Division of Babylon: Medes and Persians (Ptolemies, Seleucids)
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN
This is what these words mean: Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end. Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up. Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
During the third year of King Jehoiakim’s reign (r. 609-598 BC) in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (r. 605-562 BC) came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives.
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah. The chief of staff renamed them with these Babylonian names: Daniel was called Belteshazzar. Hananiah was called Shadrach. Mishael was called Meshach. Azariah was called Abednego.
Daniel seems to have been born into an unidentified family of Judean nobility somewhat prior to King Josiah’s reformation in 621 BC when he sent workers to repair the Temple in Jerusalem.
Josiah’s reign of thirty-one years ended with his death in Battle at Megiddo fought between the armies of Necho II of Egypt and King Josiah of Judah in 609 BC.
Many years later King Belshazzar, son of and coregent with Nabonidus (r. 553-539 BC) ascended as the last king of the Babylonian Empire.
Belshazzar is believed to have been killed in 539 BC when the Persians and Medes conquered Babylon at the hands of the Cyrus the Great. Darius the Mede, son of Hystaspes, took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
King Cyrus, claiming the title King of Babylon, decreed religious freedom and the restoration of national shrines.
Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius the Great (r. 522-486 BC) and King Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC). He remained in the royal service until the first year of the reign of King Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
The Persian army clashed with the Babylonians at Opis while in the city, King Nabonidus seems to have quelled a popular uprising with much bloodshed.
Xerxes (r. 486-465 BC) succeeded to the throne of the Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia upon the death of his father, Darius the Great. His mother was Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus the Great.
King Xerxes was considered man of weak abilities given to reliance upon the advice and opinions of courtiers and eunuchs. After suppressing the revolt in Egypt with great violence and destruction he levied a navy from Egypt and his Greek allies, and began to formulate plans to invade Attica. His Phoenician subjects ferried his army across the Hellespont on a double bridge of boats and from there the Persian forces, made up of contingents from nearly fifty nations, marched and captured Athens.
The tide of war turned swiftly when Xerxes’ great fleet was annihilated at the naval Battle of Salamis 480 BC. Xerxes again exhibited his insecurity of character by putting his admiral and brother, Ariabignes, to death and causing the desertion of his naval forces. His commander in Greece, Mardonius, negotiated with Athens to no avail.
It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of Xerxes, who became king of the Babylonians.
We have not obeyed the Lord our God, Daniel prayed, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets.
Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees.
And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.”
When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling. Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!”
As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, “Please speak to me, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”
He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece will come. Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one helps me against these spirit princes except Michael, your spirit prince.
Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever. But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.”
I heard what he said, but I did not understand what he meant. So I asked, “How will all this finally end, my lord?”
But he said, “Go now, Daniel, for what I have said is kept secret and sealed until the time of the end.
Ptolemy I seized Jerusalem on Sabbath (379 BC) and his descendants maintained control of Palestine until 198 BC when Antiochus III took control of Israel and Southern Syria (223-187 BC).
Old Testament Palestine formed a narrow land bridge which laid mid-way along vital trade routes linking the rival civilisations of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The crossroads position of the Palestinian land bridge between Eurasia and Africa in the Middle East is sufficiently obvious to justify the 13th-century map makers in their decision to show Jerusalem as the center of the world.
Ptolemy I Soter took control of Egypt in 322 BC after the death of Alexander the Great. He retrieved Alexander's body as it was en route to be buried in Macedon, placing it in Memphis instead, where it was later moved to Alexandria in a new tomb.
Ptolemy also commanded the construction of the Library of Alexandria and of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
His dynasty continued until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC.
During the Ptolemaic period, tax farming for Palestine was in the hands of the influential family of the Tobiads whose land base was in Transjordan in the area of Ammon. At the head of the Jerusalem gerousia was the high priest, a hereditary office held, at that time, by the family of Onias. Political leadership and land ownership are thus in the hands of a small group of influential clans
While the Ptolemies ruled in Egypt, the Seleucids gained control of most of the area previously held by the Persian Empire.
Seleucus I, a Macedonian commander in Alexander's army, became governor of the province of Babylon in 321 BC. His dynasty ruled until 64 BC.
Like the Ptolemies, the Jews retained their customs and religion under Seleucid rule.
