuchadnezzar, and his son, and his son’s son, <a class="bibleref" title="Jer.25.11" href="/passage/?search=Jer.25.11">Jer. 25:11</a>. This one prophet therefore saw within the compass of his own time the rise, reign, and ruin of that monarchy; so that it was <i>res unius aetatis—the affair of a single age</i>, such short-lived things are the kingdoms of the earth; but the kingdom of heaven is everlasting. The righteous, that see them taking root, shall <i>see their fall</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.5.3,Prov.29.16" href="/passage/?search=Job.5.3,Prov.29.16"><span class="bibleref" title="Job.5.3">Job 5:3</span>; <span class="bibleref" title="Prov.29.16">Prov. 29:16</span></a>. Mr. Broughton observes the proportion of times in God’s government since the coming out of Egypt: thence to their entering Canaan forty years, thence seven years to the dividing of the land, thence seven Jubilees to the first year of Samuel, in whom prophecy began, thence to this first year of the captivity seven seventies of years, 490 (ten Jubilees), thence to the return one seventy, thence to the death of Christ seven seventies more, thence to the destruction of Jerusalem forty years.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. The improvement he made of this success. He did not destroy the city or kingdom, but did that which just accomplished the first threatening of mischief by Babylon. It was denounced against Hezekiah, for showing his treasures to the king of Babylon’s ambassadors (<a class="bibleref" title="Isa.39.6,Isa.39.7" href="/passage/?search=Isa.39.6,Isa.39.7"><span class="bibleref" title="Isa.39.6">Isa. 39:6</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Isa.39.7">7</span></a>), that the treasures and the children should be carried away, and, if they had been humbled and reformed by this, hitherto the king of Babylon’s power and success should have gone, but <i>no further</i>. If less judgments do the work, God will not send greater; but, if not, he will heat the furnace seven times hotter. Let us see what was now done. 1. The vessels of the sanctuary were carried away, <i>part</i> of them, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.1.2" href="/passage/?search=Dan.1.2">Dan. 1:2</a>. They fondly trusted to the temple to defend them, though they went on in their iniquity. And now, to show them the vanity of that confidence, the temple is first plundered. Many of the holy vessels which used to be employed in the service of God were taken away by the king of Babylon, those of them, it is likely, which were most valuable, and he brought them as trophies of victory to the <i>house of his god</i>, to whom, with a blind devotion, he gave praise of his success; and having appropriated these vessels, in token of gratitude, to his god, he <i>put them in the treasury</i> of his temple. See the righteousness of God; his people had brought the images of other gods into his temple, and now he suffers the vessels of the temple to be carried into the treasuries of those other gods. Note, When men profane the vessels of the sanctuary with their sins it is just with God to profane them by his judgments. It is probable that the treasures of the king’s house were rifled, as was foretold, but particular mention is made of the taking away of the <i>vessels of the sanctuary</i> because we shall find afterwards that the profanation of them was that which filled up the measure of the Chaldeans’ iniquity, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.5.3" href="/passage/?search=Dan.5.3">Dan. 5:3</a>. But observe, It was only <i>part of them</i> that went now; some were left them yet upon trial, to see if they would take the right course to prevent the carrying away of the remainder. See <a class="bibleref" title="Jer.27.18" href="/passage/?search=Jer.27.18">Jer. 27:18</a>. 2. The children and young men, especially such as were of noble or royal extraction, that were sightly and promising, and of good natural parts, were carried away. Thus was the iniquity of the fathers visited upon the children. These were taken away by Nebuchadnezzar, (1.) As trophies, to be made a show of for the evidencing and magnifying of his success. (2.) As hostages for the fidelity of their parents in their own land, who would be concerned to conduct themselves well that their children might have the better treatment. (3.) As a seed to serve him. He took them away to train them up for employments and preferments under him, either out of an unaccountable affectation, which great men often have, to be attended by foreigners, though they be blacks, rather than by those of their own nation, or because he knew that there were no such witty, sprightly, ingenious young men to be found among his Chaldeans as abounded among the youth of Israel; and, if that were so, it was much for the honour of the Jewish nation, as of an uncommon genius above other people, and a fruit of the blessing. But it was a shame that a people who had so much wit should have so little wisdom and grace. Now observe, [1.] The directions which the king of Babylon gave for the choice of these youths, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.1.4" href="/passage/?search=Dan.1.4">Dan. 1:4</a>. They must not choose such as were deformed in body, but comely and well-favoured, whose countenances were indexes of ingenuity and good humour. But
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<p class="tab-1">III. A particular account of Daniel and his fellows. They were of the <i>children of Judah</i>, the royal tribe, and probably of the house of David, which had grown a numerous family; and God told Hezekiah that of the children that should <i>issue from him</i> some should be taken and made eunuchs, or chamberlains, <i>in the palace of the king of Babylon</i>. The <i>prince of the eunuchs</i> changed the names of Daniel and his fellows, partly to show his authority over them and their subjection to him, and partly in token of their being naturalized and made Chaldeans. Their Hebrew names, which they received at their circumcision, had something of God, or Jah, in them: <i>Daniel—God is my Judge; Hananiah—The grace of the Lord; Mishael—He that is the strong God; Azariah—The Lord is a help</i>. To make them forget the God of their fathers, the guide of their youth, they give them names that savour of the Chaldean idolatry. <i>Belteshazzar</i> signifies the <i>keeper of the hidden treasures of Bel; Shadrach</i>—The <i>inspiration of the sun</i>, which the Chaldeans worshipped; <i>Meshach</i>—<i>Of the goddess Shach</i>, under which name Venus was worshipped; <i>Abed-nego</i>, The <i>servant of the shining fire</i>, which they worshipped also. Thus, though they would not force them from the religion of their fathers to that of their conquerors, yet they did what they could by fair means insensibly to wean them from the former and instil the latter into them. Yet see how comfortably they were provided for; though they suffered for their fathers’ sins they were preferred for their own merits, and the land of their captivity was made more comfortable to them than the land of their nativity at this time would have been.</p>
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