WBC-13-The Captivity and the Return "Unto the Messiah"
The Captivity and the Return "Unto the Messiah" THE CAPTIVITY AND THE RETURN "UNTO THE MESSIAH" The true beginning of the captivity was in the year 3520, when Daniel and others were taken captive to Babylon, in th&3rd year of Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1). Anstey dates the seventy years of Jeremiah 25:11-12 and Daniel 9:2, from this date (see Table 11). From this date onward we have to do with two periods of time whereof the measures are given to us prophetically, rather than historically. The first is a period of seventy years, announced in Jeremiah 25:11-12 and mentioned in Daniel 9:2, and the other is a period of seventy sevens of years, announced by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:24-27. The longer period begins where the shorter period ends, that is, with the notable decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-4), which brought to an end the captivity of the Jews, and which started again their national existence. The seventy sevens ("weeks") of years is the measure "determined" by God in advance (Daniel 9:24), of that second period of Jewish history, which extended from the decree of Cyrus in the first year of his reign, to and including the crucifixion and resurrection of "the Messiah." In our last table (11) we gave the chronology to the end of the reign of Zedekiah, in order to complete the history of the kings of Judah. So we begin our next and final table at that point.
Events | An. Hom. | B.C. |
Zedekiah carried into captivity | 3539 | 507 |
Ezekiel’s vision of the new land, city, and temple (14th year after the city was smitten) See Ezekiel 40:1 | 3552 | 494 |
Evil Merodach, king of Babylon (successor to Neuchadnezzar) brought Jehoiachin out of prison, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon (2 Kings 25:27; Jeremiah 52:31) | 3564 | 482 |
In the 1st year of Belshazzar (who succeeded Evil Merodach) Daniel’s vision of the Four Beasts was given (Daniel 7:1). | 3584 | 462 |
In the 3rd year of Belshazzar the vision of the Ram and He-Goat was given to Daniel (Daniel 8:1). | 3586 | 460 |
The kingdom was taken by Darius the Mede, and the city of Babylon was taken by Cyrus (Daniel 5:26-31) as foretold by Isaiah (Isaiah 45:1-4). Darius and Cyrus rule jointly. The vision of the seventy weeks given to Daniel (Daniel 9:1). | 3587 | 459 |
Cyrus becomes sole king. Issues proclamation in his first year releasing the captive Jews and giving permission to "go up and build the house" (Ezra 1:1-4). This year marks the end of the 70 years’ captivity, and the beginning of the seventy sevens of years "determined" upon Daniel’s people and his holy city, to finish the transgression, etc… (Daniel 9:24) | 3589 | 457 |
In the 7th month of the year last mentioned (the 1st of Cyrus, An. Hom. 3589) the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. But not until the "second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month," did they begin to "set forward the work of the Lord" (Ezra 3:1-8). (The intervening seven months would doubtless have been needed for building habitations for themselves). So we have the date of the beginning of the second Temple. | 3590 | 456 |
In the 3rd year of Cyrus (Daniel 10:1) Daniel had the vision recorded in chapters 10-12 of his prophecy, in course of which he was informed that three kings of Persia should yet stand up (after Cyrus) and that the fourth should be far richer than they all (Daniel 11:2). This 4th king was the fabulously wealthy monarch Xerxes, who "stirred up all against the realm of Grecia"; and the "mighty king" who succeeded him, and whose kingdom was broken, and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, was Alexander the Great, whose kingdom was divided between his four generals. This vision was in the year… | 3591 | 455 |
From the decree of Cyrus in his first year there were to be "seven weeks and three-score and two weeks unto Messiah the Prince" (Daniel 9:25). The "seven weeks" (49 years) are apparently the measure of "troublous times" during which the street and wall of the city were to be built. This would bring us (the reckoning being inclusive of the year the decree was issued) to the year… | 3637 | 409 |
From the first year of Cyrus "unto Christ," that is (as will be shown below), to His baptism, was 483 years, which would bring us to the year 4071 (An. Hom.); and since the Lord was then beginning to be 30 years of age, we have for the year of His birth… | 4041 | 5 |
Add 30 years to get to the date of His baptism (the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar). | 4071 | 26 AD. |
Add 3 ½ years to His Crucifixion, Resurection, and Ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spiit, and we have, as the year of those, the greatest by far of all events in the history of the heavens and the earth. | 4075 | 30 AD |
The determination of the Crucifixion as having occurred in the year 30 A. D. is according to Clinton, and nearly all modern chronologers, who assign 3 1/2 years to His ministry, on the basis of what appears in the Gospel of John. As to this John Lightfoot says:
"Of all the four Evangelists John is most punctual. Nay, he only is punctual to give account of the festivals that intercurred between Christ’s entrance into His public ministry at His baptism, and the time of His death, that renowned and signal space of time of half a week of years, as they be called in Daniel 9:27, or three years and a half, in which Christ performed His ministry and wrought Redemption." The End and Aim of the Chronology
Here ends the chronology of the Bible. The Messiah came in "the fullness of the time." He came to His own, and His own received Him not. They rejected Him, betrayed Him, and with wicked hands (the hands of Gentiles) crucified and slew Him. "But God raised Him from the dead." WITH HIS RESURRECTION BEGAN THE NEW CREATION. The count of the years of the history of Adam, the man by whom sin entered into the world, and death by sin, is ended. For the line of sacred chronology has conducted us to the Man Who came, in the end of the age, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, Who has brought life and immortality to light, and Whose Kingdom has no chronology, because it is "without end."
John Lightfoot makes this luminous comment upon the chronology of the Bible, showing why it goes so far (and with such painstaking care) and no farther:
"The Holy Ghost draws up a chronicle of times from the Creation to the Redemption; from the beginning of time to the fullness of it, namely from the beginning of the world to the death and resurrection of Christ, and to that which resulted from it, Pentecost, fifty days after. The reason whereof is because, by links and links of time, God would draw men on to observe how He was numbering and counting out the years towards that great time of promise and expectation, and to observe also (when that great matter was accomplished) how faithful God had been through all changes and vicissitudes of times to carry on that great promise. Accordingly it pleased God, in the era before that great work of Redemption, to certify His people oft when they fell into misery, nay oft even before they fell into it, how long the time of their affliction and oppression should be, in order that still they might be carried on to look for deliverance, and that by the deliverance they might still have an eye to the promise, and be confirmed in the promise concerning deliverance by Christ." But now that the great work of Redemption is accomplished, and there is salvation full and free for all men, there is no occasion for the counting of the years to a great coming event. The Redeemer has entered into His rest and His glory, having by Himself purged our sins; and what His people now have to sustain them while on earth is, not a promise of deliverance at a specified time, but grace to sustain them during all trials, with the command to be always watching for His coming again, since they know not in what hour their Lord may come (Matthew 24:42). Now that eternal redemption has been accomplished, there is no need for counting the years and giving measures and links of time. The dispensation of grace has no ’’ "times and seasons." The Christian Era The Christian Era should properly begin with the year Christ was born; and in devising it, the intention was to have it begin with that year. By the "Christian Era" is meant the system upon which calendars are constructed, and by which historical events are now dated in practically all the civilized world. But the originator of the system made a miscalculation as to the year (in the calendar then in use) in which Christ was born, as the result of which the year A. D. 1 was fixed four years too late. In other words, the Lord Jesus was four years old in the year A. D. 1. The mistake came about in this way: The Christian Era (i.e. the scheme of dates beginning A. D. 1) was not devised until A. D. 532. Its inventor, or contriver, was a monk named Dionysius Exiguus. At that time the system of dates in common use began from the era of the emperor Diocletian, A. D. 284. Exiguus was not willing to connect his system of dates with the name of that infamous tyrant and persecutor. So he conceived the idea of connecting his system with, and dating all its events from, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. His reason for wishing to do this was, as he wrote to Bishop Petronius, " to the end that the commencement of our hope might be better known to us, and that the cause of man’s restoration, namely, our Redeemer’s passion, might appear with clearer evidence." For the carrying out of this excellent plan, it was necessary to fix the date of the Incarnation in the terms of the chronological systems then in vogue. The Romans dated the beginning of their history from the supposed date of the founding of the city (ab urbe condita or A. U. C as usually abbreviated). Dionysius Exiguus calculated that the year of our Lord’s birth was A. U. C. 753. He made his equivalence of dates from Luke 3:1, "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" etc., at which time Christ was 30 years of age according to Luke 3:23. But it was ascertained later that a mistake of four years had been made; for it clearly appears by Matthew 2 that Christ was born before the death of Herod, who died in 749 A. U. C. Tiberius succeeded Augustus, Aug. 19, A. U. C. 767. Hence his 15th year would be A. U. C. 779; and from those facts Dionysius was right in his calculation. But it was discovered in later years that Tiberius began to reign as colleague with Augustus four years before the latter died. Hence the 15th year mentioned by Luke was four years earlier than was supposed by Dionysius, and consequently the birth of Christ was that many years earlier than the date selected by Exiguus, which date has been followed ever since. This must be allowed for in any computation of dates which involves events happening before Christ.
We have now found, according to our reckoning, that Christ was born An. Hom. 4041. Therefore, His crucifixion, when He was in His 34th year, would be 4041+34=4075. This is equivalent to 30 A. D.; and to get the true measure of years of any event in our era from the Incarnation it is necessary to add four years to its accepted date. To get the corresponding date in terms of B. C. for any event of Old Testament history, it is only necessary to deduct the years An. Hom. from 4046. For the birth of Christ being 4041 An. Hom. and the Christian era four years later, then B. C. 1 would be equivalent to 4045 which is 4046 - 1.
We have given the B. C. dates in our tables, in a parallel column alongside of the corresponding An. Hom. dates.