3390 AM · 371 BCE

The Edict of Cyrus and the End of the Seventy Years

Jeremiah had named the term in advance: seventy years. In the first year of Persian rule Cyrus declared that the House in Jerusalem must be rebuilt and permitted whoever wished to go up.

Before the destruction Jeremiah had said that the land would be a ruin and the nations would serve the king of Babylon seventy years, and added: "When seventy years of Babylon are complete I will remember you and fulfill My good word toward you, to bring you back to this place."

Daniel, an old man by now, "understood from the books the number of the years" spoken to Jeremiah—and instead of waiting, rose in prayer with fasting, sackcloth and ashes, confessing the nation's guilt.

And so the book of Chronicles ends and the book of Ezra begins with the same words: "In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, so that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus, and he issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also in writing: all the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me, and He has charged me to build Him a House in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people—may his God be with him, and let him go up."

He returned 5,400 Temple vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar. For the first time in seventy years exile stopped being a sentence and became a choice.

How we know

Jeremiah 25:11–12 and 29:10 for the seventy years; Daniel 9:1–2 for the reckoning and the prayer; the text of the edict in II Chronicles 36:22–23 and Ezra 1; the inventory of returned vessels in Ezra 1:7–11. The date 3390 follows Seder Olam Rabbah 29–30; academic chronology places Cyrus's edict in 538 BCE, since the traditional reckoning of the Persian period is roughly 165 years shorter.

On the chronology

The traditional Seder Olam chronology of the Persian period differs from the accepted academic one by about 165 years. On this timeline the event may therefore fall earlier or later relative to parallel world events than it does in standard history books.

Sources

Tanakh

Yirmiyahu 25:11–12; 29:10 — the prophecy of the seventy years
Daniel 9:1–2 — Daniel “understood from the books” the term, and rose to pray
Divrei HaYamim II 36:22–23 — the decree of Cyrus — the closing lines of the Tanakh
Ezra 1 — the text of the decree and the return of the vessels

Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar

Megillah 11b–12a — the miscalculations of Belshazzar and Achashverosh in counting the seventy years
Rosh Hashanah 3b — Cyrus as “a proper king”, and why his years are counted differently

Basis: accounts differ.

People and places

Jeremiah · Ezekiel · Daniel · Esther · Babylon · Shushan (Susa) · Jeremiah · Ezekiel · Esther · Daniel · Ezra–Nehemiah · Chronicles · Shmita and Yovel · Exile and redemption · Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel · Sheshbazzar

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