een so _uniformly accurate_ in his narrative, without
having been in Babylon itself."

22. The objections urged against the book of Daniel are not of a nature
to overthrow the mass of evidence in its favor. They may be considered
under the following heads:

(1.) Various _chronological and historical difficulties_. It is said
that Jewish history knows no expedition of Nebuchadnezzar against
Jerusalem in the _third_ year of Jehoiakim. The answer is that an
expedition which apparently fell about this time is mentioned in 2 Kings
24:1. The actual capture of the city, however, seems not to have taken
place before the _fourth_ year of Jehoiakim; for Jeremiah, in a prophecy
dated in this fourth year, speaks in terms which imply that the
threatened blow had not yet fallen. Jer. 25:9. Perhaps Daniel, chap.
1:1, dates from the beginning of the expedition, so that it fell partly
in the third and partly in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. It was in
connection with this expedition of Nebuchadnezzar that he overthrew the
army of Pharaoh-necho at Carchemish on the Euphrates; for that event
also took place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. Jer. 46:2.

We learn from Berosus, as quoted by Josephus (Antiq. 10. 11. 1),
that when Nebuchadnezzar was engaged in this expedition, and had
already conquered the Egyptians, he received tidings that the
throne of Babylon was made vacant by the death of his father.
Upon this he hastened with his light troops across the desert to
Babylon, leaving the body of his army to return by the ordinary
route.

It is said again that the dates given in Jer. 25:1 and Dan, 2:1 cannot
be reconciled with each other. In the former of these the _first_ year
of Nebuchadnezzar is the fourth of Jehoiakim, in which year, or at all
events in the preceding year, Daniel with his three companions was taken
captive. Yet after they have been transported to Babylon and received an
education there extending through three years (Dan. 1:5), we find Daniel
interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream in the _second_ year of his reign.
To this it can be answered in part that in the second book of Kings and
in Jeremiah the years of Nebuchadnezzar are obviously reckoned from the
time when he was placed by his father, who was now old and infirm, at
the head of his army, the title of king being applied to him by way of
anticipation. 2 Kings 24:12; 25:8; Jer. 25:1. In the book of Daniel, on
the contrary, his years are re