Solutions to the Judean Chronology
A number of authors have proposed different solutions for interpreting and synchronising the chronological data, and as a result come to different dates for the destruction of Jerusalem, including:
| Author | Publication | Year on Babylonian Calendar | Year BC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hayim Tadmor | Chronology of the Last Kings of Judah [1] | 19 | 586 |
| Floyd N. Jones | Chronology of the Old Testament [2] | 19 | 586 |
| Abraham Malamat | The twilight of Judah: in the Egyptian-Babylonian maelstrom [3] | 19 | 586 |
| Edwin R. Thiele | The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (New Revised Edition) [4] | 19 | 586 |
| Siegfried H. Horn | The Babylonian Chronicle and the Ancient Calendar of the Kingdom of Judah [5] | 19 | 586 |
| William F. Albright | The Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar Chronicles [6] | 18 | 587 |
| John P. Hyatt | New Light on Nebuchadrezzar and Judean History [7] | 18 | 587 |
| Roger C. Young | When Did Jerusalem Fall? [8] | 18 | 587 |
| Watch Tower Society | Insight on the Scriptures [9] [10] | 18 | 607* |
* While the Watch Tower claims Jerusalem was captured in Nebuchadnezzar's 18th regnal year [10, p. 481], they reject the standard chronology for Babylonia.
We will see that all the proposed solutions fail to definitively satisfy all the chronological data, which explains why there is no consensus among historians on a certain date for the destruction of Jerusalem. As summarised by Horn [5, p. 16]:
no definite and unassailable conclusions can be reached until a historical record dealing with that event is found
References
[1] H. Tadmor, “Chronology of the Last Kings of Judah,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 226–230, 1956, [Online]. Available: http://www.jstor.org/stable/542196.
[2] F. N. Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to the Basics, 21st ed. Master Books, 2019, [Online]. Available: https://www.floydnolenjonesministries.com/files/135786316.pdf.
[3] A. Malamat, “The twilight of Judah: in the Egyptian-Babylonian maelstrom,” in Congress volume edinburgh 1974, 1975, pp. 123–145, [Online]. Available: https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004275515/B9789004275515-s010.xml.
[4] E. R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, 3rd ed. Kregel Publications, 1983.
[5] S. H. Horn, “The Babylonian Chronicle and the Ancient Calendar of the Kingdom of Judah,” Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS), vol. 5, no. 1, p. 2, 1967, [Online]. Available: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=auss.
[6] W. F. Albright, “The Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar Chronicles,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 143, pp. 28–33, 1956, [Online]. Available: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1355927.
[7] J. P. Hyatt, “New Light on Nebuchadrezzar and Judean History,” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 75, no. 4, pp. 277–284, 1956, [Online]. Available: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3261261.
[8] R. C. Young, “When Did Jerusalem Fall?” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, vol. 47, no. 1, p. 21, 2004, [Online]. Available: http://www.rcyoung.org/articles/jerusalem.pdf.
[9] Insight on the Scriptures - Volume 1: Aaron-Jehoshua, vol. 1. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 2018, [Online]. Available: https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/Insight-on-the-Scriptures/.
[10] Insight on the Scriptures - Volume 2: Jehovah-Zuzim and Index, vol. 2. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 2018, [Online]. Available: https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/Insight-on-the-Scriptures/.