The third year.. of Jehoiakim] presents a historical difficulty at the outset. Nebuchadnezzar's supremacy over Palestine dated from the battle of Carchemish (605 b.c.). This battle took place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 46:2), which is also called, the first year of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25:1). The first question is how Nebuchadnezzar could be king of Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim, The monumental evidence, however, makes it probable that the first year of Nebuchadnezzar coincided partly with the third and partly with the fourth year of Jehoiakim, so that the statements of Daniel 1:1 and Jeremiah 25:1 may both be correct. The second and more serious difficulty is as to a siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in Jehoiakim's third year. The chastisement of Jehoiakim by 'bands of the Chaldeans' (2 Kings 24:1-2) took place when he revolted after serving Nebuchadnezzar for three years, i.e, not earlier than his seventh year. It is said in 2 Chronicles 36:5-6 that Nebuchadnezzar bound-Jehoiakim in fetters to carry him to Babylon, and also took away the vessels of the house of the Lord, but there is no indication of the date of these events, while it appears from Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 36:9; Jeremiah 36:29, that in the fourth, and even in the fifth year of Jehoiakim a siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was still a thing of the future. It has been thought possible that Nebuchadnezzar may have followed up his victory at Carchemish by a rapid excursion southwards, during which Jehoiakim may have averted attack by a timely submission, and a gift of captives and sacred vessels, and that this may be referred to in the words 'Nebuchadnezzar came up' (2 Kings 24:1). This, however, is very doubtful. It is much more probable that the writer of Daniel mistook the three years of Jehoiakim's submission to Babylon (2 Kings 24:1) for the first three years of his reign, and placed the invasion of 2 Chronicles 36:5-6 in the last of the three.
Nebuchadnezzar] For the spelling see Intro.