Daniel’s Prayer for the People
9 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Daniel is most likely reading from Jeremiah 25 and 29 here, both of which contain prophecies regarding the captivity being for a specific time. In Chapter 25, Daniel would have read of the judgement being lad on the Israelites because of their apostacy and iniquity while in 29, they are told to build houses and plant vineyards because their captivity would be about 70 years. We have the date for the destruction of Jerusalem, in 587 BC and Darius issued a decree to have Israel become a client kingdom shortly after his conquest of Babylon in 539. This, however, was much more likely a measure to prevent the Israelite captives from rising up and there is little evidence that much occurred as a result. The text of this decree is recorded in Ezra 1 but although some returned, little work was done as there was political conflict over the idea of reestablishing an Israelitish nation. Ezra 6 records a second decree by Darius in which the temple, more specifically, should be reestablished which was completed in 516 BC; 71 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. No date for Darius’ decree exists but we should assume it was early in his reign, starting in 522BC.
It is possible that this is the same “Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes” that Daniel is referring to; although that would make Daniel an old man by this point; probably in his 80s. However, this Darius, known to History as Darius the Great, is recorded as being the son of Hystaspes, making this Darius impossible to date. However, as we have discussed previously, varying names were common in the Medo-Persian empire, and Hystaspes may have been a Median name for a Persian Satrap.
It also makes logical sense that this is the Darius that Daniel is referring to as he would have been present when he issued the decree that is referred to in Ezra 6. Although Daniel himself was in Babylon when Jerusalem was destroyed, Daniel would have known the time and, as he said here, could easily calculate the 70 years before the rebuilding. He also would have recognised that the establishment of a client kingdom and a central palace and temple were important steps to be completed before the full city could be established. He recognised, therefore, that the time was shortly at hand for all of Jerusalem to be rebuilt, which would be completed by the next king; Xerxes I but known to the Bible as Artaxerxes. The text of Artaxerxes’ decree is recorded in Ezra 7 and dates to 457 B.C.
3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
Daniel opens his prayer by acknowledging that God is the one who keeps His word, and it is we humans who do not. Daniel is speaking as one of the people, on behalf of the people he represents, to bring to God the acknowledgement that they have done the wrong thing. As the time for a reconciliation is coming close, Daniel has to take this opportunity to admit the wrong that they have done.
He makes clear that they have rebelled, left God’s judgements and not listened to Him. Furthermore, he also acknowledges that the judgement laid down on them is righteous, and that, “because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against” God, the punishment is well deserved. This captivity is because of their failings.
The book of Daniel represents the results of the prophets’ constant challenges to Israel and Judah that, if they kept Gods commandments, the bondage and sacrifice would not be necessary. In a strange way, Daniel here is acknowledging that his book should not exist; that his writings and experiences in Babylon are the result of God’s judgment on His people opposing Him repeatedly and that His mercy, while vast, must be tempered with righteous justice. Daniel is admitting that the people of the Most High have broken the covenant, while “God… keeps His covenant[s]”. Through this letter he will beg for forgiveness but not for a new covenant. Daniel may believe the covenant relationship can be repaired but he also admits that his people “have done wickedly and rebelled”. He includes himself in this and stipulates that this is his confession too.
It is my belief that the prophecies given to Daniel represent a new covenant made between God and His people that, as a result of their betrayal of the earlier covenant, now has no conditions and no options put on it. The chance they had to rule the world was lost almost as soon as they walked out of Egypt or into Cannan and they were now in bondage. As history shows, the Jews would not have their independence from other powers long, and for that brief space of time they were engrossed in a civil war. When John wrote the Revelation, which took up from where Daniel ended, there was no need for a covenant of the same style done with the Jews and Israelites. Covenants now were personal, as Paul said in Hebrews 10: “16 This is the covenant that I will make … says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them”. Covenants, after Christ’s sacrifice, are personal relationships between God and man, not corporate ones between God and peoples. As a result, the project of Salvation; the interactions between God and the individual, are the only covenant that truly matter, while God announces His plan for the world without giving mankind any stake in carrying it out. This is the new ‘faith’ that becomes a much more important factor after Christ’s incarnation while also retaining evidence that God can be trusted. As the very preservation of the Book of Daniel proves, we are able to trust God’s word because He is God and because He has spoken these things that must happen.
As an example, review carefully the next three chapters, written either in 536 or 556 BC, and what they spell out. They describe, in great detail, the next 500 years of history and are preserved for posterity. The events they explore happened in minute detail, but they were shrouded in mystery until the modern day. They would not be deciphered until recent times, but the historiography of their contents is impeccable. Even if we consider that the earliest copies of the book of Daniel that we have, circa 70-100 BC, are broadly the earliest date we have for the book of Daniel, the events described that could only have been prophetic at that time happened in meticulous detail, and these are events that nobody could reasonably have predicted. When Popilius Laenas took his walking stick and drew a circle in the sand around the most powerful man alive at that moment, nobody reasonably could have believed that Rome would have come out the victor; and what’s more, nobody would have predicted that such a power would fall so tremendously fast.
Through the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, God establishes a new form of covenant; laying down the facts of what He will do without the need of the individual to play a part in it happening. He gives us enough information for us to trust His word and that he will accomplish what is needed and insulates His purpose from our interference. As discussed in the last chapter, the corruption of the Babylonian Mysteries on Jewish and then Christian faith makes nobody today holy as God would have them; no Christian group whatsoever keeps true to God’s command and intention. This is what Daniel is recognising here. The “unfaithfulness” of the Jewish population before the Babylonian captivity, because they had “done wickedly and rebelled”, the world would be punished for millennia. As to how much of this Daniel knew is debatable, but in this prayer we see him starting to realise both what his people had done, and why God is now talking in such vague prose.
8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
Daniel is clear, there is no excuse for their sins. They knew the laws and prophets; they understood what was clearly presented and they are now living with the consequences. “[T]he curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned”. They brought this on themselves, and Daniel is admitting that they have neither excuse nor reason to ask for mercy. Daniel is comfortable calling this the worse catastrophe to befall God’s people; “for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.” Hyperbole? Only maybe.
13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!
Daniel clearly admits his fault and acknowledges that his people have made clear and explicit choices to turn away from their God. He has made it clear that this is their fault, not Gods, nobody else and what’s more is that , while this is the judgement of God, this is not God attacking them. “[T]he Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us” In other words, God has ceased to protect them from the disasters he has previously been shielding them from, and the natural laws of His world now have free reign. He has not made the disaster’s happen, per se, but as it says in Isiah 45, everything; good and bad, that exists does so because He created it, and He has the right to defend against it or let it happen. But as Daniel here makes clear, His protection is not for those who rebel against Him. “[W]e have sinned, we have done wickedly” even after He brought His “people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand”. They had all the evidence they could want that He was faithful to them, and yet they still betrayed Him.
16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
Daniel is desperately worried that Gods wrath will again be brought down against the Holy People, especially when you consider the has already had the events to 10, 11 and 12 relayed to him. Daniel knows that there are worse things yet to come, and he begs God to show mercy. He is pleading for his people as an intercessor and is desperate that God will see their plight. He acknowledges that they have no right to ask for anything, that they “do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies”, desperate for Him to hear them. Daniel has worked himself up into a wild frenzy begging God for an answer. “19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” The is a clear, grave, pain and desperation in this request that brings one to imagine Daniel an emotional wreck as he realises what God has promised and what God has given him to tell. This old man, looking back on his and his people’s sins and begging for forgiveness before their extermination.
We even would imagine he is desperately begging that the events of the last 2 chapters; the rise of the ‘Little Horn’ could possibly be averted in some way. He knows what that means, how important the daily sacrifice and intercession is and to have that be lost can only be because of the ultimate destruction of the people as well as the temple. Even here, while he is praying this prayer, the Levites have setup the temple in the Wilderness in Babylon so that the daily sacrifices can still be carried out. The destruction of Solomon’s temple did not stop the intercessory sacrifice, only the destruction of his people could. Now, when their bondage is about to be released, with the temple’s reconstruction underway, Daniel is realising just how much worse things can get. Of course he is desperately pleading with God to stay His hand.
The Seventy-Weeks Prophecy
20 Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, 21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. 23 At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:
God sent Gabriel to Daniel at the start of his prayer. From the very start, God recognised Daniel would be praying an emotional and distraught invocation for his people, and sent him the chief of angels to be there ready for his answer. How quicky he arrived and where he came from is not recorded, simply that God saw Daniel becoming distressed, and sent to him the one thing that would make clear to him that he is “greatly beloved;” answers. Daniel has so many questions, and Gabriel “informed … and talked with” Daniel to give him answers to the most pressing of his questions. This old man is still being comforted by the loving arms of his God, the two having walked through almost literal fire together before now coming to this end of their sufferings.
Gabriel does not, however, simply explain a few things to Daniel, but as stated “he informed me, and talked with me”. They had a conversation and it is worth some time to speculate on the other wonderful things that Gabriel and Daniel discussed. What else would they have talked about and what secrets did he explain that are not recorded like John the Revelator was not permitted to record the voices of the thunders in Revelation 10. Perhaps he was given answers to his questions of Daniel 12? We will not know this side of Heaven, and that, frankly, makes life much more interesting!
24 “Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
This cannot have been as comforting as it appears to us, on this side of history. Daniel is told that his people have a probatory period. Remembering our earlier discussion of a day-for-a-year, Daniel is told his people have 490 years to fix themselves up. 490 years to recognise what you have done wrong, fix it and to “seal up vision and prophecy”. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel are all testaments to the instructions God has given to fix themselves, this is God’s last chance. We will review the rest of the text and then piece it all together.
25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
They have 69 weeks – 483 years – to complete the rebuilding of Jerusalem “from … command” to do so, and then after that time “Messiah the Prince” will arrive. As discussed earlier in the chapter, the formal decree to rebuild Jerusalem itself, and not just the centre of worship or government, was Artaxerxes’ decree, recorded in Ezra 7, in 457 B.C. As stated, this was the third major declaration regarding Jerusalem; the first being to establish a colony and prepare for a client kingdom under Zerubbabel who returned with 42,360 jews; and the second to specifically rebuild the Temple. Daniel is being rather explicit here; not just talking about “Jerusalem” but also saying that “[t]he street shall be built again, and the wall” all necessary for the city and not, necessarily for the temple.
This decree is also important because it had attached to it the authority of the King to undertake the building work and find the resources necessary. Nothing would be withheld, this decree was all that the Jews needed to get wood, stone, Iron and all other goods needed to make a house to the Lord.
Taking our date, 457 BC, as the start point, gives us 27 AD as the date that Jesus would have begun his ministry; a date universally accepted by scholars. A mathematical point must be noted here, however, as to simply subtract 483 from 457 gives 26 and not 27. This is because under our system of counting the number 0 is included which is not possible in dating. There is no year 0 and so the year 1 BC is followed immediately by the year 1 AD. Christ’s birth dates to about 4BC and the start of his ministry, at 30 years old, at around 27 AD by modern scholarship.
The Jews are given 483 years to get themselves ready for the Messiah and he arrived perfectly on time.
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
“Messiah shall be cut off”. Daniel clearly struggled with these words, how does one describe the death of God? After the preparation time, the Messiah will be separated from God for His purpose; “not for Himself”. The moment Christ was Baptised, as described in Matthew 3, the Godhead was united on Earth for Jesus to take up his mission. And immediately he was driven into the wilderness to be tempted. He was cut off for the people and from his God to take up his role as Saviour and take on himself the sins of the world.
We must take issue with the punctuation and conjunctive words described in this NKJV translation. The semicolon after ‘Himself’ should, actually be a full-stop and the ‘And’ that follows should be an ‘after that,’ with an extra space before these words. It is not saying that the prince who is to come is the Messiah as can easily be misinterpreted, but rather that there is a prince to come following after the Messiah being cut off. In other words, it should read:
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.
After that, the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”
Daniel is not making the “Messiah” out to be the “prince who is to come” but is saying that the Messiah will come and following him will be this prince I’ve been referring to as the ‘Little Horn’. This prince who in Chapter 11 is referred to as the ‘He’ power, is the Roman Empire that, as discussed in the last chapter, will actually and finally destroy the city and the Sanctuary. Daniel is trying to say that how the messiah is treated will have a big impact on how and if that destruction will happen. Daniel makes clear that the power that comes will be as impossible to resist as a “flood” and “desolations” will follow quickly, aggressively and as a result of the Jews choices.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”
The ’He’ therefore, is Christ, who spent the time establishing the new covenant and died in the middle of that period. Jesus’ ministry before his death only lasted about 3.5 years; half a prophetic week, and with his death, “sacrifice and offering” became no longer necessary. If something is no longer necessary, it should, obviously, come to an end. It is only when we look in detail at the dates that the new covenant becomes fully realised;
60 Weeks = 490 Years
69 Weeks (62 + 9 Weeks) = 483 Years
457 BC + 483 Years = 27 AD – the year Jesus’ ministry began
27 AD + 3.5 years = 30/31 AD – the approximate year that Jesus died.
30/31 AD + 3.5 years = 33 – 36 AD – the approximate dates that Stephen was stoned, generally accepted to be 34 AD.
When we construct these dates together, we gain a much fuller understanding of the purpose of Daniel’s 70 weeks and, arguably, that his worst fears were to be realised.
Daniel was told that “24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city,” during which time they must “… finish … transgression, … make an end of sins, … make reconciliation for iniquity,” and “bring in everlasting righteousness”. This is their last chance to retain their place as the chosen people. They have a deadline to meet and must build the city for “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” after “the command To restore and build Jerusalem”, “Messiah the Prince” will come. In “the middle of the” last “week”, “He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering” by dieing. But with his death he will “confirm a covenant with many”. Who that many is was up to the Jewish people. If they turn against their “transgression, … sins,” and “iniquity,” that covenant will be with the Israelites but if not, the gospel will go to another group. “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city” to make a choice and follow through on it. For the Israelites, this was their very last chance.
As we know, their choice was made. They looked to their own strength, their own leaders and not to God for help and support. They made deals with idolaters and gentiles, “And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate”. The Roman Republic conquered Jerusalem and polluted the temple. The Roman Empire destroyed the temple and the Holy City before it too was destroyed. Daniel made clear that this desolating power would, itself, have “the consummation… poured out on” it. The power that destroyed the Holy City would not last forever either, that was promised, but it would outlive the Jewish nations.
Christmas and the Magi
In the Christmas story, so widely known, a selection of senior officials named ‘Magi’ appear at the birth of Jesus to honour and worship him. Matthew alone records the arrival of visitors from afar who visit King Herrod, a Roman client king who was highly paranoid of losing his position, before searching for where the star led them. The star, the host of angels that sang to the shepherds to herald Christ’s incarnation was foretold to them and they followed it from their homes to honour and worship the promised messiah.
Matthew’s gospel presents Christ as a King on earth; each of the gospels having a different way of describing Christ, and he includes this reference as a king’s birth should be celebrated by high officials and senior men. Mark presents Christ as a slave, whose birth is therefore not recorded, Luke as a good man to whom such exalted officials would not concern themselves with and John presents Christ as God who was everlasting. The arrival of these ‘kings’, therefore, is recorded in Matthew’s narrative alone because this is the only one where it fits as a part of the story.
The Magi themselves are an accepted part of the Christmas story that warrants some further scrutiny. Described as “wise men from the East”, the Magi were most likely Persian Zoroastrian priests who had spent time studying the Jewish scriptures like most ancient cultures did. Modern religions are so heavily divided, especially in the western world and especially amongst the wide variety of disparate Protestant groups, that it is easy for people today to assume that this is how it has always been. In fact, ancient priesthoods accepted that the Gods presented themselves to different groups in similar ways but using local names and should be respected as such. Any cursory overview of the Roman and Greek pantheons will see a multitude of similarities between such divine hierarchies.
The Magi studied the scriptures of all the religions that they came into contact with, and if the events between Daniel and the Babylonian kings are to be believed, his writings especially would have been respected as the influence of a foreign God in local matters. When they arrived before Herrod, the Magi quoted Michah 5:2 in Matthew 2:6;
“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.”
The fact that they were able to quote a minor prophet, dead long before the Babylonian captivity indicates the keen interest these foreign scholars approached the Jewish scriptures with. If we conclude that their studies of the minor prophet were so diligent, a more major prophet known to them such as Daniel most certainly did not miss their attention. The text recorded here in chapter 9 is explicit, clear and, relatively, easy to understand and for experienced wise men, they should have had little trouble understanding when the time came due. This is why they were searching for his star, and so confident that the King of the Jews was born.
However, this raises a question; why is this prophecy so much easier to understand and analyse compared to the others? This has defined start and end points, an explicit timeline – albeit somewhat shrouded in symbolic language – and a clear purpose. While we have, generally in hindsight, determined start and end points for other prophecies in Daniel and Revelation, this one is highly explicit. Why has God chosen to give such revelation in such a detailed way?
The answer is found in Matthew’s story. As is often retold, Herrod’s wrath was kindled when the wise men did not return to him, and he sent soldiers to go “forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.” But Joseph, spoken to by an angel in a dream, had escaped to Egypt to nurture and protect him. This, again, fulfilled a minor prophet’s words as Hosea had said “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
But Egypt was far off and traveling with a young family is an expensive and dangerous endeavour. Mary and Joseph were both of King David’s line, but that was generations earlier and their poverty is demonstrated by Christ’s birth in the manger. We know there was no room in the inn, but we can also infer that there was also no gold in Joseph’s purse to attempt to bribe his way to better lodgings or rent a more prestigious apartment. The journey to Egypt required gold, and gold, frankincense, and myrrh were the gifts presented by the Magi to the young family.
These also had important symbolic significances. Gold represents the riches and dignities due to a King, Frankincense the sweet-smelling incense burned on the altar to represent prayers ascending and Myrrh an embalming oil to symbolise the death he would die for all mankind who would accept his gift. They are highly important, but in the immediacy and urgency of the moment these are also highly liquid assets. The incenses can easily be sold and turned into cash and gold was universal, giving them the fund to properly support their life in the foreign country.
God had provided for Joseph and Mary to protect their little charge in his infancy. We do not know how long they were there, and with Herrod’s death shortly after Christ’s birth, it is possible that as quickly as they had made the arduous journey they had to return just as quickly to present Mary and the Child to the temple after the 40 days of her impurity. The events of Luke 2; with Simeon seeing Jesus and therefore being willing to rest, may have taken place immediately after Joseph and Mary had raced to and from Egypt. At the time, the journey would have taken 3-5 days depending on the speed of the caravan they travelled with, and so a return journey over 40 days is not unreasonable.
What is also unsaid is the amount of the gifts given to the trio. Although we know Joseph was a carpenter, the guild system, called ‘Collegium’ by the Romans, may have made it difficult for him to get skilled work in Egypt. If they were there longer, the amount of precious elements could have supported them, and may have fetched a higher price in Egypt where embalming was commonplace. Any money left over may well have been used to purchase copies of scriptures to educate Jesus, although this is unlikely. We know that his education was stellar as he amazed the scholars when he attended the Passover at 12, Luke 2, but how he came to this knowledge is usually only put down to his divinity. It is unlikely that Mary or Joseph could read or write extensively, but if they had been furnished with such wealth and knowing the identity of their child, they may have chosen to invest in copies of the scriptures and encouraged Jesus to learn to read at their synagogue. This is conjecture, but a valid hypothesis for the parents of the Living God.
Daniel 9 is an integral part of the Christmas story. Without it, there is no reason for wise men to be searching for a star. Without them, the recognition of a king cannot take place. Without the gifts given from one Magi to another, Mary and Joseph have little to survive on when they must flee Herod. Without the Magi, Herod has nothing to arouse his paranoia. The Magi’s place in the Christmas story proves the historiography of Daniel by its association, and that the time Daniel described was accurate. Furthermore, this reinforces the accuracy of the Day-Year principle; for Jesus arrived exactly on time and those who proved it were foreign scholars.