Gentlemen,

             Frank had written:

“Daniel was given a clue by Jeremiah as to the time when the Babylon captivity would end. It was 70 years.”

Daniel 9 starts out mentioning that it was the 1^st year of Darius.

Haggai 1 starts out in the 2^nd year of Darius, by when:

a number of the Jews had already returned to Jerusalem

the foundation of the temple had been laid

and the work on the temple had been stopped.

Haggai encouraged them to finish the work on the temple.

So it would seem that Daniel had the clue and a few headlines.

He knew about the 70 years,

he probably knew about those who returned to Jerusalem,

perhaps he knew that they had laid the foundation of the temple,

and maybe he even knew about the work on the temple being halted.

 

Since there were three groups taken from Jerusalem to Babylon, by Nebuchadnezzar, over more than an 11 year time span,

             Is it possible that Jeremiah did not know exactly when the 70 years calculation actually began?

 

Also would he have known exactly what the criteria was for the conclusion of the 70 years?

             the return by some to Jerusalem?

             the laying of the foundation of the temple?

             the completion of the temple?

 

I was not sure about these things & I wanted to ask you both what you thought.

I realize that I kind of jumped into the middle of something that the two of you were discussing, and I’m sorry about that.

The moment seemed too good to not ask the questions I did, though.

                          Thank you,

                                       Gino