The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

340 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
Kislev he marched about victoriously in Hattu. All the kings of
Hattu came into his presence and he received their vast tribute.”
From April/May 603 onwards:
”The se[cond year]: In the month of Iyyar the king of
Akkad strenghtened his large army and [marched to Hattu].
He encamped [ . . . ] . . . large siege towers he moved acr[oss
… …from the month] Iyyar until the month [ . . . he marched
about victoriously in Hattu].”
In 602:
”[The third year: In the month . . ., on] the thirteenth [day]
Nabu-shumu-lishir [ . . . ] [In the month . . . the king of Akkad
mustered his army and [marched] to Hattu. [ . . . . . . ] He brought
the vast [booty] of Hattu into Akkad.”
In 601 (march against Egypt in Kislev = Nov./Dec.):
”The fourth year: The king of Akkad mustered his army and
marched to Hattu. [He marched about victoriously] in Hattu. In
the month Kislev he took his army’s lead and marched to Egypt.
[When] the king of Egypt heard (the news) he m[ustered] his army.
They fought one another in the battle-field and both sides
suffered severe losses (literally, they inflicted a major defeat upon
one another). The king of Akkad and his army [went back] to
Babylon.” 64
From this chronicle it is seen that the whole Hattu-territory
(primarily Syria-Lebanon but extending to Phoenicia and Palestine)
became tributary to Nebuchadnezzar as of his accession year. And
in Nebuchadnezzar’s first year it is explicitly stated that “all the
kings of Hattu” were tributary to him, which reasonably cannot
have excepted Jehoiakim.
Many scholars conclude that Nebuchadnezzar’s fourth year, in
which Insight on the Scriptures supposes that Jehoiakim’s Babylonian
vassalage began, was probably the year in which Jehoiakim revolted
against Nebuchadnezzar, because in that year Nebuchadnezzar
battled with Egypt, and both seem to have suffered great losses.
Nebuchadnezzar had to return to Babylon, where he remained in
the fifth year and “refitted his numerous horses and chariotry.” 65
This unsuccessful battle with Egypt may have encouraged
64 A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (New York: J. J. Augustin
Publisher, 1975), pp. 100–101. The square brackets indicate damages in the text.
65 Ibid., p. 101.