Dating Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem w/ Only the Bible

Question

I am interested to see if it's possible to obtain an approximate date of when Jerusalem was destroyed (secular sources say 587 BCE using cuneiform tablets, astronomy, etc.) with only the Bible and its internal dating (e.g. number of years of Kingly rulerships, when prophecies were given, age of people, etc.) I put the following chart together but still can't find a solution.

My thought was Daniel (who was a "youth" during the 3rd year of King Jehoiakim) and only lived after the return of exile could have been used, but we have no information about his age other than what I mentioned. I also thought Jehoiachin + Ezekiel could have provided some clues, but seems nothing to tie the loop.

Answer 1

The short answer is no, because all Biblical dates that we can convert to modern calendars come via either astronomical observations that we can back-calculate OR by conversion to the *Julian calendar.

Two examples:

1. We have Babylonian astronomical observations paired with Babylonian calendar dates. The laws of motion allow us to calculate exactly how long ago a particular astronomical phenomenon occurred, thereby tying a Bablyonian date to a date on a modern calendar. This is how we know when Nebuchadnezzar's reign began and when a number of events during his reign occurred.

2. We have Roman officials whose terms of office were known, such as the proconsul Gallio before whom Paul appeared while in Corinth. We know when Gallio was in office (+/- about a year), in terms of the regnal years of Emperor Claudius, and we know on the Julian calendar when Claudius was in office. From which we can calculate the timing of many events in Paul's ministry.

Perhaps what you're looking for, though, is whether the fall of Jerusalem can be dated by something other than Babylonian dates. Possibly...but in ancient chronology the more certain dates are used to ascertain the less-certain dates, so we would get a less accurate approximation by trying to date the fall of Jerusalem by back calculating from something later, like known events from the Persian Empire.

But even then, we'd still have to tie the Biblical chronology back somewhere to an external record of an astronomical event, or the Julian calendar. The Bible doesn't provide direct links to the Gregorian calendar, we always use an intermediary to do that (whether it's the Babylonians or the Persians or the Greeks etc, there's no getting around that).

Even if we developed a thoroughly internally consistent Biblical calendar using only Biblical texts, and could thereby determine how many years apart two Biblical events were, without astronomy or secular history we couldn't figure out how many years there are between those events and today.

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*We could also mention the Greek Olympiad dates or the chronology from Josephus, but these are known by conversion through the Julian calendar as well.

Answer 2

6000 years

Gen 5:3 Seth +130, Gen 5:6 Enos +105, Gen 5:9 Cainan +90, Gen 5:12 Mahalaeel +70, Gen 5:15 Jared +65, Gen 5:18 Enoch +162, Gen 5:21 Methuselah +65, per Gen 5:25 Lamech +187, Gen 5:28 Noah+182, Gen 6:7 The Flood came when Noah was +600, Gen 11:10 Total = 1656 years

Arphaxad +2 – born to Shem after the flood. Gen 11:12 Selah +35, Gen 11:14 Eber +30, Gen 11:16 Peleg +34, Gen 11:18 Reu +30, Gen 11:20 Serug +32, Gen 11:22 Nahor +30 , Gen 11:24 Terrah +29, Gen 11:26 Abram Born +70 years

Total to this point 1948 years

Gen 17:1, Abram (Abraham) was 99 when the Covenant was made with God. + 99 Genesis 17:1-8

Total at this point 2047 years

Galatians 3:17 Paul states that the Law was given +430 after the Covenant. Law was given when the children came out of Egypt (same year) as the Exodus

Total years at this point 2477

1 Kings 6:1 The Temple construction starts, in the 4th year of King Solomon +480 since the Torah was given at the Exodus.. 1 Kings 11:42 Solomon 40 minus 4 = +36, 1 Kings 14:21 Rehoboam +17, 1 Kings 15:2 Abijah +3, 2 Chron 16:13 Asa +41, 1 Kings 22:42 Jehoshaphat +25, 2 Kings 8:17 Jehoram +8, 2 Kings 8:26 Ahaziah +1, 2 Kings 11:1-3 Athaliah +6, 2 Kings 12:1 Joash +40, 2 Kings 14:2 Amaziah +29, 2 Kings 15:1-2 Azariah +52, 2 Kings 15:33 Jotham +16, 2 Kings 16:2 Ahaz +16, 2 Kings 18:1-2 Hezekiah +29, 2 Kings 21:1 Manasseh +55, 2 Kings 21:19 Amon +2, 2 Kings 22:1 Josiah +31, 2 Kings 23:31 Jehoahaz +3mths, 2 Kings 23:36 Jehoiakim +11, 2 Kings 24:8 Jehoichin +3mths, 2 Kings 24:18-20 Zedekiah +11, who ruled until the Babylonian captivity

Total at this point 3387 from Adam

Total elapsed years to the first exile of Judah and destruction of 1st Temple= 3387 from Adam

Almost every theologian and historian agrees the temple was destroyed in 586-587 BC

3387 + 586/587 BC = 3973 to 3974BC

This puts the 6000 year mark using scripture between 2027 and 2028 depending on how you carry your decimals and what date you use for the Babylonian siege and destruction of the first temple