Commentary on Daniel, Chapter 9 · Doctrines 1 · Question 5
Quest. 5. When the 70. yeares of captiuitie mentioned, v. 2. tooke their beginning.
1. The opinion of some was, which Eusebius remembreth in his chronicle, concealing the authors of that opinion, that the 70. yeares of captiuitie beganne in the 13. yeare of Iosias: But this cannot be so: 1. Ieremiah beganne then indeede to foretell them of the euils which should happen vntounto them, but 23. yeares after he prophesied of the 70. yeares captiuitie, Ierem. 25. 8. 2. And so long as Io…ias liued, the Lord promised him, 2. king. 2…. that his eyes should not see the euils, which the Lord had threatened to bring vponupon that place.
2. Whereas there were three seuerall captiuities: the first in the first yeare of Nebuchadnezzar, in the third yeare of the raigne of Iehoiachim, when Daniel went into captiuitie, Dan. 1. 1. the second in the 7. and 8. yeare of Nabuchadnezzer, when Ieconias with others was carried away captiue, 2. king. 24. 12. the third in the 11. yeare of Zedekiah, and in the 18. yeare of Nebuchadnezzar, when the citie and temple were destroyed. 2. king. 24. Ierem. 51. 29. Some doe beginne these 70. yeares from the first captiuitie, of which opinion are Seuerus Sulpitius, lib. 2. sarc. histor. Lyran Vatablus, in 9. Daniel: whereunto consenteth also H. B. in his concent: But here cannot begin that famous captiuitie, because the land could not be captiued, seeing the king Iehoiachim himselfe went not into captiuitie.
3. The most generall opinion is, that the beginning of the captiuitie of 70. yeares, must be referred vntounto the third captiuitie vnderunder Zedekiah: of this opinion are many auncient graue authors, Iosephus lib. 11. antiquit. Clemens lib. 1. stromat. Iulius Africanus lib. 5. Annal. E…sebius in chron. Lactantius lib. 4. institut. c. 5. Hierome in 4. c. Ezekiel, with diuerse others: Pererius adioyneth this reason, because these 70. yeares are said here to be the yeares of the desolation of Ierusalem, but the citie was not brought to desolation vntill the captiuitie of Zedekiah: But this reason concludeth not, for although then there was greater desolation brought vponupon the citie, yet before when as the king and all the principall men, and artificers were carried away, the citie beganne to be desolate: And altogether it was not desolate, no not in the last captiuitie: for 5. yeare after in the 23. yeare of Nebuchadnezzar, there were 745. persons caried away captiue by Nebuzaradan, Ierem. 52. 30.
4. Wherefore the more certaine opinion is, that the 70. yeares beganne with Iechonias captiuitie, which may be confirmed by these reasons. 1. Ieremie, cap. 29. v. 10. writeth vntounto those which were in captiuitie with Iechoniah, that after 70. yeares, the Lord would visit them. 2. direct mention is made of the captiuitie of Iechoniah, Esther. 2. 6. when Mor…ee as went into captiuitie. 3. Iechonia and the rest yeelded themselues vntounto the king of …haldes, and obeyed the counsell of Ieremie, which Zedekiah refused, and therefore the first are compared to a basket of good figges, the other to a basket of rotten figges, they which remained with Zedekiah went into Egypt: the first captiuity then rather is to be counted, because the counsell of God therein was followed. 4. Ezekiel in diuerse places counteth the yeares from the captiuitie of Iechonias, as the fift, c. 1. 3. the sixt yeare, c. 8. 1. the seuenth, c. 20. 1. the tenth yeare, c. 37. 1. the eleuenth yeare, c. 31. 1. All which yeares are reckoned from the time, when Iechonias went into captiuitie. 5. beside, the captiuitie of Iechonias was most famous, both in respect of the persons that went into captiuitie, and their number: for the king himselfe, his mother, Princes, and seruants were carried away: And the captiues were to the number of tenne thousand, 2. king. 24. 14. But in the captiuitie vnderunder Zedekiah, Ieremie speaketh but of 832. persons taken captiue, cap. 52. 29. therefore from the captiuitie of Iechonias, as the most famous, is the account of the yeares to beginne.