When was judah taken captive

The time of judgment had come. God used Nebuchadnezzar—the king of Babylon—to deport the people from Judah to Babylon where they would live in exile for 70 years. Nebuchadnezzar went to Judah when Jehoiakim was king. He put Jehoiakim in chains and took him to Babylon. Jehoiachin became king, and Nebuchadnezzar came back for him too. Nebuchadnezzar put Zedekiah on the throne in Jerusalem. The people of Judah were unfaithful to God. Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and God poured out His wrath on Judah.

Nebuchadnezzar showed no mercy to the people of Jerusalem. They destroyed the wall around Jerusalem. The people were held captive in Babylon, serving the king for 70 years. Help your kids understand that God did not abandon His people.

So how is this apparent discrepancy resolved? The solution to the problem is given to us by Daniel. He tells us that he and others were taken captive some years before Jehoiachin. He states that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in the third year of Jehoiakim father of Jehoiachin , and that he, Daniel, was taken captive at that time Dan. This account means that Nebuchadnezzar had taken captives even before he was crowned king.

This Babylonian history, no longer extant, is quoted by Josephus as stating that after Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt at Carchemish in Syria in the spring of B. But the difference between and B. Why, then, does the biblical account speak of 70? The answer lies in the calendar systems used and in the way ancient Israelites calculated their years.

The Israelites used two calendar systems, one beginning in the fall and one beginning in the spring. Their calendar originally began in the fall; however, after the Lord took the children of Israel out of Egypt, a change was made in their reckoning of years so that the first month was in the spring see Ex. The reigns of kings were usually calculated with years beginning in the spring, as in the case of Jehoiachin mentioned above.

According to the spring reckoning,the battle of Carchemish occurred in the beginning of the fourth year of Jehoiakim see Jer. As Daniel implies, the battle of Carchemish was in the end of the third year of Jehoiakim according to the fall reckoning see Dan. As the scriptures declare, the year period of captivity was related to sabbath-year counts see 2 Chr. This being the case, we see why Daniel started to count the year period from a fall reckoning. The second key is to understand that in Jewish reckoning any part of a year can count as a full year.

By this reckoning, then, the year beginning in the fall of the year we designate as B. In this light, the 70th, or ending year, began 69 years later in the fall of the year we now designate as B. The ending point for the 70 years seems to be at the Feast of Tabernacles see Ezra , which was celebrated in Jerusalem in the fall only two weeks after the year had begun. That two-week period, however, was enough to extend the captivity into its 70th year, which would end for the Jews in the fall of the year we now designate as B.

Counting a small part of the year as a year, then, is the way the Jews would have reckoned the captivity from B. Battle of Charchemish, May—June of B.

Daniel taken captive after this battle. Fall End of Jewish year that began in B. By this time Daniel has been carried away to Babylon. Fall Beginning of Jewish civil year used in reckoning length of captivity. End of captivity celebrated at Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. October