Jerusalem's Destruction
587 or 607?
Most secular historians point to 587/586-B.C.E. as the date for the desolation of Jerusalem, and many pages that have been written to prove this is true. But the question for Christians is; What does the Bible say? Can the Bible prove or disprove either date? LetÕs take a closer look using Bible prophecies and events.
When Did NebuChadnezzarÕs Reign Begin?
Most
historians agree that 539-B.C.E. is the date of the overthrow of Babylon, for
there is much evidence pointing to this. So, it is called an absolute date.
However, secular historians say that BabylonÕs king (NebuChadnezzar) began his
reign in 605-B.C.E., while the Bible seems to indicate that his reign began in
625-B.C.E. What accounts for the 20-year discrepancy?
Notice
that the Bible says (at Jeremiah 52:12 LXX), ÔIn the fifth month, on the tenth day
of the month, that is, [in] the nineteenth year of King NebuChadnezzar, the king of Babylon,
NebuZaradan the chief of the bodyguard, who was standing before the king of
Babylon, came into Jerusalem. And he proceeded to burn the house of Jehovah and the house of the king
and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every great house he burned with fire.
And all the walls of Jerusalem, round about, all the military forces of the
Chaldeans that were with the chief of the bodyguard pulled down.
The
Bible shows that the Jews returned to their homeland in the first year of King
Cyrus, which would have been 537-B.C.E. So, we arrive at 607-B.C.E. for the
start of the desolation of Jerusalem by counting 70 years back from 537-B.C.E.
(using the prophecy of the 70-years of JerusalemÕs desolation). And since the
destruction occurred in NebuChadnezzarÕs 19th year, if we count 18 years back from
607-B.C.E., this shows us that the date when NebuChadnezzar began his rule was 625-B.C.E.
Now,
secular historians (who calculate their dates by how long each Babylonian King
reigned) count back from what they think is the 19th year of
NebuChadnezzarÕs reign (539-B.C.E.) and conclude that 587-B.C.E. was the year
that Jerusalem was desolated. However, the Bible leaves us no doubt that they
are wrong. Let us show you why.
Jerusalem Uninhabited for Seventy Years
The
simple reason for concluding that 607-B.C.E. is the correct date can be found
at Daniel 9:1, 2, which reads, ÔIt was during the first year of the reign of
Darius, the son of AhasuErus from the seed of the Medes, who ruled over the
kingdom of the Chaldeans, that I DaniEl came to understand the number of the
years from the words that [Jehovah] had given to the Prophet JeremJah, for
there he prophesied that Jerusalem would lie desolate for seventy years.Õ
That
this period is true is confirmed in the record at 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21, where
we read, ÔThen he carried off everyone who was left to Babylon, where they
served as slaves for him and his sons until the Medes came along and fulfilled
the words of [Jehovah] through Jeremiah, and the land had observed its
Sabbaths. For, during
the seventy years that the land lay desolate, it was observing the Sabbath.Õ
Now,
the Hebrew word that is translated desolate here is shama, which also means desert or
wildernessÉ a place where no one lives. So, according to the Bible, Jerusalem
was a desolate waste for 70 years. Then if Babylon was destroyed in 539-B.C.E.,
and Cyrus released the Jews in his first year (as the scriptures tell us), the
date that Jerusalem was re-inhabited was 537-B.C.EÉ and counting back 70 years
brings us 607-B.C.E.
But if
(as historians say) Jerusalem started its desolation in 587-B.C.E., the
70-years of the Bible record would bring us to 517-B.C.E. Is it possible that
517-B.C.E. was when the Jews returned? No, for by that time, as both the books
of Zechariah (written in 518-B.C.E.) and Haggai (written in 520-B.C.E.) show,
the Jews had built houses, planted crops, and were working on the Temple. Why,
Jerusalem had definitely been inhabited for quite some time before 517-B.C.E.
So, 587 doesnÕt fit into the prophecy or the Bible record.
Daniel's Exile
Some
also claim that Daniel was in Babylon during the 2nd year of NebuChadnezzarÕs
reign. So, they reason that if NebuChadnezzar started his rule in 625-B.C.E.
and Daniel was brought into exile before that, he would have been well over
100-years-old when he died, since he lived under the rule of Cyrus and
Darius after Babylon was conquered.
But
notice what Daniel 1:1 says: ÔIt was during the third year of the reign of JehoiAkim (the king
of Judah) that NebuChadnezzar
(the king of Babylon) came to Jerusalem and attacked it.Õ
Note
that it was NebuChadnezzar
who did the conquering and took the exiles, and among these exiles was Daniel,
for Daniel 1:5, 6 says, ÔThen the king arranged for them to eat at the kingÕs table each day,
to share in his banquet wine, and to have them taken special care of for three years.
And after that, they were to be brought before the king.Õ
So,
Daniel had been in captivity for at least three years by the end of this
period, right?
But
Daniel 2:1, 2 says, ÔIt was in the second year of the reign of NebuChadnezzar that he had a dream,
which disturbed him so deeply that he
couldnÕt sleep. So, the king said to call [his] officials, priests, sorcerers,
and Chaldeans, to have them interpret the dream.Õ
This is
one of the dreams that Daniel interpreted.
So,
critics argue that this convincing proof Daniel was there in the 2nd year of
NebuChadnezzarÕs reign. But if Daniel had already been there at least 3
years, how could he interpret the dream in NebuChadnezzarÕs 2nd year?
It would have been at least his 3rd year. So, why did Daniel write that it
was in the 2nd
year of NebuChadnezzarÕs reign?
The
obvious reason for this is that Daniel was writing from the perspective of how
many years the Jews had been under NebuChadnezzarÕs rule. He was speaking of
how many years NebuChadnezzar had ruled them, not how many years he had been king!
Notice
for example, what Jeremiah 52:28 tells us. ÔThese are the people whom NebuChadnezzar took
into exile: in
the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.Õ
So, if the first exiles were taken by NebuChadnezzar in the 7th
year of his rule, then how could Daniel have been there to interpret his
dream in the 2nd
year of his reign?
The
fact is; Daniel was taken into exile at the same time as Ezekiel, JehoiAchin,
and the rest of the first exiles, which was around 617-B.C.E. So, he would have been less
than 100-years-old when he served under both Cyrus and Darius. And that would
have been very possible for a man full of God's Spirit and having Jehovah's
support.
JehoiAkim's Rule
Promoters
of the 587-B.C.E. theory argue that what the Bible says about the rule of
JehoiAkim disproves 607-B.C.E. as the date of JerusalemÕs desolation. Does
607-B.C.E. fit in with the Bible history about JehoiAkim? Yes it does! Note:
JehoiAkim
began his rule in 628-B.C.E., and he reigned for 11 years, For 2 Chronicles 36:5
tells us, ÔTwenty-five
years old was JehoiAkim when he began to reign, and for eleven years he reigned in Jerusalem.Õ
NebuChadnezzar
began his rule in 625-B.C.E. (the 4th year of JehoiAkim). For Jeremiah 25:1 tells us,
ÔThe
word that occurred to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth
year of JehoiAkim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that is, the first year
of NebuChadnezzar the king of Babylon.Õ
JehoiAkim
was set up as a vassal king by NebuChadnezzar in 620-B.C.E., for 2 Kings 24:1 tells us, ÔIn his
days NebuChadnezzar the king of Babylon came up, and so JehoiAkim became his
servant for three years. However, he turned back and rebelled against him.Õ
NebuChadnezzar
conquered JehoiAkim in 617-B.C.E., then JehoiAchin reigned for 3 months thereafter. And
during this time, many Jews were taken into captivity.
Note
what 2 Kings 24:12-17 tells us about this: ÔThen JehoiAchin (the king of Judah)
surrendered to the king of Babylon, along with his mother, servants, governors,
and eunuchs, so
the king of Babylon [took him captive] during the eighth year of his reign.
Then he went in and took all the treasures in the Temple of [Jehovah], and all
the treasures in the kingÕs palace. And he had all the gold things that Solomon
(the king of Israel) had placed in the Temple of [Jehovah] cut off and removed,
just as [Jehovah] said would happen. Then he took all the governors and all the
important people from Jerusalem and carried them into captivity (some
ten-thousand people), including all the contractors and their workers, so all
that was left in the land was just poor people. He carried off JehoiAchin, his mother, his
wives, his eunuchs, and all the great people of the land. He took them all from
Jerusalem and resettled them in Babylon. He also carried off seven thousand
of [JudahÕs] greatest men, a thousand contractors and their craftsmen, and a
thousand of the best soldiers, and took them to Babylon.Õ
2
Chronicles 36:5 tells us: ÔTwenty-five years old was JehoiAkim when he began to reign, and for eleven
years he reigned in Jerusalem; and he continued to do what was bad in the
eyes of Jehovah his God.Õ
Now,
Daniel said that it was in JehoiAkimÕs 3rd year that he was conquered, but he had to
be speaking about the third year from the time that he started as a vassal king to
NebuChadnezzar, for how could he be conquered in this 3rd year if he reigned for 11 years?
So, NebuChadnezzarÕs 8th year was JehoiAkimÕs 11th year, just as the scripture
shows.
Jeremiah
52:28 confirms this, for it says, ÔThese are the people whom NebuChadnezzar
took into exile: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.Õ
So, he
took exiles at the end of the 7th year (or at the beginning of the 8th year as
described in 2 Kings 24), and in the 18th year of his reign.
Thereafter
(in 617), Zedekiah began his rule, which lasted 11 years until 607-B.C.E. So
Jeremiah 52:12, 13 tells us, ÔAnd in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the
month, that is, [in] the nineteenth year of King NebuChadnezzar, the king of
Babylon, NebuZaradan the chief of the bodyguard, who was standing before the
king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. And he proceeded to burn the house of Jehovah and
the house of the king and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every great house he
burned with fire.Õ
Ezekiel's Exile
Since
Ezekiel gives many prophecies in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem,
it is vital that we establish exactly when Ezekiel was taken into exile. At
Ezekiel 40:1 we read, ÔIn the twenty-fifth year of our exile, in the start of the year,
on the tenth [day] of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city had been
struck down, on this very same day the hand of Jehovah proved to be upon me.Õ
So,
here we can definitely establish that Ezekiel was in exile some 11 years before
the destruction of Jerusalem. Using secular chronology, this would be 597/598-B.C.E.,
but according to the Bible it would be 617/618 -B.C.E. Keep these dates in mind,
because they are vital for the rest of our discussion.
Egypt's Forty-Year Desolation
Ezekiel
prophesied that NebuChadnezzar would plunder and desolate EgyptÉ and he even
showed how long that desolation would last! This prophecy is a key to
establishing when the desolation of Jerusalem took place.
Part of
that prophecy was made in the 27th year of EzekielÕs exile, for we read at
Ezekiel 29:17-19, ÔNow it came about in the twenty-seventh year, in the first
[month], on the first [day] of the month, that the word of Jehovah occurred to
me, saying É Here
I am giving
to NebuChadnezzar the king of Babylon the land of Egypt, and he must carry
off its wealth and make a big spoil of it and do a great deal of plundering of
it; and it must become wages for his military force.Õ
Now,
counting 27 years from 597/598 -B.C.E. (the date of Ezekiel's exile according
to secular chronology) brings us to 570-B.C.E. But if we count 27 years from
617/618-B.C.E., that brings us to 590-B.C.E. These dates are very important when
considering the prophecy that Ezekiel made about how long the land of Egypt
would be desolated. For, notice how long Ezekiel then said Egypt was to be
desolated (Ezekiel 29:12), ÔAnd I will make the land of Egypt a desolate waste
in the midst of desolated lands; and its own cities will become a desolate
waste in the very midst of devastated cities for forty years; and I will scatter the
Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.Õ
Now letÕs
compare the dates. Ezekiel gave this prophecy in 570-B.C.E., so the desolation
had to take place sometime after that. Vat 4956 (the source that establishes
the 37th year of NebuChadnezzar and which secular historians believe to be
568-B.C.E.) also talks about NebuChadnezzarÕs campaign against Egypt. So
according to secular chronology, NebuChadnezzar desolated Egypt in 568É his
37th year. So, the 40-year desolation would have ended in 528-B.C.E. But Cyrus let
all the exiles go in 537-B.C.E.!
Historical
records show that Egypt actually had an alliance with the last Babylon King,
Nabonidus, before the destruction of Babylon in 539, so Egypt had been
repatriated before 539É and 568 to 539 is less than 30 years. So, how could Egypt have been
desolated for 40
years?
Now
letÕs compare these dates to what the Bible shows to be true. Ezekiel would
have made the prophecy in 590-B.C.E., and the 37th year of NebuChadnezzarÕs
reign would be the year 588-B.C.E., which would also be the year that Egypt was
desolated. Now letÕs add the 40 years of desolation, and we arrive at the year
548-B.C.E., which allows plenty of time before their restoration (sometime
before 539-B.C.E.). It amazingly fits into the Bible prophecies and chronology.
The Seventy-Year Prophecy for Tyre
In
Ezekiel 26:1-4 we read of a prophecy that was to be fulfilled upon Tyre. It
says, ÔAnd
it came about in the eleventh year, on the first [day] of the month, that
the word of Jehovah occurred to me, saying É Here I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up
against you many nations, just as the sea brings up its waves. And they will
certainly bring the walls of Tyre to ruin and tear down her towers, and I will
scrape her dust away from her and make her a shining, bare surface of a crag.Õ
Now, we
can establish that Ezekiel made this prophecy either in 586-B.C.E. (according
to secular chronology) or in 606-B.C.E. (according to Bible chronology).
Then
notice what Isaiah 23:15-17 tells us: ÔAnd it must occur in that day that Tyre must be
forgotten seventy years, the same as the days of one king. At the end of
seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of a prostitute: Take a harp, go
around the city, O forgotten prostitute. Do your best at playing on the
strings; make your songs many, in order that you may be remembered. And it
must occur at
the end of seventy years that Jehovah will turn his attention to Tyre, and
she must return to her hire and commit prostitution with all the kingdoms of
the earth upon the surface of the ground.Õ
Now
lets return to Ezekiel 26:7, 8 and see how what he wrote ties into the prophecy
of Isaiah: ÔFor this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, Here I am bringing
against Tyre NebuChadnezzar the king of Babylon from the north, a king of
kings, with horses and war chariots and cavalrymen and a congregation, even a
multitudinous people.Õ
So, we
see that Tyre was besieged by NebuChadnezzar, and for 70 years
Tyre was Ôforgotten.Õ This doesnÕt mean that Tyre was to be desolated for 70
years, but that it was merely forgotten as a major commercial center.
Now,
secular history would try to tell us that the siege of Tyre began shortly after
the desolation of Jerusalem, which they say is around 586/7-B.C.E. And if so,
the 70 years would therefore end in 517-B.C.E. But Ezra 3:6, 7 tells us ÔWhen
the seventh month arrived the sons of Israel were in [their] cities. And the people began to
gather themselves as one man to Jerusalem. And they proceeded to give money to the cutters
and to the craftsmen, and eatables and drink and oil to the Sidonians and the
Tyrians, to bring cedar timbers from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according
to the permission granted by Cyrus the king of Persia to them.Õ
This
event happened in 537/536-B.C.E., only 50 or so years after the siege of Tyre.
And Isaiah 23:18 was fulfilled at this time when Tyre was hired by Jehovah, for
the scriptures says, ÔAnd her profit and her hire must become something holy to Jehovah.Õ
(Because Tyre was supplying cedar timbers for Jerusalem, it was a holy work
performed by Tyre).
So,
secular chronology canÕt be correct! The siege of Tyre could have only taken
place in 606-B.C.E. shortly after the true date of the destruction of Jerusalem
in 607-B.C.E. For if we count 70 years from 607/606-B.C.E., we arrive at just
in the right year, 537/536-B.C.E. when the timbers were supplied for Jehovah's
rebuilding work.
True Bible Chronology
As you
can see, the timelines are impossible if 587-B.C.E. is the correct date of
Jerusalem's desolation because of:
The 70-year prophesy about Tyre, which began after the
destruction of Jerusalem. If that happened in 586, it would bring us to 516,
some 20 years after the exiles returned and Tyre provided cedars for the JewÕs
rebuilding work.
The 40 years of devastation on Egypt. It that began in 568, the
40 years ends in 528, but all the exiles were released in 537.
The 70 years that Jerusalem was to be uninhabited and
desolate. If 587 is correct, the desolation would have
ended in 517, when houses had been built and crops grown for some 20 years.
So, here is the
true chronology:
625
– NebuChadnezzar begins his rule
617
– Daniel, Ezekiel, and JehoiAchin were exiled
614
– DanielÕs training ends
607
– Jerusalem was destroyed and the 70 years begin
606
– Ezekiel prophesies against Tyre
606
– The siege of Tyre and the 70 years of being forgotten begins
605
– Daniel interprets NebuChadnezzarÕs dream
590
– Ezekiel gets the prophecy of EgyptÕs desolation and tells of the siege
of Tyre is now completed (it lasted 13 years according to Josephus)
588
– EgyptÕs 40-year desolation begins
548
– EgyptÕs 40-year desolation ends
539
– Babylon is conquered
537
– the Jews are restored to their homeland and the 70 years end
536
– the 70 years on Tyre end when they provide timber for Jerusalem.
Yes, the
date of 607-B.C.E. the fall of Jerusalem fits perfectly with the Bible. It is
in fact the only date that does fit perfectlyÉ no other date will work!
One of our
advisers sent this note: ÔI
would remove the argument about the timing of Daniel's exile, 3 years of
training and then interpreting a dream in the second year of
NebuChadnezzar. Those who make this argument are not taking into
consideration the calculation of regnal
years/ascension years for Babylonian kings. By the facts, this is entirely
possible, hence it is not an argument against secular history's timeline.Õ