The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

The Seventy Years for Babylon 201
not to Jerusalem’s desolation , the right question to be asked is:
When did the period of servitude begin?
First of all, it is important to establish the historical background
against which this prophecy was given. As pointed out earlier, it
was given eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem and its
temple, “in the fourth year of Jehoiakim” (Jeremiah 25:1), that is, in
605 B.C.E.
That year saw a very important event take place, with
momentous consequences to Judah and its neighbours. It was the
year of the well known battle of Carchemish (on the Euphrates river in
northern Syria), when Nebuchadnezzar decisively defeated the
Egyptian Pharaoh Necho and his military force. This important
victory opened the way for the Babylonian king to the areas in the
west, Syria and Palestine, which for a few years previous (609–605
B.C.E.) had been controlled by Egypt. This famous battle is also
referred to, and dated, at Jeremiah 46:2:
For Egypt, concerning the military force of Pharaoh Necho the
king of Egypt, who happened to be by the river Euphrates at
Carchemish, whom Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon defeated
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah.
(NW)
The prophecy of the seventy years was thus given at a crucial
point of time. Could it be that Judah and her neighbours were
made vassals to and began to serve the king of Babylon in that
year? Research does find evidence to show that Judah and a
number of the surrounding nations began to be made subservient to the
king of Babylon very soon after the battle of Carchemish, in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim and thereafter.
In 1956 Professor D. J. Wiseman published a translation of the
Babylonian Chronicle B.M. 21946, covering the period from the
last (21st) year of Nabopolassar up to and including the tenth year
of his son and successor, Nebuchadnezzar. 16 This tablet
commences with a concise description of the battle at Carchemish
and the subsequent events. The opening portion is quoted here in
full because of its importance for our examination: 17
16 D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of the Chaldean Kings (London: The Trustees of the
British Museum, 1961), pp. 66–75.
17 The quotations in the following are taken from A. K. Grayson’s more recent
translation of the chronicles in his Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (Locust
Valley, N.Y.: J. J. Augustin Publisher, 1975), pp. 99, 100.