Hello everyone. This is a very interesting and detailed topic. But I just thought it would be nice to present to you what the Bible presents as the basic chronology involved here.
Simply put, Jerusalem falls in year 19 of Nebuchadnezzar in month 5. Sometime after that, not stated specifically, Gedaliah is appointed as governor. He gains the trust of the Babylonians and encourages the Jews scattered about to return to Judea to harvest "summer fruits" including wine, which is a late spring crop. Eventually the Jews do return, all of them, thus the what is left of the nation is collected back into Judea again. But this is not the same year as Jerusalem's fall, this is the following year. It took time to get the word out and for the Jews to gradually return, after which a plot developed to assasinate Gedaliah which he was told about but ignored. Thus he was killed in the seventh month of the 20th year of Nebuchadnezzar. Therefore the land absolutely was not desolated the same year that Jerusalem fell, and there were no people scattered about in surrounding lands by the time of Gedaliah's death, as the WTS claims.
After his death in year 20, the remaining Jews fled down to Egypt, including the kidnapped Jeremiah and Baruch. They were warned to return but refused to, so God promised to send Neubuchadnezzar down to Egypt to kill them off. Which he did, in year 23 as described by Josephus in Antiquities 10.9.7:
Antiquities 10.9.7"...the twenty-third of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he made an expedition against Celesyria; and when he had possessed himself of it, he made war against the Ammonites and Moabites; and when he had brought all these nations under subjection, he fell upon Egypt, in order to overthrow it; and he slew the king that then reigned (16) and set up another; and he took those Jews that were there captives, and led them away to Babylon. And such was the end of the nation of the Hebrews, as it hath been delivered down to us, it having twice gone beyond Euphrates; for the people of the ten tribes were carried out of Samaria by the Assyrians, in the days of king Hoshea; after which the people of the two tribes that remained after Jerusalem was taken [were carried away] by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon and Chaldea. Now as to Shalmanezer, he removed the Israelites out of their country, and placed therein the nation of the Cutheans, who had formerly belonged to the inner parts of Persia and Media, but were then called Samaritans, by taking the name of the country to which they were removed; but the king of Babylon, who brought out the two tribes, (17) placed no other nation in their country, by which means all Judea and Jerusalem, and the temple, continued to be a desert for seventy years;
Antiquities 11:1:1. IN the first year of the reign of Cyrus (1) which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity.
Please note that the above quotes from Josephus make it clear that he is not only introducing 70 years of desolation, applying that to Jeremiah's prophecy, but he begins that 70 years with the last deportation in year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar and not the year that Jerusalem falls. Find fault with Josephus if you must but that is his interpretation of the 70 years by Jeremiah.
The critical issue here is how to harmonize this historical reference from the Jews, their official reference to the seventy years with the Bible. Not difficult. You see, in Zechariah 1 and 7 it talks about the 70 years. In one place it is year 2 of Darius which is 70 years after the "denunciation" of the cities, meaning the destruction of Jerusalem. Thus we know there are 70 years from the destruction of Jerusalem to the 2nd of Darius. In Zechariah 7 it mentions another 70 years, these being 70 years of mourning in the "fith and seventh months" but dated to year 4 of Darius. That means there is a two-year gap between the destruction of Jerusalem and the mourning for Gedaliah which is the mourning in the 7th month. This is consistent with the above that Gedaliah actually died in the 7th month of year 20 of Nebuchadnezzar. That would be consistent with the beginning mourning for him the following year, in year 21 of Nebuchadnezzar, which was two years after the fall of Jerusalem. Problem is, though, the Jews are still in exile at Babylon in the 2nd and 4th years of Darius, wondering when they will be able to return to rebuild their desolated cities. Meaning what?
Meaning that Zechariah 1 and 7 are references to the reign of DARIUS THE MEDE, who the Bible says began to reign immediately after Babylon was overthrown. The Bible never says the Jews were released in the 1st of Darius, but in the 1st of Cyrus. But this perfectly corresponds with the 70-year period of desolation not beginning until the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, which of course means that certainly the Jews were still in exile 70 and 72 years after the fall of Jerusalem. It would not be for another 2 years before they were released. Thus per the Bible, DARIUS THE MEDE ruled for a full six years after the fall of Babylon before Cyrus came to the throne. It was when Cyrus took over all of Persia and Darius abdicated to him all authority that Cyrus began to count his year 1 over again as the new king of the united Persia and it was that 1st year that the Jews and many others were then released from bondage in Babylon and allowed to return to their homeland.
As a technical note here, as the Bible says, the Jews were to serve Nebuchadnezzar and "his sons". Darius, THE MEDE was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, so he is included in that 70 years of servitude. That also means that Darius, the Mede was last Babylonian king along with Nabonidus who was at-large in Borsippa to rule Babylon. It was specifically, therefore, when Cyrus THE PERSIAN, came to the throne that the Jews would be released.
Now we know why the Bible calls Darius, Darius THE MEDE and Cyrus, Cyrus THE PERSIAN, because they both conquered Babylon but it was not until Cyrus took over all of Persia that the Jews were released. Now the Bible is thus SPECIFIC in this regard to note that it wasn't until the royalty of PERSIA began to rule that the seventy years ends...
2 Chronicles 36: 20 "Furthermore, he carried off those remaining from the sword captive to Babylon, and they came to be servants to him and his sons until the royalty of Persia began to reign; 21 to fulfill Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had paid off its sabbaths. All the days of lying desolated it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years."
TWO POINTS: (1) Again, the 70 years do not end until the "royalty of PERSIA" begins to reign, which would specifically exclude Darius THE MEDE. Thus the Jews were still in exile during the 6-year rule of Darius, the Mede. (2) Note who was deported at the time of the last deportation, they are called "those remaining from the sword." This is what the Bible calls those who survived from Nebuchadnezzar's sword when he killed off so many in Egypt in his 23rd year. Note the reference at
Jeremiah 44:28: "And as for the ones escaping from the sword, they will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all those of the remnant of Judah, who are coming into the land of Egypt to reside there as aliens, will certainly know whose word comes true, that from me or that from them.”’”
So you see, the Bible is confirming that those last deported and who would be the ones who would actually serve the full 70 years of "servitude" were the very last Jews deported in year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar. But this is precisely as related to us by Josephus!
As a HISTORICAL note, since we can't really go by the revised records, it would appear that Nabonidus was not imprisoned (put under house arrest) immediately upon the overthrow of Babylon, and thus Darius, the Mede may have been ruling while Nabonidus was still king. Nabonidus was the true king of Babylon; Belshazzar was his son who began ruling as co-ruler in the 3rd year of Nabonidus. The end of the Babylonian kings thus would not have ended until both Nabonidus and Darius, the Mede were replaced by Cyrus.
Now, I provided the above since it's a bit easier to understand the whole picture of how the original chronology actually works, then attack individual issues.
DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN BIBLE, JOSEPHUS AND BABYLONIAN RECORDS: Actually, the most critical and important point here is to note that there actually IS a contradiction here. Some would have us think there is really no contradiction by elaborate interpretations of when these 70 years occurred, misquoting or ignoring Josephus at every turn, who in fact is quite clear as to when the historical 70 years actually took place. Once you realize that, then you can decide for yourself if you want to side with the Bible and Josephus on this or go with secular history. Just don't try to pretend they are talking about the same thing or they can be combined, because they can't.
I'll spare discussing what is quite dismissible about the Babylonian records for another topic, but it's a moot point since that would have little to do with the Jewish and Biblical relative chronology here for these 70 years.
Again, what's NEW for the witnesses here and those supporting that interpretation of the seventy years, is that those 70 years begin with the last deportation and so dating the fall of Jerusalem in 607BCE by calculating 70 years from the return in the 1st of Cyrus is 4 years off, and Josephus does not support dating the 70 years as they claim from the fall of Jerusalem, but Josephus specifically dates those 70 years with the last deportation from Egypt in year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar. Furthermore, JWs who claim the land was desolated completely after the 7th month of the same year Jerusalem fell are ignoring scripture! They claim the last deportation was from various places round about, without specifically mentioning Egypt, though Josephus does. But the Bible clearly says that all those who were dispersed returned, so all the Jews were united into one group again before Gedaliah was killed and they fled down to Egypt. This last central group who "escaped the sword" down in Egypt are those who made up the last deportation group who served the actual 70 years of servitude and effected the complete desolation of the Land of Judah and Israel.
SIGNIFICANCE OF 70 YEARS: Finally as one more factor here, which completely dismisses O. Jonsson's position on the 70 years, is just how the 70 years was calculated. This is important since the ENTIRE LAND of both Judah and Israel as well as all the surrounding nations in this region had to be deported. That's why it speaks of other nations serving the same 70 years. Thus it was not just the land of Judah that had to pay back these seventy years, but the entire Promised Land. This argues against as well the land being completely desolated prior to year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar. Anyway, here's the formula for the 70 years which involves the 10-tribe kingdom.
In Ezekiel 4 it mentions 390 years of error for the 10-tribe kingdom and 40 years of error for Judah. Now Judah ruled longer than the 10-tribe kingdom. Even so, the 10-tribe kingdom did not last 390 years. Thus the 390 years is not directly related to chronology but to the overall error broken down by tribe. That is 39 years for each tribe gives you 390 years. Likewise, Judah who ruled longer had an error of 40 years! The combined time is 430 years. This is the number of years that 70 years of desolation had to make up for.
Thus if we divide 430 years by the two types of agricultural sabbaths the Jews were supposed to be keeping, which is a 7-year sabbath and a jubilee sabbath in the 50th year, we get 70 years. Watch:
430 divide by 7 = 61.4
430 dvided by 50 = 8.6
61.4 plus 8.6 = 70
So in addition to all of the above, there is this! This is another clear argument that the 70 years was connected to the land and the leaving the land desolated to pay back the sabbaths as the witnesses and the Bible says, regardless of whatever interpretations of any 70 years of "servitude" may work out to be. This also requires us to include Northern Israel as part of the land that had to become completely desolated, including the surrounding kingdoms, such as Ashkelon and Tyre.
Finally as an ARCHAEOLOGICAL note on these 70 years, there is excellent evidence from excavation from Ashkelon that shows it was burned by Nebuchadnezzar and remained desolated for "70 to 80 years" before being rebuilt in the time of Cyrus. So the Bible is vindicated.
WARNING: There are some incredibly persuasive and clever discussants on this topic promoting their own views (just like me). MAKE SURE YOU MAKE THEM give supporting references that they say. If they say "The Bible says this" or that "Josephus says that" -- make sure they give you the actual references, as I have. If they say, "Oh, there's a MOUNTAIN OF EVIDENCE from Babylonian records supporting 587 BCE", politely ask them to give you the specific texts involved that they are referring to. I've found a lot gets stated and is used as a basis that are just generalized and unproven statements. If there is an truly a "mountain of evidence" supporting their claim, then there should be no problem providing some direct references, right? Problem is, that's when they start backsliding and making excuses and that's when you know you don't have to deal with their arguments. If they can't back up their claims, then it's just a foam mountain that can be blown away by hard research.
Thanks for having this discussion, though, everybody.
JCanon
