Desolations to Jesus Christ

This is a detailed timeline study from the Babylonian captivity to Jesus Christ as King entering into Jerusalem. Just like all the other timelines, this uses the details given in the Scripture to calculate the timeline except a historical records where Scripture is silent.

Note: The red text are from historical records/scribal errors/typos or explanations. The blue are from LXX.

YearScripture ReferenceNotes
02Kgs 25:8-9 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the LORD and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire.Beginnings of the desolation of Jerusalem with Temple destroyed.

19th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule.


Nebuchadnezzar reigned from 605 BC – 562 BC. Hence, his 19th year of his reign is 586 BC.

4(Jer 52:27b-30)  Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land. These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews; in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.745 Jews in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and it marks the beginning of Jewish exile in Babylon.
25Jer 52:31 Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.Jehoiachin was carried away as prisoner 12 years before the destruction of the Temple. Hence, his 37th year of his captivity is 25th year after the destruction of the Temple.
492Chr 36:21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

Dan 9:1-2 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans– in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

It is unclear when the 70 years prophecy actually began because it happened in several stages over a period of time. However, Bible is clear that the 70 years were completed on the first year of king Cyrus in 538 BC.

Daniel is merely mentioning his knowledge of the accomplishment of 70 years based on what he had counted during the first year of Darius. Daniel is not saying the 70 years were accomplished on the first year of Darius.

64In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans — in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years [specified] by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem (Dan 9:1-2).Darius I begins to reign.

 

Darius I reigned from 522 – 486 BC. Hence, 64 years after the destruction of the Temple.

70Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius (Ezra 6:15).The temple was finished.

 

End of desolations of Jerusalem with the temple now standing exactly 70 years later after it was destroyed.

6th year of the reign of King Darius

Darius I reigned from 522 – 486 BC. Hence, the sixth year of Darius I is 516 BC

100(Ezra 4:6) In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.King Darius ruled for 36 years.

 

Ahasuerus (or Xerxes I of Persia) reign (486 – 465 BC). This is his first year of his reign.

102(Esth 1:3) that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants–the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of the provinces being before himFeast of King Ahasuerus
106(Esth 2:16) So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.


Esth 2:16 So Esther went in to king Artaxerxes in the twelfth month, which is Adar, in the seventh year of his reign.
Esther becomes queen

 

Year is same but month is different.

111(Esth 3:7) In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman to determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

(Esth 10:3) For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.
Haman executed.

 

Mordecai becomes second only to the king

120 Ahasuerus (or Xerxes I of Persia) reign (486 – 465 BC) and ended after 21 years. 

Artaxerxes I of Persia begins to reign (465–424 BC). This is the first year of his reign.
126(Ezra 7:8) And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ….. (Ezra 7:21-23) “I, even I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are [in the provinces] beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it shall be done diligently, [even] up to 100 talents of silver, 100 kors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt as needed. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons. ….. (27) Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put [such a thing] as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem,Ezra comes to Jerusalem

 

Command to adorn the house of God in Jerusalem by Artaxerxes on seventh year of his reign.

139(Neh 2:1) And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. …. (5) And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” …. (7-8) Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me. ….(17) Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.”

(Dan 9:25) “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.
20th year of King Artaxerxes

 

Command went forth to build Jerusalem

Beginning of 69 week (483 years) prophecy in Dan 9:25.

Artaxerxes I of Persia begins to reign (465–424 BC).. Hence, 20th year is 445 BC.

151But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king (Neh 13:6),Nehemiah returned

 

32nd year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon

32nd year of Artaxerxes I of Persia is 433 BC.

592Luke 2:1-5 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

Luke 3:23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,
Jesus was born when Census of Quirinius happened and he began his ministry 30 years later.

 

Census of Quirinius happened on 6 AD.

622(Dan 9:25-26) Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it [shall be] with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

(Luke 19:41-44) Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, “and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
139 years + 69 x 7 = 622 years

 

Christ declares Himself as King and enters Jerusalem.

If Nebuchadnezzar’s 19th year of his reign is 586 BC, then 622 years later, it must be 36 AD.

It is important to note that Jesus must have died within reign of Pontius Pilate when he was a prefect of Judaea (26 AD to 36 AD). Hence, the year Jesus was crucified cannot exceed 36 AD.

Jesus ministry is just 1 year which was on the acceptable year of the Lord. For more detailed explanation, please refer, Ministry of Jesus Christ on earth was only one year.

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