Another problem for the anointed...
The Anointed Dilemma of the 70 years: This is really not a problem but it is for those thinking that the 70 years was not literal. Thus those of the anointed who feel there are hidden messages in scripture sometimes relate isoalted references with others in scripture and this happens to be one of those cases. Not that 2 Chronicles 36 isn't plain enough that there were to be 70 years of desolation to "pay back" its sabbaths, that is, the LAND.
That implies that 70 years were for the "missed" sabbaths in connection with the total time the Jews were to keep these sabbaths. Since this is related to the "land" this would be the sabbaths related to the land, that is, the agricultural sabbaths. This is related by some to the 390 years for Israel and the 40 years for Judah mentioned at Ezekiel 6. Of note, the divided kingdom of Israel did not rule for 390 years. ??? And certainly Judah, who ruled longer ruled for more than 40 years. So what really is this 390 years for Israel and 40 years for Judah about? Well, if you divide the 10 tribe kingdom into the 390 years you get 39 years for each tribe. This relates to the 40 years for Judah, just one year more, but they did rule longer. Thus the presumption is a collective reference for the entire nation of 430 years. Does this represent the missed sabbaths? We think so. Why?
Because if you divide 430 by the two types of agricultural sabbaths the Jews were required to keep, then you get SEVENTY!
430 divided by 7 is 61.4 430 divided by 50 (jubilee) year sabbath is 8.6 61.4 and 8.6 = 70
So it would appear that the 70 years of desolation would have to be a literal 70 years of complete desolation of the land in order to make up for 430 years of missed sabbaths.
From the chronologists point of view, who again looks at comparisons of jubilee cycles and other cycles. If you double the 430 years, presuming the Jews kept the correct sabbaths at least half the time, to get 860 years and then add the 70 years for make-up, you get a total of 930 years, just one year short of 19jubileess (931 years). When you date the 1st of Cyrus to 455BCE and add the 931 years you arrive at the date of the Exodus, 1386BCE (931 +455 = 1386).
1386BCE for the date of the Exodus is matched by another indepdent references, including dating the Assyrian eponym eclipse usually dated to 763BCE by historians for month 3, to 709BCE which is 54 years later. The 763BCE dating actually requires the first month of the year to start before the spring equinox which was not the practice in later Babylonian times in genreal. That means the next exclipse in the series, 54 years and 1 month later, also falls in month three. This is thought to be the more likely original reference for this eclipse. When dating that ecllipse to 709BCE, the 925BCE invasion by Shishak gets moved down 54 years to 871BCE, the 5th of Rehoboam. Rehoboam and Solomon were co-rulers and the invasion by Shishak was DURING the reign of Solomon since Rehoboam was still over all the princes of israel at the time,if you will check the context. Jeroboam did not return to Judah until after Solomon died which would have been the following year in 870BCE. The temple was begun in his 4th year, 36 years earlier dating that event to 906BCE, and the Exodus 480 years earlier dates the Exodus in 1386BCE.
So you have harmony from an eclipse reference and the jubilee cycle which shows that the Exodus was a jubilee year as well as the year the Jews returned from Babylon. Of course, these major events would be manipulated to fall on these special years to add significance to them. Thus it is very interestsing or perhaps understandable that the 50th jubilee from 455BCE falls in 1947, the year the Jews finally were restored to their homeland for the final time.
All coincidences? Maybe, but the coincidences are adding up. It's difficult when you are spiritually sensitive to other references that relate to chronology, directly or indirectly, to ignore these indications when they affect possible choices you might have where some see some ambiguity in scripture or possibly some resolution with the pagan chronology.
Thus all considered, the advanced anointed don't feel they have much choice in the matter of considering alternative views of precisely when the 70 years actually took place per the Bible; not that Josephus doesn't relate directly when this 70 years took place as far as the Jews are concerned, throwing into question whether the Babylonians and/or Persians had revised their records, something the ancients could easily do and often did per the evidence.
Finally, there is a great article in BAR ("Biblical Archaeology Review") of some years ago that featured the exploration of ASHKELON, a very good city for historical reference. There it was found that a period of "70 to 80 years" of total destruction was followed by the Persian Period for that city. When they apply the shortened NB chronology, of course, they presume that Ashkelon was destroyed early in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. But the fact remains, there is archaeological evidence that there was a total destruction of Ashkelon for a period that matched what the Bible claims.
Now as a critical Biblical reference, the Bible prophesied that Ashkelon along with many other cities surrounding Judah and Israel would drink the bitter cup of Nebuchadnezzar and be desolated for 70 years. But of note, Jerusalem was prophesied to be the "first to drink" this bitter cup, followed by the other cited cities. Thus from the Biblical prophetic point of view, we do have a confirmation that at least one city which was exacavated that showed a reliable chronology fulfilled what the Bible prophesied, with the only difference being where you place those 70-80 years of desolation! Per the Bible it would have been after the 19th year; that is, after Jerusalem had first been destroyed and drank the bitter cup. In connection with this, again, as Josephus noted, the actual 70 years of final desolation of the land of the people did not begin until the 23rd year, 4years after the fall of Jerusalem.
So whether or not historians and archaeologists are using what they believe to be reliable dating in connection with the Biblical chronology, the fact remains that at least at Ashkelon we have evidence of a literal 70-80 years of total destruction by fire ending with the Persian Period.
A final peripheral reference, if you will, is the prophecy that mentions 70 years where Tyre would be "forgotten for seventy years" and then restored. This would be the same 70 years since Tyre was among those cited to drink this bitter cup of Nebuchadnezzar. Per JOSEPHUS, who claims Tyre was under siege for 13 years beginning the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, the siege would have ended in the 20th year of Nebuchadnezzar, a year after the fall of Jerusalem. So Tyre's 70 years of desolation, as well fits the prophecy that they would be desolated for 70 years after Jerusalem was desolated.
If we factor in the context that Josephus gives us in Antiquities X, it appears the final campaign of Nebuchadnezzar which occurred in his 23rd year was the year he finally deported everybody out of the entire region including the few remaining Jews who had survived his execution who had fled down to Egypt. Josephus says it was these last Jews who were deported from Egypt in the 23rd year that finally ended the Jewish occupation of Judah and began this 70 years of desolation. It's reasonable that thus the 70 years for all these nations, already conquered but perhaps with a few occupants left behind as they had been at Jerusalem were finally deported out of the land in his 23rd year and thus the 70 years for Tyre, Ashkelon and others officially were counted from this last deportation of the people, leaving the entire region a complete desolated place.
FINALLY EGYPT'S 40 YEARS!!! And finally you have the issue of Egypt's 40 years!!! Sorry but there is not enough time for Egypt to be desolated for 40 years and then restored with the current reduced NB chronology. History shows Egypt up and running when Cyrus began accosting Babylon since the Babylonians enlisted the Egyptians to help them repel Cyrus!! That's historical. When you add back in the 26 years that allows for 74 years from the fall of Jerusalem (year 19 of N2) to the 1st of Cyrus, there is enough years for Egypt to be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar in his 37th year and then be restored by the time Cyrus conquers Babylon 9 years later.
So in the end, the specific chronology from the Persian and Babylonian records is quite clear about the chronology for this period, but the background references which conflict it at many points, plus the conflicting double-dating in some of the Babylonian astronomical texts that suggest a different dating and a longer period of the NB Period is simply too much to ignore. At some point, with all this evidence, one would responsibly have to seriously begin to question whether the Persians cleverly and comprehensively revised this period of their chronology, which would, of course, explain why there are so many conflicts, not just Biblically, but archaeologically and with other histories such as that of Josephus.
For those who have alwayd had faith in the Bible's chronology, though, like Martin Anstey, bellieving it to be a book of truth and inspiration, intuitively dismissed the pagan records as accurate and dated the 1st of Cyrus in connection with the baptism of Christ to arrive at the 1st of Cyrus around 455BCE. There is now more than enough substantial evidence that directly supports that dating and thus they are quite pleased they have less arguments from challengers to the Bible's chronology. In fact, the beauty of the recent research is that you don't even have to have a Biblical confrontation with the secular regards. The VAT4956 and SK400 double dating actually contradicts itself, for instance. The 70 years of confirmed desolation of Ashkelon contradicts the shortened NB period as well and agrees with the Bible. Persepolis confirms that Xerxes and Artaxerxes were the same king and that the city was built in just 5 years instead of 57 years; how could the archaeologists miss that one! Of course, archaeologists don't like to talk about Persepolis!! I wonder why?
So while those with inadaquate research or understanding might be influenced to think the Babylonian records represent the best and last word in the chronology, others who have done their own comprehensive research see this position as greatly weakened and wonder why isn't this chronology more aggressively challenged. In that regard, with all their faults, Jehovah's witness have done a great job in starting the challenge of the pagan records, controlled, of course, by pagan Babylon the Great and her chief ministers beginning with the Catholic Church, an institution with a long history of suppression of truth and manipulation of false information for its own means.
So we all have a choice.
587 for the fall of JERUSALEM: HAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAA!!!! (oops, sorry, I didn't mean to laugh that loud. It was a spontaneous reflex..sorry...).
or
529BCE.
JC
