Introduction to Sefer Daniel
It is very exciting to begin a deep dive into Sefer Daniel! In brief, Sefer Daniel begins a few years before Churban Bayit Rishon and ends approximately seventy years later, at the start of the building of Bayit Sheini. I believe that the theme of Sefer Daniel is that Torah life continues despite the exile and that in the end Jews who remain loyal to Torah emerge as triumphant. As we progress in the Sefer, we will further develop this assessment.
We will be guided by (and often disagree with) the very interesting and somewhat out-of-the-box work on Sefer Daniel called “Daniel: Galut V’Hitgalut” (exile and revelation) written by the colorful Yeshivat Har Etzion Rosh Yeshiva Rav Yaakov Medan (the Sefer is archived at Har Etzion’s Virtual Beit Midrash).
Introduction to the Beginning of Sefer Daniel
In order to appreciate the opening two Pesukim of Sefer Daniel, it is vitally important to grasp the chain of events leading up to Churban Bayit Rishon.
1. 609 BCE2Please note we are setting forth the “secular” dates for these events. There is much to discuss as to their compatibility with Chazal’s dating of these events (vakma”l, it is a long discussion for another forum). – Babylonians put an end to the Assyrian Empire.
2. 609 BCE – 598 BCE: the eleven-year reign of disappointing Yehoyakim ben Yoshiyahu Melech Yehuda. Yehoyakim was installed as king by the Egyptians.
3. 605 BCE – Nevuchadnetzar succeeds his father as Babylonian Emperor.
4. 604 BCE – Nevuchadnetzar seizes control of Eretz Yisrael.
5. 601 BCE – Yehoyakim rebels against Nevuchadnetzar.
6. 598 BCE – After three years of Yehoyakim’s rebellion, Nevudchadnetzar lays siege to Yerushalayim and captures Yehoyakim (and installs Yehoyachin, Yehoyakim’s son, as Melech Yehuda).
Nevuchadnetzar and Year 3 of Yehoyakim’s Reign - The Problem
Daniel 1:1-2 teaches that Nevudchadnetzar laid siege to Yerushalayim and captured Yehoyakim in the third year of the latter’s reign. This assertion is especially troubling since Yirmiyahu 25:1 states that Nevuchadnetzar began his reign in the fourth year of Yehoyakim’s reign! This is a glaring Setirah/contradiction!!
Solutions - Seder Olam/Rashi and the Pashtanim
Rashi to Pasuk 1 solves our problem based on the Seder Olam3Seder Olam is Chazal’s timeline (as its name implies) from Creation until Alexander the Great’s Conquest of Persia. Seder Olam might be understood/interpreted as a Midrashic timeline.. Seder Olam/Rashi explain that the fourth year of Yehoyakim’s reign in Sefer Daniel 1:1 refers to the third year of Yehoyakim’s rebellion (which is the eleventh year of Yehoyakim’s reign and the eighth year of Nevuchadnetzar’s reign; i.e. 598 BCE).
The Pashtanim, including Ibn Ezra (to Pasuk 1), Abarbanel4The Abarbanel wrote extensively on Sefer Daniel. His commentary on Sefer Daniel is called Maayanei HaYeshua., and Malbim (to Pasuk 1), offer a different approach. Rav Medan5https://www.etzion.org.il/en/sefer-daniel-introduction summarizes their approach: “the siege did, in fact, take place in the fourth (or third) year of Yehoyakim's reign, as stated at the beginning of Sefer Daniel. To resolve the discrepancy between the two accounts, they explain that the two sources use two different dating systems, each with its own start of the year”.
Seder Olam/Rashi seems dramatically more compelling than the Pashatanim. It seems far-fetched, my TABC Talmidim note, to argue that different Sefarim in Tanach maintain different dating systems.
Developing Seder Olam/Rashi:
Sefer Melachim’s description of Yehoyakim’s very turbulent eleven-year reign (Melachim II 23:31-37 and 24:1-7) sheds much light on the logic of Rashi’s approach. It teaches that the three years of Yehoyakim’s rebellion (601 BCE to 598 BCE) are in fact the only years he reigned as a sovereign king. During the first eight years he was a vassal king of Egypt (from 609 BCE to 604 BCE) and Bavel (from 604 BCE to 601 BCE) and not a sovereign king.
Thus, the 598 BCE Babylonian siege on Yerushalayim may be described as occurring in the third year of the sovereign reign of Yehoyakim.
Conclusion – Why Sefer Daniel Opens with an Obscure Date
No matter how you “slice” it, dating the Bablylonian siege and its subsequent first wave of the exile of the Jews (of which the very young Daniel is part) to the third year of Yehoyakim’s reign is highly unusual. The question is why Sefer Daniel presents this date in such an obscure manner.
One possible answer is that Sefer Daniel begins with the very violent termination of the last spark of Jewish sovereign control over Eretz Yisrael which would cease for many centuries (until Hasmonean rule began in 165 BCE). Sefer Daniel teaches us how we can continue Torah life, meaning how we can retain control over our spiritual lives, even after we lose political control of our lives. While Jews in Sefer Daniel were no longer sovereign over Eretz Yisrael, Sefer Daniel teaches that every Jew must reign sovereign over his Neshama.
Moreover, an obscure date requiring interpretation surely is brilliantly fitting for Sefer Daniel. More than once Sefer Daniel reveals the “Keitz”, the “ETA” of the Melech HaMashi’ach. However, these “Keitz dates” are obscure and require considerable interpretation.
Finally, it is not just the Keitz that requires interpretation, in Sefer Daniel. The many dreams and visions in Sefer Daniel require authoritative interpretation. Interpretation is absolutely an essential element in Sefer Daniel. Thus, the obscure first Pasuk is the perfect opening for Sefer Daniel. The message might be that Jewish life in Galut hinges very much on the ongoing interpretation and application of Hashem’s word by the authoritative interpreters of each generation. This message is communicated by the fact that we cannot even understand the very first Pasuk of Sefer Daniel without authoritative interpretation.