Simply teaching the Bible, simply

DANIEL 2:1 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. The third year of Jehoiakim as we have already seen was 606 B.C. This was the year when Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem, besieged it and eventually took the choice captives back to Babylon including Daniel and his friends. Josephus records that it was while Nebuchadnezzar was in Palastine that he got word that his father, king Nebopolassar, had died. Thus to our way of reckoning, Nebuchadnezzar actually became king in the Autumn of 606 B.C. upon the death of his father. However the Babylonians (unlike the Jews) did not include the ascension year as part of the king’s reign. Thus for the Babylonians, the first year of a kings reign was counted from the first full year that he reigned. This makes 605B.C. king Nebuchadnezzar’s first year and 604 B.C. his second year. Daniel was taken to Babylon (as we have just noted) in 606 B.C. and we know from chapter one that he served a three-year apprenticeship before being presented to the king.