A.
Establishing an Ancient Date
1. Fixed Dates
2. King List
3. Cuneiform Tablets
4. Correlation
B. Astronomical Data
1. VAT 4956
-
astronomical observations made during Nebuchadnezzar’ s 37th
regnal year - 568/67
B. C. Hence, his first
regnal year was spring 604 B. C., or, using Babylonian
reckoning, 605/04 B. C., or, in Jewish civil calendar, it
was 606/05 B. C.,
fall to fall.
2. BM n.4.
76-11 - Cambyses 7th regnal year 523/22 B.C. We shall see
that Cyrus was enthroned 16 years earlier, 538/37 B. C.
3.
Ptolemy’s
Alamgest
records 19 lunar eclipses. Two are here significant - April
21, 621 B. C., which was in the 5th year of
Nabopolassar. Second was 11:00PM, July 16, 523 B. C.,
the 7th of Cambyses. Note the correlation between VAT
4956
and Almagest:
Eclipse:
Nabopolassar’s first year = 626 B.C.
Nabopolassar’s last year = 605 B. C.
VAT 4956: 37th year of Nebuchadnezzar = 568 B.
C.
First year of Nebuchadnezzar = 605 B. C.
4.
Considerations:
Since Cyrus took the throne in 538/37 B. C., the Jews
could have settled in Jerusalem by 537/36 B.C. (2 Chronicles
36: 22-23, Ezra 1: 1-3: 6) . Hence, the 70 years, reckoning
inclusively, would have begun in 606/05 B.C. fall to fall
(Jewish calendar). This has been locked in as
Nebuchadnezzar's accession year.
C. Establishing a
Ring List
1. Nabonidus
Stele A -
1906 (Aid, p. 327).
2. Nabonidus Stele B - 1956; also called Harren Stele B.
King List: Nabopolassar
21 years
Nebuchadnezzar 43 years
Amel-Marduk
2 years
Neniglissar
4 years
Nabonidus
?
D. Cuneiform Tablets
On the basis of’ over 4,000 tablets:
Nabopolassar
21 yrs May 17, 626
-
Aug 15, 605
Nebuchadnezzar 43 yrs
Sept 7, 605 - Oct 8, 562
Amel-Marduk
2 yrs Oct 8, 562 -
Aug 7, 560
Nergal-shar-usur 4
yrs Aug 13,
560 - Apr 16, 556
Labashi-Marduk 2 mos
May 3, 556 - Jun 20, 556
Nabunaid
17 yrs May 25,556
- Oct 13, 539
Cyrus
9 yrs Oct 26, 539
- Aug 12, 530
Cambyses
8 yrs Aug 31, 530
- Apr 18, 522
E. Correlation:
Nabopolassar
21 yrs 626 - 605
5th yr
-
621/620
Almagest
Nebuchadnezzar
43 yrs 605 - 562
37th yr - 568/567 VAT 4956
Evil-Merodach
2 yrs 562 - 560
Neriglissar
2 yrs 560 - 556
Labashi-Marduk
2 mos
556
Nabonidus
17 yrs
556 - 539
Cyrus
9 yrs 539 - 530
Cambyses
8 yrs 530 - 522
7th yr - 523/522
Almagest,
BM n. 4. 78-11
F. Biblical Considerations:
1. Interpreting the 70 years
- Two
views:
A. Seventy years began in
Nebuchadnezzar’s 19th regnal, year when he destroyed
Jerusalem, removed Zedekiah, and took the populace
captive. 2 Kings 24:18-25:21, 2 Chronicles 36: 11-21.
B. This view also marks the end of
the 70 years with the return of the Jews to Jerusalem.
However, it marks the beginning in the 4th regnal year of
Jehoiakim, corresponding to Nebuchadnezzar’s first regnal
year., 605 B. C. C Daniel 1: 1-6, 2 Kings 24: 1)
. This
view also sees Jeremiah 25:12 as significant.
2. Which view
fits?
View A:
70 year period: 607
- 537 B. C.
Nebuchadnezzar’ s 19th year: 607 B. C.
Nebuchadnezzar’s 1st year: 626 B.C.
View B:
70 year
period: 605 - 537 B.C. (incl)
Nebuchadnezzar’ s 19th year: 586 B. C.
Nebuchadnezzar’s 1st year: 605 B.C.
3. supporting evidence: BM 21946 records:
Nebuchadnezzar conquered “Hatti-land” Sept. 605 B.C.
4th regnal year (601/600) defeated by Egypt
6th regnal year (599/598) quelled rebelling Arabs
Next winter, 598/97, took Jehoiakin (2 Kings 24:14) as
well as Ezekiel.
Notice - Nebuchadnezzar was not even king in 607!
BM 22047 says
that Nabopolassar was king in 607, and that he led a
military campaign against “the mountains of Za” in
Assyria!
THE SEVENTY-YEAR PROPHECY
|
B.C. Dates |
|
|
B.C.E. Dates |
|
*spring to
spring
625/24 |
Nabopolassar's
first regnal year. Beginning of the Neo-Babylonian
Empire. |
spring to
spring
625/24 |
Nebuchadnezzar's first regnal year. Jehoiakim's fourth
regnal year. (BGF, p. 126*) |
spring to
spring
621/20 |
Astronomically
fixed as Nabopolassar's fifth regnal year based on the
lunar eclipse recorded in The Almagest. |
spring to
spring
621/20 |
In his fourth
regnal year, Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem
and subjected Jehoiakim (BGF, pp. 132-134*). [The
Bible makes no mention of this campaign, however. And
Babylonian Chronicle B.M. 21946 says that during his
fourth regnal year, Nebuchadnezzar led an unsuccessful
military campaign against Egypt. It makes no mention of
a successful campaign against Jerusalem as it certainly
would have done had there been such a campaign. |
spring to
spring
607/06 |
Nabopolassar's
19th regnal year. Babylonian campaign against the
"mountains of Za" in Assyria. (Babylonian Chronicle B.M.
22047) No recorded Babylonian campaign against Judah.
Nebuchadnezzar not yet king. |
spring to
spring
618/17 |
Nebuchadnezzar
besieged Jerusalem. This was Jehoiakim's 11th regnal
year during which he died or was killed. Jehoiachin was
taken captive to Babylon, and Zedekiah made king over
Judah. Daniel and his companions were also taken captive
to Babylon at this time. (BGF, pp.
134-137*) [Daniel, however, dates his own captivity to
Jeohaikim's third year, not his eleventh year -- Dan.
1:1. In fact, if Daniel was taken captive in Jehoiakim's
eleventh regnal year, which corresponded to
Nebuchadnezzar's eighth year as king of Babylon, as the
Watchtower Society's leaders claim, then Daniel's
statement that he was a captive in Babylon during
Nebuchadnezzar's second regnal year is inaccurate --
Dan. 2:1ff.] |
**fall
to fall
606/05
spring to spring
605/04 |
Nabopolassar
dies and Nebuchadnezzar ascends throne. Nebuchadnezzar
defeats Egypt at Carchemish, conquers Syria-Palestine,
besieges Jerusalem, seizes some Temple furniture, and
takes Daniel and others captive in Jehoiakim's third
year by accession-year dating (Babylonian Chronicle
21946; Dan. 1:1-2). The seventy years of servitude to
Babylon begins (Jer. 46:2; 25:11). |
October
607 |
In his 19th
regnal year, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, took
Zedekiah off the throne and exiled "all Judah." The
seventy years begins. (BGF, pp. 156-163*) |
fall to fall
605/04 |
Nebuchadnezzar's first regnal year. |
|
|
|
spring to
spring 604/03 |
|
|
|
fall to fall
599/98
spring to spring
598/97 |
Nebuchadnezzar's seventh regnal year. He besieges
Jerusalem, seizes more Temple furniture, kills Jehoiakim,
exiles Jehoiachin and others (including Ezekiel), and
puts Zedekiah on the throne (Babylonian Chronicle 21946;
2 Chron. 36:5-10; Jer. 22:18-19; 2 Kings 24:8-17). The
70-year prophecy of servitude to Babylon continues to be
fulfilled. |
|
|
fall to fall
587/86 |
Nebuchadnezzar's 19th regnal year. He destroys
Jerusalem, seizes all remaining Temple furniture, exiles
Zedekiah and "all Judah." (2 Kings 25:1-21; 2 Chron.
36:11-21) Josephus says that
in the Jewish historical records (which included the Old
Testament scriptures as a primary source), "it is
written that Nebuchadnezzar, in the nineteenth year
of his reign, laid our temple desolate, and so it lay in
that state of obscurity for fifty years [emphasis
supplied]; but that in the second year of the reign of
Cyrus, its foundations were laid and it was finished
again in the second year of Darius." (Against Apion,
Bk. 1. para. 21) |
|
|
|
spring to
spring
568/67 |
Astronomically
fixed as Nebuchadnezar's 37th regnal year by tablet VAT
4956. |
|
|
fall to fall
539/38
spring to spring
539/38 |
Babylon falls
to Cyrus in Nabonidus' 17th regnal year. Darius becomes
king over Babylon (Dan. 5:30-31), but Babylonian records
still reckon this as Cyrus' ascension year. This is not
an astronomically fixed date, but nevertheless a
reliable date based upon a synchronization of the
astronomically fixed dates in Nabopolassar's,
Nebuchadnezzzar's, and Cambyses' reigns with the king
list established by the Nabonidus Harran Stele (NABON,
III, B), Ptolemy's Canon and thousands of contemporarily
dated cuneiform tablets. |
October
539 |
Cyrus
overthrows Babylon. Darius becomes king over Babylon.
The Watchtower leaders choose this as the fixed date
from which all other dates during the 70-year period
must be derived. They based this on the Nabonidus
Chronicle which says that Cyrus overthrew Babylon on the
7th month, 14th day, and 17th year of the Nabonidus'
reign over Babylon. To determine the date for Nabonidus'
17th regnal year it is necessary to consult
astronomical, archeological, and historical sources. (W,
p. 488-494+) |
fall to fall
538/37 |
Cyrus' first
regnal year by Jewish civil calendar. Cyrus decree
allowing Jews to return to Palestine (2 Chron. 36:22-23;
Ezra 1:1-4). |
538/37 |
Cyrus becomes
king over Babylon and issues his decree allowing the
Jews to return to Palestine (W, pp. 493). |
fall to fall
537/36 |
Jewish
migration and resettling back to homeland. The 70-year
prophecy reaches fulfillment. (Ezra 1:5-3:7) |
Sept./Oct.
537 |
Jews return to
resettle in their homeland. End of the 70-year prophecy.
(W, pp. 393, 394+) |
spring to
spring
523/22 |
Astronomically
fixed as Cambyses' seventh regnal year by astronomical
tablet B.M. n.4 78-11 and the lunar eclipse recorded in
The Almagest. |
|
|
* The
Babylonian calendar year was from spring to spring.
**The Jewish calendar year was from fall to fall. |
*"Babylon
the Great Has Fallen!" God's Kingdom Rules!
Brooklyn, New York: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
of New York, Inc., 1963. +Watchtower,
August, 1968. |
|
