*** si pp. 282-283 Study Number 2—Time and the Holy Scriptures ***
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Pivotal Dates. Reliable Bible chronology is based on certain pivotal dates. A pivotal date is a calendar date in history that has a sound basis for acceptance and that corresponds to a specific event recorded in the Bible. It can then be used as the starting point from which a series of Bible events can be located on the calendar with certainty. Once this pivotal point is fixed, calculations forward or backward from this date are made from accurate records in the Bible itself, such as the stated life spans of people or the duration of the reigns of kings. Thus, starting from a pegged point, we can use the reliable internal chronology of the Bible itself in dating many Bible events.
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Pivotal Date for the Hebrew Scriptures. A prominent event recorded both in the Bible and in secular history is the overthrow of the city of Babylon by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus. The Bible records this event at Daniel 5:30. Various historical sources (including Diodorus, Africanus, Eusebius, Ptolemy, and the Babylonian tablets) support 539 B.C.E. as the year for the overthrow of Babylon by Cyrus. The Nabonidus Chronicle gives the month and day of the city’s fall (the year is missing). Secular chronologers have thus set the date for the fall of Babylon as October 11, 539 B.C.E., according to the Julian calendar, or October 5 by the Gregorian calendar.
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Following the overthrow of Babylon, and during his first year as ruler of conquered Babylon, Cyrus issued his famous decree permitting the Jews to return to Jerusalem. In view of the Bible record, the decree was likely made late in 538 B.C.E. or toward the spring of 537 B.C.E. This would give ample opportunity for the Jews to resettle in their homeland and to come up to Jerusalem to restore the worship of Jehovah in "the seventh month," Tishri, or about October 1, 537 B.C.E.—Ezra 1:1-4; 3:1-6.
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Pivotal Date for the Christian Greek Scriptures. A pivotal date for the Christian Greek Scriptures is determined by the date that Tiberius Caesar succeeded Emperor Augustus. Augustus died on August 17, 14 C.E. (Gregorian calendar); Tiberius was named emperor by the Roman Senate on September 15, 14 C.E. It is stated at Luke 3:1, 3 that John the Baptizer began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius’ reign. If the years were counted from the death of Augustus, the 15th year ran from August of 28 C.E. to August of 29 C.E. If counted from when Tiberius was named emperor by the Senate, the year ran from September of 28 C.E. to September of 29 C.E. Soon after this, Jesus, who was about six months younger than John the Baptizer, came to be baptized, when he was "about thirty years old." (Luke 3:2, 21-23; 1:34-38) This agrees with the prophecy at Daniel 9:25 that 69 "weeks" (prophetic weeks of 7 years each, thus totaling 483 years) would elapse from "the going forth of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem" and its wall until the appearance of Messiah. (Dan. 9:24, footnote) That "word" was authorized by Artaxerxes (Longimanus) in 455 B.C.E. and was put into effect by Nehemiah in Jerusalem in the latter part of that year. And 483 years later, in the latter part of 29 C.E., when he was baptized by John, Jesus was also anointed by holy spirit from God, thus becoming the Messiah, or Anointed One. That Jesus was baptized and began his ministry in the latter part of the year also agrees with the prophecy that he was to be cut off "at the half of the week" of years (or after three and a half years). (Dan. 9:27) Since he died in the spring, his ministry of three and a half years must have begun toward the fall of 29 C.E. Incidentally, these two lines of evidence also prove that Jesus was born in the autumn of 2 B.C.E., since Luke 3:23 shows that Jesus was about 30 years of age when he commenced his work.