Commentary on Daniel, Chapter 9 · Doctrines 1 · Question 51
Quest. 51. Of the yeares of the Persian kings in particular, to make vp the said summe of an 130. yeares, and first of the yeares to the finishing of the Temple.
For the more euident manifestation hereof, we will diuide the Persian Monarchie into two parts: the time before the reedifying of the Temple, and the time that followed thence to the ende of the Persian Monarchie: for the first. It is euident in that the Angel diuideth 7. weekes from the 62. weekes, that 7. weeks making 49. yeares are set apart for that time, while the worke of building the Temple and citie was interrupted, vntounto the 6. of Darius, when the Temple was finished: But in the casting of these yeares there is some difference.
1. Lyranus giueth vntounto Cyrus and Cambyses 9. yeares, to Assuerus 40. and then followeth Darius in whose sixt the Temple was finished. Here the time somewhat agreeth: but then one king is here committed, for Artaxerxes Longimanus, who was also Darius, was the fift king of Persia.
2. Burgensis thus accounteth out of Raimundus, Darius the Mede raigned 2. yeares, Cyrus 30. Cambyses his sonne called also Assuerus 14. yeares, and then Darius 6. yeares, which make 52. yeares, in whose 2. the Temple beganne to be built, and so we hauehave 48. yeares to the beginning of the reedifying of the Temple: But here one king is likewise omitted as before: for Darius in whose 6. yeare the Temple was finished, called also Artaxerxes Longimanus, was not the fourth, but the fift king of Persia: againe, if Assuerus the husband of Esther, raigned but 14. yeares, who in the 7. yeare married Esther, c. 2. 16. how could Darius supposed to be her sonne by Assuerus in the 2. of his raigne hauehave wife and children, as Ezra. 6. 10. the Iewes are willed to pray for the kings life and his sonnes.
3. Bullinger counteth but 30. yeares from Cyrus first, vntounto the 6. of Darius: but herein is his error, he taketh this Darius for Darius the sonne of Hystaspis, the third king of Persia, whereas this Darius was the fift.
4. Iunius likewise affirmeth, that the Temple beganne to be built 30. yeares before the 2. of Darius, annotat. in 2. Hag. edition. 1. But there could not be so fewe yeares to Darius Longimanus: and Iunius to make his account good, omitteth Xerxes, who is famously knowne to hauehave beene king of Persia.
5. The same Iunius in his annotations vponupon the same place, in his last edition, counteth 106. yeares frō Cyrus to the 3. of Darius Nothus: but that cannot be: for seeing some were aliue then, which had seene the first Temple, Hagg. 2. 4. they must then be at the least an 180. yeare old: 106. from Cyrus, and 70. yeare befor from the beginning of the captiuitie in the 8. yeare of Nebuchadnezzars raigne, in whose 19. yeare the Temple was destroyed: the summe will be 176 yeares: and they could not be of fewer yeares then 10. or 12. to remember any thing of the first Temple: But this was too great an age for those times.
6. Some giuing but an 130. yeares in all to the Persian Monarchie, doe count 30. yeares from Cyrus first vntounto Xerxes warre against the Grecians, which was sixe yeares after Darius death, and from thence Artaxerxes Longimanus began to raigne 42. yeares, partly alone, & partly together with his father before: and afterward followed Darius Nothus, whom some call Darius Ochus, H. Br. proleg. in Dantel: but by this reckoning, there will not be 49. yeares to the 6. of Darius who was Artaxerxes Longimanus.
7. Beroaldus finding so great vncertaintie in the yeares of the Persian kings, thinketh that though the particular yeares cannot be set downe, yet the whole time of the Persian Monarchie could not exceede an 130. yeares.
8. But though I consent therein to Beroaldus, for the exact scanning of the particular yeares, yet some coniecturall gesse may be made of the yeares of some of the Persian kings put together: as it is agreed vponupon by the most, that Cyrus and Cambyses raigned together 9. yeares, then Darius Hystaspis and Xerxes might hauehave the first 14. the other 20. which with Darius sixe, and Cyrus and Cambyses nine make 49. yeares: but how these yeares should be exactly diuided among these 3. kings, it cannot be certainely set downe, because the sonne raigned with the father: and as Xerxes raigne ranne within his fathers, so Artaxerxes his sonne raigned also in his fathers time: this shall be further shewed in the question following.