Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary
Babylon will rule for 70 years
"11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are full, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says YHWH, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. " (DLT: torahtimes.org, Jer. 25:11-12).
Comment: Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon defeated Egypt at Carchemish in May/June 605 B.C. and after this he quickly conquered all "the Hatti-land" (Syria-Palestine, cf. Finegan §433-434, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, Revised Edition). Persia conquered Babylon on Tashritu 16 = Oct 12, 539 B.C., and Darius the Mede entered the city on Arahsamnu 3 = Oct 29 (Finegan §454). The total time that the King of Babylon ruled in factual years is a maximum of 66 complete years and 6 months, counting 5 months before Tishri 1, 605 and 1 month of the new year in 539. This is exactly 3 years and 6 months short of a full 70 years. May 605 onward is Ziv, Sivan, Shoshana, Av, Elul, or 5 months. The one month comes from Tishri 539. There are 66 full Tishri years between.
Comment: We observe that the last King of Babylon was killed by the Persians after only 66 1/2 years of Babylonian rule. Evidently then the clause in vs. 12, "when seventy years are full, that I will punish the king of Babylon" cannot refer to Belshazzar for the chief fulfillment. There is no method of counting that will stretch the time to 70 years. The Egyptians were in firm control of Syria-Palestine before 605 and the Persians after 539. The king of Babylon cannot be considered the Persian king who ruled over Babylon because God did not punish him. The 70 years cannot be shortened or rounded off either. The Hebrew text uses the word כמלאות, which means "when are full", based on the Hebrew root מלא "to be full" (BDB). Furthermore, the prophecy says Babylon will become "perpetual desolations". This did not happen either when the Persians took over.
Comment: We can only conclude from this evidence that that there is a gap in the rule of Babylon, and that 3 1/2 years or 42 months are still due for Babylonian rule at the end of the age just as the book of Revelation says. (DLC: torahtimes.org, Jer. 25:11-12).
(DLC: torahtimes.org)
Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary: (http://www.torahtimes.org/translation/rom0321.html)
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