The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

A REVIEW OF:
ROLF FURULI: PERSIAN CHRONOLOGY AND
THE LENGTH OF THE BABYLONIAN EXILE OF
THE JEWS
(OSLO: ROLF FURULI A/S, 2003)
Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews is the first of
two volumes in which Rolf Furuli attempts to revise the traditional chronology
for the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods. Furuli states that the reason for
this venture is that this chronology is in conflict with the Bible. He insists that
the Bible “unambiguously,” “explicitly,” and “definitely” shows that Jerusalem
and the land of Judah were desolate for 70 years, until the Jewish exiles in
Babylon returned to Judah as a result of the decree Cyrus issued in his first
regnal year, 538/37 BCE (pp. 17, 89, 91). This implies that the desolation of
Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar’s 18th regnal year took place 70 years earlier, in
607 BCE, contrary to modern historical research, which has fixed the 18th year
of Nebuchadnezzar in 587/86 BCE, a date that also agrees with the chronology
of the ancient kinglist known as “Ptolemy’s Canon.” Furuli does not explicitly
mention the 607 BCE date in this volume, perhaps because a more detailed
discussion of the Neo-Babylonian chronology is reserved for his not-yetpublished
second volume.
Most chapters in this first volume, therefore, contain a critical examination
of the reigns of the Persian kings from Cyrus to Darius II. The principal claim
of this discussion is that the first year of Artaxerxes I should be moved 10 years
backward, from 464 to 474 BCE. Furuli does not mention that this is an old
idea that can be traced back to the noted Jesuit theologian Denis Petau, better
known as Dionysius Petavius, who first presented it in a work published in
1627. Petavius’ revision had a theological basis, because, if the “seventy weeks
[of years],” or 490 years, of Daniel 9:24-27 are to be counted from the 20th
regnal year of Artaxerxes (Neh. 2:1ff.) to 36 CE (his date for the end of the
period), Artaxerxes’ 20th year must be moved from 445 back to 455 BCE.
Furuli says nothing about this underlying motive for his proposed revision.
Introduction:
The hidden agenda
Furuli published this book at his own expense. Who is he? On the back
cover of the book he presents himself this way:
Rolf Furuli is a lecturer in Semitic languages at the University of Oslo. He is
working on a doctoral thesis which suggests a new understanding of the verbal
system of Classical Hebrew. He has for many years worked with translation
theory, and has published two books on Bible translation; he also has
experience as a translator. The present volume is a result of his study of the
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