Daniel 9:1

1 "Darius, son of Ahasuerus, born a Mede, became king over the land of Babylon.

Daniel 9:1 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 9:1

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed
of the Medes
This is the same with Darius the Median, that took the kingdom after the death of Belshazzar; so called, to distinguish him from Darius the Persian; and yet Porphyry has the gall to assert that this was Darius the Persian, under whom the temple was built, that Daniel might appear to live later than he did: Ahasuerus, whose son he was, is not he that was the husband of Esther, and was many years later than this; but the same with Astyages king of the Medes, and who is called Ahasuerus, in the Apocrypha:

``But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus: and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve.'' (Tobit 14:15)

the father of Cyaxares, the same with this Darius, who was uncle to Cyrus that conquered Babylon, and made him king of it, and of the whole empire; for this was not the first year of his reign over Media, where he had reigned many years before, but over Chaldea, as follows: which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
by Cyrus his nephew; who having taken Babylon, and settled his affairs, undertook a journey to Persia, and made Media in his way; where he met with his uncle Cyaxares, the same with this Darius, and delivered the kingdom of Babylon to him, and married his daughter, with whom he had for her dowry the kingdom of Media, as Xenophon ^F25 relates. Now it was in the first year of his reign over the Chaldeans that Daniel had the following vision of the seventy weeks; which, according to Bishop Usher ^F26 and Mr. Whiston ^F1, was in the year of the world 3467 A.M. and 537 B.C. Dean Prideaux ^F2 places it in the year 538; and Mr. Bedford ^F3 in the year 536.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 36.
F26 Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3467.
F1 Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
F2 Connexion part 1. p. 125, 128.
F3 Scripture Chronology, p. 711.

Daniel 9:1 In-Context

1 "Darius, son of Ahasuerus, born a Mede, became king over the land of Babylon.

2 In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was meditating on the Scriptures that gave, according to the Word of God to the prophet Jeremiah, the number of years that Jerusalem had to lie in ruins, namely, seventy.

3 I turned to the Master God, asking for an answer - praying earnestly, fasting from meals, wearing rough penitential burlap, and kneeling in the ashes.

4 I poured out my heart, baring my soul to God, my God:

5 Yet we have sinned in every way imaginable. We've done evil things, rebelled, dodged and taken detours around your clearly marked paths.