Author Greg S. Baker

Jerusalem in Daniel's day was nothing like it is now or even during both King David's and King Solomon's reign. The Jerusalem in Daniel's day was mostly built by King Hezekiah.

It was Hezekiah who expanded Jerusalem from the City of David to include the Western Hill as depicted on the map. He extended the wall to encompass much of the western hill and even extended the wall down the slope on the east side of the city. He built the temple mount up so that it was level, allowing for more people to gather near the temple.

In King David's day, Jerusalem was only the narrow ridge of Mt. Zion. It was fairly small. David's son, Solomon, expanded the city north to Mt. Moriah and built the temple. But it was Hezekiah who more than tripled the size of the city. Eventually, this was the city that Nebuchadnezzar raised and destroyed.

Babylon in Daniel’s day was a city under construction. Nebuchadnezzar’s father, King Nabopolassar, had freed Babylon from Assyrian rule and even went so far as to conquer Nineveh and push the Assyrians farther and farther away. It was Nebuchadnezzar, while still the crown prince, who ultimately defeated the Assyrians utterly.

But both Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar were builders. Being very religious, they wanted to make Babylon the greatest city on earth. They undertook massive construction projects, the most noticeable ones were the Etemenanki ziggurat to Marduk, the famous Ishtar Gate, the moat that surrounded the entire city, and of course the Hanging Gardens.

Though there is some debate if the Hanging Gardens ever existed in Babylon, the other achievements are well documented. When Nebuchadnezzar came to power, he continued his father’s work on expanding and building the city. In Daniel’s day, much of the city was still under construction, especially the Ishtar Gate and the Professional Way. Perhaps even the ziggurat was still under some construction. Nebuchadnezzar built two more palaces, built an outer wall to the east of the city, and cut more channels for moats. In Daniel’s day, much of that wasn’t finished until later in his life…including the Hanging Gardens.

In comparison to Jerusalem, Babylon was likely 16 times larger. It would have been a wonder to the Hebrew children seeing it for the first time.

In Daniel’s Day, Solomon’s original temple had gone through some repairs and revisions from what Solomon had built. Several kings of Judah, including Hezekiah and Josiah, expanded and repaired the temple. King Hezekiah not only repaired the temple, but he built up the area around the temple, bringing it to a level platform so that more people could gather before the temple. Before he did this, the temple was accessible only by climbing the slopes of Mt. Moriah—a fact that likely gave birth to many of the Ascension Psalms.

After Hezekiah’s expansion, one still had to go “up” to the temple, but once there, he would find a large, flat platform that could accommodate a lot more people. Other improvements included a storage house built around three sides of the temple, housing for priests and scribes, and repairs to the temple itself. King Josiah even removed the ark of the covenant so that repairs could take place.

It was ultimately this temple that Nebuchadnezzar raised to the ground and destroyed. The temple built in its place, some 70 to 90 years later by Ezra and Zerubbabel was smaller and not nearly so grand. But it wasn’t until King Herod, before Jesus’ birth, that the temple was rebuilt and greatly expanded (known as Herod’s Temple), creating porches all the way around the temple. The Roman prince Titus destroyed Herod’s Temple in 70 AD to chastise the Jews who had rebelled against Roman rule.