Creating a time line

Greetings to all,

I need some help in creating or figuring out the time line for Daniel 1:1-2. I know that Moses prophesied the downfall of Judah in Duet 28...it was also prophesied in other places also...Isaiah, Jeremiah, II Chron. 36:6 for a few...I dont preach very often and when I do...I like to be very prepared! What is the most simplistic way that you can show me how to figure this out....Thankns in advance for all your help in giving me understanding.

Blessings,

danp

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Rosie Perera

Hi Dan,

I can think of two quick and simple ways to figure out the chronology of "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah..."

1) If you have a Study Bible (e.g., ESV Study Bible) or a Bible with extensive footnotes (e.g., NET Bible), they are very likely to have an entry on that verse explaining the date.

ESV Study Bible says simply "605 B.C." with no further explanation. The Reformation Study Bible says "Jehoiakim’s third year was 605 B.C. In that year Nebuchadnezzar defeated a coalition of Assyria and Egypt at Carchemish and initiated Babylon’s rise to international power. After the battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar advanced against Jehoiakim (2 Kin. 24:1, 2; 2 Chr. 36:5–7) and took some Judeans captive, including Daniel. This was the first of three invasions of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. The second was in 597 B.C. (2 Kin. 24:10–14), and the third in 587 B.C. (2 Kin. 25:1–24). In the Book of Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar’s attack is dated to Jehoiakim’s fourth year instead of the third (Jer 25:1; 46:2). The difference of one year occurs because in the Babylonian chronology, which Daniel apparently used, the king’s reign was officially counted from the first day of the succeeding new year, rather than from the actual date of his accession to the throne." The NET Bible has a footnote that says "The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be ca. 605 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been a teenager. The reference to Jehoiakim’s third year poses a serious crux interpretum, since elsewhere these events are linked to his fourth year (Jer 25:1; cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 36:5–8). Apparently Daniel is following an accession year chronology, whereby the first partial year of a king’s reign was reckoned as the accession year rather than as the first year of his reign. Jeremiah, on the other hand, is following a nonaccession year chronology, whereby the accession year is reckoned as the first year of the king’s reign. In that case, the conflict is only superficial. Most modern scholars, however, have concluded that Daniel is historically inaccurate here."

2) You could look up Jehoiakim in a Bible dictionary and it will give you the dates of his reign. You can do this in one of three ways:

a) Type lookup Jehoiakim in the command bar; this will find him in your top prioritized dictionary (might not give the best results if you haven't done any prioritizing of dictionaries yet)

b) Open a Search tab (by clicking the magnifying glass icon), type Jehoiakim, and press Enter or click the blue arrow; this will find him in all the dictionaries that you have in your library which have been tagged for Logos Controlled Vocabulary (LCV) which should include most of the major ones by now. I don't know what Bible dictionaries you have, but most base packages have Easton's and/or New Bible Dictionary. They both give a range of dates for his reign which are off by a year from each other (610-599 vs. 609-598 BC), but close enough.

c) Open Biblical People (Tools > Biblical People) and search for Jehoiakim, and it will show you the same dictionary options as 2b above. If you're quicker at typing than mousing, you can open Biblical People directly to Jehoiakim's entry by typing open biblical people to Jehoiakim in the command bar (you can get the cursor up into the command bar from the keyboard by pressing Alt+D).

Dan Pogue

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/176653#Comment_176653

Thanks Rosie for taking the time to explain how to do a timeline! Your kindness is so appreciated here!!! I have so much too learn and so little time!

Blessings,

danp