If one would use only the Bible to date events contained therein, while it wouldn’t be an easy labor, nor even an error free labor, it would probably be better than the efforts of those who are credited to have actually dated the events in our study, namely, of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. Why do I say this? It is difficult to reply and show the errors of the so-called experts. After the deed is done and accepted as true, it is difficult to believe the deed is wrong. Nevertheless, the system used to date the fall of Jerusalem to the coming of Alexander the Great is bigoted to say the least, and juvenile to say it clearly. The “experts” are not only wrong, they have been made fools by the author of the system, one Claudius Ptolemy. Who, one might ask, was Claudius Ptolemy? I wondered the same thing, when I began studying the Book of Ezra years ago (this is my second attempt, and hopefully, a more in-depth version). The short answer to the question is: Claudius Ptolemy was a second century astronomer (cir. AD 70-161), and it is upon his works that so much of modern understanding of ancient Babylonian and Persian chronology is based.
He dated the history of this period, namely, the dates of the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar through that of Cyrus on what many refer to as Ptolemy’s Canon, which is based upon seven lunar eclipses dated from BC 747 to 330.[1] However, in any given year there could be a total of seven lunar and solar eclipses, five of the sun and two of the moon, or four of the sun and three of the moon. The smallest number of eclipses that could occur in one calendar year is two, both of the sun.[2] So, where would Ptolemy begin his canon, and why would he choose that particular eclipse upon which to base everything else? I ask this, because most Biblical scholars assume the Persian king who released the Jews to go to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple was Artaxerxes of Ezra 7, but, although he did release Jews to go to their homeland, so did Darius Hystaspes, his father, and Cyrus before him! There were, in fact, a number of releases, but whose decree was the first? It is important to know this, because it is upon the first decree and what occurred immediately afterward that we base the beginning of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy. Why is such accuracy needed? It is because the Seventy Weeks Prophecy dates the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. If the date of the original decree is off, then the prophecy, which would then be based upon an erroneous date, would, itself, come under the scrutiny of folks believing it was in error, when in actuality, the error is with dating its beginning.
Considering the depth of Claudius Ptolemy’s work, one needs to ask, if his is a work of fiction, rather than something we should base our understanding of history. In other words, were his findings deliberately fabricated? Astronomers have questioned Ptolemy’s observations for centuries. As early as AD 1008, Ibn Yunis concluded that they contained serious errors, and by about 1800, astronomers had recognized that almost all of Ptolemy’s observations were in error. In 1817, Delambre asked: “Did Ptolemy do any observing? Are not the observations that he claims to have made merely computations from his tables, and examples to help in explaining his theories?”[3]
If we should question the dates of events in Babylonian and Persian history, which are based upon Ptolemy’s Canon, then the accepted date of Cyrus’ release of the Jews is also in question. Therefore, it shouldn’t be thought erroneous to begin with him, saying it was Cyrus who originally commanded that Jerusalem and the Temple be built (Daniel 9:25; Isaiah 44:24-28), instead of Artaxerxes of Ezra, chapter 7. It is Cyrus’ decree, and what occurs immediately afterward that tell us where to begin the Seventy Weeks Prophecy.
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[1] Ptolemy said there were three lunar eclipses in the first and second years of Merodach-baladin of Babylon (March 19, 720 B.C.; March 8, 719 and September 1, 719), another eclipse occurred in the fifth year of Nabopolassar (April 22, 600 B.C.), another in the seventh of Cambyses (July 16, 522 B.C.), and two more in the twentieth and thirty-first years of Darius Hystaspes (November 19, 501 B.C. and April 25, 490).
[2] “Since eclipses of sun and moon are possible only when the sun is near one of the nodes of the moon’s orbit, eclipses, in general, will occur at intervals of about 6 months. Since the lunar eclipse limits are smaller than the solar, it is possible that no eclipses of the moon will occur in any given calendar year. Two solar eclipses must occur under these conditions, however. In this century there are 14 years when only two solar and no lunar eclipses take place. Under the most favorable circumstances there may be as many as seven eclipses, two of the moon and five of the sun or three of the moon and four of the sun, in any given year…. From A.D. 1901 to 2000 there will be a total of 375 eclipses, according to Oppolzer’s ‘Canon der Finsternisse,’ 228 of the sun and 147 of the moon; an average of nearly four per year” (The Elements of Astronomy, by Edward Arthur Fath, 1944, pp. 166-167; see Theodor von Oppolzer, Canon of Eclipses, 1962, Dover reprint, or Oppolzer’s 1887 work).
[3] (J.B.J. Delambre, Histoire de l’Astronomie Ancienne, Paris 1817, Vol. II, p. XXV. Quoted by Robert R. Newton in The Moon’s Acceleration and Its Physical Origins [MAPO], Vol. I, Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979, p. 43.). On a personal note, it is a pity that historians have unilaterally accepted Claudius Ptolemy’s work over what science has concluded about his work!
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