In 20192020 a salvage excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority at Armon ha-Natziv (south Jerusalem, Fig. B.C.E. Destruction of Jerusalem. . When did the land of Judah become desolated and unworked? . tapeworm and pinworm (Langgut, Reference Langgut2022). Giardia is a flagellated protozoan parasite that lives in the small intestine as a pear-shaped trophozoite measuring 920m in size, and as an oval infectious cyst that typically measures 812m. III: The Settlement in the Bronze and Iron Ages, BM 92518 and Old Babylonian incantations for the belly, The earth's magnetic field in Jerusalem during the Babylonian destruction: a unique reference for field behavior and an anchor for archaeomagnetic dating, Comparison of four rapid diagnostic tests, ELISA, microscopy and PCR for the detection of, Underground Jerusalem: Discoveries on the Hill of Ophel, 19091911, Reconsidering toilet installations in the southern Levant, And you counted the houses of Jerusalem and pulled houses down to fortify the wall (Isaiah 22:10): the fortifications of Iron Age II Jerusalem in light of new discoveries in the City of David, New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region XIV, Intestinal parasites from the 2nd5th century AD latrine in the Roman baths at Sagalassos (Turkey), Human intestinal parasites from a Mamluk Period cesspool in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem: potential indicators for long distance travel in the 15th century AD. . They returned to their homeland just 70 years after they were taken away to Babylon as captives. (Leviticus 25:1-5, NIV) Because of the disobedience of Gods people, whose sins may have included a failure to observe all the Sabbath years, the punishment was that their land would remain unworked and deserted for 70 years.Leviticus 26:27, 32-35, 42,43. In light of this, these results from Iron Age Jerusalem likely indicate the long-term presence of this parasite in the populations of the Near East. Really, those two lines of evidence hardly provide enough proof to overturn the Bibles chronology. Counting back 70 years, the start date of the period would be 607B.C.E. When did the 70 years commence? However, microscopy with immunofluorescent monoclonal antibodies (Faulkner et al., Reference Faulkner, Patton and Johnson1989; Le Bailly et al., Reference Le Bailly, Gonalves, Harter-Lailheugue, Prodo, Araujo and Bouchet2008) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) that use antibodies to detect antigens uniquely made by these protozoan organisms (Gonalves et al., Reference Gonalves, Arajo, Duarte, Pereira da Silva, Reinhard, Bouchet and Ferreira2002, Reference Gonalves, Da Silva, de Andrade, Reinhard, da Rocha, Le Bailly, Bouchet, Ferreira and Arajo2004; Le Bailly and Bouchet, Reference Le Bailly and Bouchet2006) have been found to be a successful way to detect these protozoa even when the cysts are damaged and deformed. . http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2023.105430. Ptolemy explained that by using astronomical calculations based in part on eclipses, we have derived to compute back to the beginning of the reign of Nabonassar, the first king on his list.4 Thus, Christopher Walker of the British Museum says that Ptolemys canon was an artificial scheme designed to provide astronomers with a consistent chronology and was not to provide historians with a precise record of the accession and death of kings.5, It has long been known that the Canon is astronomically reliable, writes Leo Depuydt, one of Ptolemys most enthusiastic defenders, but this does not automatically mean that it is historically dependable. Regarding this list of kings, Professor Depuydt adds: As regards the earlier rulers [who included the Neo-Babylonian kings], the Canon would need to be compared with the cuneiform record on a reign by reign basis.6, What is this cuneiform record that enables us to measure the historical accuracy of Ptolemys canon? The ELISA kits we used were Entamoeba histolytica II, Giardia II and Cryptosporidium II produced by TECHLAB (Blacksburg, Virginia, USA).

G. lamblia, G. intestinalis, G. enterica) so far identified in a past population anywhere in the world. Let us see. In general, Ptolemys canon is regarded as accurate. Ptolemys list of kings is considered the backbone of the chronology of ancient history, including the Neo-Babylonian period. Consider one example. *. Thus, nine years prior to his death in 530B.C.E. But why be interested in the actual date when Babylonian King NebuchadnezzarII razed the city of Jerusalem? Image credit: (A) Y. Billig, (B) F. Vukosavovi. Why? 2. Within two months, all the people [who had been left behind in the land] from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians. (2Kings 25:25, 26, NIV) Only then, in the seventh Jewish month, Tishri (September/October), of that year could it be said that the land, now desolate and unworked, began to enjoy its Sabbath rest. P. D. M. conceived and designed the study. Those who were not slaughtered were taken as captives to Babylon. ^ par. This means they are extremely hard to detect using standard light microscopy. First, because the event marked an important turning point in the history of Gods people. We should ask whether this might indicate that Giardia was not present in Africa during human evolution, or is it just that archaeological evidence may have failed to survive in samples from that continent, or that samples have not been tested with techniques likely to be successful in its detection (which is certainly an issue). Can their historical conclusions really be called reliable? Image credit: Piers Mitchell. Since both latrine sediments gave positive results for G. duodenalis, this would indicate that giardiasis was endemic in the region during the 7th to early 6th century BCE. 2. The Bible, however, shows that the 70 years were to be a period of severe punishment from Godaimed specifically at the people of Judah and Jerusalem, who were in a covenant to obey him. P. D. M. wrote the article, with T. W., Y. So it was about 22 years after returning to Jerusalem that they finally finished the temple. . Mesopotamia and Iran in the Persian Period, pages17-18. (Legal and Commercial Transactions Dated in the Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian PeriodsChiefly From Nippur, by A.T. Clay, 1908, page74.) . The House of Ahiel sample had between 2 out of 8 wells and 6 out of 8 wells positive on different analyses dates, while the 3 Armon ha-Natziv samples had all 8 wells positive each time the test was repeated. 4. As dysentery is more easily spread in environments with overcrowding, lack of organized sanitation and sewage systems, lack of understanding of how such diseases spread, and plenty of flies, we might expect the early cities of the Near East to have been well suited to disease outbreaks. Evidently, he did not consider them to be legitimate rulers of Babylon.10 For example, he excluded Labashi-Marduk, a Neo-Babylonian king. Year 37 was 568 BCE, so Jerusalem was destroyed in Year 18, 587 BCE. This is the first of two articles in consecutive issues of The Watchtower that discuss scholarly questions surrounding the date of the destruction of ancient Jerusalem. Giardia is spread by the contamination of water or food with the feces of an infected person or non-human mammal. 65. (#) = Length of kings reign (in years) according to classical historians, Photograph taken by courtesy of the British Museum. We are grateful to Techlab, Blacksburg, VA, USA, for donating the ELISA test kits used in this research. The inspired historian Ezra, who lived after the 70 years of Jeremiahs prophecy were fulfilled, wrote of King Nebuchadnezzar: He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 8. . Garcia and Shimizu, Reference Garcia and Shimizu1997; Van den Bossche et al., Reference Van den Bossche, Cnops, Verschueren and Van Esbroeck2015). TERMS OF USE The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem March 70 - September 70 G. J. Goldberg. Y. let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains." Lu 21:20, 21. a Why do Jehovah's Witnesses say that it was 607 B.C.E.? There is also strong evidence from cuneiform documents that prior to the reign of Nabopolassar (the first king of the Neo-Babylonian period), another king (Ashur-etel-ilani) ruled for four years in Babylonia. Also the Harran Inscriptions of Nabonidus, (H1B), I, line 30, has him listed just before Nabopolassar. 5 God Accepts All Sincere WorshipIs It True. An Israeli hospital says a woman critically wounded in a 2001 . Why not? Some scholars contend that certain kings were omitted by Ptolemywho supposedly listed only kings of Babylonbecause these were called by the title King of Assyria. However, as you will note in the box on page30, several kings included in Ptolemys canon also had the title King of Assyria. Economic tablets, cuneiform letters, and inscriptions clearly reveal that kings Ashur-etel-ilani, Sin-shumu-lishir, and Sin-sharra-ishkun ruled over Babylonia. Figure 3. This was passed through a stack of microsieves with mesh sizes 300, 160 and 20m to remove large soil particles, and the material that passed through the 20m sieve was used for ELISA analysis. Second, because knowing the actual year when this ultimate catastrophe began and understanding how the restoration of true worship in Jerusalem fulfilled a precise Bible prophecy will build your confidence in the reliability of Gods Word. Since there was trade and military expeditions taking place across the Near East throughout this time period, we would expect such gastrointestinal infections to be spread easily by travellers. First Jewish Revolt Key People: Titus See all related content Siege of Jerusalem, (70 ce ), Roman military blockade of Jerusalem during the First Jewish Revolt. stated that Cyrus was killed after he had reigned twenty-nine years, which would put his death during his 30th year, in 530B.C.E. While in the 9th century BCE Judah had been subservient to Aramean and then Neo-Assyrian neighbours, during the 8th and 7th centuries Jerusalem stood at its heart as a large, vibrant political and religious centre (Matthews, Reference Matthews2018, 128164; Schipper, Reference Schipper2019, 4570). . The Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II invaded the Kingdom of Judah and conquered Jerusalem in 598/597, and returned again and sacked the city in 587/586 when they refused to pay their agreed tribute (Matthews, Reference Matthews2018, 128164; Schipper, Reference Schipper2019, 4570; Vaknin et al., Reference Vaknin, Shaar, Gadot, Shalev, Lipschits and Ben-Yosef2020; Lipschits, Reference Lipschits2021). * (See the box Neo-Babylonian Kings.) The time line based on their chronological information disagrees with that of the Bible. He also left the city itself standing. Sorry, there was an error loading the video. TERMS OF USE In view of the foregoing, what do you think? One sample of sediment from the House of Ahiel cesspit was available for analysis, and 3 samples from different areas of the Armon ha-Natziv cesspit. when CyrusII conquered Babylon is calculated using the testimony of: Ancient historical sources and cuneiform tablets: Diodorus of Sicily (c.80-20B.C.E.) Should Berossus calculations really be viewed as consistently accurate? in this series. 5. Watchtower chronology doesn't stand a chance. All the raw data relevant to this paper is given in table 1. when the capital city of Babylon was captured. Recent assessment of the gene sequences of Giardia species complex has noted a number of distinct host-specific assemblages (Wielinga et al., Reference Wielinga, Williams, Monis and Thompson2023), but detection using ELISA is not able to differentiate each assemblage. See Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Volume35, 1983, pages54-59. Towards the end of the 7th century BCE the Kingdom of Judah found itself between the competing powers of the Neo-Babylonians to the east and the Egyptians to the south, and paid tribute to each at different times. OGod, lamented a Bible psalmist, they have dishonored your holy temple. Symptomatic infection by Giardia is termed giardiasis. Secular historians mainly base their conclusions on the writings of classical historians and on the canon of Ptolemy. So why do Jehovahs Witnesses hold to a date that differs from widely accepted chronology by 20 years? In fact, Giardia has been identified in modern wild populations of Red Colobus monkeys, gorillas and less frequently chimpanzees (Ashford et al., Reference Ashford, Reid and Wrangham2000; Gillespie and Chapman, Reference Gillespie and Chapman2008; Brynildsrud et al., Reference Brynildsrud, Tysnes, Robertson and Debenham2018). One of them, according to cuneiform economic tablets, ruled for seven years.8. If these historians are reliable, why do they disagree? A woman walks at the inner courtyard of the Tower of David Museum, in Jerusalem's Old City . Scholar R. J. van der Spek, while acknowledging that Berossus consulted the Babylonian chronicles, wrote: This did not prevent him from making his own additions and interpretations.2, How do other scholars view Berossus? In room L789 a large locally carved block stone toilet seat was found (Fig. 10. When we consider this evidence in the light of the textual descriptions of diarrhoea in medical texts from the 2nd and 1st millennium BCE Mesopotamia, we gain a fascinating insight into health and disease of the early populations of biblical period Jerusalem and indeed the entire ancient Near East. Counting back from that year would place Jerusalems destruction in 607B.C.E. The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple led to a religious, spiritual and political crisis, which left its mark in prophetic literature and biblical tradition.

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