586BC

Jeffro

Can anyone provide any evidence to support the claim that Jerusalem was destroyed in 586BC, rather than 587BC?

becca1

Most historians will say 586/587BC. Just google "destruction of Jerusalem". What you will NOT find is any evidence that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607BC.

SirNose586

As I understand it, the discrepancy comes from calculating Labshi-Marduk's rule. I need to brush up on the argumentation, but that's what I recall.

BTW I wanted SirNose587 as a name, but I scewed up in the registration, so I made 586 as a second name.

Almost all secular historians place the event in 587. Many religious historians say it happened in 586BC. However, because the date of the prior siege in 598 is a known fixed date during Nebuchadnezzar's reign, there seems to be no valid reason for placing Jerusalem's fall in 586. It would appear that because the religionists have been saying 586 for so long, and because they're so vocal, people have just gotten used to saying 587/6.

Doug Mason

You need to determine which calendar and regnal system a particular Bible writer was using when they were describing the Destruction of Jerusalem. Contemporary Bible writers might use different systems and they might use different methods for reckoning the start of a monarch's reign.

Having decided which year you are looking at for Nebuchadnezzar, check the date (in terms of our current calendars) of the corresponding dates from the tables in Parker and Dubberstein's book "Babylonian Chronology 626 BCE - A D 75". Parker and Dubberstein relate the dates of each month relative to each king in the period.

The Ancients' years started at a different time from ours, so they don't overlap with our year. (The Jews had two years - one starting in Nisan, the other in Tishri. Our starting date of January 1 is only a recent innovation.)

You will find some references in my Paper "Seventy Years of Servitude", which you can download from my web page on "neo-Babylonian chronology" at http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940

Hopefully you might find something there that might help.

Doug

Jeffro

I've already looked into those issues in some depth. The facts point to August of 587.

I took a look at your PDF file that says 586BC is the correct year. The file does correctly states that Nebuchadnezzar's accession year is 605. However, Jeremiah 52:12-14 places the destruction of the temple in the 7th month of Nebuchadnezzar's 19th year. Since Jeremiah (the author of 2 Kings, which is the original source of most of Jeremiah chapter 52) does not use the accession-year system and therefore counts it as a regnal year (as confirmed by the comparative Babylonian interpolation at Jeremiah 52:28-30), that places the 7th month of his 19th year in 587, not 586.

Jeremiah states that Gedaliah was killed in the 7th month (Jeremiah 41:1-2), and that is definitely Tishri, leaving no doubt as to what month Jeremiah reckoned the beginning of the year.

But nice try.

Leolaia

Jeffro...Do you have the 2004 JETS article by Rodger C. Young ("When Did Jerusalem Fall?")? It's the article that applies decision table analysis to the data bearing on the question, and shows how 587 is only option that conforms maximally to the data without forcing presuppositions on the data.

Jeffro

Yes, I do have that document. It supports 587BC. However, given the year of Nebuchadnezzar's accession, there is enough information in the bible alone to definitely establish the event in 587 without making suppositions.

Farkel

:Can anyone provide any evidence to support the claim that Jerusalem was destroyed in 586BC, rather than 587BC?

As was posted by the only sensible post on this thread, Labushi-Marduk was only a king for 9 months. Therefore, Jesusalem was destroyed in either late 587 BC., or early 586 BC., or 1927 A.D or 2002 A.D.. depending upon your crackpot ideas. Unfortunately for the crackpot chronologists, God did not have a book written that caters to their chronological fantasies. It is also unfortunate for the crackpots that ancient Kings don't take their office on January 1st of a year and die or get murdered on December 31st of another year. Therefore, there are overlaps, and the Bible doesn't mention year, month and day of those events. Life just doesn't play out for monarchs or anyone else on January 1 and/or December 31 (or any other calendar which has a yearly beginning or ending day).

If God would have wanted "Biblical Chronology" to be a requisite for eternal salvation, he would have made it clear in His book. He didn't, so he didn't.

Farle;

Jeffro

Farkel:

As was posted by the only sensible post on this thread, Labushi-Marduk was only a king for 9 months.

True, but irrelevant. Nebuchadnezzar's accession year is accepted by 586-supporters to be 605BC.

Therefore, Jesusalem was destroyed in either late 587 BC., or early 586 BC., or 1927 A.D or 2002 A.D.. depending upon your crackpot ideas.

Jeremiah reckoned the year from Nisan (around March/April); he said Gedaliah was killed in the 7th month, and that is known to be Tishri. There is therefore no doubt that it was not in the early part of 586. Anyone suggesting 1927 or 2002 has broader issues to deal with.

Unfortunately for the crackpot chronologists, God did not have a book written that caters to their chronological fantasies.

Indeed. But there is still enough information provided once the start of Nebuchadnezzar's reign is independently established.

It is also unfortunate for the crackpots that ancient Kings don't take their office on January 1st of a year and die or get murdered on December 31st of another year. Therefore, there are overlaps, and the Bible doesn't mention year, month and day of those events. Life just doesn't play out for monarchs or anyone else on January 1 and/or December 31 (or any other calendar which has a yearly beginning or ending day).

Anyone with half a brain should be able to understand that. Unfortunately, it seems that some still have trouble with it. The name 'scholar' comes to mind, though he got scared off some time ago.

586BC

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