Jehoiakim's third year of reign, or 11th year of reign, which is correct?

by VM44 24 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  VM44

  In Daniel 1:1, we read the following (NWT):

  In the third year of the kingship of Je·hoi´a·kim the king of Judah, Neb·u·chad·nez´zar the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and proceeded to lay siege to it.

  The Watchtower insists on changing the meaning of "In the third year of the kingship of Jehoiakim" to "In the third year of the vasselship of Jehoiakim to Nebuchadnezzar".

  Jehoiakim had already reigned for 8 years before he became a vassal king for Nebuchadnezzar, so the seige according the Watchtower interpretation, would have taken place during Jehoiakim's 11th year of kingship.

  Is The Watchtower correct here? Is there a way to settle once and for all what Daniel 1:1 really meant?

  Here is some info about Jehoiakim from http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/jehoiakim.html

  Jehoiakim

  Meaning: he whom Jehovah has set up

  the second son of Josiah, and eighteenth king of Judah, which he ruled over for eleven years (B.C. 610-599)

  His original name was Eliakim (q.v.).

  On the death of his father his younger brother Jehoahaz (=Shallum, Jer. 22:11), who favored the Chaldeans against the Egyptians, was made king by the people; but the king of Egypt, Pharaoh-necho, invaded the land and deposed Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:33, 34; Jer. 22:10-12), setting Eliakim on the throne in his stead, and changing his name to Jehoiakim.

  After this the king of Egypt took no part in Jewish politics, having been defeated by the Chaldeans at Carchemish (2 Kings 24:7; Jer. 46:2). Palestine was now invaded and conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. Jehoiakim was taken prisoner and carried captive to Babylon (2 Chr. 36:6, 7). It was at this time that Daniel also and his three companions were taken captive to Babylon (Dan. 1:1, 2).

  Nebuchadnezzar reinstated Jehoiakim on his throne, but treated him as a vassal king. In the year after this, Jeremiah caused his prophecies to be read by Baruch in the court of the temple. Jehoiakim, hearing of this, had them also read in the royal palace before himself. The words displeased him, and taking the roll from the hands of Baruch he cut it in pieces and threw it into the fire (Jer. 36:23). During his disastrous reign there was a return to the old idolatry and corruption of the days of Manasseh.

  After three years of subjection to Babylon, Jehoiakim withheld his tribute and threw off the yoke (2 Kings 24:1), hoping to make himself independent. Nebuchadnezzar sent bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, and Ammonites (2 Kings 24:2) to chastise his rebellious vassal. They cruelly harassed the whole country (compare Jer. 49:1-6). The king came to a violent death, and his body having been thrown over the wall of Jerusalem, to convince the beseieging army that he was dead, after having been dragged away, was buried beyond the gates of Jerusalem "with the burial of an ass," B.C. 599 (Jer. 22:18, 19; 36:30). Nebuchadnezzar placed his son Jehoiachin on the throne, wishing still to retain the kingdom of Judah as tributary to him.
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  ithinkisee

  How does that settle it? Can you speak slower for us lay-people?

  Let me rephrase: Jehoakim's rule was 610-599BCE correct? What year was jehoiakim taken prisoner and carried captive to babylon? (602?) Oh wait, I get it. The Society has to say it is the third year of his vassalship because the ... aw crap ... I don;t know ... Any pointers? -ithinkisee
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  VM44

  Maybe The Watchtower is correct in this one instance......Jehoiakim served Egypt for 8 years, and then Babylon for 3 more years. --VM44
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  scholar

  VM44

  WT scholars have got Daniel 1:1 exegetically and linguistically correct as the NWT refers to the "third year of the kingship" rather than "the third year of the reign". The Hebrew word in this instant is malkut and means kingship, dominion rather than a chronological datum of 'reign'. The word agin appears in Daniel 2:1 in reference to Nebuchadnezzer. The Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy book published by the Watchtower Society explains correctly the chronology for Daniel1:1 and I refer you to pp.18-19 under the heading 'THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM' and pp.32-33 under the heading 'NEBUCHADNEZZER IN JERUSALEM'.

  scholar JW
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  JCanon

  There is nothing wrong with the reference in the Bible of Jehoiakim being first attacked by Babylon in his third year as king, his kingship and reign being synonymous.

  In this case, Carl Olof Jonsson reports correctly about this. The Babylonian Chronicle records that Nebuchadnezzar deported people from "Hatti-Land" in his accession year. This was the year of the first deportation of Daniel and others, which is year 3 of Jehoiakim. If you assign the third year of Jehoiakim's rule to the accession year of Nebuchadnezzar then his 11th year matches the 8th year of Nebuchadnezzar, the year the Bible says that Jehoiachin was deported the last month of the year after just three months of rule.

  Some interesting year-by-year to keep things aligned

  Jehoiakim,Nebuchadnezzar

  03-Accession Year; Year 3 of Jehoiakim, accession year of NebII - Daniel the child is deported, probably around 10 years of age.

  04-01, 4th of Jehoiakim, official 1st year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar conquers Pharoah Necho.

  05-02, In the 2nd year of Nebuchadnezzar he has the dream. This is before Daniel's three years of training is completed. Daniel comes before Nebuchadnezzar who did not know who he was. He was above to kill all the wise "men" and young children. This is when Daniel interpreted the dream, but he was only about 11 at the time!

  06-03 After three years of vassalship, Jehoiakim rebels. Jehoiakim is hassled by other nations.

  07-04

  08-05

  09-06

  10-07 Nebuchadnezzar deports 3,024 Jews including Ezekiel in his 7th year.

  11-08 11th year of Jehoiakim, he dies. Jehoiachin rules last 3 months of year 8. Zedekiah appointed.

  JC
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  scholar

  JC Canon

  Your reconstruction of the chronology of Jehoiakim and Nebuchadnezzer is wrong because it conflicts with the fact that in Jehoiakim's third regnal year he was a vassal to Necho. It was not until his fourth year that Nebuchadnezzer in his first year defeated Nechoh. Jeremiah 25:1 and 26:2. Therefore, the reference to the third year of Jehoiakim's kingship in Daniel 1:1 can only refer to events at the latter part of his reign rather than the beginning of his reign as many scholars suggest because in Jehoiakim's third year,Nebuchadnezzer had not yet begun to rule.

  scholar JW
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  JCanon

  Hello Scholar. Thanks for the add'l info. But I think we are talking about two different things.

  Your reconstruction of the chronology of Jehoiakim and Nebuchadnezzer is wrong because it conflicts with the fact that in Jehoiakim's third regnal year he was a vassal to Necho. It was not until his fourth year that Nebuchadnezzer in his first year defeated Nechoh. Jeremiah 25:1 and 26:2.

  Interesting detail I had not specifically considered, but it doesn't change anything. Nebuchadnezzar conquered all the territories of Egypt eventually. Jehoiakim has to be the vassal to whomever has conquered him. So he may have been a vassal to Egypt and Nechoh before, but that ended when he conquered the city and made Jehoiakim him vassel. Nechoh went to war to reclaim his territory but it went bably for him at Carchemish. So the specific historical note is that Nebuchadnezzar did not have to wait to conquer Nechoch at Carchemish at which point Nechoch concedes and says, "Okay, you win, here are my territories, I'll send them an e-mail telling them they have to pay you instead of me now." No, Judah was taken from Nechoh a year before he tried to get it back.

  because in Jehoiakim's third year,Nebuchadnezzer had not yet begun to rule.

  Yes he had begun to "rule" since he was co-ruler with his father and the co-rulers back then in Assyria, Babylon and Judah and Israel assigned the title of "king" to the co-ruler. So even as co-ruler during his "accession year" he was appropriately called "king".

  No funny-numbers here with the kingship years for either Jehoiakim or Nebuchadnezzar. Sorry.

  JC
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  scholar

  JC Canon

  Sorry, Nebuchadnezzer had not begun to rule in his own right as 'King of Babylon' until shortly after the fourth year of Jehoiakim for up until the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign, Nebuchadnezzer was merely a crown prince. Jeremiah 25:1 1 clearly refers to Nebuchadnezzer as king of Babylon at his first year which is synchronized with the fourth year of Jehoiakim as king of Judah with the overthrow of Nechoh. The very fact that Jeremiah states that the "first year of Nebuchadnezzer the king of Babylon" proves that this event alone marks the beginning of Nebuchadnezzer's reign as 'king of Babylon' in his own right. This is confirmed by Jerehiah's later reference to that same event in 46:2.

  scholarJW
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  ithinkisee

  Holy crap ... another JCanon vs. Scholar battle begins.

  Heh.

  -ithinkisee
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  AlanF

  This is getting pretty funny. Two total crackpots arguing.

  And one of them a pathological liar to boot.

  AlanF