This book concerns one of the most earth-shaking events in the world's dark history: the end of the Babylonian Empire and the beginning of the Persian Empire in 539 BCE as recorded in Daniel 5 of the Bible.
Here in Daniel 5, one finds historical facts about this event that are not found anywhere else in all of the world's historical sources. This Daniel account is the only true, factual, verifiable historical account of the fall of Babylon. This book proves that beyond reasonable doubt.
This book was written in 1929. So why, one may ask, do almost all modern seminaries and university religion courses still confidently say that Daniel was written in the Maccabbean age -- about 160 BCE? Why does a popular website say "It is generally accepted that Daniel originated as a collection of Aramaic court tales later expanded by the Hebrew revelations?" How could that be -- and be accurate when all other historical accounts were inaccurate? What is the sociological vehicle whereby this unique, accurate account of the end of the Babylonian empire could be preserved in a collection of "Aramaic court tales?"
Unfortunately for these Biblical "experts", this book lays out the archaeological evidence in scholarly detail, and proves them wrong: proves the accuracy of the historical details of the Biblical account--those points that can be verified, of course-- the identity and existence of Belshazzar, and the position of Daniel as "third in the kingdom" being points most loudly disputed by these "higher" critical scholars.
To cut to the chase, let me just quote a concluding remark found on the book's last page, after exhaustively reviewing the factual data. It is on the last page, and in note #671 (!) which perhaps gives you an idea of how detailed is the book's analysis.
"The total information found in all available chronologically-fixed documents later than the cuneiform texts of the sixth century B. C. and prior to the writings of Josephus of the first century A. D. could not have provided the necessary material for the historical framework of the fifth chapter of Daniel... The view that the fifth chapter of Daniel originated in the Maccabaean age is discredited."
To emphasize: the details given here in Daniel 5 are found nowhere else in all of the world's known historical writings. The very silence of world history only serves to confirm the early, contemporary date of Daniel's writing--at least Chapter 5, the chapter that describes the fall of Babylon, and which is the only part of Daniel under discussion here. Archaeology shows that these details are accurate, too detailed to have been accidentally "lucked upon" and therefore this must have been recorded by a contemporary eye-witness, because the facts could not have been cribbed from another non-existent later source. The historicity of at least this part of Daniel is thus confirmed.
Despite the "odds" as calculated by self-assured scholars and critics, in this particular earth-changing event--the fall of the Babylonian Empire and the rise of the Persian Empire, the account in Daniel 5 is a unique and true historical account beyond all reasonable doubt. It is the only true contemporary account about this event in all of the historical accounts available anywhere in the world. This doesn't, of course, prove that the other portions of Daniel are factual contemporary accounts, particularly its dramatic prophecies about (then) future events, but it sure does cause some problems for those who loudly assert with "scholarly" fervor the late writing of Daniel.
By way of explanation: I chanced upon this book while editing a massive book on Old Testament History by Prof. Allan A. MacRae, which will (eventually) be available as a Kindle book. For another book of Dr. MacRae, see
Biblical Archaeology
.
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Top reviews from other countries
Steve Phillips
Not a light read, but full of valuable information.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2015
