X��n��1,2. Time of the prophecy. ����o��3,4. Mesengers from Yehovah. �����p��5-7. Disobedience. The cause. �����p��8. Disobedience. The consequence. ����o��9-11-. Messengers from Babylon. ���n��-11. Duration of the prophecy.
496 B.C.
25) 1: The word that came to (Heb. "upon") Jeremiah concerning all the People (= the People at large) of Judah in the 4th year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah (an important date, being the first year of Nebuchadnezzar), that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar (= may the prophet protect the crown. Cp. 21:2) king of Babylon; (Assyria not mentioned, for it had already fallen)
("The only Ancient Authority of value on Babylonian Histroy is the Old Testament". [Encycl. Brit.. 11th Cambridge edition, vol.iii, p.101)
���1. The great prophecy of the 70 years of Babylonian servitude in Jeremiah 25 is prefaced, in vv.1-3, by one of the most important date-marks in the Scriptures:-
���"The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the People of Judah in the 4th year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the 1st year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; the which eremiah the prophet spoke to all the People of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, From the 13th year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, that this is the 23rd year, the word of Yehovah has come to me".
���On what is called recieved" dating, the 4th year of Jehoiakim [being the 1st of Nebuchadnezzar] is usually given as 606 B.C.; whereas in the Companion Bible it is shown as 496 B.C. - a difference of 110 years. This is a serious matter, but the reason is simple, and is as follows:-
���In the majority of the systems of dating extant, chronologers have ignored, and omitted from their sequence of Anno Mundi years, the 93 years included in St. Paul's reckoning in Acts 13:19-22; and also, in the majority of cases, the interregum and "gaps" in the later kings of Judah, amounting together to 110-113 years [the uncertainty of the 3 years here is "necessitated", as Professor Sayce says in another connection, by the absolute impossibility of avoiding overlapping owing to the use of both cardinal and ordinal numbers throughout in succesions of the kings].; and, further, by accepting the 480th year of 1 Kings 6:1 as being a cardinal, instead of an ordinal number; and as being an Anno Mundi date, instead of one to be understood according to Anno Dei reckoning.
���The Holy Spirit, we may believe, expressly made use of St. Paul, in the statement in the passage referred to, in order to preserve us from falling into this error. Clinton (1781-1852) well says on the point [Fasti Hellenici, Scripture Chronology, I, p.313]: "The computation of St. Paul, delivered in a solemn argument before a Jewish audience, and confirmed by the whole tenor of the history in the Book of Judges, outweighs the authority of that date (480). In spite, however, of this Divine warning, many accept the 480th year as being a cardinal number, and reckon it as an Anno Mundi date.
���2. On the commonly "recieved" dating, the period from the Exodus to the commencement of the Babylonian servitude is usually given as 1491 B.C. to 606 B.C.; that is a period of 885 years; whereas the Companion Bible dates are 1491 B.C. to 496 B.C = 995 years.
���But, if St. Paul is correct in adding 93 years to the period between the Exodus and the Temple 9making thus 573 instead of 479); and if the interregnum between Amaziah and Uzziah, and the "gaps" clearly indicated in the sacred record are recognized, then it is perfectly clear that a majority of the chronologers are 110 to 113 years out of the true Anno Mundi reckoning, and, instead of the Babylonian servitude commencing in the year 606 B.C. (the 4th of Jehoiakim and the 1st of Nebuchadnezzar), the real Anno Mundi year for that important event is 496 B.C.
���3. This, no doubt, will be startling to some who may be inclined to propose that certain dates and periods of time in the Scriptures have been irrovocably "fixed".
���On the authority of certain well-known names, we are asked to believe that "profane history", and the annals of ancient nations, supply us with infallible proofs and checks, whereby we can test and correct the chronological statements of Holy Scripture.
���But we need to be reminded that this is very far from being true.
���Chronologists of all ages are, as a rule, very much like sheep - they follow a leader: and, once the idea became current that the "correct" (supposed) dates of certain epochs and periods in Greek (and other) history could be brought to bear upon and overide certain Biblical chronological statements, which presented "difficulties" to these modern chronologers, then it soon became almost a matter of course to make the figures of Divine revelation submit and conform to "profane" figures, derived from parchment or clay, instead of visa versa [e.g. in the Victorian Aides to Bible Students we are told by Professor Sayce, in a special head-note to his article The Bible and the Monuments, that the dates he gives throughout are necessitated by the Assyrian Cannon, p.78].
���4. Fynes Clinton, in his learned work Fasti Hellenici (Vol.I, pp.283-285) has such an appropriate and weighty statement that bears on this subject, in the Introduction to his Scripture Chronology, that it well to quote the testimony of one who is regarded as among the ablest of chronologers. He remarks:-
���"The history contained in the Hebrew criptures presents a remarkable and pleasing contrast to the early accounts of the Greeks. In the latter, we trace with difficulty a few obscure facts preserved to us by the poets, who transmitted, with all the embellishments of poetry and fable, what they had recieved from oral tradition. In the annals of the Hebrew nation we have authentic narratives, written by contemporaries, and these writings under the guidence of inspiration. What they have delivered to us comes, accordingly, under a double sanction. They were aided by Divine inspiration in recording facts upon which, as mere human witnesses, their evidence would be valid. But, as the narrative comes with an authority which no other writing can possess, so, in the matters related, it has a character of its own. The history of the Israelites is the history of miraculous interpositions. Their passage out of Egypt was miraculous. Their entrance into the promised land was miraculous. heir prosperous and their adverse fortunes in that land, their servitudes and their deliverances, their conquest and captivities, were all miraculous. Their entire history, from the call of Abraham, to the building of the sacred Temple, was a series of miracles. It is so much the object of the sacred historians to describe these, that little else is recorded. The ordinary events and transactions, what constitutes the civil history of other States, are either very briefly told, or omitted altogether; the incidental mention of these facts always subordinate to the main design of regestering the extraordinary manifestations of Divine power. or these reasons, the history of the Hebrews cannot be treated like the history of any other nation; and he who attempt to write their history, divesting it of its miraculous character, would find himself without materials. Conformably with this spirit, there are no historians in the sacred volume of the period in which miraculous intervention was withdrawn. After the declaration by the mouth of Malachi that a mesenger should be sent to prepare the way, the next event recorded by any inspired writer is the birth of that messenger. But of the interval of 400 years between the promise and the completion no account is given."
���And then Clinton significantly remarks:-
���"And this period of 400 years between Malachi and the Baptist is properly the only portion in the whole long series of ages, from the birth of Abraham to the hristian era, which is capable of being treated like the history of any other nation.
���"From this spirit of the Scripture history, the writers noy designing to give a full account of all transactions, but only to dwell on that portion in which the Divine character was marked, many things which we might desire to know are omitted; and on many occasions a mere outline of the history is preserved. It is mortifying to our curiosity that a precise date of many remarkable facts cannot be obtained.
���"The destruction of the Temple is determined by concurrent sacred and profane testimony to July, 587 B.C. From this point we ascent to the birth of Abraham. But between these two epochs, the birth of Abraham and the destruction of the Temple, two breaks occur in the series of Scripture dates; which make it impossible to fix the actual year of the birth of Abraham; and this date being unknown, and assigned only to conjecture, all the preceding epochs are necessarily unknown also."
���This important statement deserves the most serious consideration; for Clinton himself frequently transgresses its spirit in his Scripture Chronology: e.g. he "determines" the "captivity of Zedekiah to June, 587 B.C." And this he accomplishes by "bringing", as he says, Scripture and profane accounts to "a still nearer coincidence by comparing the history of Zedekiah and Jehoiakim with with the dates assigned to the Babylonian kings by tha Astronimical Canon" [Fasti Hellenici, I, P.319]. In other words, this means that he "squares" the scriptural records of events, some 200 years before the commencement of the period which he has before stated is alone "capable of being treated like the history of any other nation", by means of the Astronomical Canon of Ptolomy.
���Ptolomy's Canon (cent. 2 A.D.) is to Clinton and his disciples what the monuments are to Professor Sayce and his followers. Both "necessitate" the accomodation of Biblical chronology to suit their respective "Foundations of Belief" in dating.
���5. But it is on the principle so excellently enunciated by Clinton, and quoted above, that the dating of The Companion Bible is set forth: viz., that "the histroy of the Hebrews cannot be treated like the history of any other nation". If this is granted, the same argument must necessarily apply to the chronology of such a people. And it may be carried a step further. The chronology of the history of the Chosen People is unlike that of any other nation, in that it has a system of reckoning by durations, and not, like other nations, by dates; and a system of registering events and periods of time by what it may be permitted to call "double entry". This is to say, not only do we find in the Bible a regular sequence of years, commencing with Adam and ending with Christ, and consequently a true and perfect record of Anno Mundi years in the lifetime of mankind during that period; but also, concurrently with this, we find another system of dealing with dates and periods concerning the Hebrew race alone. This system is used and referred to in The Companionj Bible as being according to Anno Dei reckoning.
���And it may be strongly urged that failure on the part of the majority of Chronologers, and partial failure on the part of others to recognize this, so to speak, double entry system of Bible dating has "necessitated", as we are told, the adjustment of the Biblical figures to suit the requirements of Astronomical Canons and ancient monuments.
���6. But, to the candid mind it is incredible that the inspired Scriptures should be found so faulty in their chronological records and statements as many would have us suppose; or that it is "necessitated" that they should be "determined" from profane sources and unispired canons, whether on parchment or stone 9see 1 Kings 15:27).
���Clinton's Calendar of Greek dates, it must be borne in mind, only commences with the traditional date of the first Olympiad, 776 B.C. From that year on and backwards, everything in his cripture Chronology is asumed to be capable of being arranged, and made to harmonize with that date.
���But, it must also be remembered that grave suspicions have been entertained as to the correctness of this view.
���Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), for instance, in his Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, charges the Greek chroniclers with having made the antiquities of Greece 300 or 400 years older than the truth. The whole pasage reads thus (Works, vol. v, p.4 of the Introduction):-
���"A little while after the death of Alexander the Great, they began to set down the generations, reigns, and successions, in number of years; and, by putting reigns and successions equivalent to generations; and 3 generations to 100 or to 120 years, as appears by their chronology, they have made the antiquities of Greece 300 or 400 years older than the truth. And this was the original of the technical chronology of the Greeks. Eratosthenes wrote about 100 years after the death of Alexander the Great; he was followed by Appollodorus; and these two have been followed ever since by chronologers."
���Newton then goes on to quote the attack on Herodotus by Plutarch (born about 46 A.D.), for chronological nebulosity, in support of his contention as to the uncertainty and doubtfulness of the chronology of the Greeks. He further adds:-
���"As for the chronology of the Latins, that is still more uncertain....he old records of the Latins were burnt by the Gauls, 64 years before the death of Alexander the Great: and Quintius Fabius Pictor (cent. 3 B.C.), the oldest historian of the Latins, lived 100 year later than that king."
���7. If Newton was right, then it follows that the canon of Ptolomy, upon which the faith of modern chronologers is so implicitly - almost pathetically - pinned, must have been built upon unreliable foundations. Grecian chronology is the basis of "Ptolomy's Canon"; and, if his foundations are "suspect", and this is certainly the case, then the elaborate superstructure reared upon them must necessarily be regarded with suspicion likewise.
���Eusebius, the Church historian and bishop of C�sarea (A.D. 264-349), is mainly responsible for the modern system of dating which results in squaring scriptural chronology with the Greek Olympiad years, and it is upon Eusebius's reckonings and quotations that Clinton also mainly relies.
���In his Chronicle of Universal Histrory, the first book, entitled Chronography, contains shetches of the various nations and states of the old world from the Creation to his own day.
���The second book of his work consists of synchronical tables with the names of the contemporary rulers of the various nations, and the principal events in the history of each from Abraham to his own time. Eusebius gets his information from various sources. He makes use of Josephus (A.D.37-95), Africanus (cent. 3 A.D.), Berosus (cent. 3 B.C.), Polyhistor (cent. 1 B.C.), Abydenus (about 200 .C.), Cephalion (cent. 1 A.D.), Manetho (cent. 3 B.C.), and other lost writers - equally "profane".
���In his turn, he is largely used by moderns to "detemine" scriptural dates; and it is mainly through his instrumentality that many of the so-called "recieved" datings of the O.T., from Abraham to the hristian era, have been "fixed".
���In addition to these and other ancient records, and "systems" of chronology, we have notably the Canon of Ptolomy referred to above. Ptolomy, an astronomer of the second second century A.D., gives a list of Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Egpytian, and Roman rulers, "from about 750 B.C. to his own time."
���The Sedar Olam is a Jewish chronological work of about the same date (cent. 2 A.D.).
���Now, today, we have what is called "the Witness of the Monuments", of which it may be remarked that frequently their testimony is accepted in preference to the scriptural record, and is often used to impugn the statements and chronology of the Bible. The result of recent modern explorations in Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt, has been that we have almost every date in the O.T. redated, because we are told by some (as Professor Sayce, quoted above) that this is "necessitated" by the Assyrian Canon.
���The Assyrian Eponym Canon is a list, compiled from several imperfect copies (no complete list is yet known) on clay tablets of lists of public officials (called Eponyms) who held office, one for each year. This list contains some 270 names, and is supposed to cover the period fromm soon after the close of Solomon's reign to the reign of Josiah. It is spoken of as showing "some slight discrepancies, but on the whole is held to be highlt valuable." This is the Assyrian Canon which, according to Professor Sayce, "necessitates" the redating of the Biblical events and periods!
���The Babylonian and Egyptian Monuments Records also contribute their quota towards the "fixing" of scriptual chronology; but these are, it is acknowledged, more or less incomplete, and therefore, more or less untrustworthy.
���o far as supplying interesting sidelight details of the period with which they deal, and that inpinge upon sacred history, these sources are all more or less useful. But, so far as affording absolutely trustworthy material from which a complete chronological compendium can be formed from the Creation to Christ is concerned, they are more or less useless, for the simplest of all reasons, viz. that they have no datum line or start-point in common. They possess, so to speak, no "common denominator".
���8. It must be remembered that the ancients, excepting of course the "Church" historians, had not the Hebrew Scriptures to guide them. They knew not at what period in the duration of the world they were living! The only knowledge they had of the origin of the world, and man's beginning, was derived from myth and fable. Had they possessed such knowledge as we possess in the Word of God, they would undoubtedly have used it; and, instead of finding, as we do, their chronological systems, commencing (and ending) with floating periods, concerning which they had more or less reliable information, they would have extended their chronological hawsers backward, and anchored their systems firmly at "the beginning".
���Censorinus may be taken to voice the whole body of ancient chronologers when, in writing on chronological subjects, he says:-
���"f the origin of the world had been known unto man, I would thence have taken my beginning...Whether time had a beginning, or whether it always was, the certain number of years cannot be comprehended."
���And Ptolomy, the author of the famous "Canon", say:-
���"to find observation upon the passages of the whole world, or such an immence crowd of times I think much out of their way that desire to learn and know the truth."
���He means, it was a hopeless matter to fix upon the original start-point for chronology!
���9. An illustration may be permitted from the fundamental principles governing the engineering world. Suppose a line of railway to be projected, say, for the sake of argument, 4,000 miles more or less in length (and for comparrison of the 4,000 years in question). The line is to run through countries of varied physical character, from flat plains to lofty hill districts. Preparatory to constucting the line, it is essential that an accurate survey of the whole length of territory through which it has to pass be made.
���For this purpose two things are absolutely necessary to the engineer: viz. a "bench-mark" (or marks) and a "datum line".
���The "bench-mark" is a mark cut in stone or some durable material in a fixed position, and forms the terminus a quo, from which every measurement of distance on the whole length of line is measured off.
���The datum line is a supposed perfectly horizontal line extending beneath the whole distance between the proposed termini; and from which all levels are to be calculated. The first bench-mark is the starting-point in a line of levels for the determination of altitudes over the whole distance; or one of a number of similar marks, made at suitable carefully measured distances, as the survey proceeds, in order that the exact distances between each, and ultimately between the terminus a quo and the terminus ad quem may be ascertained before the work is carried out.
���10. To apply this to our subject:-
���We are agreed that the 4th year of Jehoiakim, and the 1st year of Nebuchadnezzar form a point of contact between sacred and profane history of the utmost importance.
���From this point of contact it is claimed that a "complete scheme of dates may be derived", as some put it; or, according to others, "from this date we reckon on to Christ and back to Adam."
���The year of the point of contact is generally said to be 606 or 604 B.C.br>
���It is perfectly justifiable to occupy this position; but, only if the dating of the point of contact can be demonstrated and maintained.
���It is quite easy to say that this year of contact between sacred and profane history is 606 or 604 B.C., and from this we can reckon "back to Adam and on to Christ".
���But a question of paramount importance at once suggests itself, viz. What is the datum, or foundation, or bench-mark date from which the year, say 606 B.C., is obtained?
���The answer is usually recieved is "we determine it from [the date of] the captivity of Zedekiah" (Clinton). Or, "the agreement of leading chronologers is a sufficient guarantee that David began to reign in 1056-1055 B.C., and, therefore, that all dates subsequent to that event can be definately fixed". Or else we are told that the Assyrian Canon (and the "monuments" generally) "necessitate" the date of this year of contact as being 604 B.C. (Professor Sayce).
���11. But all this is only beginning the question. The argument - if mere ipse dixit assertations based on floating dates and periods, as acknowledged by Censorinus and Ptolomy, can be truly called an argument - when examined, is found to be quite unreliable; and, in the engineering world would be described as "fudging the levels!"
���This exactly describes the present case, because this date-level (i.e. 606 or 604 B.C.), so to speak, makes its appearance in the middle of the supposed line (or, to be more accurate, towards the end of it) without being referred back to datum, that one definate "fixed" departure point or bench-mark at the terminus a quo from which the years can alone be accurately reckoned.
���12. It is as though the engineer took a map showing the district through which it was intended to construct the last 600 or 700 miles of his line, and the proposed terminus, but without any absolute certainty as to where the actual position of the terminus should be; and should then say to himself, "from information recieved", and from the general appearance and apparent scale of this map, I "determine" the highest point of my line to be 606 miles from where I "conjecture" my terminus ad quem ought to be! From this point therefore, 606 miles from our supposed terminus, we will measure back 450 miles, and "fix" an important station (David); and then, another 569 miles back from David, we "determine" another important station (Exodus), and so on.
���13. This system of "measuring on the flat", to use a technical engineering term, for fixing stations and important positions for his railway, would be charmingly simple for the engineer - on paper. But "The Standing Orders" of the joint Committee of both Houses of Parliment would shut out those said plans from recieving one moment's consideration.
���It would be impossible to find an engineer who would be guilty of such folly. He would accurately measure his distances from a fixed point at the terminus a quo, referring everything back to that, and using his datum line to check his levels, otherwise he might easily find himself 100 miles or more out.
���14. To apply this:-
���In the chronology of the Bible we have given to us one primal fixed point (or bench-mark) and one only, from which every distance-point on the line of time, so to speak, must be measured, and to which everything must be referred back as datum!
���That datum-point, or bench-mark, is the creation of Adam, and is represented by the datum-mark 0 (nought) or zero. And as the unit of measurement, in the illustration suggested above, is one mile (of course, the real unit is one inch; but for convenience, the mile is considered as the unit in such a case), so the unit of measurement in the chronology of the Bible is one year (whether sidereal or lunar matters not for the sake of argument).
���15. Working therefore from our datum-point or first bench-mark 0 (zero), which represents the creation of Adam, we measure off 130 years on our line and reach the first station, so to speak, Seth. This gives us a second bench-mark from which to measure on to Enos. Thus, by measuring onward, but always checking by referring back to datum, which is the primal station, we are able to mark off and locate exactly the various stations and junctions (junctures) all down the line, from the terminus a quo until we reach a point which some later stations themselves will indicate as being the exact position for that terminus ad quem. This may be either the Incarnation or the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord.
���If oly Scripture had definitely stated the exact period in years between the creation of "the First Man Adam", and "the Last Adam", or had given us the exact date of the Incarnation or Resurrection of Christ, we should then have been justified in reckoning back from this fixed date as from the known and authoritative terminus ad quem.
���But this is not the case, although we believe the period is clearly inferred and indicated, as the Charts in Ap. 50 show, which thus agree with Ussher's conclusions, although not reaching them by Ussher's methods, or figures.
���We have therefore no alternative. We must make our measurements, i.e. reckon our years, from the only terminus we posess, viz. the start-point or bench-mark laid down for us in "the Scriptures of truth", that is, the creation of Adam.
���16. This is the principle adopted in the chronology of the Companion Bible: and, on this principle alone all the important "stations" on the chronological line have been laid down, or "determined" (to borrow Clinton's word), not by Astronomical or Assyrian Canons, but on the authority of the Biblical Canon alone.
���Acting on thios principal we reckognize the fact that St. Paul's period of 573 Anno Mundi years; while the 479 (480) years of 1 Kings 6:1 are to be taken according to Anno Dei reckoning. Thus, by accepting this, and admitting, instead of omitting, the "gaps" so clearly indicated in the line of the later kings of Judah, it will appear that the important chronological contact-point between sacred and secular history, hich Scripture calls "The 4th year of Jehoiakim and the 1st of Nebuchadnezar", is to be date 496 B.C., instaed of the usually "recieved" date of 606 B.C., or thereabout.
�2: The which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the People of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, (in 36:2 he is told to "write", because "Israel" [being dispersed], could not be spoken to, as Judah was here)
518 or 496 B.C.
�3: �From the 13 year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah (cp. 1:2), even to this day, that is the 23rd year (i.e. of Jeremiah's prophesying: 18 years under Josiah + 3 months under Jehoahaz + 4 years under Jehoiakim), the word of Yehovah has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking (see 7:13); but you all have not listened.
�4: And Yehovah has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you all have not listened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
�5: They said, �Turn you all again now every one from his calamity, and from the calamity of your doings, and dwell on the soil that Yehovah has given to you and to your fathers from age to age: (this must be read with "given", and refers to God's counsel. See Isa.44:7)
�6: And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will bring no calamity on you.�
�7: Yet you all have not listened to Me, [is] Yehovah's oracle; that you all might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own calamity.
�8: Therefore thus says Yehovah Sabaioth; �Because you all have not heard My words,
�9: Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, [is] Yehovah's oracle, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant (cp. Isa.45:1), and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment (see Deut.28:27. Cp. v.18; 24:9), and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. (= age-abiding, put for a long time)
�10: Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. (quoted in Rev.18:23. Cp.7:34; 16:9; 33:11)
�11: And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment;
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. (from 496 to 429 B.C. See Chron.36:21)