The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

436 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
At the end of page 69, Furuli quotes two widely separated sections from
Against Apion. The first is taken from Against Apion I,19 (§§ 131,132), in which
Josephus is referred to as saying that, according to Berossus,
“ [Nabopolassar] sent his son Nabuchodonosor with a large army to
Egypt and to our country, on hearing that these people had revolted, and
how he defeated them all, burnt the temple at Jerusalem, dislodged and
transported our entire population to Babylon, with the result that the city
lay desolate for seventy years until the time of Cyrus, king of Persia.”
The remarkable thing about this statement is that it places the burning of
the temple in the reign of Nabopolassar. But it actually took place 18 years later
during the 18th year of his son and successor Nebuchadnezzar. The result is
that Josephus, who here regards the 70 years as a period of desolation, starts
the period in the last year of Nabopolassar (i.e., in 605 BCE). Furuli is quoting
from Thackeray’s translation in the Loeb Classical Library and, in a footnote at
the bottom of the page, quotes Thackeray: “The burning of the temple, not
mentioned in the extract which follows, is presumably interpolated by
Josephus, and erroneously placed in the reign of Nabopolassar.” Clearly,
Josephus’ application of the 70 years in this passage is based on a serious
distortion of his sources. He seems to have confused events concerning
Jerusalem in the last year of Nabopolassar’s reign with events in the 18th year
of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.
Furuli’s next quotation, which he places directly after the first, is taken from
Against Apion I,21 (§ 154), and begins:
“This statement is both correct and in accordance with our books.”
This might give a reader the impression that Josephus is still speaking of the
70-year-long desolate state of Jerusalem in Furuli’s preceding quotation. But, as
stated above, the two quotations are from widely separated sections. Josephus
is referring to his lengthy quotation from Berossus in the immediately
preceding section (I,20, §§ 146-153), in which Berossus gives the length of all
the Neo-Babylonian kings from Nebuchadnezzar to Nabonidus:
Nebuchadnezzar 43 years, Awel-Marduk 2 years, Neriglissar 4 years, Labashi-
Marduk 9 months, and Nabonidus 17 years. It is this chronology Josephus
refers to when he immediately goes on to say that it “is both correct and in
accordance with our books.” (Against Apion I,21, § 154) He then explains why it
is correct:
“For in the latter [the Scriptures] it is recorded that Nabuchodonosor
in the eighteenth year of his reign devastated our temple, that for fifty
years it ceased to exist, that in the second year of the reign of Cyrus the
foundations were laid, and lastly that in the second year of the reign of
Darius it was completed.”
According to Berossus’ figures, there were ca. 49 years from
Nebuchadnezzar’s 18th year until the end of Nabonidus’ reign. Because the
foundation of the temple was laid in the 2nd year of Cyrus (Ezra 3:8), Josephus’
statement that the temple had been desolate for “fifty years” is in agreement
with Berossus’ chronology. (For the textual evidence supporting the figure 50
in Against Apion, see GTR 4 , Ch. 7, A-3, ftn. 30.)