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Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.E., but the Jewish captives
did not return to their homeland until 537 B.C.E. Therefore, how could it be said that the Jews served "the
king of Babylon" for seventy years if the king of Babylon was conquered two years earlier?
At Ezra 1:1-3 we read that it was in the first year of Cyrus that the decree was issued allowing the Jews to
return to their homeland:
"And in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, that Jehovah’s word from the mouth
of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah roused the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia so that he caused a cry
to pass through all his realm, and also in writing, saying:
"This is what Cyrus the king of Persia has said, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah the God of the
heavens has given me, and he himself has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God prove to be with him. So let him go up to Jerusalem,
which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of Jehovah the God of Israel—he is the [true] God—which was in Jerusalem."—Ezra
1:1-3, NWT (see also 2 Chronicles 36:22-23).
Some critics have suggested that Jehovah's Witnesses have concocted an unorthodox and dishonest explanation
in asserting that the seventy years of desolation ended in 537 B.C.E. Is this claim substantiated?
No. At Ezra 1:1, reference is made to "the first year of Cyrus," not "the year Cyrus became king"
(or accession year), so he was speaking of the first regnal year of Cyrus, which cuneiform documentation
places in 538/537 B.C.E. Jewish historian Josephus corroborates by referring to "the first year of the reign
of Cyrus."—Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, Chapter I.
This point is generally agreed upon by historians. For instance, the Handbook of Bible Chronology by
Jack Finegan (Princeton University Press, 1964), p. 170, states:
"The biblical references to the first year of Cyrus when he made the proclamation which allowed the Jewish
exiles to return from Babylon to Jerusalem (II Ch 36:22f.; Ezr 1:1f.) are presumably stated in terms of his reign
in Babylon since they deal with an event in that city. According to the cuneiform evidence and the Babylonian calendar,
Babylon fell on Tashritu 16 = Oct 12, 539 B.C., and Cyrus entered the city two and one-half weeks later on Arahsamnu
3 = Oct 29. His Babylonian regnal years began, therefore, as shown in Table 77. Accordingly his first year, in
which he made the proclamation, was 538/537 B.C."
TABLE 77. BABYLONIAN REGNAL YEARS OF CYRUS
AT THE BEGINNING OF HIS REIGN
| Accession |
539/538 |
| Year 1 |
538/537 |
| Year 2 |
537/536 |
The Watchtower of May 1, 1952, pp. 271-2 further observes:
"In late years several cuneiform tablets have been discovered pertaining to the fall of Babylon which peg
both Biblical and secular historic dates. The one tablet known as the "Nabunaid Chronicle" gives the
date for the fall of Babylon which specialists have ascertained as being October 12-13, 539 B.C., Julian Calendar,
or October 6-7, 539 B.C., according to our present Gregorian Calendar. This tablet also says that Cyrus made his
triumphant entry into Babylon 16 days after its fall to his army. Thus his accession year commenced
in October, 539 B.C. However, in another cuneiform tablet called "Strassmaier, Cyrus No. 11" Cyrus’
first regnal year is mentioned and was determined to have begun March 17-18, 538 B.C., and to have
concluded March 4-5, 537 B.C. It was in this first regnal year of Cyrus that he issued his decree
to permit the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. (Ezra 1:1) The decree may have been made in late
538 B.C. or before March 4-5, 537 B.C.
In either case this would have given sufficient time for the large party of 49,897 Jews to organize their expedition
and to make their long four-month journey from Babylon to Jerusalem to get there by September 29-30, 537 B.C.,
the first of the seventh Jewish month, to build their altar to Jehovah as recorded at Ezra 3:1-3. Inasmuch as September
29-30, 537 B.C., officially ends the seventy years of desolation as recorded at 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21, so the
beginning of the desolation of the land must have officially begun to be counted after September 21-22, 607 B.C.,
the first of the seventh Jewish month in 607 B.C., which is the beginning point for the counting of the 2,520 years."
The account is summarized nicely by Werner Keller in his book The Bible As History, p. 352:
"In any case it was a risky business to leave this wealthy country of Babylon, where they had established
themselves and where most of them had grown up, and to set out on the difficult road back to the ruins of a ravaged
land. Despite this, in the spring of 537 B.C., after long preparations a lengthy caravan set out
on the trail toward the old homeland. . . . Almost 800 miles have to be covered between Babylon and distant
Jerusalem, with the clouds of dust churned up by the caravan as a faithful companion throughout the whole journey."
Until their release in 537 B.C.E., for the entire duration that the Jewish exiles were held captive in Babylon,
it could rightly be said that they were serving the king of Babylon. This is expanded
upon in paragraph 10 of an article entitled "The 'Cup' That All Nations Must Drink at God’s Hand"
that appeared in the September 15, 1979 issue of The Watchtower, p. 24:
"It is true that he [Cyrus] conquered Gentile Babylon in 539 B.C.E., or about two years before the "seventy
years" of desolation of the land of Judah ran out. He proclaimed himself "king of Babylon" and at
first did not alter the policy of the Babylonian dynasty of King Nebuchadnezzar. Thus the nations subjugated by
Nebuchadnezzar continued to serve "the king of Babylon" 70 years."
Are Jehovah's Witnesses justified in making this claim? Yes, for the Bible tells us that after Cyrus II conquered
Babylon, Darius the Mede became "king
over the kingdom of the Chaldeans," (Daniel 5:31, 9:1) and shortly thereafter, Cyrus established his kingship
over all of Babylon, even being referred to as "Cyrus the king of Babylon" at Ezra 5:13. A contemporary
inscription on a clay barrel confirms the accuracy of the Biblical account:
"All the inhabitants of Babylon as well as the entire country of Sumer and Akkad, princes
and governors (included), bowed to him (Cyrus) and kissed his feet, jubilant that
he (had received) the kingship . . . I am Cyrus,
king of the world, great king, legitimate king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and
Akkad."—Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament,
James B. Pritchard, p.316.
However, does that fact that Jeremiah 27:7 indicates that the nations would serve "him [Nebuchadnezzar],
his son, and his grandson" mean that the seventy years of servitude would not include Cyrus as "king
of Babylon"?
In fulfillment of Jeremiah 27:7, the exiled Jews did in fact literally serve Nebuchadnezzar's son (Evil-merodach)
and Nebuchadnezzar's grandson (co-regent Belshazzer, whose mother was reportedly Nebuchadnezzar's daughter, Nitocris).
However, the captive Jews also served other kings of Babylon, including Neriglissar, Labashi-Marduk and Nabonidus,
none of whom bore any blood relation to Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, the words at Jeremiah 27:7, though indisputably true,
were obviously not meant to be an all-encompassing list of rulers whom the Jews would serve during the seventy
years. Therefore, the Jews continued to serve the king of Babylon, which included Cyrus, until their official release
initiated by Cyrus' decree described at Ezra 1:1:
"And in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, that Jehovah’s word from the mouth of Jeremiah
might be accomplished, Jehovah roused the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia so that he caused a cry to
pass through all his realm."—Ezra 1:1 (see also 2 Chronicles 36:22).
The highlighted portion of the above-quoted verse serves as unimpeachable evidence that "Jehovah's word
from the mouth of Jeremiah" had not yet been accomplished, even by the "first year of Cyrus," proving
conclusively that the conquest of Babylon by Persia was not the determining factor in fulfilling Jeremiah's
prophecy. Therefore, the Jewish nation continued to serve the king of Babylon until their release from captivity
in 537 B.C.E., resulting in the reoccupation of the land of Judah and the end of the desolation of the land.
Next article: In what manner did Jehovah "call to account against
the king of Babylon and . . . against the land of the Chaldeans . . . their error" mentioned
at Jeremiah 25:12?
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