Thanks bebu:
So the interpretation is ultimately left up to Josephus? His is weighty input, but still isn't what the scripture said.
JER 25:11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
JER 25:12 "But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt," declares the LORD..
But the scripture that you need to add here is also 2 Chronicles! It's a direct reference here:
2 CHRON 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.
THUS, Josephus is quoting from 2 Chronicles which in turn interprets these 70 years of desolation and the servitude of these poor people as the same 70 years that these nations would serve Babylon. So the question is, can we harmonize Jeremiah with 2 Chronicles as the same event?
Answer: Yes.
The key point here would be the reference to the "nations" serving Babylon for these seventy years, since you emphasized that. So where do they come into the picture? They come into the picture because when the land was emptied, the 70 years of paying back the sabbaths included the entire land of both Judah and Israel, not just Judah, and not just the Jewish occupied cities, but the entire area of the Promised Land including areas they never fully conquered, which meant the surrounding nations and cities like Tyre, Ashkelon, etc. As you may be aware of, the 10 tribes had long ago been dispossessed and deported into Assyria. But other peoples had been placed into the land at the time.
So historically, what happened, was that Nebuchadnezzar had gradually deported everybody out of the land over several years. He destroyed Jerusalem in his 19th year, but left some "poor people" in the land. These people eventually went down to Egypt and refused to return. Thus Jehovah promised to send Nebuchadnezzar down there to slaughter most of them, except for a few "remaining from the sword" who would return to Judah:
JER 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.”’”
Thus, in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar we have an account in Josephus where Nebuchadnezzar invades the land all the way down to Egypt and it must have been in this year that he finally deported all the remaining people out of the land, including those few Jews that had returned to Judah from Egypt. Thus it would be this last group of Jews and those nations deported in year 23 out of the land who would serve at Babylon for those seventy years.
Now as a little background, please note that the seventy years begins in year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar, some 4 years after the fall of Jerusalem, but Jeremiah's prophecy about all those nations that would also drink the bitter cup of Nebuchadnezzar would do so after Jerusalem was the first to drink!
JER 25:
27 “And you must say to them, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said: “Drink and get drunk and puke and fall so that YOU cannot get up because of the sword that I am sending among YOU .”’ 28 And it must occur that in case they refuse to take the cup out of your hand to drink, you must also say to them, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies has said: “Y OU will drink without fail. 29 For, look! it is upon the city upon which my name is called that I am starting off in bringing calamity, and should YOU yourselves in any way go free of punishment?”’
Okay. So we know this desolation and bitter cup from Nebuchadnezzar which Jehovah would make the nations drink would not happen overnight or in a single year. But Jerusalem was to be the first one to drink. So the desolation of Jerusalem must occur before the nations drink tihs cup. Thus this scripture alone shows the 70 years could not have begun before the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar. This is consistent, however, with the complete desolation of the land at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's last campaign in his 23rd year. Thus the last deportation of the Jews corresponded to the last deportation of those remaining in the surrounding nations who were to drink this bitter cup of desolation of the land for 70 years.
Thus there is perfect harmony of Josephus here with the Bible.
ISA 23: 15 "And it must occur in that day that Tyre must be forgotten seventy years,..."
Tyre is, of course, one of the cities/nations that was to drink this bitter cup that would occur after Jerusalem first drank and was destroyed.
So putting everyting above together, it appears that indeed, Jerusalem was the first to drink and was destroyed, but a few of the "poor people" were left behind, who later ran down to Egypt. In the meantime, Nebuchadnezzar likely had, like with the Jews,deported the majority of the people in the land by now. But during his last campaign in year 23, he completely deported everybody including the remaining people in the surrounding nations who would serve the specific 70 years prophesied while the land lay desolate and paid back it's sabbaths.
Also, please note those serving the seventy years are specifically mentioned as those who "escaped from the sword", a reference to the last remaining Jews who had ran down to Egypt who were made up of the poor people who had been left behind. Josephus mentions that these were the "poor people" as well. Thus the Bible confirms that the 70 years were to be served by those of the LAST DEPORTATION, not by those deported in year 19 when Jerusalem fell.
KEY SCRIPTURES, ZECH 1 AND 7:
But likely the most critical scriptures that show support of Josephus' chronology that the 70 years of Jeremiah did not begin until year 23, 4 years after the fall of Jerusalem is Zechariah 1, where it notes that seventy years after the "denunciation" of the cities, meaning their destruction in year 19 of Nebuchadnezzar, expired in the 2nd year of Darius the Mede, but at a time when the Jews were still in exile! That is consistent with the 70 years of Jeremiah not having been completed even by the 2nd year of Darius, which was 70 years after the fall of Jerusalem.
ZECH 1: 7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, that is, the month She´bat, in the second year of Da·ri´us, the word of Jehovah occurred to Zech·a·ri´ah the son of Ber·e·chi´ah the son of Id´do the prophet, saying:... 12 So the angel of Jehovah answered and said: “O Jehovah of armies, how long will you yourself not show mercy to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, whom you have denounced these seventy years?”
So the 2nd year of Darius marked the 70th year since the fall of Jerusalem and Jerusalem had not been rebuilt yet or the people returned yet, since is shows that Jehovah had not year shown "mercy to Jerusalem", meaning, it was still desolated and the people had not returned to rebuilt it and the other cities that were desolated.
So even if you can create a 70-year scenario in line say with the first nation destroyed by Babylon, it matters not since you have the Jews still in exile and Jerusalem still not rebuilt 70 years after its destruction, which marks year 2 of Darius. The Bible clearly says that immediately after the fall of Jerusalem that it was Darius the Mede (not Cyrus) that becomes king of Babylon. Thus this is obviously the 2nd year of Darius the Mede. If the Jews were not to actually be released until 70 years after the 23rd of Nebuchadnezzar and the time of the last deportation then it would be another four years in exile. That means that Darius the MEDE ruled for a full six years before Cyrus the PERSIAN came to the throne to rule over all of Persia.
But this explains why 2 Chronicles says that the 70 years would end when the "royalty of PERSIA" begins to regin. The Bible is distinguishing between the royalty of the Medes with Darius the MEDE and the royalty of Persia with Cyrus the PERSIAN. Thus the royalty of Persia does not include the rule of Darius the Mede, and the 70 years is specifically ended when Cyrus begins his rule six years after the fall of Babylon.
So since the Bible assigns these 70 years from the last deportation, and it is clear the Jews were still in exile even 70 years after the fall of Jerusalem, we are never in any wonderment about where to place the 70 years, especially since the Jews have always understood precisely the same chronology. Furthermore, since this involves a longer NB Period than the above secular scenario for the 70 years from 709 to 739BCE, there is a clear conflict here. The NB Period is 26 years shorter than as represented in the Bible. Therefore, we have reasonable suspicion that the Babylonian timeline was altered by 26 years at some point. It doesn't mean the Babylonians changed their history, but someone later who had control over the Babylonian Records, which means the Persians. That's another topic, but for instance, one key historical document is the "Babylonian Chronicle" and the text itself records that it was COPIED in year 22 of Darius, thus it originates from the Persian Period. The copying of this key text suggests it was copied to make some revisions. So it is not the original Babylonian records or the Babylonians that we are dealing with as far as their history in contrast to the Bible, but whoever last revised their history. But this situation alone proves that the scenario of 609-539BCE is not the correct interpretation of the Bible's 70 years since it is based on a revised chronology that doesn't agree with the Bible.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. Please comment ont he above if you have questions or see some discrepancy.
Thanks!
JCanon
