In The Master's Service

ISRAEL, GOD'S ORACLE PEOPLE

FIGURING THE YEARS

Brother John G. Gassaway

Let us inspect more closely the beginning of the servitudes and the beginning of desolations of Jerusalem. We can get a clear starting point from the Book of Chronicles with the 18th year of Josiah. Before we begin this discussion, an important point must be made. The reign of kings of these ancient times were reckoned by different methods. According to some sources, the methods even changed in Judah at various times. In post-exilic Judea, the Jews had adopted both the calendar month names and the practice of reckoning of their kings from Nisan to Nisan. During the time of Jeremiah who coincides with Josiah until the fall of Jerusalem, they used the method known as non-accession. What month they considered to be the beginning of months for regnal years is debatable and I have found more opinions than answers. The other method is accession method which apparently was used by the Northern Kingdom of Israel causing the reigning years of Israelite kings described by Judah in the Book of Chronicles to differ from that as described by the writers of Kings.

To explain this let us suppose a king died on December 31 and his successor started his reign on January 1. There would be no problem. But if that king died on the 19th of December, what do we do with the rest of that year when the new king begins to rule on December 20 of that year? In the accession method the remaining days, even if 364 days were left for the king who died, the new king would not start his first year by reckoning until January 1st of the next year. Reigns determined this way are much more accurate historically over the long run. With the non-accession method, those remaining days constitute the first year of the new king even if it were just one day. That causes the kings' lists of non-accession reckoning to reflect an extra year every time a king dies and the cumulative error over a period of 10 kings would be 10 years. We know of situations such as Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin who were carted off at the end of three months. With the non-accession method three kings could be given a year's reign during that time. So reading the Book of Kings and comparing the regnal years of a Judean king will give one number and the Book of Chronicles will give an extra year. Methods of reckoning will be pointed out periodically during this chapter.

We have solid proof that the Passover of Josiah's 18th year of reign occurred during the 16th Jubilee from the Jewish Talmud. The Israelites kept a very close account of Jubilee years for so many things happened that affected personal property, slaves freed, lands going back to the original owner if the owner had had to sell his land due to hardship or in a case like Naomi, her husband took her away from her land into Moab. Someone other than family promptly bought that land and when Naomi returned, she had no home. Of course there, the law of the kinsman redeemer allowed and required one of close kin to Naomi to buy the land back for her. [Leviticus 25:25] God stated clearly in verse 23 that the land BELONGED TO HIM and could not be sold permanently. That should give the Palestinians some pause in their incessant activities to take Israel away from the Jews! We know from Scripture when the Passover during that 16th Jubilee year was observed. The Jubilee is commanded in Leviticus.

Leviticus 25:55 states that God compares the freeing of slaves in the fiftieth year to His freeing Israel from Egyptian bondage and slavery. This indicates that God considered that year of the Exodus as being the first of a Sabbatical year and therefore, the first of a Jubilee year. Both the Jubilee and the Sabbatical years (seven one-year periods) began in the seventh month or Tishrie, the 10th day, on the Day of Atonement. Just in case there is confusion, Nisan is subservient to Tishrie in this case as a New Year and Jubilee years began in the fall before any Nisan in question. That means that in a Julian or modern calendar comparison the year of the Jubilee and also in the reckoning of kings would be in a calendar year BEFORE the Nisan of that Jewish year. As you know the Jews after the Exodus had TWO New Year events, the one in Nisan and the one in the fall, the first of Tishrie.

Leviticus 25:8: And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth [day] of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

The Sabbatical years were based on the more ancient calendar system of beginning the year in the fall. Of significant interest is Genesis 8:4 concerning the seventh month of the ancient calendar before the Exodus.

Genesis 8:4: and the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

That seventeenth day of that seventh month by old calendar system would be the same seventeenth day of Nisan in 33 AD when Jesus Christ arose from the tomb, the 17th of Nisan! The delivery from the flood in the Ark is equated to the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Midrash of the rescue from the flood. God speaks to us in the Bible with such comparisons, visions, similitudes, and parables and as the Jewish rabbi say, "MIDRASH", the prior occurrence of something concerning a more profound event of the future. [Hosea 12:10].

No planting was done during a Sabbath year nor in the year of the Jubilee. It prevented two crop years and the provisions for TWO years had to be on hand. God promised that as long as they kept the Law of the Sabbaths the provisions would be there for an abundant crop in the sixth year and a double abundance in a sixth year before a Jubilee year [Leviticus 25:21-22].

I have given you previously the amazing prophecies and dating found in the Pyramid of Giza. The pyramid of Giza sets the date of the Exodus as 1453 BC, during a full moon of the first Passover. It even gives a precise Julian date, March 30th, 1453 BC. You may be asking, "what about the previous article about the old 360-day years, catastrophic times and the inability to date anything using modern calendars?" The answer is that the pyramid was built for our days and its floor line measurements were intended to give this generation information that God knew beforehand. It is God's proof in stone of His control over events. The measurements that give the datelines in the pyramid would have meant nothing to Joshua or Isaiah. They do have meaning in this age.

Jubilee years were counted beginning in the fall of the year, 1454 BC and the Exodus was the spring of 1453 BC in the first year of the first Sabbatical cycle. Count 49 years forward from the Fall of 1454 BC and the seventh Sabbatical cycle would begin in the Fall of 1405 ending in the Fall of 1404 BC when the Israelites were already in the land for some 8 1/2 years (the 50th year). The actual day of the Jubilee would begin 1404 BC and end on the day of Atonement, Tishrie 10, 1403 BC, meaning a second year that crops could not be planted. (The civil New Year began on Tishrie 1 and that will be important in the reckoning of the kings of Judah in this period.

We would like to know when the 16th Jubilee occurred. We multiply 49 X 16 =784 years. Subtract 784 years from 1404 and we come to the year 621 BC. That would be the first year of a Sabbatical cycle and the beginning of a fiftieth year, i.e., the 16th Jubilee would be the end of that Jubilee year. There is only one Passover that is possible. If the reckoning of kings was Nisan to Nisan the only Passover occurring during that Jubilee and mentioned in 2nd Chronicles 35:19 would have occurred in the spring of 620 BC. With a Tishrie to Tishrie reckoning, that would place the Jubilee from 621-620 BC and Passover in the 18th year still in 620 BC. In either case that Passover would have been the 18th year of Josiah in 620 BC. The difference is that the beginning year of Josiah's reign would differ with the two methods. We will see that his reign began in the fall and using this information, we can get the exact years of reign of the kings up to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. It will also settle the question of what year did Jerusalem fall, 586 or 587, once and for all.

2nd Chronicles 35:19 in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept.

By working backwards from the 18th year, the first year of Josiah then was either 637 or 638 BC using the known date of the Exodus of 1453 BC, the Jubilee years, the Talmud and 2nd Chronicles 38:10. The next question then is, "which month is used for reckoning?" If Nisan were the month of reckoning, then the presumed date would be April 4th, 637, the 1st of Nisan. But we cannot be sure that Nisan was the beginning of months of a king's reign in pre-exilic Judea. In fact if the pyramid dating is used for the starting point and a known date to all historians, the battle of Carchemish, another firm date as to a year is 605 BC. This battle of Carchemish was critical in establishing the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and brought to an end the influence of Egypt in any serious way. Josiah had already listened to Jeremiah and had made allegiance to Babylon before his death at Megiddo, fighting Pharaoh Necho, but his sons who succeeded him forever had hopes of "rescue" by Egypt and would always bring the fury of Babylon upon themselves and Jerusalem in spite of Jeremiah's warnings.

Using a Nisan reckoning giving 620 BC for the 18th year of Josiah just does not allow 31 years for Josiah, three months for Jehoahaz and three plus any fraction for Jehoiakim ending in 605 BC, as scripture requires. Using Nisan would place the beginning of Josiah at best in 637 BC. Even assuming that Josiah had ascended the throne before Nisan and his 18th year began Nisan 620, his 31st year would have begun in 607 BC. Even if he died on Nisan 1, 607 there are only two full years before Nisan 1, 605 BC, that is stated to be the third year by Daniel and the fourth by Jeremiah [Jeremiah 46:1] (who counted part years as full year, that is non-accession).

We must then, push the beginning of reign of Josiah back to the fall, Tishrie, or 638 BC, and his 18th year beginning in the fall, Tishrie of 621 BC. It is apparent then that at that time kings of Judah were reckoned from Tishri to Tishrie. The Passover for that year would still be Nisan 15, 620 BC. Josiah's 31st year would then begin in the fall (Tishrie) of 608 BC. Jeremiah records the battle of Carchemish as being in the fourth year of Jehoiakim [Jeremiah 46:2}. At the time of the battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar was general of the armies of the north and was actually titled "king of Assyria", but his brother Nergil was the king of Babylon. We will find that Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar's father had died two years earlier in 607 BC. [RAMES II AND HIS TIME; Velikovsky].

After Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar chased Necho's forces in retreat back to Egypt. At that very time he was called back to Babylon to answer to charges that he was claiming to be king of Babylon. It seems that as he was rampaging through Syria chasing Necho, he became so vain as to tell people that he was the king of Babylon. The word got back to his brother Nergil. Nebuchadnezzar was called back to answer charges of usurping the throne. In profane history, Nebuchadnezzar has in error been given the year 605 as his first regnal year of Babylon. It would be another two years before he would become the surviving king of Babylon. I will use another chapter to tell this whole story of Nebuchadnezzar, but to clear Daniel 1:1 and the statement that Nebuchadnezzar was "king of Babylon" when he besieged Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar was titled king of Assyria at that time but Nergil, the elder son of Nabopolassar, was king of Babylon. Since Daniel was a servant of Nebuchadnezzar in training for three years, he had no way of knowing the difference and Nebuchadnezzar did a clever job of rewriting history before Daniel became of age enough to know this fact. Nebuchadnezzar tells this entire sordid story in his diaries under his Assyrian name, Hatisullis.

The kings we must fit in between the death of Josiah and the third year of Jehoiakim (Daniel's accession reckoning), are Josiah in his 31st year, Jehoahaz' three months and then three years of Jehoiakim by a date of 605 BC, probably in September of that year. Jeremiah speaks of the battle.

Jeremiah 46:2: Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

That "fourth year" with the non-accession reckoning of Jeremiah would have been 605 BC. His fourth year could have either begun in the fall (Tishrie) 606 or spring (Nisan) 605 BC. If we are still not sure then let us compare possibilities. Just as the Jubilee begins in the year before the Passover of a Jubilee year, if the reckoning of kings begins in the fall, it is the calendar year before. Jeremiah speaks of the Battle of Carchemish in the "fourth year" of Jehoiakim. We know from history that Nebuchadnezzar then besieged Jerusalem to assure Jehoiakim's allegiance after that battle which would have been later in the summer/fall of 605 BC. If the timing was any time between Tishrie 605 to Tishrie 604 it would have been in the fourth year of Jehoiakim but for Jeremiah to reckon with Daniel's reckoning Nisan to Nisan, the third year, the only dates available would be from Nisan 605 to Tishrie 605. Also the reigns of the later kings prevents going past Tishrie of 605. Look at the two possibilities below, both non-accession reckoning of Jeremiah.

Nisan reckoning Jeremiah	Tishrie reckoning Jeremiah
637 BC accession year	638 BC accession year
637 BC accession year	638 BC accession year
620 BC 18th year Nisan 1	621 BC 18th year Tishrie 1
Passover 620 Nisan 15	Passover 620 Nisan 15
607 31st year begins spring	608 31st year begins fall
607 Accession of Jehoiakim	608 Accession of Jehoiakim
606 Second year Jehoiakim	607 Second year Jehoiakim
605 Third year Jehoikim	606 Third year Jehoiakim
604 Fourth year Jehoikim	605 Fourth year Jehoiakim

It becomes obvious that Jeremiah used a Tishrie to Tishrie reckoning at that time. We also know that Babylon used a Nisan-to-Nisan reckoning. It is stated in Babylonian records that Josiah was killed on the 8th June 608 BC and Jehoiakim then ascended the throne on the 8th of September, 608, before Tishrie 1, October 8th; the year 608 BC. That would fit with a three-month reign of Jehoahaz. The battle of Carchemish then was in June-July of 605 BC and the subjugation of Jehoiakim by Nebuchadnezzar occurred shortly afterwards as ancient writings found at Boghazkoi, the former capital of Hatisullis (Nebuchadnezzar). This is indicated as well in Josephus' histories. The date was definitely between June and October.

Some give a date of September, which would be allowed, as the date of the next year of reign would be Tishrie 1, which was on October 4th. Now we can follow the later kings' reigns up until the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC.

Strangely, Jehoiakim always looked back to Necho for support and refused the advice and prophecies of Jeremiah. Jehoiakim kept his promise to Nebuchadnezzar only until his eighth year when Necho stormed Ashkelon. Jehoiakim took this as a signal that he could revolt from Nebuchadnezzar but Necho was sorely defeated and Nebuchadnezzar turned back on Jerusalem and took Jehoiakim hostage "in fetters" to Babylon.

2nd Chronicles 36:6: against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

This corresponds to 2nd Kings 24:1 when Jeremiah after three years of servitude to Nebuchadnezzar, rebelled.

2nd Kings 24:1: In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

The rebellion occurred after three years meaning the third to the fourth year after 605 BC, 602-601 BC in the eighth year of Jehoiakim's reign and the third year of Nebuchadnezzar (Nisan/ascension method). Velikovsky states this is when the defeated Nebuchadnezzar fell to his psychotic illness, thinking that his "lady" (god), Ishtar had abandoned him. He recovered in four years, not seven. The "seven-times" of Daniel 4:16 can equally mean "seven durations", not necessarily years. We know from other sources that Jehoiakim was killed during his eleventh year on 22nd Kisleu (December), 598 BC, either by the people (possibly by Zedekiah) or by Nebuchadnezzar. Second Kings simply states he "slept with his fathers", meaning he died before Jehoiachin became king. 598-597 BC was an accession year of Jehoiachin (2nd Kings 24:6) Jeremiah spoke of Jehoiakim's future in much less subtle terms.

Jeremiah 36:30: Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.

The Book of Kings at this point states "the king of Egypt came not again anymore out of his land." [2nd Kings 24:7] According to Babylonian records the Chaldeans had taken Ashkelon back and Jeremiah indicates this in his prophecies of chapter 47:5. Within three months Nebuchadnezzar came back to Jerusalem to remove Jehoiachin and took him back to Babylon with all the vessels of the Temple, the learned and wise men and particularly Ezekiel. Ezekiel dates all of his writings starting with the date of their captivity in 597 BC. Jehoiakim was returned to Jerusalem after he had "learned his lesson." The Babylonian Chronicles gives the date of March 16th, 597 BC as the end of Jehoiachin's reign and thus Jehoiakim's death would be December 8th, 598, which was Heshvan 22 by Babylonian Records but Kisleu 22 by Hebrew. The month difference in date from Hebrew and Babylonian records is the result of an intercalation of a 30-day month Adar II by the Babylonians some year prior to 598 when the Jews did not. Zedekiah would ascend the throne March 16th, 597 BC. His first year by Jeremiah would include the year Tishrie 598-597 BC even though he served less than 6-7 months of that regnal year.

597 BC Zedekiah ascends throne, March 16th (598-597 BC) 590-589 ninth year Zedekiah; siege Jerusalem Dec 15th, 589.

2nd Kings 24:20: For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

2nd Kings 25:1: And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth [day] of the month, [that] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

The language of Leviticus 26 indicates that the land would be subject to the period of desolations. By the time of Zedekiah's 9th year, the only land that was left was that in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem and Jerusalem itself. It was the siege of Jerusalem in the 9th year cited above that marked the beginning of desolations for the land and the city. Soon after the siege began, troubles broke out on the Egyptian border and the siege was lifted as the Chaldean army moved against a new pharaoh, Hophra, and quickly defeated him. Zedekiah took the advice of Jeremiah's tormentors and imprisoned Jeremiah. Jeremiah warned Jerusalem that Nebuchadnezzar would be back, but they ignored him, took back their slaves that they had earlier released and turned to building up the defenses of the city. Except for the help of the Ethiopian eunuch Ebed Mellech, Jeremiah would have died. After his rescue and with the renewed siege by Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah released Jeremiah to the "courtyard" and sought his advice. He was already too late for Nebuchadnezzar had had his fill of Zedekiah and Jerusalem. So had God.

2nd Kings 25:2: And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

587 Eleventh year Zedekiah, 9th Tammuz, city walls broken.

587 Eleventh year of Zedekiah, 7th or 10th of Ab (Av), the Temple burned, and ALL city walls overturned.

One more event marked the full desolations of the land when the few people who had been left behind with Gedaliah fled to Egypt against the Lord's advice through Jeremiah. Jeremiah 44:2 indicates that not a single Jew was left in the land of Israel.

Jeremiah 44:1: The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they [are] a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,

It appears that these people left for Egypt within the year after Jerusalem fell, sometime in the year 586. Now the land was totally desolate, empty of God's chosen ones. Nebuchadnezzar attacked them at Tahpanhes sometime before his 23rd year. The ones left alive afterwards were extradited to Babylon as per the old treaty between Nebuchadnezzar and Necho. Jeremiah 52:30 states this included only 740 persons. That number did not include Jeremiah, Ebed-Mellech, Baruch and the king's daughters as they show up in Ireland in 583 BC [CHRONICLES OF IRE; Sharon Turner]. This then would appear that they were extradited between 584 and 583 BC. Jeremiah is said to have secured the tent of the tabernacles, and other artifacts and hid them in a mountain according to 2nd Maccabees. That would have occurred at the time these people were extradited but Jeremiah and his charges were allowed their freedom. If the year 584 BC is subjected to the 70 360-year desolations it becomes 515 BC, the year the Temple was completed on the 3rd of Adar, 515 BC. That would fit with the desolations of the city as the Temple and all it represented was Jerusalem. We also have the desolations of the land to consider. It was a different period.

We have now come to some concrete dates as to the beginning of servitudes in 605 BC and the beginning of desolations of the land in 589 BC. The date of 584 BC marks the full desolations of the land. I will be showing you the importance of these dates regarding the Jew, Jerusalem and modern history and the different periods of servitudes and desolations, the 70 years and the 2520 years. Here is a summary of the dates we have established for a beginning point.

605 BC Fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 46:2) September, the beginning of servitudes of Judah, captivity of Daniel. Until 603 BC "after the third year" of Jehoiakim's servitude, revolt of Jehoiakim at time when Nebuchadnezzar was battling Necho at Ashkelon (Jeremiah 47:5; 2nd Kings 24:1]. In this case, part years count in the three years of Jehoiakim's servitude to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem before the beginning of the regnal year-end during Jehoiakim's fourth year in 605 BC. Jehoiakim remained his servant for the next year 604, rebelled in the next year (third year) and was then captured in 603 BC after Nebuchadnezzar had disposed of Ashkelon.

598 BC 11th year Jehoiakim [2nd Kings 23:36] 598 BC. December 8th: death of Jehoiakim, accession of Jehoiachin - the year of "captivity" in Ezekiel

589 BC, December 25, siege of Jerusalem, 9th year Zedekiah, beginning of desolations of Judah.

587 BC, July 27th, the Temple burned, city walls pulled down.

584 BC, the full desolations of the land occur.

To be continued...THE CHALDEAN DWARF

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