SolaScriptura
Puritanboard Brimstone
The Bible is clear that the exile would/did last 70 years"¦ see 2 Chron 36:21, Jer 25:10-12, Jer 29:10, Dan 9:2, Zech 1:12, Zech 7:5.
However"¦ to get those seventy years, when should we begin/end the dates for the exile?
In Sunday School we´re going through Hendrickson´s "œSurvey of the Bible." Hendrickson puts, next to the date of 586, "œFall of Jerusalem; Beginning of exile" then next to 536 he puts "œreturn from exile." But that´s only 50 years.
If he wants to end the exile in 536, because that was when the first group of Jews returned from Babylon, then he really should begin the exile in 606, which is when Nebuchadnezzar invaded for the first of three times (incidentally, it was in this first, and largest, deporation that Daniel and his 3 friends were taken).
However, if Hendrickson wants to date the exile as beginning in 586, which was the third and final attack by Nebuchadnezzar in which he destroyed the temple, then he should end the exile at 516, which was when the reconstruction of the temple was completed.
Either dating scheme follows a thematic line: in the first case, 606 to 536, the theme is the deporation/return of the first groups of people. In the second, 586 to 516, the destruction/reconstruction of the temple is central. Incidentally, both options are 70 years in duration.
I´m inclined to opt for 586-516. What do you think?
However"¦ to get those seventy years, when should we begin/end the dates for the exile?
In Sunday School we´re going through Hendrickson´s "œSurvey of the Bible." Hendrickson puts, next to the date of 586, "œFall of Jerusalem; Beginning of exile" then next to 536 he puts "œreturn from exile." But that´s only 50 years.
If he wants to end the exile in 536, because that was when the first group of Jews returned from Babylon, then he really should begin the exile in 606, which is when Nebuchadnezzar invaded for the first of three times (incidentally, it was in this first, and largest, deporation that Daniel and his 3 friends were taken).
However, if Hendrickson wants to date the exile as beginning in 586, which was the third and final attack by Nebuchadnezzar in which he destroyed the temple, then he should end the exile at 516, which was when the reconstruction of the temple was completed.
Either dating scheme follows a thematic line: in the first case, 606 to 536, the theme is the deporation/return of the first groups of people. In the second, 586 to 516, the destruction/reconstruction of the temple is central. Incidentally, both options are 70 years in duration.
I´m inclined to opt for 586-516. What do you think?