multitudes, who were as sheep having no shepherd, and as weeping over Jerusalem; and we may be sure, also, that in those whole nights of prayer and intercession before the Father, the people which are " His own," and the city which was to be the seat of His throne, had a large and central place. Even on the cross He prayed, u Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do "; and when He rose and ascended to the right hand of God as the great High Priest of His people, Israel is still a subject of His intercessions. " For Zion's sake He doth not hold His peace; for Jerusalem's sake He doth not rest until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth."
We will not enter into the chronological points which might be raised in connection with the words, " against which Thou hast had indignation these seventy years" and would merely point out in passing that there are different starting-points from which the period roughly spoken of as " the seventy years captivity " in Babylon may be reckoned. But as these visions of Zechariah were granted to the prophet in the 2nd year of Darius Hystaspes, in B.C. 519, the " seventy years " foretold by Jeremiah had already expired, even if we calculate from the latest of the possible starting-points. [1] The Divine Advocate might well therefore
- ↑ The definite prophecy of Jeremiah was that the inhabitants of Palestine and neighbouring lands "shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." This began in the 3rd year of Jehoiakim, which was the ist year of Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., in B.C. 606, or before the ist of Nisan (April) 605. Starting with this definite date the "seventy years" were brought to an end by the decree of Cyrus in the 1st year of his reign, in B.C. 536 (Dan. i. i; Jer. xxiv. i, 9-11; Ezra i. 1-3). Another starting-point may be made with Jehoiachin's captivity in the 8th year of Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., in B.C. 597 (598), when the city was taken and "all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the mighty men of valour, even 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths," together with the king and his mother and his wives, and the vessels of the Temple and the treasures of the palace were carried to Babylon (2 Kings xxiv. 10-17). From this date the "seventy years" came to an end in B.C. 528. Then, finally, in the I7th year of Nebuchadnezzar and gth of Zedekiah's reign, in B.C. 589 (588), commenced the final terrible siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans which lasted about a year and a half, and ended with the destruction
