The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

210 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
deported to Babylon, not only those who had been brought there
in the first deportation in 605 B.C.E., but also those “whom
Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,
after Jeconiah the king [= Jehoiachin; compare 2 Kings 24:10–15] and
the lady and the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the
craftsmen and the builders of bulwarks had gone forth from Jerusalem.” —
Jeremiah 29:1–2, NW.
This would date the prophecy to the reign of Zedekiah (verse 3)
and probably about the same time as the preceding chapter, that is,
to the fourth year of Zedekiah, 595/94 B.C.E.—Jeremiah 28:1.
The background situation seems to have been the same in both
chapters: The widespread revolt plans which stirred up hopes of
liberation from the Babylonian yoke in Judah and the surrounding
nations also reached the exiles at Babylon. As in Judah, false
prophets arose among the Jews at Babylon and promised release in
a short time. (Jeremiah 29:8–9) This was the reason why at this
time, several years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah sent a
letter to these exiles at Babylon, calling their attention to the
prophecy of the seventy years:
Jeremiah 29:8–10:
For this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said:
“Let not YOUR prophets who are in among YOU and YOUR
practicers of divination deceive YOU, and do not YOU listen to
their dreams that they are dreaming. For it is in falsehood that they
are prophesying to YOU in my name. I have not sent them,” is the
utterance of Jehovah. For this is what Jehovah has said, “In accord
with the fulfilling of seventy years at Babylon I shall turn my attention
to YOU people, and I will establish toward YOU my good word in
bringing YOU back to this place.” (NW)
This utterance clearly presupposed that the seventy years were in
progress at the time. If the period had not commenced, why did
Jeremiah connect it with the exiles’ staying on at Babylon? If the
seventy-year period was not already in progress, what relevance is
there in Jeremiah’s reference to it? Jeremiah did not urge the exiles
to wait until the seventy years would begin, but to wait until the
period had been completed. As Jeremiah sent his message to the exiles
some six or seven years before the destruction of Jerusalem, it is
obvious that he reckoned the beginning of the seventy years from a
point many years prior to that event.