Calculations

3228: Hezekiah restores Temple worship (2 Chronicles 29:3)

3241: Assyria invades Judah (2 Kings 18:13)

3244: Manasseh is born (2 Kings 21:1; 2 Chronicles 33:1)

3256: Hezekiah dies (2 Kings 18:2; 2 Kings 20:6; 2 Chronicles 29:1)

3256: Manasseh becomes king of Judah

Given that Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king (and given the lack of any evidence pointing toward a co-reign), there would not have been a co-reign between him and his father.

3287: Amon is born (2 Kings 21:19; 2 Chronicles 33:21)

3303: Josiah is born (2 Kings 22:1; 2 Chronicles 34:1)

3309: Amon becomes co-regent with Manasseh in Judah

3311: Manasseh dies (2 Kings 21:1; 2 Chronicles 33:1)

3311: Amon becomes sole king of Judah

3311: Amon is killed

3311: Josiah becomes king of Judah

After the destruction of Northern Israel by Assyria (where we lose the back and forth between Judah and Israel that exposes co-reigns), there is only one transition of Judean rule that is not clearly indicated to happen upon the death or removal from the throne of the previous king: from Manasseh to Amon. Amon reigned for two years (2 Kings 21:19; 2 Chronicles 33:21), but there are two possibilities for those two years: the most obvious is that he assumed the throne upon Manasseh’s death and reigned for the next two years, but he could also have assumed the throne two years before Manasseh died and then died in the same calendar year as Manasseh.

As it turns out, the 70 years of Babylonian domination only truly makes sense if there was a co-reign between Amon and Manasseh, such that Josiah became king the same calendar year that Manasseh died. This is another LOLI, but while I have yet to find a Bible verse conclusively confirming this interpretation (although I suspect there is one out there), there are several pieces of evidence that support the idea:

• Manasseh was taken into captivity briefly in Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:11). It would make sense that Amon would take over the throne when Manasseh was captured, and when Manasseh returned, they would have had a co-regency until Manasseh died.
• After returning from Babylon, Manasseh purged the foreign gods, idols, and altars from the Temple and Jerusalem and commanded the people of Judah to worship the LORD (2 Chronicles 33:15-17). Amon, however, “served the idols that his father had served and worshiped them” (2 Kings 21:21) and “sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made and served them” (2 Chronicles 33:22). While there were definitely still idols in the land of Judah after Manasseh’s death (which Josiah completely purged), Manasseh had gotten enough of a head start on the cleansing of Jerusalem that we would expect to see some language about Amon rebuilding or replacing the idols of Manasseh. The fact that we don’t suggests that he worshiped those idols while Manasseh was in Babylon, and he died soon enough after Manasseh’s death that he didn’t have time to replace them.
• The text devoted to Amon is extremely short (2 Kings 21:19-23 and 2 Chronicles 33:21-24), suggesting that he didn’t have two full years of independent reign to wreak spiritual havoc upon Judah.
• Hananiah’s false prophecy that the exile of Jehoiachin would last only two years (Jeremiah 28:1-4) might have been inspired by the exile of Manasseh in Babylon, which perhaps lasted two years and then ended the same calendar year he later died in.
• Manasseh probably would have performed the covenant renewal that Josiah did, had he not died so shortly after his conversion. The model I’m proposing holds that Manasseh died the same year he returned from exile, which explains why he didn’t perform a greater cleansing of Judah and Jerusalem.

Also, 2 Kings 21:23-24 and 2 Chronicles 33:24-25 (and the fact that Josiah was eight years old when he became king) make clear that there was no co-reign between Amon and Josiah, so Josiah became king for the first and only time upon Amon’s death.

Note that 3311 was a Sabbath year, which represents the rest from idolatry that Manasseh in his final year and then Josiah brought to Judah. Note also that Amon’s death in the same year as Manasseh after a two-year co-reign continues the pattern established by Baasha/Elah and Ahab/Ahaziah.

3319: Josiah begins to seek God (2 Chronicles 34:3)

3323: Josiah begins to purge Judah of idols (2 Chronicles 34:3)

3331: Josiah renews the covenant and restores the Passover (2 Kings 22:3; 2 Kings 23:23; 2 Chronicles 34:8; 2 Chronicles 35:19)

3342: Josiah dies (2 Kings 22:1; 2 Chronicles 34:1)

3319: Jehoahaz (J) is born (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Chronicles 36:2)

3342: Jehoahaz (J) becomes king of Judah

Note that the people of the land made Jehoahaz king after Josiah’s death (2 Kings 23:30; 2 Chronicles 36:1), so there couldn’t have been a co-reign between them.

3342: Pharaoh Necho deposes Jehoahaz (J) (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Chronicles 36:2)

3317: Jehoiakim is born (2 Kings 23:36; 2 Chronicles 36:5)

3342: Pharaoh Necho makes Jehoiakim king of Judah

3345: Nebuchadnezzar becomes co-regent with Nabopolassar in Babylon

3346: Nebuchadnezzar defeats Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish

3346: Nabopolassar dies

3346: Nebuchadnezzar becomes sole king of Babylon

According to the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 46:2), which according to Jeremiah 25:1 was Nebuchadnezzar’s “first year” (i.e., the year after he became king). This means Nebuchadnezzar became king in 3345, the third year of Jehoiakim.

We know from other historical records that Nebuchadnezzar’s father Nabopolassar died shortly after the battle at Carchemish and that Nebuchadnezzar was proclaimed king after his death, in the same year he died. This means (because the Bible is a reliable historical document) that Nebuchadnezzar must have had a co-reign with Nabopolassar that started in 3345, and then Nebuchadnezzar became sole king the following year.

This explains the years provided in Jeremiah 52:28-30, two of which are a year off from what is described elsewhere:

• Jehoiachin went into captivity in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (2 Kings 24:12). We know from 2 Kings 24:8 that Jehoiachin was 18 when he became king, but 2 Chronicles 36:9 says he was eight, which must be tracing back to the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, similar to the years of Asa and Ahaziah (J) in 2 Chronicles (as discussed previously). However, Jeremiah 52:28 indicates Jehoiachin’s captivity occurred in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, so the eight years must trace back to his co-regency, while the seven years trace back to his solo reign.
• Jeremiah 52:12 indicates that the captivity that occurred when Jerusalem was destroyed happened in Nebuchadnezzar’s 19^th year, but Jeremiah 52:29, a mere 17 verses later, says it was the 18^th year of Nebuchadnezzar. There’s no way this could be referring to a different captivity, as Jerusalem was under siege in Nebuchadnezzar’s 18^th year. Therefore, the 19 years must trace back to his co-regency, while the 18 years trace back to his solo reign.

3345: Nebuchadnezzar takes the first round of captives (including Daniel and his friends) to Babylon

3345: Jehoiakim becomes Nebuchadnezzar’s vassal

Given the prophecy about the nature of Jehoiakim’s death in Jeremiah 22:18-19, it seems unlikely he was taken captive to Babylon. Instead, I would interpret 2 Chronicles 36:6-7 as referring to the invasion of Judah that happened in Jehoiakim’s third year, when Daniel was taken captive (Daniel 1:1-2). Nebuchadnezzar bound Jehoiakim in bronze “to carry him off to Babylon,” but Jehoiakim appears to have saved himself from captivity by promising to switch his allegiance from Egypt to Babylon, which he did for three years before rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:1). The carrying off of articles from Judah to the temple in Babylon in 2 Chronicles 36:7 is therefore the exact same event mentioned in Daniel 1:2.

3348: Daniel becomes ruler and chief administrator of Babylon

A simple explanation for the “three years” of training for Daniel and his friends (Daniel 1:5) that had to have started in 3345 but ended in Nebuchadnezzar’s second year (Daniel 2:1) is that Nebuchadnezzar’s “second year” is being timed from his solo reign, which started in 3346. Therefore, Daniel started his training in 3345, finished his training in 3348, then interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that same year (much as Ahab died after three years of peace between Israel and Syria, in the third year).

3353: Jehoiakim dies (2 Kings 23:36; 2 Chronicles 36:5)

3335: Jehoiachin is born (2 Kings 24:8)

3353: Jehoiachin becomes king of Judah

As mentioned previously, 2 Chronicles 36:9 indicates that Jehoiachin became king in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar, which is also supported by the length of Jehoiakim’s reign.

3353: Nebuchadnezzar takes the second round of captives (including Jehoiachin and Ezekiel) to Babylon

Jehoiachin reigned for three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9), which is called “three months” in 2 Kings 24:8, because apparently the counting of months according to how many “beginning of months” have passed functions the same way as years in the Bible. The fact that his reign is given in months and days indicates he was taken captive the same year he started reigning.

2 Kings 24:12 confirms this by explicitly saying he was taken captive in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighth year. Thus, the “turn of the year” in 2 Chronicles 36:10 must refer to just before the end of the calendar year. The captivity of Jeremiah 52:28 would be those who were captured with Jehoiachin, including Ezekiel, whose chronological records are always made in terms of Jehoiachin’s captivity (starting in Ezekiel 1:2), which was 11 years before the destruction of Jerusalem (as seen in Ezekiel 40:1).

Note: Jeremiah 52:28 indicates that Nebuchadnezzar captured 3023 “Jews” with Jehoiachin, not “persons” (as used in Jeremiah 52:29). Whatever the nuanced meaning of “Jews,” I expect that it explains the discrepancy between the 3023 Jews in Jeremiah 52:28 and the 10,000 captives in 2 Kings 24:14-16.

3332: Zedekiah is born (2 Kings 24:18; 2 Chronicles 36:11; Jeremiah 52:1)

3353: Nebuchadnezzar makes Zedekiah king of Judah

3362: Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:1; Jeremiah 52:4)

3364: Babylon destroys Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:18; 2 Kings 25:2; 2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 52:1; Jeremiah 52:5; Jeremiah 52:12)

3364: Nebuchadnezzar takes the third round of captives to Babylon (Jeremiah 52:29)

3369: Nebuchadnezzar takes the fourth round of captives to Babylon (Jeremiah 52:30)

3389: Evil-Merodach becomes co-regent with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon

3390: Nebuchadnezzar dies

3390: Evil-Merodach becomes sole king of Babylon

3390: Evil-Merodach releases Jehoiachin from captivity

2 Kings 25:27 states that the 37^th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity was the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon. We know from Jeremiah 27:7 that Babylon fell during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, which means Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson (Daniel 5:30-31), which means Evil-Merodach was Nebuchadnezzar’s son.

However, Jeremiah 52:31 states that the 37^th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity was also the “first year” of Evil-Merodach, which means he must have had a one-year co-reign with Nebuchadnezzar that started in 3389 and ended with Nebuchadnezzar’s death in 3390.

2972: Rehoboam and Israel forsake the law of the LORD

In Ezekiel 4:5-6, God tells Ezekiel that Israel had 390 years of iniquity leading up to the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, while Judah had 40.

The siege of Jerusalem started in 3362 and ended with Jerusalem’s destruction in 3364. Ezekiel’s prophecy helps us interpret a previously unaddressed data point about Rehoboam: after Jeroboam established his false worship system, the priests, the Levites, and other members of the Northern tribes who feared God left Northern Israel and joined Rehoboam in Judah in 2969, making him strong for three years (2 Chronicles 11:13-17). However, Rehoboam then forsook the law of the LORD, “and all Israel along with him” (2 Chronicles 12:1).

It is not immediately apparent from this passage whether the three years ended in the third year, like the three years of peace between Israel and Syria at the end of Ahab’s life, and thus Rehoboam apostatized in 2972, or whether they are more like the six years of Athaliah’s rule, which ended in the seventh year, and thus Rehoboam apostatized in 2973. However, as the fall of Rehoboam and Israel is the most logical candidate for a “beginning of Israel’s iniquity” that would lead to a judgment on the nation of Judah, not Northern Israel, we can see that it happened exactly 390 years before Babylon besieged Jerusalem, and therefore it occurred in 2972.

Interestingly, the destruction of Jerusalem was 390 years after Shishak’s invasion of Jerusalem in 2974, which was a judgment on Rehoboam’s apostasy. In Rehoboam’s fifth year, Shishak king of Egypt invaded Jerusalem and ransacked the treasures of the Temple and the king’s palace. However, because Rehoboam and the leaders of Israel humbled themselves, God decided not to allow Shishak to destroy Jerusalem, but rather He said, “they will be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations” (2 Chronicles 12:8).

Hence, even though the establishment of First Temple Judaism represented the end of the oppressions of the Israelites by foreign nations that plagued them during the time of the Judges, nonetheless from the time of Shishak forward they had to deal with invasions, plunderings, and dominations by foreign kings in response to their sinfulness. It would thus be fitting that the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar would wrap up the time period of this mode of discipline, as after Jerusalem’s sacking, all Israel would finally be fully removed from the land and be in complete service to the king of Babylon to finally end the idolatry that marked the First Temple era.

Regarding the 40 years of Judah, Josiah’s faithful covenant renewal could not fix the wickedness of the hearts of the people of Judah. Hence, in Josiah’s 13^th year (Jeremiah 25:3), which would be 3324 (one year after Josiah began purging the land of idols – obviously God could tell that the external cleansing was not matched by an internal cleansing of the hearts of the people of Judah), God sent Jeremiah to call the people to repentance, and even though the official covenant renewal occurred in 3331, Jeremiah said that 23 years after he started preaching (i.e., by 3347), the people “still [had] not listened.” Obviously they never started listening before the destruction of Jerusalem, so there were 40 years of calling to repentance that began in 3324 and ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in 3364.

Assuming a 12-month year of 30 days per month, as is the Bible model, the siege that ran from the tenth day of the tenth month of 3362 to the ninth day of the fourth month of 3364 (2 Kings 25:1-3; Jeremiah 39:1-2; Jeremiah 52:4-7) would have lasted 539 days, not 430 (390 + 40).

My tentative proposed explanation for this: Jeremiah was put into prison twice during the siege of Jerusalem. In 3363 (the tenth year of Zedekiah and eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar), Zedekiah imprisoned Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:1-5). While in prison, Jeremiah bought a field in Anathoth of Benjamin (Jeremiah 32:7-12).

At some point afterwards, Zedekiah released Jeremiah and was showing signs of panicked seeking of God, such as temporarily proclaiming liberty for slaves (Jeremiah 34:8-9) and asking Jeremiah to pray for him (Jeremiah 37:3). However, 50 days before the end of 3363, in the eleventh month, 390 days after the siege began, the Chaldeans paused the siege to deal with Pharaoh’s army (Jeremiah 37:5). Jeremiah then “went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people” (Jeremiah 37:12), i.e., the field he had previously bought in Anathoth. This led to him being imprisoned for a second time, which lasted until the destruction of Jerusalem.

Possibly there was a long break in the siege from the eleventh month of 3363 to the second month of 3364, during which time the Chaldeans fought with the Egyptians. Zedekiah and his officials would have completely misinterpreted the pause of the siege as a triumph, the fruit of their brilliant plan of relying on Egypt for deliverance (which the king of Assyria had described as a “broken reed that pierces the hand of the man who leans on it” in Isaiah 36:6), rather than one last temporary reprieve necessitating immediate repentance. Zedekiah’s prophets then assured him Nebuchadnezzar would not return (Jeremiah 37:19), and Zedekiah kept Jeremiah in prison for the entire length of the reprieve (the “many days” of Jeremiah 37:16) because he thought he had proven all of Jeremiah’s prophecies wrong, only to secretly seek Jeremiah’s prophetic word when the Chaldeans finally did return (Jeremiah 37:17).

Because of their foolishness, Zedekiah and his officials would not have taken precautions during the reprieve to prepare for Nebuchadnezzar’s return, such that when the Chaldeans resumed the siege, they quickly caused a famine, and after 40 days they breached the city wall.