Jeremiah's Prophecy on 70 Years

In the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Jeremiah foretold that the nation of Judah would fall to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He predicted that the city of Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed, and that the Jews would be carried into Babylon. He also prophesized that the nation of Judah (as well as other nations) would serve the king of Babylon for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11); after 70 years were completed at Babylon, God would bring the Jewish captives back to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 29:10).

This prophecy of the 70 years was fulfilled perfectly in the first exile of the Jews to Babylon in the spring of 606 BC and in the last exile in July of 587 BC. The first group of the Jews went back to Jerusalem in the spring of 536 BC in the first year of Cyrus. The last group went back to Jerusalem in the fall of 517 BC in the sixth year of Darius.

In the book of Ezra, we were told that the 70 years ended in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1) and that the Jews arrived in Judah before the 7^th month (Ezra 3:1). Since it took at least 4 months to travel from Babylon to Jerusalem by foot (Ezra 7:9), they should have left Babylon in the spring.

What does the first year of Cyrus mean? This cannot be the first year of Cyrus' reign over Persia because he was the Persian king long before he took Babylon in October of 538 BC (see Chapter 8). Therefore, the first year of Cyrus should refer to his sole reign over Babylon.

Darius the Mede is mentioned in the book of Daniel as the king of Babylon between Belshazzar and Cyrus the Great, but he is not known in history. Because of this, most scholars view Darius the Mede as literary fiction and even regard the book of Daniel as an apocalypse rather than a book of prophecy. They even speculate that Daniel the prophet of God never existed. They claim that the contents of the book form a cryptic allusion to the persecution of the Jews by the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and that the stories in chapters 1-6 are legendary in character, and that the visions of chapters 7-12 were added during the persecution of Antiochus. They even claimed that the book itself was completed after 164 BC. These absurd claims are completely disproved by the perfect fulfillments of all the past numerical prophecies recorded in the book (see our previous chapters).

In Daniel 6, there are two main historical figures, Darius the Mede, who was made king of Babylon, and Daniel who was appointed by Darius as the principal governor there. The problem is the name Darius because no ruler of Babylon was known by this name prior to the time of Darius I of Persia. It is stated in Daniel 5:31 that he was about 62 years old when he received the kingdom, and the kingdom which he received is identified as that of the Chaldeans (Daniel 9:1). The first year of his reign is written twice in verses 9:1 and 11:1, but no later regnal years are mentioned in any part of the book. He was apparently succeeded by Cyrus according to verse 11:1 since in the third year of Cyrus Daniel looked back to the first year of Darius. He was the son of Ahasuerus and the "seed of the Medes" (verse 9:l). Daniel 9:l also tells us that he "was made" king over this realm, which clearly implies that a more powerful person appointed him to govern the kingdom of Babylon. According to ABC 7 (Nabonidus Chronicle), Ugbaru, the governor of Gutium (an area closely associated with Media in Babylonian sources), the commander of Mede-Persian troops that conquered Babylon, was appointed by Cyrus after Babylon was taken. He reigned in Babylon from October 18, 538 BC to November 13, 537 BC (see Chapter 8). He only reigned for 13 lunar months + 8 days. After Ugbaru died, Cambyses son of Cyrus did not become king of Babylon but was still the crown prince after Nisan 4 of 537 BC, as inferred from line iii. 24-27 of ABC 7. This historical record clearly indicates that Ugbaru the Mede was made king of Babylon by Cyrus. After Ugbaru died 13 months later, Cyrus became the king of Babylon and of Persia.

The above scenario was further supported by the titularies used in the datelines of economic documents written in Babylonia during that period. In these documents, the titles of kings went through three stages of development: 1) for Neo-Babylonian kings, "king of Babylon," 2) for early Persian kings, "king of Babylon, king of Lands," and 3) for later Persian kings, "king of Lands."

But there is one significant exception to this pattern, and that is the title used for Cyrus during his ascension year and first year. The titularies of tablets tell us that Cyrus only took the title "king of Lands" during his ascension year and for most of his first year of reign. Only in the later part of his first year was "king of Babylon" added to "king of Lands" in titularies of tablets dated to Cyrus. During the four months of his ascension year and the first ten months of his first year, Cyrus carried only the title "king of Lands" and did not carry the additional title "king of Babylon" in these written economic documents. This fact suggests that Cyrus was not the official king of Babylon during the first fourteen months after he took Babylon, but Ugbaru the Mede was the sole king of Babylon during this period. It is remarkable that the regnal length of 14 months derived from the written economic documents was very close to that of 13.2 months inferred from Nabonidus Chronicle. This consistency proves the true nature of history during that period.

Does Ugbaru the Mede match with Darius the Mede in the book of Daniel? Both are the seeds of Medes; both reigned in Babylon for about 14 months; both were made kings; and both were succeeded by Cyrus. The difference in their names should be understandable if Darius was his Persian throne name. Since he was originally a Median and eventually became a Persian king, it is likely that he changed his original Median name to a new Persian name. This is a common practice for many immigrants. The Bible also gives several examples of this practice. For example, the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III was known by his throne name, but his original name was Pulu before he came to the throne (1 Chronicles 5:26, 2 Kings 15:19,29). The Assyrian king Shalmaneser V changed his original name of Ululayu to the Akkadian name Shalmaneser. He continued to use Ululayu for his throne name as king of Babylon, but this has not been found in any authentic official source. Since the throne name Darius was only used for about one year, the official document Nabonidus Chronicle only recorded his original name Ugbaru, which had been used for many years and was well known by the scribes. This naturally explains why historians do not know the throne name of Darius. Because Daniel was appointed to be the principal governor by this king and closely interacted with him, it is natural that Daniel recorded his lesser-known throne name.

Daniel tells us that Darius was the son of Ahasuerus (Daniel 9:1). The name of Ugbaru's father was not recorded in history, so we cannot prove or disprove whether Ugbaru was the son of Ahasuerus. It is known that Ahasuerus is a very popular Persian name. The ancient Zend writings say that in ancient times the Medes, Persians, and Bactrians were the same, having one common language, the Zend, and one religion. It is quite natural that Ugbaru's father has such a common name.

Furthermore, all the prophecies of Daniel have been fulfilled or are yet to be fulfilled, as we show in several separate chapters. The exact fulfillment of each prophecy is an acid test for any prophetic book. Only prophecies revealed by the Almighty God can be fulfilled exactly.

Above arguments lead us to conclude that Cyrus started to reign over Babylon from 13 November 537 BC. Since we know that some Jews started to leave from Babylon in the spring and in the first year of Cyrus, this event must have happened in the spring of 536 BC. In order for the Jews to complete their service to Babylonians for 70 years, they must have been carried into Babylon before the spring of 606 BC.

According to Daniel 1:1-4, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, took some of the articles of the house of God, and carried some young Jewish men into Babylon to serve him in the third year of Jehoiakim. Thus, the first group of the Jews were exiled to Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim.

When was in the third year of Jehoiakim? The starting date of Jehoiakim's reign can be determined from the Battle of Megiddo (609 BC) recorded in 2 Kings 23:29 and 2 Chronicles 35:20-24 [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Megiddo_(609_BC)]. In the spring of 609 BC, the Egyptian Necho II personally led a sizable force to help the Assyrians. At the head of a large army, consisting mainly of his mercenaries, Necho II took the coastal route Via Maris into Syria and proceeded through the low tracts of Philistia and Sharon. He prepared to cross the ridge of hills but found that his way was blocked by the Judean army. Josiah king of Judah aligned with the Babylonians to block Necho's advance at Megiddo. There was a fierce battle during which Josiah was killed. Leaving a significant force behind, Necho II returned to Egypt. On his way back to Egypt, he found that Jehoahaz had been selected to succeed his father Josiah. Necho II deposed Jehoahaz and replaced with Jehoiakim and brought him back to Egypt as his prisoner (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Chronicles 36:1-4).

These passages clearly tell us that Jehoiakim started to reign before Necho II marched back to Egypt and after the end of the Battle of Megiddo (the battle started in June or July of 609 BC). The time when the Egyptian army returned to Egypt can be inferred from ABC 3 (Fall of Nineveh Chronicle) which states: "The seventeenth year [of Nabopolassar, 609 BC], in the month Du'ûzu [the fourth month], Aššur-uballit, king of Assyria, with a large army from Egypt crossed the river Euphrates and marched against Harran to conquer it. They captured [lacuna]. They defeated the garrison which the king of Akkad had stationed inside. When they had defeated it they encamped against Harran. Until the month Ulûlu [the 6^th month] they did battle against the city but achieved nothing. The king of Akkad went to help his army but did not join battle. He went up to Izalla and the numerous cities in the mountains [lacuna] he set fire to their [lacuna]."

The above description suggests that the Battle of Megiddo should have ended before the 6^th month and that Necho II appointed Jehoiakim as king of Judah in the beginning of the 6^th month of 609 BC when he marched back to Egypt.

The fourth year of Jehoiakim was from Elul (the 6^th month) of 606 BC to Elul of 605 BC when Nebuchadnezzar started to reign (Jeremiah 25:1). It is known that Nebuchadnezzar started his reign on Av 9 of 605 BC, which was between Elul of 606 BC and Elul of 605 BC, the fourth year of Jehoiakim. Thus, the third year of Jehoiakim was from Elul of 607 BC to Elul of 606 BC when Daniel and his friends were taken to Babylon (Daniel 1:1,3,6). In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar (between Av 9 of 604 BC and Av 8 of 603 BC), he had dreams (Daniel 2:1) and Daniel was called to interpret the dreams (Daniel 2:24-45) after he had stayed in Babylon for three years (Daniel 1:5,18). The passages in Daniel 1 and 2 imply that Daniel and his friends were carried into Babylon after Elul of 607 BC and before Av 8 of 606 BC. It most likely happened in Elul of 607 BC because Nebuchadnezzar made his first campaign in 607 BC and conquered all the mountains as far as the district of Urartu and returned to Babylon in the month of Elul (ABC 4: 5-12). Although Nebuchadnezzar was a crown prince at that time, the title of king in the Biblical text could refer to Nebuchadnezzar's future royal title.

Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon in the month of Elul and would have arrived in Babylon over the course of about 10 days on horseback. In contrast, the Jewish captives would go to Babylon on foot. It would have taken at least 4 months for them to arrive in Babylon (Ezra 7:9). It is likely that they arrived in Babylon to serve the Babylonians in the 11^th/12^th month of 607 BC, which was in the spring of 606 BC. From the spring of 606 BC to the spring of 536 BC, 70 years elapsed. Jeremiah's prophecy on the 70 years was perfectly fulfilled on the first group of the Jews who were carried into Babylon.

Jeremiah's prophecy on 70 years was also fulfilled upon the last group of the Jews being carried into Babylon. This group of the Jews were taken to Babylon when Jerusalem and the holy temple were destroyed in July of 587 BC. In the book of Ezra, we are told that the holy temple was finally rebuilt after Darius king of Persia issued a decree to allow the Jews to rebuild the temple. "Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the 6^th year of the reign of King Darius." (Ezra 6:15). We know that Darius started to reign on 4 February 521 BC (see Chapter 8). The sixth year of Darius was from the 11^th lunar month of 517 BC to the 11^th lunar month of 516 BC. Therefore, the temple was rebuilt on Adar 3 of 517 BC, which was in the spring of 516 BC. It is likely that Darius issued the decree around the fall of 517 BC and some of the Jews went back to Jerusalem to help rebuild the temple. From July of 587 BC to the fall of 517 BC, there were 70 years.