4.2 - Chronology



CONTENTS

(Work in progress.)

(Work in progress.)

Carchemish Battle Chariot

Carchemish Battle Chariot

1

This section provides chronological information drawn from numerous sources concerning events of significance to the book of Daniel. The chronology begins with the reign of Josiah, the last godly king in the southern kingdom of Judah, and ends with events associated with the First Coming of Christ—which many interpreters believe marks the end of the first sixty-nine of the Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9:24-27.

For information concerning the chronological structure of the book of Daniel, see Chronology of Daniel. For information on various deportations associated with the Babylonian Captivity, see Deportations.

4.2.1 - Responding to Apparent Chronology Discrepancies

It is our belief that apparent discrepancies found within the Bible are by divine design. Like Jesus (Luke 2:34) and the gospel (2Cor. 2:15-16), the Bible is designed to divide—to separate believers from unbelievers. Apparent discrepancies serve this purpose: skeptics are confirmed in their bias that divine revelation is “full of errors” while those drawn by God wrestle with the apparent contradictions for a deeper understanding of the underlying issues in the belief that all of God’s Word is inerrant: inspired by “the Spirit of Truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1Jn. 4:6; 5:6).

The level of effort and life-long study required to resolve issues of Bible chronology requires a level of dedication that can only be produced through a high view of Scripture. Careful attention to details coupled with a conviction in the inerrancy of biblical history has yielded fruit: numerous chronological difficulties have been resolved, resulting in corrections to secular scholarship—which generally considers the Bible as an unreliable source concerning history.

Edwin R. Thiele (1895–1986) determined the various principles used by the recorders of Israel and Judah in recording the lengths of reigns of their kings. He used these principles to construct the pattern of biblical dates for the Hebrew kingdom period. Having established the pattern, he then tried to match it against certain accepted dates in Assyrian history, only to find that there were small discrepancies with dates accepted by most Assyriologists. Further research showed it was the commonly accepted Assyrian dates, not the biblical data, that needed adjustment. The majority of Assyriologists have now accepted corrections that were originally derived from Thiele’s careful study of the biblical data. Egyptologists use Thiele’s dates for Rehoboam, son of Solomon, along with the synchronism of 2 Chronicles 12:2, to refine the chronologies of Egypt’s 21st and 22nd Dynasties. . . . Thiele was correcting Assyrian dates with eminent scholarship that has been recognized as such by the Assyrian academy, and these corrections were based on the biblical data.2

The Bible specifies numerous timing-related statements concerning the time of the divided kingdom, including correlations with the events of surrounding nations. Resolving this interrelated puzzle of related clues is no mean feat! Much like the relationship between predicted and fulfilled prophecy, when rightly understood, these timing indicators testify to the divine origin of the chronological data within the pages of Scripture.

The Bible gives 126 clues for the time of the Hebrew divided monarchies. If we build on the work of Thiele, making the necessary adjustment for the reign of Hezekiah and a few small one-year corrections elsewhere, there results a chronology for the kingdom period that is 1) coherent; 2) in agreement with all 126 texts that are the basic chronological data; and 3) consistent with well-established dates in Assyrian and Babylonian history.3

Thankfully, God has gifted a very special group of believers with the interest, ability, and tenacity to devote their lives to untangling the Gordian knot of Bible chronology!

4.2.2 - Chronological Complexities

Bible chronology is one of the most complex areas of biblical study and has occupied some of the most devoted and best minds over the centuries. Since it is not an area of our expertise, we have drawn from a number of sources, many well-known in the field. For the newcomer to Bible chronology, some of the date ranges in the chart below may seem puzzling—sometimes exhibiting overlapping dates for sequential events dated by the same source. These artifacts often reflect underlying complexities familiar to the biblical chronologist which most readers may not have considered.4

Factors which complicate Bible chronology include:

Thiele and Finegan summarize the daunting situation which confronts the Bible chronologist:

In working out the chronology of a nation, a primary requisite is that the chronological procedure of that nation be understood. The following items must be definitely established: (1) the year from which a king began to count the years of his reign—whether from the time of his actual accession, from the following year, or from some other time; (2) the time of the calendar year when a king began to count his reign; (3) the method according to which a scribe of one nation reckoned the years of a king of a neighboring state, whether according to the system used in his nation or according to that of the neighbor; (4) whether or not the nation made use of coregencies, whether or not several rival rulers might have been reigning at the same time, and whether interregna occurred; (5) whether during the period under review a uniform system was followed, or whether variations took place; and, finally, (6) some absolute date during the period in question from which the years can be figured backward and forward so that the full chronological pattern might be secured.21

It is evident that at least the following items must be noticed in the attempt to understand any system of reckoning by regnal years. (1) Accession. At what point is the reign considered to begin? This point most often coincides, no doubt, with the death of the preceding ruler, yet there may be an interval before the new king is selected, installed, or confirmed in office. Other possibilities as to when his reign is considered actually to begin include the time when a coregency is established, when a capital is occupied, when a decisive victory is won, or when some remaining rival is eliminated. (2) Factual year or calendar year. Is the regnal year counted from the actual accession to the annual anniversary of the same? If so, it may be called a factual year. Is the regnal year counted as equivalent to the calendar year? The latter is probably much more often the case, and therewith additional questions arise. (3) Accession year or non-accession year. If the regnal year is equated with a calendar year, is the reckoning by the accession-year or the non-accession-year system? . . . (4) Calendar. If the regnal year is equated with a calendar year, which calendar year is in use?22

4.2.3 - Counting Years

Perhaps the two most visible factors which impinge upon chronological considerations are Nisan- versus Tishri-year dating and accession- versus non-accession-year dating.23

When Does a Year Begin?

When Does a Year Begin?

24

Nisan- versus Tishri-year dating concerns when the new year occurs within the seasons: either in the spring at the beginning of the month of Nisan25 or in the Fall at the beginning of the month of Tishri.26 Some chronological markers in the text assume a new year starts in Nisan, whereas others assume Tishri. When an event takes place after the 1st of Nisan and before the 1st of Tishri, it can fall into two different years from the perspective of record keepers who differ and regard Nisan or Tishri as the beginning of the year (see Daniel 1:1).

Some chronologists append an n or t to dates to indicate when the year begins. Years ending in n indicate a calendar year beginning in the month of Nisan. Years ending in t indicate a calendar year beginning in the month of Tishri (see below).27

Kings generally were not installed on the first day of a new year, but often began their reign because of other historical events such as the death or overthrow of the previous king. How then was the rule of the new king to be accounted? Accession-year dating is a system which does not credit a newly enthroned king with beginning his reign until the following new year. The partial year he reigns initially is considered his accession year. With non-accession-year dating, the king’s first year is the first full year when he takes the throne, even though he only reigns for part of the year. In accession-year dating, “The portion of a year to the end of the then current calendar year is only his ‘accession year’ (and for chronological purposes remains a part of the last numbered regnal year of his predecessor), and the new king’s year 1 begins only on the first day of the new calendar year after his accession.”28

As with Nisan- vs. Tishri-year dating, the same event can be described as occurring within two different years in relation to the reign of a given king, depending upon whether accession- or non-accession-year dating is used when recording the event.

Julian, Nisan, and Tishri Dates

Julian, Nisan, and Tishri Dates

29

When considering chronological aspects of the Old Testament, the Bible student must pay special attention to how dates are specified by chronologists and bear in mind that a given date will typically be specified in any of three 12-month periods: the Julian year, the Nisan year, or the Tishri year.30 As time advances, each Julian year begins first (in January), followed by the Nisan year (in March/April), and eventually the Tishri year (in September/October).

In the diagram above, the areas in green indicate the year “587” which is followed, in yellow, by “586.” The Julian Year turns over (reduces in value since this is B.C.) ahead of the Nisan Year which turns over ahead of the Tishri Year.

Notice that the Fall of Jerusalem to Babylon occurred in “587 B.C.” Since “587” lacks an n or t suffix, we would assume 587 is the Julian date—the convention for dates prior to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in A.D. 1582.31 Because Jerusalem fell to Babylon in the month of Tammuz, after the month of Nisan but before the month of Tishri, in Tishri-Year dating the fall was actually in 588—more precisely 588t B.C. These distinctions become important when considering the relative timing between events: are the starting and ending periods given in relation to the same 12-month period (e.g., Ezekiel 40:1)?32

Since Nisan-year dating is offset from Tishri-year dating by six months on the Hebrew calendar, a six-month period between the two new years may be described using notation of the form YYYx/YYYx where YYY represents the year and x is either n (for Nisan) or t (for Tishri). The slash between the years may be thought of as a dash designating the period of time extending between the endpoints. For example, the Fall of Jerusalem may be said to have occurred in 587, 587n, 588t, or within the six-month period 587n/587t, stretching from the beginning of 587n to the beginning of 587t.

Nisan/Tishri-year dating and accession-/non-accession-year dating are behind many Bible difficulties concerning chronological indicators within the Scriptures.33

4.2.4 - Timeline

Measuring Time by the Sun

Measuring Time by the Sun

34

The table below provides a chronological timeline for events of significance to the book of Daniel. The columns in the table are as follows:

Events of special significance include:

Timeline of Significant Events
DateRangeEventSources
641→609 B.C.
642-639

611-609 B.C.
Reign of Josiah (Judah)640→609 Anderson2[247], 640→609 Albright[Harrison,192], 639→609 Anstey2[52], 641/640→609 Finegan[261], 641/640→609 Harrison[192], 639→609 JUDAICA, 642→611 Jones1[330-331], 640→609 MBA[203], 641→610 Newton[21], ?→609 Oswalt[1:685], 642→611 Pierce[904], 641→610 Steinmann1[141], 640→609 Thiele[180], 641→609 Young3[246]
626 B.C.
627-624 B.C.
Neo-Babylonian Dynasty Inaugurated by Nabopolassar (Babylon)625 Anstey2[52], 626 Anderson3[191], 625 Greene[183], 626 Howe[160], 625 Jones1[331], 627 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 625 Newton[138], 624 P&D[9], 625 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 625 Schlegel[100], 626 Wiseman2[5]
559?→537 B.C.
625-559?→585-537 B.C.
Reign of Cyaxares II (Media, Darius the Mede? Dan. 5:31; 6:1, 6, 9, 25, 28; 9:1; 11:1)559?→537 Anderson3[192], 625→585 BRIT[art.], 611→? Newton[21], 599→560 Pierce[Newton,138], 625→585 Yamauchi[53]
ca. 623 B.C.
ca. 623 B.C.
Ezekiel bornc. 623 Dyer[Eze. 1:1]105
620 B.C.
623-617 B.C.106
Daniel born625 Anderson2[21], c. 620 Benware[22], 617 Ignatius,107 623 Chrysostom108
609 B.C.
610-608

610-608 B.C.
Reign of Jehoahaz II (Judah)609 Albright[Harrison,192], 608 Anstey2[52], 609 Finegan[261], 609 Harrison[192], 610 Jones1[331], 609 JUDAICA, 609 MBA[203], 610 Newton[103], 610 Pierce[905], 609 Steinmann1[141], 609 Thiele[182], 609 Young3[246]
609→598 B.C.
610-608

599-597 B.C.
Reign of Jehoiakim (Judah)608→598 Anderson2[247-248], 609→598 Albright[Harrison,192], 608→597 Anstey1[223], 608→597 Anstey2[52], 609→598 Finegan[216], 609→598 Harrison[192], 610→599 Jones1[331], 609→598 MBA[203], 608→598 JUDAICA, 608→597 Oswalt[1:685], 610→599 Pierce[905, 906], 609→598 Steinmann1[141], 608→598 Thiele[182], 609→598 Young3[246]
605 B.C.
606-604 B.C.
Accession of Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylon)605 Anstey1[222],109 605 Anderson3[191], 605 Anstey2[52], 605 Freeman[273], 604 Greene[183], 605 Harrison[191-192], 605 Howe[162], 606 Jones1[331], 605 Klassen[43], 604 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 605 MBA[203], 604 Newton[21,104,138], 605 P&D[9], 606 Pierce[Newton,21,103], 604 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 605 Schlegel[100], 605n Steinmann1[172], 605 Thiele[180]
606 B.C.
606-603 B.C.110
First Deportation from Jerusalem, Daniel taken to Babylon606 Anderson2[247], 605 Anstey1[222], 605 Boutflower[xv], 606 Jones2[199→200], 606 Fausset[“Introduction”], 605 Hoehner[115], 604 JUDAICA, 605 Martin[1:654], 604 Klassen[43], 606 Larkin[“Introduction”], 605 Schlegal[106], 605 Steinmann1[132, 169],111 606 West,112 604→603 Wiseman2[24], 605 Wood[13]113
605 B.C.
605-604 B.C.
Battle of Carchemish (2Chr. 35:20; Isa. 10:9; Jer. 46:2)604 Anstey1[223], 605 Finegan[252-253],114 605 Harrison[191-192],115 605 Howe[43], 605 Oswalt[1:685], 605 Thiele[180], 605 Wiseman2[16]116
598→597 B.C.
599-597

599-597 B.C.
Reign of Jehoiachin (Judah)598 Albright[Harrison,192], 598 Anderson2[248], 597 Anstey2[52], 598→597 Finegan[216], 597 Freeman[273], 598→597 Harrison[192], 599 Jones1[331], 597 JUDAICA, 599 Pierce[906], 598→597 Steinmann1[141], 598→597 Thiele[186], 598→597 Young3[246]
597 B.C.
598-597 B.C.
Second Deportation from Jerusalem to Babylon598 Anderson1[248], 597 Boutflower[xv], 598 Fausset[“Introduction”], 597 Finegan[256],117 598→597 Harrison[192],118 597 Jones2[40, 132-133], 597 JUDAICA, 599 Newton[105], 597 Oswalt[1:685], 597 MBA[124], 597 Mitchell[82], 597 Steinmann1[132, 169], 597 Wood[13], 597 Young3[246], 597 Young5[267, 282]
597→587 B.C.
599-597

596-586 B.C.
Reign of Zedekiah (Judah)598→587 Anderson2[248], 597→586 Anstey1[225], 597→586 Anstey2[52], 598→587 Albright[Harrison,192], 597→586 Boutflower[xv-xvi], 598→596 Finegan[261], 597→586 Harrison[192], 598→587 Jones1[331], 597→586 JUDAICA, 597→586 Oswalt[1:685], 599→587 Pierce[906, 907], 597→587 Steinmann1[141], 597→586 Thiele[191], 597→587 Young3[246]
587 B.C.
588-586 B.C.
Third Deportation and Destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon587 Anderson2[26‡,237,248],119 587 Albright[Jones2,xiii],120 586 Allen[28], 586 Anstey1[226], 586 Anstey2[52], 588 Baron[par. 304], 586 Boutflower[xvi], 587 Clinton[Jones2,xiii], 586 Dyer[Eze. 52:12], 588 Faulstich[Jones2,xiii], 588 Fausset[“Introduction”], 586 Finegan[259],121 586 Jones2[xiii,132-133],122 586 JUDAICA, 586 Klassen[43], 587 Larkin[Dan. 1:2], 586 MBA[125], 586 Miller[43-44],123 588 Newton[21,104], 586 Oswalt[1:685], 587 Pierce[907], 586 Schlegal[106], 587 Steinmann1[136-137],124 586 Thiele[119, 189],125 588 Ussher[Jones2,xiii], 587 Wiseman2[32, 36-37],126 586 Wood[13], 586/587 Yamauchi[155],127 587 Young1[38],128 587 Young2[115],129 Young3[228], Young5[269-270]130
562 B.C.
562-561 B.C.
Death of Nebuchadnezzar (Babylonian Rule after Nebuchadnezzar)561 Anderson2[248], 562 Anderson3[191], 561 Anstey1[231], 561 Anstey2[54], 562 Boutflower[xvi], 561 Feinberg1[64], 561 Greene[188], 562 Howe[162], 562 Howe[46], 561 Klassen[44], 562 Jones1[331], 561 Larkin[Dan. 5:4], 562 P&D[10], 562 Mack, 562 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 562 MBA[203], 563 Pentecost[1:1344], 562 Schlegel[100], 562 Showers1[Dan. 5:1],131 562n Steinmann1[172], 562 Thiele[189],132 562 Wiseman2[113],133 562 Wood[128]
562→560 B.C.
562-561

560-559 B.C.
Reign of Amēl-Marduk (Evil-Merodach [2K. 25:27; Jer. 52:31], Iluarodamus, Babylon)561→559 Anderson2[243], 562→560 Anderson3[191], 561→559 Anstey2[54], 562→560 Boutflower[xvi], 561→559 Feinberg1[64], 562→560 Freeman[273], 561→560 Howe[46], 562→560 Howe[162], 562→560 Jones1[331], 561→560 Klassen[44], 562→560 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 562→560 MBA[126], 561→560 Newton[105,138], 562→560 P&D[10], 562→560 Pentecost[1:1344], 561→560 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 562→560 Schlegel[100], 562n→560n Steinmann1[172], 562→560 Steinmann2[259], ?→558 Wilson[123], 562→560 Wiseman2[113]
560→556 B.C.
560-559

558-556 B.C.
Reign of Neriglissar (Neglissar, Nergal-shar-uṣur, Neriglissaros, Babylon)559→556 Anderson2[243-244], 560→556 Anderson3[191], 559→556 Anstey1[231], 559→556 Anstey2[54], 560→556 Boutflower[xvi], 560→556 Freeman[273], 559→556 Howe[46], 560→556 Howe[163] 560→556 Jones1[331], 560→? Klassen[44], ?→556 Larkin[Dan. 5:4], 560→556 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 559→556 Newton[105,138], 560→556 P&D[10], 560→556 Pentecost[1:1344], 559→? Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 560→556 Schlegel[100], 560n→556n Steinmann1[172], 560→556 Steinmann2[259], 560→558 Wiseman1[1:395], 560→558 Wiseman2[11]
556 B.C.
557-556

556-555 B.C.
Reign of Labashi-Marduk (Laboasserdah, Labosordachus, Babylon)556→555 Anstey1[231], 557 Anderson3[191], 556→555 Anstey2[54], 556 Boutflower[xvi], 556 Freeman[273], 556 Howe[46, 163], 556 Jones1[332], 556 Miller[44],134 556 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 556 Newton[105,138], 556 P&D[10], 556 Pentecost[1:1344], 556 Schlegel[100], 556n Steinmann1[172], 556 Steinmann2[259], 557 Wiseman1[1:395]
556→539 B.C.
556-550

539-538 B.C.
Reign of Nabonidus (Nabunaid, Babylon)555→538 Anderson2[244-245], 556→539 Anderson3[190], 555→538 Anstey2[54], 555→538 Feinberg1[64], 556→539 Freeman[273], 555→538 Greene[188], 556→539 Howe[163], 556→539 Jones1[332], 556→539 Klassen[44], 555→538 Larkin[Dan. 5:4], 555→? Newton[22], 556→539 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 550→539 MBA[203], 556→539 P&D[11], 556→539 Pentecost[1:1344], 555→539 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 555→539 Schlegel[100], 556→539 Steinmann2[259]
553/550 B.C.
555-541 B.C.
Belshazzar assumes coregency with Nabonidus (Babylon)541 Anderson2[244], 553 Anderson3[191], 541 Anstey1[231], 541 Anstey2[54], 549 Boutflower [xvi], 530 Criswell[Dan. 7:1], 541 Greene[204], 552 Harrison[339], 553 Howe[163], 553 Jones1[332], 553 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 555 Newton[105,138], 550 NSB[Dan. 1:1], 553/550 Steinmann1[175], 553/550 Steinmann2[259], 553 Whitcomb1[70]
539 B.C.
539-538 B.C.
Babylon falls to Medo-Persia (Dan. 5:30-31)538 Anderson2[248], 539 Anderson3[191], 538 Anstey1[231], 538 Anstey2[54], 539 Boutflower[xvi], 538 Clarke[Dan. 2:45], 539 Finegan[266],135 539 Freeman[274], 538/539 Gill[Dan. 5:30]136 538 Greene[188], 539 Howe[46, 163], 539 Jones1[332], 539 Klassen[44], 538 Larkin[Dan. 5:4], 539 MBA[203], 539 Mills[Dan. 5:21], 538 Newton[22,105,106], 539 P&D[11], 539 Pentecost[1:1344], 539 Schlegel[100], 539n Steinmann1[172], 539 Steinmann2[259], 539 Unger[1641], 539 Whitcomb2[78],137, 539 Yamauchi[72]
539→537 B.C
539-538

537 B.C.
Reign of Darius the Mede over Babylon138538→537 Anstey1[231],139 ?→537 Pierce[Newton,21,138]
536→530
539-536

530-527 B.C.
Reign of Cyrus (Cyrus II, Cyrus the Great) over Medo-Persia140 (Ezra 1:1; 4:5; Isa. 44:28; 45:1-4; Dan. 5:31-6:28; 9:1; 11:1)536→530 Anderson2[245], 537→530 Anderson3[192], 536→529 Anstey1[231,233,237], 536→529 Anstey2[54], 537→? Archer1[6], ?→529 Bissell[4], ?→529 BRIT[art.], 539→530 Criswell[633,652], 539→? Finegan[180], 536→? Freeman[274] 539→530 Harrison[193], 539→530 Jones1[332], 536→529 Larkin[Dan. 2:45], 538→527 Mack, 539→530 MBA[203], 538→530 Martin[1:654], 536→530 Newton[123,138], 539→530 P&D[11,12], 538→530 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 539→530 Schlegel[100,104], 539→530 Steinmann1[176, 176n253], 539→530 Steinmann2[291], ?→530 Wiseman1[1:396]
536 B.C.
539-536 B.C.141
Decree of Cyrus (2Chr. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; Isa. 44:28), see Seventy Years of Judgment, Seventy Sevens, Return to Jerusalem.142536 Anderson2[248], 536 Anstey1[231], 536 Baron[par. 361],143 538 Boutflower[xvi], 536 Clarke[Dan. 2:45], 538/537 Finegan[179], 538 Harrison[193],144 539 Hoehner[121], 536 Larkin[Dan. 2:45; Dan. 5:31], 538 Martin[1:653], 536 Newton[22], 538 JUDAICA, 538 MBA[203], 538 Oswalt[1:685], 538 Schlegal[106], 538n Steinmann1[179, 191], 536 West145
538→530 B.C.
538

530 B.C.
Cambyses II Viceroy with Cyrus (Persia)?→530 Newton[22], 538→530 Wiseman1[1:396]
530→522 B.C.
530-527

522-521 B.C.
Reign of Cambyses II (Persia)529→522 Anderson2[245], 529→522 Anstey1[239], 529→522 Anstey2[54], 529→522 Bissell[4, 5], 529→522 BRIT[art.], 530→522 Criswell[652], 530→522 Harrison[193], 530→522 Jones1[332], 527→521 Mack, 530→522 Martin[1:654], 530→522 MBA[203], 529,138→522 Newton[22,123,138], 530→522 P&D[12], 529→522 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 530→522 Schlegel[104], 529n→522 Steinmann1[176], 530→522 Wiseman1[1:396], 530→? Yamauchi[93]
522 B.C.
522 B.C.
Reign of Pseudo-Smerdis (Gaumata, Magus, Persia)522 Bissell[5], 522 Criswell[652], 522 Martin[1:654], 522 Newton[123,138], 522 P&D[12], 522 Schlegel[104]
521→486 B.C.
522-520

486-485 B.C.
Reign of Darius I (the Great, Hystaspis, Persia, Ezra 4:5, 24; 5:5-7; 6:1, 12-15; Hag. 1:1, 15; 2:10; Zec. 1:1, 7; 7:1)521→485 Anderson2[248], 521→485 Anstey2[54], 522→486 Bissell[5, 6], 522→486 BRIT[art.], 522→486 Criswell[652], 522→486 Harrison[193], 521→486 Jones1[332-333], 521→? Mack, 521→486 Martin[1:654], 522→486 MBA[203], 521→485 Newton[103,123,138], 521→486 P&D[13,14], 521→486 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 522→486 Schlegel[104], 521n→486 Steinmann1[176, 192], 522→486 Steinmann2[290], 520→485 Wiseman146
521 B.C.
521-518 B.C.
Decree of Darius I (the Great, Hystaspis, Persia, Ezra 6:6-12), see Seventy Sevens.519-518 Feinberg2[193], 521 Fruchtenbaum147
520→515 B.C.
521-520

516-515 B.C.
Zerubbabel’s Temple Built148520→515 Anderson2[248], 521→516 Anstey2[56], 520→515 Finegan[267], 520→516 Jones2[256], 520→516 Mack, ?→515 Martin[1:654], 520→515 MBA[127], 520→515 Newton[22], 520→515 Oswalt[1:685], 520→516 Schlegel[104], 520→515 Yamauchi[155,159]
485→465 B.C.
486-485

465-464 B.C.
Reign of Xerxes I (Persia, Ahasueris, Ezra 4:6, Esther)485→465 Anderson2[248], 485→465 Anstey2[54], 486→465 Bissell[5, 6], 486→465 BRIT[art.], 486→465 Criswell[652], 486→465/464 Harrison[193], 486→465 Jones1[333], 485→464 Klassen[46], 485→465 Martin[1:654],486→464 MBA[203], 485/484→465 Newton[22,125,138], 486/485→470/465 P&D[14,15], 485→465 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 486→465 Schlegel[104], 485n→465 Steinmann1[176, 192], 485→465 Wiseman1[1:396]
464→424 B.C.
465-464

425-423 B.C.
Reign of Artaxerxes I Longimanus (Persia, Artashasta, Ezra 4:7-23; Ezra 7-10, Nehemiah, Malachi)465→425 Anderson2[64n29], 465→425 Bissell[5,6], 465→425 BRIT[art.], 464→424 Criswell[652], 464→423 Harrison[193], 465→424 Jones1[333-334], 464→423 Klassen[46], 465→424 JUDAICA, 465→424 Mack, 464→424 Martin[1:654], 464→423 MBA[203], 464→425 Newton[22,125],149 464→424/423 P&D[15], 465→? Pierce[Newton,22], 464→424 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 465→424 Schlegel[104], 464n→424 Steinmann1[176, 195], 464→424 Yamauchi[242]150
457 B.C.
458-457 B.C.151
Decree of Artaxerxes I Longimanus to Ezra (Ezra 7:11-26), see Seventy Sevens.458 Anderson2[248], 457 Archer1[26], 458 Baron[par. 382], 457 Hoehner[124], 458 Klassen[46], 458 JUDAICA
444 B.C.
445-444 B.C.152
Decree of Artaxerxes I Longimanus to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2:1-8), see Seventy Sevens445 Anderson2[248], 444 Hoehner[126, 128],153 445 Howe[46], 445 JUDAICA, 444 Newton[22]
423→405 B.C.
424-423

411-404 B.C.
Reign of Darius II (Darius Nothus, Persia, Ne. 12:22)424→405 Anderson2[249], 424→404 Bissell[6], 423→404 BRIT[art.], 423→404 Criswell[652], 423→404 Harrison[193], 423→405 Jones1[333], 423→404 JUDAICA, 423→404 Klassen[46],154 423→404 MBA[203], 424→405 Newton[125,138], 423→411/410 P&D[16], 423→405 Ptolemy[Thiele,227], 424→404 Schlegel[104], 423n→405 Steinmann1[176]
404→359 B.C.
405-404

359-350 B.C.
Reign of Artaxerxes II (Mnemon, Persia)405→359 Anderson2[249], 404→359 Bissell[6], 404→358 BRIT[art.], 404→359 Harrison[193], 405→350 Jones1[334-335], 404→358 Klassen[46], 404→358 JUDAICA, 404→358 MBA[203], 404→359 Newton[125,138], 404→359 P&D[16], 404→359 Ptolemy[Thiele,228], 404→358 Schlegel[104], 404n→359 Steinmann1[176]
358→338 B.C.
359-358

339-335 B.C.
Reign of Artaxerxes III (Ochus, Persia)359→337 Anderson2[249], 359→338 Bissell[7], 359/358→338 BRIT[art.], 359/358→338/337 Harrison[193], 358→339 Jones1[335], 358→338 Klassen[46], 358→335 MBA[203], 358→338 Newton[138], 359→338/337 P&D[16,17], 358→338 Ptomony[Thiele,228], 358→338 Schlegel[104], 358n→338 Steinmann1[176]
337→336 B.C.
338-337

336-335 B.C.
Reign of Arses (Persia)338→336 Bissell[7], 338→336 BRIT[art.], 338/337→336/335 Harrison[193], 338→336 Jones1[335], 338→335 Klassen[46], 337→336 Newton[138], 338/337→336/335 P&D[17], 337→336 Ptolemy[Thiele,228], 337n→336 Steinmann1[176]
336→330 B.C.
336-335

332-330 B.C.
Reign of Darius III (Codomannus, Persia)336→330 BRIT[art.], ?→331 Clarke[Dan. 2:45], 336/335→331 Harrison[193], 336→332 Jones1[335], 335→330 Larkin[Dan. 2:45], 335→331 Newton[138], 335→332 Ptolemy[Thiele,228], 336→331 Schlegel[104], 335n→331 Steinmann1[176]
336→323 B.C.
336-331

323 B.C.
Reign of Alexander the Great (Greece)336→323 BRIT[art.], ?→323 Clarke[Dan. 2:45], 331→323 Jones1[335], ?→323 Larkin[Dan. 2:45], 335→323 Klassen[46], 336→323 MBA[203], 334→323 Whitcomb1[109]
323→285 B.C.
323

285-282 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy I Lagi (or Soter) (Egypt)323→285 Harrison[197], ?→284 Ironside[23], 323→282 Klassen[47],155 323→283 MBA[203], 323→285 Scott[80]
312→281 B.C.
312

292-280 B.C.
Reign of Seleucus I Nicator (Syria)312→281 Harrison[197], 312→? JUDAICA, 312→281 MBA[203], 312→292 P&D[18,19], 312→280 Scott[80]
285→247 B.C.
285-282

247-246 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Egypt)283/282→? BRIT[art.], 285→247 Harrison[197], 284→? Ironside[23], 282→247 Klassen[47],156 283→246 MBA[203], 285→246 Scott[80]
281→261 B.C.
292-280

261 B.C.
Reign of Antiochus I Soter (Syria)281→261 BRIT[art.], 281→261 Harrison[197], 281→261 MBA[203], 292→281 P&D[18], 280→261 Scott[80]
261→246 B.C.
261

247-246 B.C.
Reign of Antiochus II Theos (Syria)261→246 BRIT[art.], 261→246 Harrison[197], 261→246 P&D[19], 261→246 MBA[203], 261→247 Scott[80]
247→222 B.C.
247-246

222-221 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes (Egypt)246→221 BRIT[art.], 247→222 Harrison[197], 247→? Ironside[25], 247→222 Klassen[47],157 246→221 MBA[203], 246→221 Scott[80]
246→225 B.C.
247-246

226-223 B.C.
Reign of Seleucus II Callinicus (Syria)246→225 BRIT[art.], 246→226/225 Harrison[197], 246→226 MBA[203], 245→223 P&D[19,20], 247→226 Scott[80]
225→223 B.C.
226-225

223 B.C.
Reign of Seleucus III Soter (Syria)225→223 BRIT[art.], 226/225→223 Harrison[197], 226→223 MBA[203], 226→223 Scott[81]
223→187 B.C.
223

187 B.C.
Reign of Antiochus III the Great (Syria)223→187 BRIT[art.], 223→187 Harrison[197], 223→? Ironside[27], 223→187 MBA[203], 223→187 Scott[81]
222→205 B.C.
222-221

205-203 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (Egypt)221→205 BRIT[art.], 222→205 Harrison[197], ?→204 Ironside[28], 222→204 Klassen[47],158 221→203 MBA[203], 221→203 Scott[80]
205→182 B.C.
205-203

182-180 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes (Egypt)205→? (died 180) BRIT[art.], 205→182 Harrison[197], 204→180 Ironside[28-29], 204→182 Klassen[47],159 203→181 MBA[203], 203→181 Scott[80]
187→175 B.C.
187

175 B.C.
Reign of Seleucus IV Philopator (Syria)187→175 BRIT[art.], 187→175 Harrison[197], 187→175 MBA[203], 187→175 P&D[20], 187→175 Scott[81]
182→146 B.C.
182-180

170-145 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy VI Philometer (Egypt)180→145 BRIT[“Ptolemy VI Philometer”],160 182→146 Harrison[197], 180→? Ironside[29], 182→146 Klassen[47],161 181→170 MBA[203], 181→145 Scott[80]
175→164 B.C.
176-175

164-163 B.C.
Reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Syria)175→164 BRIT[art.], 176→163 Harrison[197], 175→164 Mack, 175→164 MBA[203], 175→163 Scott[81], 175→? Steinmann1[217]
167→140 B.C.
167

140 B.C.
Maccabees in Judaea167→140 Harrison[198]
166→161 B.C.
167-164

161-160 B.C.
Reign of Judas Maccabaeus (Hasmonean)166→161 Harrison[198], 167→161 MBA[203], 164→160 Scott[83].
165 B.C.
165-164 B.C.
Cleansing of the Temple (Channukah)165 Anderson2[249], 165 Ironside[53], 164 JUDAICA
163→162 B.C.
164-163

162 B.C.
Reign of Antiochus V Eupator (Syria)163→162 Harrison[197], 164→162 MBA[203], 163→162 Scott[80]
162→150 B.C.
162

150 B.C.
Reign of Demetrius I Soter (Syria)162→150 BRIT[art.], 162→150 Harrison[197], 162→150 MBA[203], 162→150 Scott[81]
160→143 B.C.
160-152

143 B.C.
Reign of Jonathan Maccabaeus (Hasmonean)160→143 Harrison[198], 152→143 MBA[203], 160→143 Scott[83].
ca. 150 B.C.
ca. 150 B.C.
Dead Sea Communityca. 150 Harrison[198]
150→145 B.C.
150

145 B.C.
Reign of Alexander Balas (Syria)150→145 Scott[81].
145→117 B.C.
146-145

117 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy VII Physcon (Egypt)146→117 Klassen[47],162 145→117 MBA[203],163 145→117 Scott[80]
145→138 B.C.
145

139-138 B.C.
Reign of Demetrius II Nicator (Syria)145→139/138 P&D[21], 145→138 Scott[81].
145→142 B.C.
145

142-141 B.C.
Reign of Antiochus VI Epiphanes Dionysus (Syria)145→142/141 P&D[21], 145→142 Scott[81].
143→135 B.C.
143

135-134 B.C.
Simon Maccabaeus (Hasmonean)143→135 Harrison[198], 143→135 MBA[203], 143→134 Scott[83].
139→129 B.C.
139-138

129 B.C.
Reign of Antiochus VII Sidetes (Syria)139/138→129 BRIT[art.], 139→129 Harrison[197], 138→129 MBA[203], 138→129 Scott[81].
129→125 B.C.
129

125 B.C.
Second Reign of Demetrius II Nicator (Syria)129→125 P&D[21], 129→125 Scott[81].
135→104 B.C.
135

104 B.C.
John Hyrcanus I (Hasmonean)135→104 Harrison[198], 135→104 MBA[203], 135→104 Scott[83].
117→107 B.C.
117

109-107 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy VIII (Egypt)117→109 Klassen[47],164 117→107 MBA[203]165
107→88 B.C.
109-107

89-88 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy IX (Egypt)108→89 Klassen[47],166 107→88 MBA[203]167
104→103 B.C.
104

103 B.C.
Aristobulus I (Hasmonean)104→103 Harrison[198], 104→103 Scott[83].
103→76 B.C.
103

76 B.C.
Alexander Jannaeus (Hasmonean)103→76 Harrison[198], 103→76 MBA[203], 103→76 Scott[83].
88→80 B.C.
89-88

80-72 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy X (Egypt)89→72 Klassen[47],168 88→80 MBA[203]169
76→67 B.C.
76

67 B.C.
Hyrcanus II and Salome Alexandra (Hasmonean)76→67 Harrison[198], 76→67 Scott[83].
80→51 B.C.
80-72

51-46 B.C.
Reign of Ptolemy XI (Egypt)72→46 Klassen[47],170 80→51 MBA[203]171
67→63 B.C.
67

63 B.C.
Aristobulus II (Hasmonean)67→? Harrison[198], 67→63 Scott[83].
63→40 B.C.
63

40 B.C.
Hyrcanus II (Hasmonean)?→40 Harrison[198], 63→40 JUDAICA, 63→40 Scott[83].
63 B.C.
63 B.C.
Pompey in Judea63 Anderson2[249], 63 Harrison[198], 63 MBA[203]
44 B.C.
44 B.C.
Julius Caesar authorizes Antipator and Hyrcanus to repair walls of Jerusalem44 Ironside[85]
40→37 B.C.
40

37 B.C.
Antigonus Mattathias (Hasmonean)40→37 JUDAICA, 40→37 Scott[83]
39→1 B.C.
40-37

4-1 B.C.
Reign of Herod the Great37→3 Anderson2[249], 37→4 BRIT[art.], 39→? Finegan[123], 40→4 Harrison[198], 34→4 JUDAICA, 37→4 MBA[203], 39→1 Steinmann1[224,229,253]172
3/2 B.C.
7-2 B.C.
Birth of Christ3/2 Africanus[Finegan,157], 7 Alford[Schaff], 7 Alexander, Jos. A.[Schaff], 4 Anderson2[93-94], 5 Andrews[Schaff], 5 Anstey1[282], 5 Anstey2[46], 4 Anger[Schaff], 5 Angus[Schaff], 4 Bengel[Schaff], 5 Browne[Schaff], 7 Ebrard[Schaff], 4 Ellicott[Schaff], 3/2 Eusebius[Finegan,164] 6 Ewald [Schaff], 4 Greswell[Schaff], 6 Ideler[Schaff], 4 Irenaeus[Jones2, 220], 7 Jarvis[Schaff], 4 Jones2[28], 7 Keim,[Schaff], 6 Kepler[Schaff], 5 Klassen[3, 49], 4 Lange[Schaff], 6 Lardner[Schaff], 4 Lichtenstein[Schaff], 5 Mauro[83], 5 McClellan[Schaff], 4 Merivale[Schaff], 7 Münter[Schaff], 5 Petavius[Schaff], 4 Plumptre[Schaff], 5 Robinson[Schaff], 7 Sanclemente[Schaff], 3/2 Steinmann1[254], 4 Tertullian[Jones2, 220], 7 The French Benedictines[Schaff], 5 Tillemont[Schaff], 5 Ussher[Schaff], 4 Wieseler[Schaff], 7 Wurm[Schaff], 7 Zumpt[Schaff]
A.D. 29
A.D. 25-29
Baptism of Christ28 Anderson2[249], 27 Archer2[145-146], 26 Austin2[51], 26 Finegan[468-469], 29 Hoehner[44], 26 Jones2[264], 25 Klassen[46, 53], 26 Mauro[83], 26 Payne[383], 29 Steinmann1[263]
A.D. 33
A.D. 29-33
Crucifixion of Christ32 Anderson2[250], 30 Bruce[6], 33 Finegan[368], 33 Hoehner[134], 30 Jones2[233], 30 JUDAICA, 29 Klassen[3], 30 Payne[387], 32 Showers1[36],173 33 Steinmann1[286, 289], 30 Thomas[318], 33 Young4[38-39]

4.2.4.1 - Chronological Caveats
For completeness, we’ve cited sources which promote chronological or interpretive viewpoints with which we disagree, including: Newton,174 who held a somewhat-bizarre interpretation of Daniel’s prophesies;175 Austin176 and Mauro,177 who reject the received Persian chronology; and Pierce178 and Jones179 who champion the earlier work of Ussher.180 Where these sources arrive at dates far afield from favored sources,181 the dates are relegated to endnotes and do not contribute to the date ranges within the timeline.

4.2.5 - Seventy Years of Judgment

This section is not yet complete.



Notes

1Orthostat relief in basalt; battle chariot, Carchemish, 9th century BC; Late Hittite style with Assyrian influence. Copyright © 2008 by Frank K. Use of this image is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

2Rodger C. Young, “Ussher Explained and Corrected,” in Bible and Spade, vol. 31 no. 2 (Landisville, PA: Associates for Biblical Research, Spring 2018), 49-50.

3Ibid., 58.

4See, for example, the discussion of various calendar systems in [Chris Hardy and Robert Carter, “The biblical minimum and maximum age of the earth,” in Journal of Creation, vol. 28 no. 2 (Creation Ministries International, 2014), 90-91].

5Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1983), 14.

6 “It will be noticed that any particular year of a kings reign according to the nonaccession-year system is always one year higher than according to the accession-year method.”—Ibid., 43. “In the accession-year system, the portion of a year from the accession of the king to the end of the then current calendar year is only his ‘accession year’ (and for chronological purposes remains a part of the last numbered regnal year of his predecessor), and the new king’s year 1 begins only on the first day of the new calendar year after his accession. In the non-accession-year system, the portion of a calendar year, no matter how brief, remaining from the accession of the king to the end of the then current calendar year is treated not as an uncounted accession year but as already year 1 of the new king; therewith the preceding king fails to be credited with that calendar year as a regnal year in which he does not live out a full year on the throne. To convert an accession-year system into a non-accession-year system it is necessary to add a year to the accession-year number; hence the accession-year system is sometimes called postdating.”—Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1964, 1998), 75. “For some kings, the calendar year in which the king took office was counted twice: once for the new king and once for the king who died in that year. This may sound reasonable, but it introduces the problem that when reign lengths are added to give a span of time, one year must be subtracted from the total for each king to give the correct sum. In contrast, a more reasonable method for anyone adding together reign lengths is to reckon the first partial year as the king’s ‘accession year’ and not add it into the total of years. In modern terms, it could be called ‘year zero.’ With this method, years of several kings can be added together without having to subtract a year all along the line to get a correct total.”—Young, Ussher Explained and Corrected, 48.

7Initially, Judah used accession-year dating whereas Israel used non-accession-year dating. “This conclusion was established by Valerius Coucke in his 2 studies of biblical chronology published in the 1920s. It was independently discovered by Edwin Thiele, who was not aware of Coucke’s work when he first published his chronology of the kingdom period in 1944. Proof of Coucke and Thiele’s conclusion was shown when Thiele listed the lengths of reigns of the first seven kings of Israel down to the death of Ahab. If it was assumed that both kingdoms were using accession reckoning, the sum of years for Israel came out six years longer than the sum for Judah. When non-accession reckoning was assumed for Israel, the numbers matched exactly, showing that Judah was using accession reckoning and Israel was using non-accession reckoning, at least for the initial period of the divided monarchies.”—Ibid.

8 “Still another indication was the double synchronism for the accession of Ahaziah, given in one place as the eleventh year of Joram of Israel (2K. 9:29) and in another place as his twelfth year (2K. 8:25). Here we have the interesting possibility of one scribe continuing to give the year of Ahaziah’s accession according to the old accession-year system, the eleventh year of Joram, and another given it according to the newly adopted nonaccession-year method, Joram’s twelfth year. The valuable clue to this change found in the Masoretic Text of 2 Kings 8:25 has been lost in the Lucian (Greek) text, whose editor changed the ‘12’ to an ‘11’ to correspond to 2 Kings 9:29.”—Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 58. “Jeroboam, first ruler over the northern ten tribes, is shown to be an innovator. He had changed from the Judean system by reckoning his reign according to the non-accession method used in Egypt, where he had fled for refuge after fleeing from Solomon (1 Kgs 11:40), rather than the accession method used in Judah. Another of Jeroboam’s innovations was the institution of a religious festival on the 15th day of the eighth month (1 Kgs 12:32) to rival the Feast of Tabernacles on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Mosaic legislation. Jeroboam’s willingness to change accepted practice needs to be taken into account, instead of assuming that chronological methods were necessarily the same in both kingdoms. A further novelty was his starting the regnal year in Nisan instead of in Tishri as in the southern kingdom. This six-month offset explains what would otherwise be minor mismatches in synchronizing links between the two kingdoms.”—Young, Ussher Explained and Corrected, 48.

9Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 43.

10 “An important factor affecting the form of the biblical report is that two major source documents were used by the writer of Kings. His two sources were the ‘Chronicles of the Kings of Judah’ and the ‘Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.’ The most significant difference between these two documents was that they used two distinct calendars to record each other’s history. Neither side recognized the other’s calendar and so each wrote up the other’s history using its own calendar.”—Leslie McFall, “A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles,” in Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. 148 no. 589 (Dallas, TX: Dallas Theological Seminary, January-March 1991), 6. “Still another factor to be taken into consideration is the method that might be used by each nation in referring to the chronological data of the other. If Judah were using the accession-year system and Israel the nonaccession-year system, how would Judah refer to the years of a king of Israel—according to the system used in Judah, or according to the system used in Israel? If Judah used Judah’s system in referring to the years of a king of Israel, would Israel use Israel’s system in referring to the years of a king of Judah?”—Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 45-46. “Jeroboam’s willingness to change accepted practice needs to be taken into account, instead of assuming that chronological methods were necessarily the same in both kingdoms. A further novelty was his starting the regnal year in Nisan instead of in Tishri as in the southern kingdom. This six-month offset explains what would otherwise be minor mismatches in synchronizing links between the two kingdoms.”—Young, Ussher Explained and Corrected, 48.

11Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 14.

12 “Such writers as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah used Nisan years for Hebrew kings and also for the rulers of Babylon and Persia. Daniel used Tishri years for Hebrew kings.”—Ibid., 180. Ezra-Nehemiah use Tishri years even for the kings of Persia and Daniel also employs Tishri years, but Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah use Nisan years for the Hebrew kings as well as for the rulers of Babylon and Persia.”—Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 253. “In the Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel the regnal years of the Hebrew as well as the Babylonian kings are reckoned as beginning in Nisan. In Jeremiah 32:1 the tenth year of Zedekiah is equated with the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. This is in accord with an accession year of Zedekiah commencing in Nisan 597, and his tenth year commencing in Nisan 587, which synchronized with the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar that began in Nisan 587.”—Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 190.

13“Instead of equating a regnal year with a year of the standard civil calendar, each regnal year was reckoned from the actual accession day, whenever it was, to the anniversary of the same, and so on. This may be called a factual regnal year in distinction from a regnal year equated with a calendar year.”—Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 70. “The exact time of the year from which a king began to count his regnal year is also an important factor. Did a king begin counting his regnal years from the day he ascended the throne, or did his regnal years coincide with calendar years? Among the Hebrews there were two calendar years, one beginning with Nisan in the spring and the other with Tishri in the fall. With which of these months did the Hebrews begin reckoning their regnal years? And did both Israel and Judah follow the same practice? In regard to the latter, four possibilities exist: (1) both Israel and Judah began the regnal year with Nisan; (2) both Israel and Judah began the regnal year with Tishri; (3) Israel began the regnal year with Nisan and Judah began it with Tishri; (4) Israel began the regnal year with Tishri and Judah began it with Nisan.”—Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 44.

14 “In the Hebrew Scriptures the months are numbered from Nisan, regardless of whether the reckoning of the year was from the spring or fall. And reckoning was according to the inclusive system, whereby the first and last units or fractions of units of a group were included as full units in the total of the group.”—Ibid., 52. “[In the Babylonian Talmud] it was affirmed as certain that the numbering of the months always commences with Nisan. Using the formula customary for the introduction of a Baraitha, it was said: ‘Our Rabbis taught: On the first of Nisan is New Year for months,’ i.e., the order of the months always begins with Nisan.”—Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 79.

15“In extra-biblical Jewish sources there is one passage in particular which, because of its relative antiquity and its relatively explicit statements as to how years are reckoned must be considered . . . This passage is found in the Mishna and gives concise definitions of four different New Year’s days, in the accompanying Gemara these definitions are elucidated and discussed at length; and the whole is now contained in the Babylonian Talmud in the division Moed (‘Feasts’) and in the tractate Rosh Hashanah (‘New Year’). The Mishna reads as follows: There are four New Years. On the first of Nisan is New year for kings and for festivals. On the first of Elul is New Year for the tithe of cattle. Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Simcon, however, place this on the first of Tishri. On the first of Tishri is New Year for years, for release and jubilee years, for plantation and for tithe of vegetables. On the first of Shebat is New Year for trees, according to the ruling of Beth Shammai; Beth Hillel, however, place it on the fifteen of that month. . . . According to this statement one would suppose that regnal years always coincided with calendar years beginning Nisan 1. In the ensuing rabbinic discussion of the Gemara it is further explained: If a king ascends the throne on the twenty-ninth of Adar, as soon as the first of Nisan arrives he is reckoned to have reigned a year. This teaches us that Nisan is the New Year for kings, and that one day in a year is reckoned as a year. But if he ascended the throne on the first of Nisan he is not reckoned to have reigned a year till the next first of Nisan comes round.”—Ibid., 78.

16“The problem [of Neh. 2:1], then, is to ascertain from what point in the ‘sequence of the months’ the years of the King’s reign are reckoned, or on what day of the year the reckoning passes from the last day of one year to the New Year’s Day of another. The method of reckoning adopted is not the Hebrew method, for with them New Year’s Day is always the 1st day of Nisan, and the first of Nisan following the 9th month of the 20th year of Artaxerxes would have been in the 21st year of Artaxerxes. The method of reckoning adopted is not the Assyrian method, for with them also New Year’s Day is always the 1st day of Nisan. The method of reckoning adopted is not that of the vague Egyptian or Chaldean year of Ptolemy’s Canon, the 365-day year, whose New Year’s Day or 1st Thoth, or as we should say 1st January, fell back one day every 4 years, and travelled the entire circle of the four seasons in the course of the Sothic cycle of 1,460 years, for in the 20th of Artaxerxes, B.C. 502, the 1st Thoth or New Year’s Day of the Egyptian or Chaldean year was on December 27th, and December was the 10th month, so that in passing from the 9th month Chisleu to the 1st month Nisan, a New Year would have been entered. The same would hold good if this Artaxerxes were identified with Longimanus, for in his 20th year, B.C. 445, the 1st Thoth of the Egyptian or Chaldean year was December 12th. The New Year did not begin with the summer solstice, about the 21st day of the 4th month, for the 1st day of the 1st month, and the 1st day of the 5th month of Artaxerxes, were both in the same 7th year of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:7-9). The New Year did not begin with the autumnal Equinox, about the 21st day of the 7th month, for the 6th, 7th and 9th months are all in the same 2nd year of Darius (Hag. 1:1, 2:1-10). The New Year did not begin at the winter solstice, about the 21st day of the 10th month, for some part of the 9th month, and the following 1st month were both in one and the same 20th year of Artaxerxes (Neh. 1:1, 2:1). And it has already been shown that the New Year did not begin at the spring Equinox or about the 1st Nisan. The solution probably lies in the fact that the Persians, being like ourselves, members of the Aryan or Japhetic, and not members of the Semitic race, reckoned as we do, and in that case the years of the King’s reign would be reckoned not by calendar years, as with the Jews and the Assyrians, but from the day on which the King ascended the throne.”—Martin Anstey, The Romance of Bible Chronology: The Treatise (Vol 1) (London, England: Marshall Brothers Ltd., 1913), 248-249.

17 “Four systems of reckoning which are employed by the biblical writers of Kings and Chronicles. The four methods of reckoning are as follows: A-A pattern: The king’s reign is calculated from the first year of his sole reign and the total reign excludes coregency years (e. g., Jehoram and Jehoiachin who both were made coregents before they were crowned as kings). This is the normal pattern where a king did not have a coregency. A-B pattern: The king’s reign is calculated from the first year of his sole reign but the total does include coregency years (e.g., Omri, Ahaziah of Judah, Jeroboam II, and Pekah) B-A pattern: The king’s reign is calculated from the first year of his coregency and the total excludes his coregency years (Jehoash of Israel, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Jehoiachin). B-B pattern: The king’s reign is calculated from the first year of his coregency and the total includes his coregency years (Jehoshaphat, Jotham, Azariah, and Manasseh).”—McFall, A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles, 5.

18“The phrase ‘in the nth year of A, B began to reign’ can be understood in one of two ways. a) The nth year of A was the first year of the reign of B starting from Nisan. B actually reigned a few months before Nisan but this is not counted. This is the most frequent situation and should be followed unless there is a good reason not to. b) In the nth year of A was the actual time B started to reign before the month of Nisan. The first year of the reign of B would start on the following Nisan or the year n + 1 of A.”—Larry Pierce, “Appendix C: Ussher’s Timeline for the Divided Kingdom,” in Archbishop Ussher, Larry Pierce, and Marion Pierce, eds., Annals of the World (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1654, 2003), 895.

19Isaac Newton called attention to this problem. [Isaac Newton, Larry Pierce, and Marion Pierce, eds., Newton’s Revised History of Ancient Kingdoms (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1728, 2009), 8-9, 23, 24, 26, 71, 93, 131, 137]

20Pierce, Appendix C: Ussher’s Timeline for the Divided Kingdom, 895.

21Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 43.

22Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 76-77.

23Accession-year dating is also referred to as postdating and non-accession-year dating as antedating. [Ibid., 75]

24Diagram by Tony Garland and hereby released to the public domain.

25 Some have interpreted a statement within the Mishna as necessitating Nisan-year dating for both kingdoms during the divided monarchy. “According to the Mishna (treatise Rosh Hashanah), On the 1st of Nisan is a new year for the computation of the reign of kings and for festivals.” To which the Jewish editors of the English translation of the Mishna add this note: ‘The reign of Jewish kings, whatever the period of accession might be, was always reckoned from the preceding Nisan; so that if, for instance, a Jewish king began to reign in Adar, the following month (Nisan) would be considered as the commencement of the second year of his reign. This rule was observed in all legal contracts, in which the reign of kings was always mentioned. This rule, I may add, will explain what Christian expositors and critics are pleased to call the “errors’ in the chronological statements of Scripture as to Jewish regnal years.”—Robert Anderson, Daniel in the Critic’s Den (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1909, 1990), 171. But the Mishna, written well-after the period of the divided monarchy, may only record a tradition. “Most biblical chronologists have followed a Nisan-to-Nisan year in dealing with the Hebrew kings. The statement in the Mishnah tract Rosh Hashana that 1 Nisan is the new year for kings is no doubt largely responsible for this point of view. Such outstanding authorities as Begrich and Morgenstern point out, however, that in view of the late date of the Mishnah notice, we might expect to find recorded there merely a late tradition. It is quite possible that, by the time the Mishnah statement was prepared, all memory of the exact chronological arrangements of the Hebrew kings had disappeared and that any statements from the authorities of that age are as arbitrary as those of more recent investigators.”—Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 51. In his landmark chronological study, Thiele concluded, “In Israel the regnal year begin with the month of Nisan and in Judah it began with the month of Tishri.” [emphasis added]—Ibid., 23. Although a king’s reign may be counted from either the religious (Nisan) or civil new year (Tishri), Nisan is invariably taken as the first month when numbering months. “There is one argument for a Nisan-based year for Judah that initially appears compelling: it is that the Bible usually gives the number of the month instead of the month name, and the numbering always implies that Nisan was the first month. Although it is true that month numbers start with Nisan, that does not rule out different starting months for other activities. (The Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 2a, lists four ‘new years,’ each starting in a different month.)”—Young, Ussher Explained and Corrected, 54.

26According to the biblical text, the new year began in the spring with the first month of Abib (meaning “ear of corn”) commemorating Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt (Ex. 12:2; 13:4, 15; Deu. 16:1). During the captivity, Abib came to be called Nisan (meaning “beginning,” “opening,” Ne. 2:1; Est. 3:7). The seventh month was called Tishri (also known as Ethanim) and began with the Feast of Trumpets followed by the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:23-34; Num. 29:1-7, 12). According to the rabbis, God created the world on the 1st of Tishri. [Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, eds., Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1:404] This date became known as Rosh Hashanah (head of the year”). These two months, Abib/Nisan and Tishri/Ethanim, mark the beginning of the sacred and civil years, respectively.

27“A vernal year that begins with the month of Nisan (Aviv) will be indicated with a trailing lower case ‘n.’ Thus 750n will indicate a year that began in Nisan of the Julian year 750 B.C. This year would be approximately equal to the last nine months of 750 B.C. and the first three months of 749 B.C. An autumnal year that begins with the month of Tishri (Ethanim) will be indicated with a lowercase ‘t.’ Thus, 750t will indicate a year that began in Tishri of the Julian year 750 B.C. This year would be approximately equal to the last three months of 750 B.C. and the first nine months of 749 B.C.”—Andrew E Steinmann, From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2011), 20-21.

28Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 75.

29Diagram by Tony Garland and hereby released to the public domain.

30Dates could also be specified within the Gregorian calendar or as astronomical Julian Days, but these are less common within biblical-historical works.

31“Dates before A.D. 1582 (the earliest adoption of the Gregorian calendar in Europe) are by standard convention given in Julian years. . . . The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is a slight one, but is important when assigning dates to ancient events which are always calculated using the Julian calendar.”—Steinmann, From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology, 24-25.

32For a discussion of the importance of Ezekiel 40:1 in relation to dating the fall of Jerusalem, see [Rodger C. Young, “Ezekiel 40:1 As a Corrective for Seven Wrong Ideas in Biblical Interpretation,” in Andrews University Seminary Studies, vol. 44 no. 2 (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2006)].

33For a revealing discussion of how these factors contribute to dating the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., see [Rodger C. Young, “When Did Jerusalem Fall?,” in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, vol. 47 no. 1 (Evangelical Theological Society, March 2004)].

34This is a rare stained glass sundial window located in a bay window in a home in Tucson, Arizona USA. It took two years to design and build. It shows accurate time and the date. It was designed and made by John Carmichael, sundial maker and designer. Image courtesy of John Carmichael. Image is in the public domain.

35C. Ermal Allen, “Jerusalem Fell in 587 Not 586 BC,” in Bible and Spade, vol. 18 no. 1 (Landisville, PA: Associates for Biblical Research, Winter 2005).

36Anderson, Daniel in the Critic’s Den.

37Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince, 10th ed (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1894, 1957).

38Stephen Anderson, Darius the Mede: A Reappraisal (PhD diss., TX: Dallas Theological Seminary, 2014).

39Anstey, The Romance of Bible Chronology: The Treatise (Vol 1).

40Martin Anstey, The Romance of Bible Chronology: Chronological Tables (Vol 2) (London, England: Marshall Brothers Ltd., 1913).

41Gleason Leonard Archer, “Daniel,” vol. 7 in Frank E. Gaebelein, ed., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985).

42Gleason Leonard Archer, “Modern Rationalism and the Book of Daniel,” in Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. 136 no. 542 (Dallas, TX: Dallas Theological Seminary, April-June 1979).

43 [David Austin, “Is Darius the King from Ezra?,” in Journal of Creation, vol. 22 no. 3 (Creation Ministries International, 2008)]. See Chronological Caveats.

44 [David Austin, “Three Chronological Periods of the Old Testament,” in Journal of Creation, vol. 22 no. 3 (Creation Ministries International, 2008)]. See Chronological Caveats.

45David Baron, The History of the Ten ‘Lost’ Tribes: Anglo-Israelism Examined, 4th ed (London, England: Morgan & Scott Ltd., 1915+).

46Paul Benware, Daniel’s Prophecy of Things to Come (Clifton, TX: Scofield Ministries, 2007).

47Edwin Cone Bissell, “The Apocrypha of the Old Testament,” in John Peter Lange, ed., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical (New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1880).

48Charles Boutflower, In and Around the Book of Daniel (London, England: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1923).

49Michael Levy, ed., Britannica 2012 Deluxe Edition CDROM.

50F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1981).

51Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible - Daniel (Broken Arrow, OK: StudyLamp Software, 1832).

52W. A. Criswell and Paige Patterson, eds., The Holy Bible: Baptist Study Edition (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991).

53Charles H. Dyer, “Ezekiel,” in John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, eds., The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton, IL: SP Publications, 1983).

54A. R. Fausset, “The Book of Daniel,” in Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, 1877).

55Charles Lee Feinberg, A Commentary on Daniel: The Kingdom of the Lord (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1981).

56Paul D. Feinberg, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Dan. 9:24-27,” in John S. Feinberg and Paul D. Feinberg, Tradition and Testament (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1981).

57Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology.

58Hobart E. Freeman, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1968).

59John Gill, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (Broken Arrow, OK: StudyLamp Software, 1746-1763).

60Oliver B. Greene, Daniel (Greenville, SC: The Gospel Hour, 1964, 1974).

61Roland K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (Peabody, MA: Prince Press, 1969, 1999).

62Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1977).

63Thomas A Howe, Daniel in the Preterist’s Den (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2008).

64H. A. Ironside, The Four Hundred Silent Years (from Malachi to Matthew) (New York, NY: Loizeaux Brothers, 1914).

65 [Floyd Nolen Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to Basics, 15th ed (The Woodlands, TX: KingsWord Press, 1993, 2002)]. See Chronological Caveats.

66 [Floyd Nolen Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to Basics, 4th ed (The Woodlands, TX: KingsWord Press, 1993, 1999)]. See Chronological Caveats.

67Geoffrey Wigoder, ed., Encyclopedia Judaica CDROM Edition, Version 1.0 (Keter Publishing House, Ltd., 1997), s.v. “Timeline.”

68Frank R. Klassen, The Chronology of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Regal Publishers, 1975).

69Clarence Larkin, The Book of Daniel (Glenside, PA: Clarence Larkin Estate, 1929).

70Edward Mack, “Chronology of the Old Testament,” in J. W. Orr, ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1915).

71John A. Martin, “Ezra,” in John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, eds., The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton, IL: SP Publications, 1983).

72 [Philip Mauro, The Wonders of Bible Chronology (Washington, DC: Eerdmans, 1933, 2005)]. See Chronological Caveats.

73Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas (New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993).

74Stephen R. Miller, “Daniel,” in E. Ray Clendenen, Kenneth A. Mathews, and David S. Dockery, eds., The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1994).

75Monty S. Mills, Daniel: A Study Guide to the Book of Daniel (Dallas, TX: 3E Ministries, 1988, 1999).

76T. C. Mitchell, The Bible in the British Museum (London, England: British Museum Press, 1988, 1998).

77 [Newton, Newton’s Revised History of Ancient Kingdoms]. See Chronological Caveats.

78Earl D. Radmacher and H. Wayne House, eds., The Nelson Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997).

79J. N. Oswalt, “Chronology of the Old Testament,” in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979, 1915).

80Richard A. Parker and Waldo H. Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology: 626 B.C. — A.D. 45 (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1942).

81J. Barton Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1973, 1996).

82J. Dwight Pentecost, “Daniel,” in John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, eds., The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton, IL: SP Publications, 1983).

83 [Pierce, Appendix C: Ussher’s Timeline for the Divided Kingdom]. See Chronological Caveats.

84Philip Schley Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910).

85William Schlegal, Satellite Bible Atlas, 2nd ed (West Nyack, NY: SkyLand Publishing, 2008, 2016).

86J. Julius Scott Jr., Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1995, 2007).

87Renald E. Showers, “New Testament Chronology and the Decree of Daniel 9,” in Grace Journal, vol. 11 no. 1 (Winona, IN: Grace Seminary, Winter 1970).

88Steinmann, From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology.

89Andrew E Steinmann, Daniel (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2008).

90Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings.

91Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry, The NIV Harmony of the Gospels (San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins, 1988).

92Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2002).

93John C. Whitcomb, Daniel (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1985).

94John C. Whitcomb, Darius the Mede (Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1959, 1963).

95Robert Dick Wilson, Studies in the Book of Daniel (New York, NY: G. P. Putnams & Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1971).

96Donald J. Wiseman, “Babylonia,” in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979, 1915).

97Donald J. Wiseman, Nebuchadrezzar and Babylon (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1985, 2004).

98Leon J. Wood, A Commentary on Daniel (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1998).

99Edwin E. Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996).

100Young, When Did Jerusalem Fall?.

101Rodger C. Young, “Evidence for Inerrancy from a Second Unexpected Source: The Jubilee and Sabbatical Cycles,” in Bible and Spade, vol. 24 no. 4 (Landisville, PA: Associates for Biblical Research, Fall 2011).

102Rodger C. Young, “Tables of Reign Lengths from the Hebrew Court Recorders,” in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, vol. 48 no. 2 (Evangelical Theological Society, June 2005).

103Rodger C. Young, “How Lunar and Solar Eclipses Shed Light on Biblical Facts,” in Bible and Spade, vol. 26 no. 2 (Landisville, PA: Associates for Biblical Research, Spring 2013).

104Young, Ezekiel 40:1 As a Corrective for Seven Wrong Ideas in Biblical Interpretation.

105“Ezekiel began his ministry on July 31, 593 B.C. (the ‘fifth day’ is inclusive, counting both July 27 and 31). Ezekiel also said his ministry began ‘in the 30th year’ (Ezek. 1:1). Scholars debate the exact meaning of this statement, but many feel it refers to Ezekiel’s age. If so, he was commissioned as a prophet at the age [of 30 when] he was qualified to enter the priesthood (cf. Num. 4:3).”—Dyer, Ezekiel, Eze. 1:1. “Since the time of Origen (ca. A.D. 185-254), this has been held to be a reference to the prophet’s age. According to Numbers 4:3-4, this is the age when priests began their ministry. There are many other proposed interpretations: (1) thirtieth year of Jehoiachin’s age, 585 B.C.; (2) thirtieth year after Josiah’s reform, 593-592 B.C.; (3) thirtieth year of the current jubilee period; (4) thirtieth year of the neo-Babylonian Empire, 606-605 B.C.; (5) thirtieth year of Manasseh, 667 B.C.; and (6) thirtieth year of Artaxerxes III, 328 B.C.”—King James Version Study Bible, electronic ed (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 1537.

106Hippolytus suggests Daniel was born during the reign of Jehoiakim (610-597), “He is born, then, in the time of the prophetic ministry of the blessed Jeremiah, and in the reign of Jehoiakim or Eliakim.”—Hippolytus, “Scholia on Daniel,” in Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume V: Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 177. This seems unlikely since that would make Daniel no more than five years of age at the time of his deportation to Babylon.

107“Ignatius (Ep. ad Magn.) says that Daniel was twelve years of age when he went into exile.”—Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1884-85), Dan. 1:1.

108“Chrysostom says that [Daniel] was eighteen [when he went into exile] (Opp, vi., p. 423).”—Ibid.

109“The date of the captivity is the 3rd year of Jehoiakim, the year AN. HOM. 3520, B.C. 605, the 21st year of Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar’s father, as King of Babylon, in which year Nebuchadnezzar, being associated with his father on the throne, was also ‘King of Babylon,’ though the year he was Co-Rex with his father is not reckoned as his first year.”—Anstey, The Romance of Bible Chronology: The Treatise (Vol 1), 222.

110Several chronologists, who reject the received Persian chronology, give this date as 526 B.C. (Austin1[39], Mauro[71]). See Chronological Caveats.

111606t.

112Nathaniel West, The Thousand Years in both Testaments (Fincastle, VA: Scripture Truth Book Co., n.d.), 122.

113“The main blow to Judah came in 586 B.C. when Jerusalem was destroyed and the country became a province of Babylonia (2K. 25:1-21). Eleven years before (597), however, a prior taking into captivity had occurred when Jehoiakim ruled, and some 10,000 leading people were carried to Babylon (2K. 24:11-16). Eight years before this still, Daniel, his three friends, and other young Judeans had been forced to go (605). . . . Thus, Daniel had been in Babylon for eight years when Judeans of the captivity of 597 arrived, and nineteen years when those of 586 came.”—Wood, A Commentary on Daniel, 13.

114“British Museum Tablet No. 22047 reports that in the twentieth year of Nabopolassar (606/605 B.C.) [the Egyptians] successfully attacked a Babylonian garrison in the city of Kimuho on the Euphrates. British Museum Tablet No. 21946 tells how, in the twenty-first year of Nabopolassar (605/604), the Babylonian king sent his son Nebuchadnezzar against the Egyptians. Nebuchadnezzar met the Egyptian army in Carchemish on the bank of the Euphrates, accomplished their defeat, and conquered the whole area of ‘the Hatti-country.’ In the record of Nebuchadnezzar’s seventh year . . . ‘the Hatti-land’ includes ‘the city of Judah,’ therefore the term is a general designation for Syria-Palestine.”—Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 252-253.

115“As far as the closing years of the southern kingdom are concerned, extra-Biblical sources have furnished a precise date of 605 B.C. for the accession of Nebuchadnezzar II and the battle of Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzar actually ascended the throne of Babylon on September 6, 605 B.C. (cf. 2K. 24:12; 25:8), although the first official year of his reign commenced with the following New Year, in accordance with Babylonian custom.”—Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, 191-192.

116“The precise date of the battle of Carchemish can only be set within limits. The Chronicle states that it occurred within Nabopolassar’s twenty-first year (commencing April 605 B.C.) and before his death (8 Ab = 15/16 August) and time must be allowed for operations in Syria from which Nebuchadrezzar was recalled . . . June-July 605 B.C. therefore remains the most likely date unless the capture of Carchemish represents a sudden Blitzkrieg response to the defeat and retreat of the previous Shebat (January).”—Wiseman, Nebuchadrezzar and Babylon, 16.

117“British Museum Tablet 21946 . . . provides this record for the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar: In the seventh year, the month of Kislimu, the king of Akkad mustered his troops, marched to the Hatti-land, and encamped against the city of Judah and on the second day of the month of Addaru he seized the city and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice, received its heavy tribute and sent them to Babylon. The ‘king of Akkad’ is Nebuchadnezzar, the ‘city of Judah’ must be Jerusalem, and the newly chosen king must be Zedekiah, so this is unmistakably the Babylonian record of the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, corresponding on the whole to the account . . . summarized from 2K. 24. The seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar began on Nisanu 1 (Mar 27) 598 B.C. The month of Kislimu began on Dec 18, 598. The second day of the month of Addaru was Mar 16, 597 B.C. The last is the most exact information to come from cuneiform records for an event recorded in the Bible, and gives us a precise day for the fall of Jerusalem and the capture of Jehoiachin.”—Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 256.

118“As Wiseman has shown, the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem can be dated with complete accuracy from cuneiform sources to March 15/16, the second day of the month Adar, in 597 B.C. [D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldean Kings, pp. 32ff.]”—Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, 192.

119“Jeremiah prophesied from the thirteenth year of Josiah (B.C. 627) until the fall of Jerusalem in the eleventh year of Zedekiah (B.C. 587)”—Anderson, The Coming Prince, 26. “The final destruction of the city was in Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year, i.e., 587 . . .”—Ibid., 237.

120“The date of the Fall of Jerusalem has been taken as 586 B.C. The years 588 and 587 also receive able support by careful men. Ussher and more recently E. W. Faulstich held to 588, whereas H.F. Clinton, Sir Robert Anderson, W. F. Albright, and D. J. Wiseman championed B.C. 587.”—Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to Basics, 4th ed, xiii.

121“British Museum Tablet 21946 . . . provides this record for the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar: In the seventh year, the month of Kislimu, the king of Akkad mustered his troops, marched to the Hatti-land, and encamped against the city of Judah and on the second day of the month of Addaru he seized the city and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice, received its heavy tribute and sent them to Babylon. The ‘king of Akkad’ is Nebuchadnezzar, the ‘city of Judah’ must be Jerusalem, and the newly chosen king must be Zedekiah, so this is unmistakably the Babylonian record of the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, corresponding on the whole to the account . . . summarized from 2K. 24. The seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar began on Nisanu 1 (Mar 27) 598 B.C. The month of Kislimu began on Dec 18, 598. The second day of the month of Addaru was Mar 16, 597 B.C. The last is the most exact information to come from cuneiform records for an event recorded in the Bible, and gives us a precise day for the fall of Jerusalem and the capture of Jehoiachin.”—Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 256.

122“The Fall of Jerusalem is given as occurring in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar by Hebrew reckoning (compare the accounts . . . recorded in Kings and Jeremiah), but it is said to transpire in his 18th by Babylonian dating [2K. 25:8-10 cf. Jer. 52:12-14]. . . . the later portion of Jeremiah 52 records the Fall of Jerusalem as having transpired in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 52:28-29). The key is to observe that the previously mentioned second deportation occurring in 597 B.C. at the end of Jehoiachin’s . . . reign is referenced to and agrees with the Babylonian Chronicles’ account and not the Hebrew as found in 2K. 24:10-12 as heretofore noted. This demands that the Jeremiah 52:29 declaration concerning the ‘18th year’ was also according to Babylonian reckoning. This comparison . . . discloses the Jeremiah 52:28-34 is an addendum probably written in Babylonian by Ezra after Jeremiah’s death. Consequently, these dates are given according to Babylonian reckoning. . . . It is noteworthy that Jeremiah 52:29-30 is not part of the text of the LXX.”—Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to Basics, 4th ed, 132-133.

123“[Nebuchadnezzar] laid siege to Jerusalem on January 15, 588 B.C. (cf. 2K. 25:1; Jer. 39:1; 52:4; Eze. 24:1-2) and succeeded in capturing it on July 18, 586 B.C. (cf. 2K. 25:2-3; Jer. 39:2; 52:5-7). The final destruction of Jerusalem (which included the demolition of Solomon’s temple) began on August 14, 586 B.C. (cf. 2K. 25:8-10).”—Miller, Daniel, 43-44.

124“There are several sources of biblical data relating to the fall of Jerusalem: 2 Kgs 25:1-3; 2 Chr 36:17-20; Jer 1:3; 52:3-27 and Ezek 24:1; 40:1. While the analysis of these texts is complicated, it should be noted that the only way all of them can be brought into harmony with each other is if Jerusalem fell in 587 B.C. Most importantly, the information supplied in Ezek 26:1-2 undercuts the theory of those who hold that Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C. . . . [Ezekiel’s] oracle about Tyre’s gloating over Jerusalem’s fall came to Ezekiel in the eleventh year of his exile on the first day of an unspecified month. Since Tyre’s schadenfreude could only have been expressed after the fall of Jerusalem and it had been ‘laid waste,’ Ezekiel’s oracle must have been delivered after 9 Tammuz 586 B.C. (July 18) according to the chronologies that hold that Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C. But the captivity of Ezekiel and Jehoiachin started in Adar of 597 B.C. according to Babylonian records (cf. 2 Kgs 24:10-12; 2 Chr 36:9, 10), so that the eleventh year of exile would be 588t (Tishri reckoning) or 588n (Nisan reckoning), and with either reckoning the year would have expired before Tammuz of 586 B.C.”—Steinmann, From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology, 50, 136-137.

125“Jerusalem fell on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:203, 8), that is, on 18 July 586 B.C.”—Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 189. “Although the Babylonian tablets dealing with the final fall and destruction of Jerusalem have not been found, it should be noticed that the testimony of Ezekiel 40:1 is definitive in regard to the year 586. Since Ezekiel had his vision of the temple on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his and Jehoiachin’s captivity (28 April 573), and since this was the fourteenth year after Jerusalem’s fall, the city must have fallen eleven years after the captivity. Eleven years after 597 is 586. Any attempt to date the fall of Jerusalem earlier than 586 would call for an earlier date than 597 for Jehoiachin’s captivity; but that is not possible, for that date has been fixed by contemporary Babylonian evidence.”—Ibid., 191.

126“That a specific date for the capture of Jerusalem is given [by the Babylonian Chronicle] (15/16 March 597 B.C.) shows its importance in Babylonian eyes. . . . The date may have been given also to mark the accession of Mattaniah—Zedekiah (2K. 24:17; Jer. 37:1) or to emphasise that the siege was of only a short duration. . . . [Nebuchadrezzar began] the attack on Jerusalem on the 10th of Tebet of Zedekiah’s ninth year (15 Jan, 588 B.C., Jer. 39:1; 2K. 25:1). . . . The break through happened on the 9th of Tammuz of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the Temple being destroyed in the following week, that is 7th or 10th Ab (c. 5 August 587) according to the Nisan year reckoning and the city fell about a month later. The interval may well have been due to Babylonian attempts to parley for surrender (Jer. 39:3).”—Wiseman, Nebuchadrezzar and Babylon, 32, 36-37.

127“Solomon’s temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 or 586 b.c. . . . Scholars such as Albright, Freedman, Tadmor, and Wiseman, who believe that the Jews used a calendar, beginning in Nisan (April), date the fall of Jerusalem to the summer of 587. Others such as Horn, Malamat, Redford, Saggs, and Thiele, who believe that the Jews used a calendar beginning in Tishri (September), date the fall of Jerusalem to the summer of 586. See H. Tadmor, ‘Chronology of the Last Kings of Judah,’ JNES 15 (1956): 226-30; S. Horn, ‘The Babylonian Chronicle and the Ancient Calendar of the Kingdom of Judah,’ AUSS 5 (1967): 12-27; K. Freedy and D. Redford, ‘The Dates in Ezekiel in Relation to Biblical, Babylonian and Egyptian Sources,’ JAOS 90 (1970): 462-85.”—Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 155.

128“Jerusalem fell in the fourth month (Tammuz) of 587 BC. All sources which bear on the question—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 2 Kings—are consistent in dating the event in that year.”—Young, When Did Jerusalem Fall?, 38. “Jeremiah consistently used Tishri years for Judah, as did Ezekiel and the source for the last chapters of 2 Kings. This is in harmony with the usage of Judah throughout the monarchic period, in contrast to Thiele’s assumption that Jeremiah and Ezekiel used Nisan reckoning for Judah. Jeremiah used non-accession years for the kings of Judah and for Nebuchadnezzar. There is not enough information to determine if he started the years for Nebuchadnezzar in Tishri or Nisan; both assumptions fit the data.”—Ibid.

129“The establishing of Ezekiel’s vision [Eze. 40:1] as occurring at the beginning of a Jubilee year allows a complete calendar of Jubilee and Sabbatical years in B.C. terms to be constructed, once we determine the B.C. year of the vision. Ezekiel’s statement that the year was both the 25th year of the captivity he shared with Jehoiachin and also 14 years after Jerusalem fell cannot be reconciled with a 586 date for the fall of the city. It is, however, consistent with a date for the fall in the summer of 587 B.C. and a date on the tenth of Tishri, 574 B.C., for the vision. . . . placing the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. contradicts the chronology of the book of Ezekiel as well as the dates of the beginning and ending of Jehoiachin’s captivity given in 2 Kings 24:12, 25:27 and Jeremiah 52:31.”—Young, Evidence for Inerrancy from a Second Unexpected Source: The Jubilee and Sabbatical Cycles, 115.

130“There are no combinations of the twenty-fifth year of exile and a year fourteen years after the city fell that allow for a 586 date. Neither are there any combinations that indicate that Ezekiel was using Nisan years. It is therefore concluded that the city fell on the ninth of Tammuz (July 2B) of 587 B.C. (Jer 52:6-7), and that Ezekiel was consistent with the method of Judean court recorders throughout the history of the southern kingdom when he reckoned that the year began in Tishri.”—Young, Ezekiel 40:1 As a Corrective for Seven Wrong Ideas in Biblical Interpretation, 269-270.

131“[A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1959), p.35.]”—Renald E. Showers, The Most High God: Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Bellmawr, NJ: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, 1982), Dan. 5:1-4.

132“The last dates for Nebuchadnezzar on available tablets are 6/21/43 (3 Oct. 562) and 6/26/43 (8 Oct. 562).”—Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 189.

133“Since the last tablet dated by his regnal years is 8 October 562 at Uruk and the first dated to his successor Amēl-Marduk as king of Babylon [is] on the same day, it is assumed that Nebuchadrezzar died during the first days of October 562 B.C.”—Wiseman, Nebuchadrezzar and Babylon, 113.

134“After Nebuchadnezzar’s death, his son, Amēl-Marduk, that is, ‘man of Marduk’ (called Evil-Merodach in 2K. 25:27-30 and Jer. 52:31-34), became king and ruled from 562 to 560 B.C. He was assassinated by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar (called Nergal-Sharezer in Jer. 39:3, 13), who after a coup d’etat assumed the throne and reigned until his death in 556 B.C. His son, Labashi-Marduk, became king but was assassinated in another coup after a reign of only a few months (556 B.C.). Nabonidus was then made king and reigned from 556 B.C. until the fall of the empire to Medo-Persia in 539 B.C. His son, Belshazzar, reigned as coregent and is a prominent figure in the Book of Daniel.”—Miller, Daniel, 44.

135“The Persian forces took Sippar on Tashritu 14 = Oct 10, 539 B.C.; they took Babylonian on Tashritu 16 = Oct 12; and Cyrus entered the city on Arahsamnu 3 = Oct 29.”—Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 266.

136“His [Belshazzar’s] death, according to Bishop Usher [Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3466], Mr. Whiston [Chronological Tables, cent. 10], and Mr. Bedford [Scripture Chronology, p. 711], was in the year of the world 3466 A.M., and 538 B.C. Dean Prideaux [Connexion, etc. par. 1. p. 120] places it in 539 B.C.”—Gill, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, Dan. 5:30.

137“Babylon taken by Ugbaru (16th of Tishri) . . . Oct. 12., 539 B.C. . . . Babylon entered by Cyrus; and Gubaru, his governor, appoints governors in Babylon (3rd of Marchesvan) . . . Oct. 29, 539 B.C. . . . Death of Ugbaru (11th of Marchesvan) . . . Nov. 6, 539 B.C.”—Whitcomb, Darius the Mede, 78.

138Darius the Mede’s reign over Babylon begins with the fall of Babylon to Medo-Persia and terminates with the ascendancy of Cyrus over the Medes. See Reign of Cyrus over Medo Persia.“The supposition, however, that Darius reigned for two years over Babylon is correct. For the Babylonian kingdom was destroyed sixty-eight years after the commencement of the Exile. Since, then, the seventy years of the Exile were completed in the first year of the reign of Cyrus (2Chr. 36:22f.; Ezra 1:1), it follows that Cyrus became king two years after the overthrow of Babylon, and thus after Darius had reigned two years. See at Dan. 9:1, 2.”—Carl Friedrich Keil, “Daniel,” in Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002), 621.

139“The length of the reign of Darius the Median is not stated in Scripture, . . . but it is clear from Dan. 6:28 that he was succeeded by Cyrus, and from 2 Chron. 36:20-23 that the 1st year of Cyrus was the 70th and last of the 70 years’ captivity which began in the 3rd year of Jehoiakim, B.C. 605. Hence, whatever may be the number and the names of the monarchs between Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, and whatever the number of years that each monarch reigned, we know that the 1st year of Cyrus was the year B.C. 536, and we may provisionally accept the received dates derived from secular history as given by E. A. W. Budge in the British Museum Guide . . . adding thereto the name of Belshazzar as Co-Rex with his father Nabonidus, B.C. 541-539, and the name of Darius the Mede as Rex B.C. 538 and 537, with Cyrus as Co-Rex during these two years, and making Cyrus sole King on the death of Darius the Mede, B.C. 536.”—Anstey, The Romance of Bible Chronology: The Treatise (Vol 1), 231.

140Cyrus initially ruled over Persia ca. 553-550 B.C. ([Anderson3[192], BRIT[art;], Yamauchi[72]). Subsequent to the fall of Babylon to forces led by Cyrus, he gained authority over Media, uniting the Medo-Persian Empire. “There is surprisingly solid biblical and extrabiblical support for Xenophon’s claim that Cyrus began his career as the commanding general of the Medo-Persian army and crown prince of Persia, and that he was not made king of both Media and Persia until after the fall of Babylon.”—Anderson, Darius the Mede: A Reappraisal, 2. “A correlation of biblical and extrabiblical data suggests that Cyrus obtained absolute power over the Medo-Persian Empire approximately two years after the fall of Babylon. Cyrus was preceded by the biblical Darius the Mede, who is called Cyaxares (II) by Xenophon.”—Ibid., 182. See Darius the Mede and commentary on Daniel 5 and 6.

141Chronologists who reject the received Persian chronology, give this date as 457 B.C. (Austin1[39], Mauro[82]). See Chronological Caveats.

142“To account for such favor toward the Jews, it is easy to think of Daniel not only influencing Cyrus to write such a decree, but perhaps even helping to formulate it (cf. Pr. 21:1).”—Wood, A Commentary on Daniel, 155.

143“This proclamation . . . was issued in the year B.C. 536, two years after the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus . . .”—Baron, The History of the Ten ‘Lost’ Tribes: Anglo-Israelism Examined, par. 361.

144“The edict of Cyrus, which was promulgated in 538 B.C., has been shown to be substantially historical as a result of modern archaeological discoveries, and constitutes one of the earliest acts of Cyrus after establishing the Persian empire.”—Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, 193.

145West, The Thousand Years in both Testaments, 122.

146Wiseman refers to him as Darius (II). Wiseman1[1:396].

147Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Messianic Christology (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 1998), 140.

148Work was initially begun on the temple in: 537 Anderson2[xii]; 536 Finegan[267]; 535 Jones2[256]; 537 MBA[127], 536 Yamauchi[155].“Some scholars have held that there is an ‘irreconcilable difference’ between Ezra 3:10 and the references in Haggai 2:18; Zechariah 4:9; 8:9, as the former speaks of the foundation of the temple in 536 and the latter sources imply a second foundation in 520. We have evidence, however, that it was possible to have more than one foundation ceremony for a particular building. J. Stafford Wright notes a Hittite ritual that speaks of the refoundation of a building and Akkadian rituals that speak of ‘founding anew’ particular temples. Therefore a second foundation of the Jerusalem temple in 520 is conceivable.”—Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 155. Opposition to the work delayed construction for more than a decade. When work resumed, the temple was completed in a relatively short period. “Under Sheshbazzar the foundations of the temple were laid, but opposition arose . . . and the temple was still unfinished in the time of Darius (Ezra 5:16). . . . The beginning of [resumption of] the work was in the sixth month, on the twenty-fourth day of the month [of the second year of Darius] (Hag. 1:15). This was Sept 21, 520. . . . The completion of the rebuilding of the temple was on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of Darius (Ezra 6:15). The date was Mar 12, 515.”—Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 267.

149“Viceroy 474-465.”—Newton, Newton’s Revised History of Ancient Kingdoms, 138.

150“It is certain that Nehemiah (Neh. 1:1; 2:1) served as the cupbearer of Artaxerxes I, who ruled from 464 to 424 b.c., because an Elephantine papyrus (Cowley #30), dated to 407, mentions the sons of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria and adversary of Nehemiah.”—Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 242.

151Newton gives this date as 467, “In the seventh year in 467 B.C. of his [Ahasuerus or Xerxes 1] successor Artaxerxes, Ezra and his companions went up from Babylon with offerings and vessels for the temple.”—Newton, Newton’s Revised History of Ancient Kingdoms, 130. See Chronological Caveats.

152Newton gives this date as 454, “In the twentieth year of the king in 454 B.C., Nehemiah heard that the Jews were in great affliction and distress and that the wall of Jerusalem which Ezra had recently repaired, was broken down and its gates burned. He obtained permission from the king to go and build the city and the governor’s house (Ne. 1:3; 2:6, 8, 17). He arrived at Jerusalem the same year and remained as governor for twelve years until 442 B.C. and rebuilt the wall.”—Ibid. See Chronological Caveats.

153“The decree of Artaxerxies (Ne. 2:1) occurred in Nisan (March/April) of 444 B.C.”—Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, 128.

154Klassen shows this period as occupied by Xerxes II and Darius II.

155Designated Ptolemus by Klassen.

156Designated Ptolemy #1 by Klassen.

157Designated Ptolemy #2 by Klassen.

158Designated Ptolemy #3 by Klassen.

159Designated Ptolemy #4 by Klassen.

160“Ptolemy VI ruled as co-regent with his mother, . . . Mother and son governed effectively until her death in 176.”—Levy, Britannica 2012 Deluxe Edition CDROM, s.v. “Ptolemy VI Philometer.”

161Designated Ptolemy #5 by Klassen.

162Designated Ptolemy #6 by Klassen.

163Designated Ptolemy VIII by MBA.

164Designated Ptolemy #7 by Klassen.

165Designated Ptolemy IX by MBA.

166Designated Ptolemy #8 by Klassen.

167Designated Ptolemy X by MBA.

168Designated Ptolemy #9 by Klassen.

169Designated Ptolemy XI by MBA.

170Designated Ptolemy #10 by Klassen.

171Designated Ptolemy XII by MBA.

172More precisely, 39t→2t, from personal correspondence with Bible chronologist Rodger C. Young on May 14, 2020.

173Showers gave this date in an article which investigated the viability of Anderson’s date [Showers1,36]. It is unknown whether he now holds to the date of Hoehner who published corrections to Anderson.

174Newton, Newton’s Revised History of Ancient Kingdoms.

175Isaac Newton, Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of John (Cave Junction, OR: Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, 1831, 1991).

176Austin, Is Darius the King from Ezra?.

177Mauro, The Wonders of Bible Chronology.

178Pierce, Appendix C: Ussher’s Timeline for the Divided Kingdom.

179Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to Basics, 4th ed.

180“The chief modern proponents of the Ussherian chronology are Larry and Marion Pierce, who have published a beautiful edition of Ussher’s Annals of the World, with editing of the 17th-century English of the original version and explanatory discourses, and Floyd Nolen Jones, who collaborated with the Pierces but who also published his own work, The Chronology of the Old Testament, that revises slightly Ussher’s chronology.”—Young, Ussher Explained and Corrected, 51.

181For example, although Mauro draws extensively from Anstey in his study on Daniel, his suggested chronology differs in many years from that of Anstey—although this is not made clear in his work. Whereas Anstey dates Hezekiah’s reign as beginning in 725 (Anstey1[209, 228], Anstey2[52]), Mauro has it from 645—a difference of some 80 years which propagates through Mauro’s subsequent dates.


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