{"id":71150,"date":"2020-03-03T15:16:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71150"},"modified":"2020-03-03T15:16:32","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:16:32","slug":"a-round-biblical-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-round-biblical-70\/","title":{"rendered":"A Round Biblical 70"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71150","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"429","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"But this time it\u2019s exact\r\n\r\n","content":"

In v. 10, Jeremiah prophesied that the Babylonian exile would last for 70 years, after which God would return the exiles to their home. Should that number be taken literally or figuratively?<\/span><\/p>\n

On the one hand, the number seventy features prominently in several biblical texts in which it is not exact. For instance, the Torah indicates that \u201call the souls who accompanied Jacob to Egypt were seventy\u201d (Gen. 46:27), yet only 69 names are enumerated. The Torah also makes frequent reference to \u201cseventy elders,\u201d while reason would dictate that equal representation for each of twelve tribes would yield seventy-two. Additionally, based on: \u201cThe length of our days is seventy years\u201d (Ps. 90:10), we might argue that 70 is a \u201ctypological,\u201d symbolic number, representing an average lifespan. (A similar argument can be made for the 40 years prescribed for the wandering in the wilderness as symbolic of a generation, based on \u201cForty years I was provoked by a generation\u201c (Ps. 95:10)).<\/span><\/p>\n

Radak, in his commentary to 25:12, where this number makes its first appearance, reckoned it to be exact and calculated it from the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s reign, rather than from his destruction of Jerusalem. He himself ruled 45 years, Evyl-Merodakh, his son, ruled 23 years, and his son Belshazar was killed by the Persian conqueror Cyrus in the third year of his reign, totaling 70. None of these figures is recorded in the Bible; they are drawn from Seder Olam, a rabbinic work on chronology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shadal*, however, was also familiar with the information about ancient Babylonia reported by the first century CE Jewish historian Josephus Flavius on the authority of the 3<\/span>rd<\/span> century BCE Greek historian Berosus. That source confirms the length of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar but divides the subsequent 23 years among no fewer than four other rulers prior to the Persian conquest: \u201cEvilmaraduko [Amil-Marduk] 2, Neriglissar 4, Labosoarcod [Labashi-Marduk] \u00be, and Nabonnedus [Nabonidus] 17.\u201d While Shadal\u2019s data differs from that cited in the\u00a0 rabbinic chronology, the total of seventy years remains the same.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*For an explanation of our objectives in studying Shadal\u2019s commentary, <\/span>see our introduction<\/span><\/a> in Jeremiah chapter 1.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":71151,"id":71151,"title":"jer29-seventy","filename":"jer29-seventy.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer29-seventy.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-round-biblical-70\/jer29-seventy\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer29-seventy","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71150,"date":"2020-03-03 13:16:18","modified":"2020-03-03 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