DANIEL—AN ANCIENT BOOK FOR MODERN TIMES /Daniel 5 - The historical anchoring of the book of Daniel.

Almost everyone will agree that we live in difficult times. On a daily basis, news reports bombard us with grim reminders that human society is sinking into a quagmire of perplexing problems.
The prophetic portions of Daniel build faith and brings hope and safety by showing that Jehovah knows the course of history centuries—even millenniums—in advance. For example, Daniel provides details concerning the rise and fall of world powers from the time of ancient Babylon right down to “the time of the end.” (Daniel 12:4) Daniel directs our attention to the Kingdom of God in the hands of His appointed King and associate “holy ones,” pointing to it as the government that will endure forever.

Although the book of Daniel was written thousands of years ago, it has the vital information for today’s world. The prophet Daniel received words from God about the kingdoms that shaped world history. As a result of these dreams and visions, Daniel also learned the key identifying characteristics of the Antichrist.

This lecture covers Daniel 5 from a historical and archeological perspective. Do we have extra Biblical proof that the book of Daniel was written before any of the prophesied events took place?
The Greek historian Xenophon describes a Median king, whom he calls Cyaxares II, who corresponds very closely to Daniel’s Darius the Mede.
The view that Cyaxares II is Darius the Mede was the standard Jewish and Christian interpretation from Josephus and Jerome until Keil in the 1870s.
It was abandoned after cuneiform inscriptions were discovered that seemed to support Herodotus’ account of the accession of Cyrus, which does not allow for the existence of Xenophon’s Cyaxares II.
Anderson, 2016.