XVI. "These Seventy Years"
"Against which Thou hast had indignation these seventy years." WHAT is called the "Jewish captivity" has been made a matter of more or less unprofitable speculation, owing to a misconception of the prophecy itself, and an attending effort to make the facts fit this misconception. But facts are stubborn things. The prophecy of the seventy years did not of itself include any captivity in reality for the Jews. That came upon them because they did not believe in Jeremiah's prophecy of the seventy years of Babylonian dominance. As soon as Jeremiah had prophesied that God had given the nations into the hand of the king of Babylon, a false prophet arose, one Hananiah, the son of Azur (Jer. 28:1), and told the people that God had broken the yoke of the king of Babylon, and that in two years' time they would be released from his rule. But Jeremiah, at the risk of his life, declared the period of Babylonian rule to be seventy years. By a careful reading of the prophecy, the period of the seventy years is found to be very clearly defined. In 2 Chron. 36:20-23 we read: "And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up." Here we are plainly told that the days ended in the first year of Cyrus, and that the decree of Cyrus for the Jews' return to Babylon was an end of the seventy years, a fulfilment of the prophecy of the seventy years. This decree in the first year of Cyrus was given in 536. After the fall of Babylon in 538, Darius the Median had reigned in the city of the Chaldeans. Since the seventy years, according to the Word, ended with the decree of Cyrus, it is an easy matter to ascertain when they began. By simply adding 70 and 536 we have 606. Appealing to the prophecy of Jeremiah itself, and to history, we ask, What occurred in 606 to designate the beginning of the years? In Jer. 25:1, we read, "The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon." This 25th chapter of Jeremiah contains the prophecy of the seventy years. These years therefore begin with the first year of Nebuchadnezzar. Appealing to history, we find that Nebuchadnezzar's father died in 604, and Nebuchadnezzar then became the sole king. This looks confusing.