Bible Chronology (41): From the Temple to Artaxerxes (16)

We explain the 390 years of Israel's sin (1018 - 628 BC) followed by the 40 years of Judah's sin, the 40 years of Jeremiah's warnings from 628 - 588 BC (Jeremiah 25:3), which led up to the final Siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1-8), which marked the start of the 70 years of Desolations of Jerusalem and the Land from 588 - 518 BC (Ezekiel 4:9 - 7:27), as prophesied in Jeremiah 25:8-11. We show that the 390 years of sin resulted in Israel's Servitude to Babylon, and the extra 40 years of sin resulted in the greater Judgment of the Desolations. This explains why Jeremiah told Israel to submit to Servitude under Babylon, because it was an unavoidable divine discipline, and he also pleaded with them to repent, lest the greater Judgment of the Desolations should come upon them. These time measurements confirm the chronology of the time of the kings that we have been developing by taking the Bible literally. This produces a chronology, which is about 60 years longer than the shorter chronology, which is commonly used. This shorter chronology changes the Bible's chronology to make it fit with Assyrian chronology. So for example, the true date of the start of the Divided Kingdom is 993 BC, rather than 931 BC (the date given in most books). The shorter chronology can make no sense of Ezekiel's 430 years (390 + 40). We show that the starting point for the 430 years of sin must be the start of the Great Jubilee Cycle - the Dedication of Solomon's Temple. The nature of the sin which initiated the 430 years of sin is revealed in 1Kings 9:1-9 and 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, as the sin against the Presence of God in their midst in the Temple, by their idolatry and worship of other gods. This sin led to God's Glory leaving the Temple in 588 BC (Ezekiel 10), resulting in its destruction soon after.