Seventy Years of Babylonian Rule

from Google Images

The traditional dates for the beginning of Jeremiah’s Seventy Years Prophecy and the return from captivity cannot be reconciled with the claims of the Bible. A seventh century captivity is at odds with our using Cyrus as the king who issued the decree to release the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. In such a case, scholars have sought to reconcile this error by using Artaxerxes instead of Cyrus, but all Artaxerxes did was reaffirm what Cyrus had written in the beginning. Daniel’s prophecy clearly points to Cyrus, as God’s agent in this matter (cp. Isaiah 44:28; 45:1), but the chronology of current ancient history forbids our using him for this purpose. Nevertheless, I intend to continue on the assumption that Cyrus is this figure and that future studies will show reasonable evidence that this is the correct choice.

It was in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came and made Judah the servant of Babylon (Jeremiah 25:1). It was during this time that Daniel was taken to Babylon as a hostage (Daniel 1:1-7).[1] From Jeremiah 46:2 we also see that the year that Babylon conquered Egypt was Nebuchadnezzar’s first year as king of Babylon (cp. Jeremiahs 25:1; 2Kings 24:6-7).

From the very beginning Judah didn’t have good relations with Babylon, and rebelled after three years of servitude. Moreover, due to their poor relationship and repeated attempts of rebellion in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he came and destroyed Jerusalem, its walls and the Temple (2Kings 25:8-10)[2] and ended the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah.

In the very beginning of Judah’s servitude to Babylon, Jeremiah said that this would last for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:1, 9-11). The scriptures show that not only Judah but also all her neighboring nations would serve Babylon for seventy years. The point is the Seventy Years Prophecy did not begin at the point of captivity and the destruction of the Temple, but at the very beginning of Judah’s being a vassal kingdom serving Babylon. Jeremiah prophesied not only for the kingdom of Judah but for all the surrounding kingdoms as well. All who served Pharaoh were taken away to serve Babylon for seventy years. Judah’s captivity and exile in Babylon lasted 51 years and her servitude in her own land lasted another 19 years before the fall of Jerusalem; and together they added up to seventy years.

2Chronicles 36:20-21 shows that Jerusalem would be desolate not for seventy years, but to fulfill seventy years: “…for as long as she (Jerusalem) lay desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill three score and ten years.” She served in the land for 19 years, and lay desolate for the remainder of the 70 or 51 years. Therefore, the prophecy would have been fulfilled in that the 51^st year of the Jew’s exile, which is counted as the 70^th year of her servitude to Babylon. Moreover, as we shall see further along in this study of the returning captives, Jerusalem lay desolate for another forty-nine years after their return from Babylon, making the desolations to last officially for 100 years. Therefore, the word of God is literally true: “for as long as she lay desolate, she (Jerusalem) kept a Sabbath (rest) to fulfill the three score and ten (70) years. The fact that it nearly took another 29 years to remove the desolations and rebuild Jerusalem is part of another prophecy.

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[1] Take note that the manner in which Babylon and Judah counted the years of a reign was different by one year since Judah counted the year of ascension to the throne as a king’s first year, while Babylon did not; hence, there is a difference in dating

[2] According to the scriptures, Jerusalem became the servant of Babylon during Jehoiakim’s reign as king of Judah, but after three years he rebelled (2Kings 24:1). According to Daniel 1:1, this was Jehoiakim’s third year as king, but Jeremiah says it was his fourth year as king of Judah (Jeremiah 25:1). The difference has to do with counting or not counting the ascension year of the king as the first year of his reign. Judah did, but Babylon did not. The 4^th year of Jehoiakim was the first year of the 70 Years Prophecy of servitude to Babylon. If Jehoiakim served for three years and rebelled, 8 years of his 11-years (2Kings 23:36) counts toward Jeremiah’s prophecy. So, if Zedekiah reigned for 11 years (2Kings 24:18), then Jerusalem fell after 19 years of service to Babylon, which means that 51 years were served in captivity.