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  • From: Ron Snider <sarasotapt AT comcast.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Darius the Mede
  • Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:58:25 -0400

The following represents the work I did in Daniel, addressing this subject of the identity of Darius.

1. Chapter nine begins with a chronological note that places this event just following the events of chapter 5.
2. The only real chronological question to be answered is how this chapter relates to Daniel 6.
a. The first year of Belshazzar. 553 BC
b. Chapter 7. 553 BC
c. Chapter 8. 551 BC
d. Chapter 5. 539 BC
e. Chapter 6 & 9 539-538 BC
3. The events of chapter six tend to suggest that Darius was still relatively new to the throne and that fact made him more easily manipulated by the unscrupulous commissioners and satraps.
4. Therefore, apart from further evidence, we will place this event during the same general time of chapter six, either just before or just following those events.
5. This chapter fits very well into the revealed practice of Daniel to pray three times each day. Dan. 6:10
6. We know from Daniel 6 and secular history that Babylon was taken without a fight by the shrewd plan of diverting the Euphrates and entering the city via the riverbed.
7. Xenophon concurs with Herodotus and relates how Cyrus engineered the surprise attack through the skillful leadership of his generals Gadatas and Gobryas. Cyropaedia 7.20
8. All the historians generally agree, despite minor variations in detail, that Babylon fell to the united forces of the Medes and Persians under the command of Cyrus.
9. This brings us to the problem of identifying Darius the Mede, who is unknown in history by that name.
10. Anyone that discusses this issue must necessarily base their arguments on a relative scarcity of factual material; therefore, the Word of God will be given more consideration than fragmentary records outside the Bible.
11. It must be emphasized that there is no established fact that contradicts a person by the name of Darius the Mede reigning over Babylon; those that suggest Daniel is in error must do so without proof.
12. Daniel states that Darius was definitely of Median descent, born to one Ahasuerus (Xerxes?), who is otherwise unknown, at least by this name. Dan. 9:1
13. Ahasuerus is the Hebrew name for Xerxes, which was a common name among the royalty of the Medes and the Persians, who often took several names.
14. Both passages in Daniel 5:31 and 9:1 state that the kingdom was conferred on him from some outside agent and that he did not win the right to rule Babylon by some conquest of his own. a. Dan. 5:31 Darius the Mede received the kingdom...
b. Dan. 9:1 employs a Hophal perfect, the causative passive stem, and should be translated was caused to rule.
15. Some have suggested that the term Darius is not a name, but an honorific derived from the Old Persian dialect and meant The Royal One.
16. However, Daniel does not seem to use the term Darius as a title, but it may have been used so much that it basically became a nickname that indicated that he was descended from royalty. Dan. 6:6,9
17. That a Mede was given the throne after the Medo-Persian conquest is consistent with the well-known practice of Cyrus of promoting goodwill and loyalty on the part of the Medes by choosing the ablest of them for high offices in the newly constituted Medo-Persian Empire.
18. Both Herodotus and Xenophon often referred to the officials and armies of Darius and Xerxes alternating the name Medes with the name Persians.
19. This brings us to two men that are often confused due to the similarity of their names, Ugbaru and Gubaru.
20. That they are distinctly separate persons is obvious since Ugbaru was known to have died during the year 539 BC.
21. He died less than a month after Babylon was captured on Oct. 12, 539 BC, losing his life to a fatal illness on Nov. 6, 539 BC.
22. The Nabonidus Chronicle and other texts of that era indicate that Gubaru (a.k.a. Darius) was appointed as ruler on Oct. 29, 539 BC and continued to reign for at least fourteen years.
23. This Gubaru appears as the governor of Babylon and Ebir-nari (the western domain of Chaldean sovereignty) in tablets dated from the fourth to the eighth year of Cyrus, and even as late as the fifth year of Cambyses. c. 525 BC
24. If this man was the uncle of Cyrus, this makes it altogether probable that he was appointed as the viceroy over Babylon for the purpose of bringing it into full submission and cooperation with the Medo-Persian Empire.
25. Gubaru/Gobryas/Darius was about 62 years old when he received his confirmation as the new king of the Babylonian portion of the empire under Cyrus.
26. He continued as ruler for some time although Cyrus probably took over the royal title at a solemn public coronation when he arrived in Babylon two years later.
27. Although Cyrus would have eventually been formally installed as ruler of Babylon, The Nabonidus Chronicle and other, cuneiform texts of that era indicate that Gubaru continued as governor of Babylon for at least fourteen years.

Regards,

Ron Snider







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