In the late 7th century BCE, the Kingdom of Judah was a client state of the Assyrian empire. In the last decades of the century, Assyria was overthrown by Babylon, an Assyrian province. Egypt, fearing the sudden rise of the Neo-Babylonian empire, seized control of Assyrian territory up to the Euphrates river in Syria, but Babylon counter-attacked. In the process Josiah, the king of Judah, was killed in a battle with the Egyptians at the Battle of Megiddo (609 BCE).
After the defeat of Pharaoh Necho's army by the Babylonians at Carchemish in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim began paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Some of the young nobility of Judah were taken to Babylon.
In the following years, the court of Jerusalem was divided into two parties, one supporting Egypt, the other Babylon. After Nebuchadnezzar was defeated in battle in 601 BCE by Egypt, Judah revolted against Babylon, culminating in a three-month siege of Jerusalem beginning in late 598 BCE. Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, died during the siege and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah) at the age of eighteen. The city fell on 2 Adar (March 16) 597 BCE, and Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and its Temple and took Jeconiah, his court and other prominent citizens (including the prophet Ezekiel) back to Babylon.
For 70 biblical years (approximately 69 years on the Gregorian calendar), the Jewish people were held as captives in Babylon. In mid 537 BCE., the Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon and issued a decree for the Jews to return to their land and rebuild the Temple.
It was during the Babylonian captivity and this return to Israel that Ezekiel appeared as a prophet and provided the following information on the future existence of the nation of the Israelites as an independent nation, Jerusalem as the nation's capital being the representation of the kingdom (nation) of the Israelites in Ezekiel's prophesc:
"Now lie on your left side and place the sins of Israel on yourself. You are to bear their sins for the number of days you lie there on your side. You will bear Israel's sins for 390 day; one day for each year of their sin. After that, turn over and lie on your right side for 40 days; one day for each year of Judah's sin." Ezekiel 4:4-6 (New Living Translation)
According to this passage, the peoples of the nation of the Israelites would not be free until this period of punishment passed. This time is known as the "Servitude of the Nation," and the time allotted by God is 430 years. However, 70 years of atonement for their sins had already been served during the Babylonian captivity, so only 360 years of punishment remained when, in the year 537 BCE., Cyrus the Persian issued his proclamation to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
In the Book of Leviticus, however, it is revealed that if, upon their return to the land, the people refused to obey God, he would increase their punishments seven-fold. This is repeated several times:
"And if in spite of this, you still disobey me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey, I will inflict you with seven more disasters for your sins. And if you fail to learn a lesson from this and continue your hostility toward me, then I myself will be hostile toward you, and I will personally strike you seven times over for your sins ... If after this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me, then I will give full vent to my hostility. I will punish you seven times over for your sins." Leviticus 26:18-28 (New Living Translation).
When the Israelites refused to repent of their sins, this punishment was multiplied seven-fold from 360 years to 2,520 years.
The punishment relates to the occupancy of the land given to the whole 12 tribes of the Israelites. Ezekiel 4: 5-6 indicates that this period of symbolic "bearing of the iniquity of the sins" applied to both Houses - the House of Israel (v5) and of the House of Judah (v5). As the year in which the House of Judah (the southern kingdom) lost their land and were taken into captivity was 587 BCE, Judah's period of "bearing of the iniquity of the sins" appears to have begun in their first year of captivity, which was 605 BCE.
As the year in which the House of Judah lost their land and were taken into captivity was 587 BCE, Judah's period of "bearing of the iniquity of the sins" appears to have begun when they lost possession of their land, being their first year of captivity - 605 BCE. In that year, Jehoiakim began paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, at which time some of the young nobility of Judah were taken to Babylon. By adding a further 2,520 years, we should be able to arrive at the year the "seven times" period of punishment was completed. That year was 1915, a crucial year in the formulation of the Balfour Declaration.
Immediately following their declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914, the British War Cabinet began to consider the future of Palestine; within two months a memorandum was circulated to the Cabinet by a Zionist Cabinet member, Herbert Samuel, proposing the support of Zionist ambitions in order to enlist the support of Jews in the wider war. A committee was established in April 1915 by British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith to determine their policy toward the Ottoman Empire including Palestine. Asquith, who had favoured post-war reform of the Ottoman Empire, resigned in December 1916; his replacement David Lloyd George, favoured partition of the Empire. George negotiated what is now known as the Balfour Declaration, 1917, which set in motion the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people", which came to fruition on May 14, 1948.
Is there any connection between the time the rebuilding of the Temple commenced (mid 537 BCE.) and Judah's restoration of occupancy of the Promised Land on May 14, 1948? Using the Jewish calendar, there may well be. Historians have established that Cyrus the Persian issued his proclamation to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem sometime in the first half of the year 537 BCE. and began the rebuild almost immediately. We don't know the exact day of the proclamation, but the Bible reveals that it had to be prior to the seventh month because in that month, "the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled together as one person in Jerusalem." Ezra 3:1 (New Living Translation).
As the Jewish calendar was based on a 360 day year, unlike the Gregorian calendar which has 365 days, the 2520 years of punishment equates to 907,200 days. Subtracting 907,200 days from the Gregorian date of May 14, 1948, the calculation reveals a date of July 15, 537 B.C as when the 2,520 years of punishment began.
Just as the House of Judah's punishment began when they lost possession of their land, so too the beginning of the House of Israel's punishment began when they lost possession of their land, which was 722 BCE. In that year, ten to twenty years after the initial deportations of captives of the House of Israel (the northen kingdom), the ruling city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Samaria, was finally taken by Sargon II after a three-year siege started by Shalmaneser V. Using the same method of calculation as we did for Judah, the House of Isreal's punishment - multiplied seven-fold from 360 years to 2,520 years - began in 722 BCE and ended in 1798.
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