Was the destruction of the first Temple in 586 BC or 587 BC?

OP: Was Jerusalem captured and the Temple destroyed in 586 bc or in 587 bc?

Depends on the starting date.

586 BC Thiele's reckoning is based on the presentation of Zedekiah's reign on an accession basis, which he asserts was occasionally used for the kings of Judah. In that case, the year that Zedekiah came to the throne would be his zeroth year; his first full year would be 597/596 BC, and his eleventh year, the year that Jerusalem fell, would be 587/586 BC. Since Judah's regnal years were counted from Tishri in autumn, that would place the end of his reign and the capture of Jerusalem in the summer of 586 BC.[15][18]

587 BC The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle (BM 21946), published in 1956, indicates that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time putting an end to the reign of Jehoaichin, on 2 Adar (16 March) 597 BC, in Nebuchadnezzar's seventh year.[19] Jeremiah 52:28–29 gives the relative periods for the end of the two sieges as Nebuchadnezzar's seventh and eighteenth years, respectively. (The same events are described at 2 Kings 24:12 and 2 Kings 25:8 as occurring in Nebuchadnezzar's eighth and nineteenth years, including his accession year.) Identification of Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year for the end of the siege places the event in the summer of 587 BC, which is consistent with all three relevant biblical sources—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 2 Kings.[16][20] wikipedia

Based on the two dates, it appears that 587 BC fits the biblical narrative.

It would be useful to begin calculation from the death of Josiah in 609 BC who was killed after an unfortunate decision to attack the Egyptian army at Megiddo. The Egyptians were passing on their way to aid the Assyrians against Babylon and he tried to prevent them. Unfortunate as it was for him, it provides us with the dates for our final section of Judaean kings. Necho of Egypt proceeded to the Euphrates River where he and his Assyrian allies attacked the Babylonians at Harran. The struggle lasted from Tammuz to Elul (July­-Aug) of 609 BC. Josiah was therefore killed about July 609 when the Egyptians were on their way to Harran.

Jehoahaz took his father’s throne and reigned three months. That would have been July to October 609 BC. Necho, on his return march, deposed Jehoahaz and replaced him with his older brother Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim’s subservience to the Egyptians lasted four years. However, when they were defeated by the Babylonians at the battle of Carchemish Jehoiakim quickly switched allegiances. The ignominious retreat of the Egyptian army left none alive and a power vacuum that Nebuchadnezzar was quick to take advantage of. He moved west and south taking large swaths of Syria­Palestine .

The Babylonian Chronicles are brief concerning this period but a useful reconstruction has been made by Professor Siegfried Horn.

“No exact date is given for this battle in the Chronicles. We merely learn that it took place in the 21st year of Nabopolassar before he died on Ab 8 (Aug. 15, 605). Since the Babylonian year had begun April 12 in 605, and Nebuchadnezzar before the end of August (when word of his father's death reached him) had defeated the Egyptians not only at Carchemish, but also at Hamath in Syria, and had 'conquered the whole area of the Hatti country,' it cannot be far amiss to assume that the Battle of Carchemish took place early in the Babylonian year, about May, 605 BC."

Therefore, the first deportation happened between June and August, 605 BC ­ after Carchemish but before Nabopolassar’s death. Daniel and his friends were among these. (2Chron 36:5-8, Daniel 1:1-2) Jehoiakim continued for three years as a vassal to the Babylonians, until an opportune moment, then switched allegiance back to the Egyptians. (2 Kings 24:1) It was a tactical blunder because, in 598 BC, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah again, laying siege to Jerusalem for three months. Jehoiakim died during the siege.

The last two kings of Judah and the eventual destruction of the temple are well documented. Jehoiachin reigned three months and ten days, beginning 9th December, 598 BC and ending 16th March, 597 BC, when he was replaced by his uncle, Zedekiah. (2 Chron. 36:9-10, Babylonian chronicles) He too proved unreliable to his overlords, so Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem yet again, this time in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem was destroyed, including the temple, on the 29th July, 587 BC. (2 Kings 25:8-10)

Was the destruction of the first Temple in 586 BC or 587 BC?

In this answer, I shall use Rodger Young's notation for identifying years. A year beginning in the lunar month Nisan (March/April) shall be suffixed with an "n", e.g. 587n, and a year beginning in Tishri (Sept/Oct) shall be suffixed with a "t", e.g. 587t. These notations give more detailed information on what year is meant than 587/586.

There are two Babylonian cuneiform tablets of astronomical data which are especially useful for dating the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, VAT4956 and BM38462. Either one leaves us no doubt about what year Nebuchadnezzar began to reign (his accession year was 605n, first-year 604n).

BM38462 records all the lunar eclipses throughout the reign of Nebuchadnezzar starting with the eclipse of 13th June 604 BC and ending with the eclipse of 3rd June 576 BC. There are 35 lunar eclipses predicted by calculation. The accuracy of the predictions is remarkable. Thirteen of the eclipses are seen (because they happened after sunset and before sunrise) and the observations added to the predictions are for the correct day according to NASA, Parker and Dubberstein's dates and Rita Gautschy's First and Last Lunar dates for all 13 observed eclipses (though great care is needed to examine each date).

[Actually, I found two mistakes in Parker & Dubberstein's tables of first lunar sightings while looking at the data of BM38462. P&D's data is taken from the new-moon tables of Karl Schoch found in "The Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga" published in 1928. Rita Gautschy's data is found on her website, Google search: "Gautschy" and "First and Last Sightings of the lunar crescent" (bless her cotton socks, it's all free, and indispensable! Thank you, Rita, so much! And thank you for the website "The star Sirius in ancient Egypt and Babylonia" too!). Rita's data is based on astronomical knowledge at the end of the 20th century, nearly 100 years later. So no surprise if P&D's tables occasionally differ from RG's dates for the 1st of each month. What is surprising is how little has changed in a hundred years of refinement. While studying BM38462 I found two differences between P&D and RG: In P&D Adar in the year 593n began on 21st March 592 BC, but in RG it began on 20th March (592 BC). The second difference, in 592n, Adar began on 10th March 591 BC but in RG it began on the 9th March 591 BC. BM38462 shows that Rita's data is correct and P&D is wrong. On 9th March 591 BC, the visibility of the new crescent moon was very faint: Karl Schoch made the judgement call that the Babylonian astronomers/observers would not have been able to see it.. he was wrong. Modern astronomers make the judgement that they would have been able to see it and according to BM38462 they are correct. So there you go... the millions of taxpayers' money spent on astronomy graduates in the last hundred years has not by any means been wasted.]

VAT4956 gives many astronomical observations for Nebuchadnezzar's year 37. These observations are very detailed and very accurate.

The easiest detail to check for those of us who are not astronomers is the observed date on VAT4956 for the summer solstice. On line 16 of the obverse side of the clay tablet, the summer solstice is recorded on the 9th day of month III. (See VAT 4956-a Transcription of its Translation and of the Comments of its Transliteration) This, according to Parker & Dubberstein was 29th June in 568 BC (Julian date) which corresponds exactly with this table.

[To see that P&D shows 29th June for the 9th of month 3 then

1. Download the book at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

2. Scroll down to the tables near the end of the book and find year 568 BC, the 37th of Nebuchadnezzar;

3. Observe month III begins on 6/21 so the 9th of month III was 29th June (Julian).]

It is certain that year 37 was the Babylonian year 568n, the year beginning 1st Nisanu of 568. (According to Parker & Dubberstein's "Babylonian Chronology - 626 BC to AD 75" it started on 23rd April 568, Julian date.)

The year on the tablet is of course using the Babylonian Accession Year system because the Babylonians always used that system. [What is the Accession Year system? The few months of a king's reign leading up to his first 1st Nisanu is called his "accession year" or "the year of his becoming king". On the first 1st Nisanu the year of his reign is called his "first year". In Non-Accession Year dating the months leading up to 1st Nisan are the "first year". Jeremiah 52:31 refers to the accession year of Evil-Merodach: it should be translated "...that Evil-Merodach in the year of his becoming king lifted up the head..."; the KJV translators insertion of "first" is incorrect; 2 Kings 25:27 ("in the year that he began to reign") is correct.

The Bible sometimes uses the Non-Accession Year system and sometimes the Accession Year system. The book of Jeremiah uses both systems. Where both systems are referred to then the year of the event will differ by one year. So when the book of Jeremiah uses both systems for precisely the same event then it becomes abundantly clear which system is being used in each case. For instance(!), in Jer 52:28-30 we have a summary of events, and in verse 29 we read what happened "in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar". But in Jer 52:12 we have precisely the same event being spoken of as happening in his 19th year. The section Jer 52:28-30 is using the Babylonian Accession Year dating and Jer 52:12 uses the Jewish Non-Accession Year dating.

The upshot of all this is that we now know that "the seventh year" in Jer 52:28 is using precisely the same Accession Year dating method as VAT4956. On VAT4956 the 37th year was the year 568n; so the seventh year, 30 years earlier, of Jer 52:28 was 598n, and the 18th year (Jer 52:29) when the city was taken and the Temple destroyed was 587n.

Cunieform tablet BM21946 says:

In the seventh year, the month of Kislimu [ie Kislev], the king of Akkad mustered his troops, marched to the Hatti-land, and encamped against the city of Judah and on the second day of the month Adar he seized the city and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own heart, received its heavy tribute and sent (them) to Babylon.

So in the year 598n Jehoiachin and Jerusalem were taken on the 2nd of Adar, the 12th month, which was the 16th of March 597.

In the year 587n the city was taken on the 9th day of the 4th month, Tammuz (Jer 52:6) (29th July 587, Julian); and the temple destroyed on the 10th day of the 5th month, Ab (Jer 52:12), (28th August 587, Julian). In 2 Kings 25:8 the captain of the guard arrives at Jerusalem on the 7th of Ab: either, having arrived on the 7th, he waits until the 10th before ordering the burning or the burning starts on the 7th and ends on the 10th.. who knows?

Ezekiel 26:1-2 - confirmation of 587 BC

Using the argument used by Andrew Steinmann, the year of the destruction of the temple is 587 BC is confirmed by Ezekiel 26:1-2 ("From Abraham to Paul - a biblical chronology", 2011, pages 136-138):

And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste.

Ezekiel says "in the eleventh year" and it means the eleventh year of his captivity. Rodger Young shows Ezekiel always uses years beginning Tishri, but it makes no difference to the argument (that the fall could not have been 586) if he means a year beginning Nisan. If Ezekiel is using years beginning in Nisan then the fall of Jerusalem according to Ezekiel 26:1-2 was in 588 BC (!), altogether contradicting the book of Jeremiah: he must have been using years beginning Tishri.

We have seen above that BM21946 says Jerusalem was captured on 2nd Adar 597 BC and this was in the year 598t, i.e. the first year was the year beginning Tishri 598. So the 11th year is the year beginning 588t. The people of Tyre are gloating over the fall of Jerusalem. But the year 588t ends in Elul of 587. If Jerusalem fell in 586 then the people of Tyre would be gloating over its fall before it had even fallen! Therefore the fall of Jerusalem was in Tammuz 587 BC.

Unfortunately, the web page shown at The fall of Jerusalem and of the subsequent destruction of the Temple, occurred in the year 586 B.C. is an example of the type of carelessness that perpetuates the myth that the fall was in 586 BC. 2 Adar 597 bc is in the year 598t. If the 1st year is 598t then the 11th year is 588t. And both Tammuz and Ab of 588t are in 587 BC, not 586 BC.

(Months of the year - Nisan, Iyyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Heshvan (or Marcheshvan), Kislev, Tebeth, Shebat, Adar. NB: Nisan is always "month 1" even when the year is said to start in Tishri! (see Exodus 12:2))

Also, note there is no year zero in the BC/AD system. Astronomers can do their computations easily by calling 1 BC "year 0". So the astronomical year -586 is actually 587 BC.

This matter of dating the destruction of Jerusalem’s first temple is complex due to having to sort out dates when both Jewish and other king's reigns began, and ended. It involves establishing dates for battles between them. It requires appreciation of the fact that around that time, Jerusalem was besieged more than once, and that it wasn’t until after the third siege ended that the temple was destroyed a month later.

It follows, therefore, that establishing the date for the end of the third siege would be critically important. Various details are given by Jewish writers who lived through all of that, including the prophets Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel. There were three ‘waves’ of Jews captured and taken to Babylon; after the 605 siege, Daniel and others were taken away; after an attack in March 597 Ezekiel and others were taken away; after a third siege only a vey small number of Jews were left in Judah. This means that during the reign of king Zedekiah, the Jews were in servitude to Babylon some 11 years or so before their temple was destroyed. See Jeremiah 25:11 & 27:11-14 and Ezekiel 40:1.

This is how the chronology is detailed in this book, which I am working from:

605 – Nebuchadnezzar, who was at the time Crown Prince and Commander of the Babylonian armies, besieged Jerusalem, and took some of the leading nobles and young men – including Daniel and his three friends – to Babylon as hostages. Most of the citizens were still in the land of Judah, but subject to Babylon. See 2 Kings 24:1-7; 2 Chronicles 36:6-7

10 March 597 – Nebuchadnezzar attacks Jerusalem, seizes King Jehoiachin and appoints Mattaniah as his puppet king, renaming him Zedekiah. He took 10,000 captives to Babylon, including the wealthy elite, among whom would have been Ezekiel who began his prophetic ministry a few years later. Nebuchadnezzar also removed the temple vessels to the temple of Bel-Marduk in Babylon. See 2 Kings 24:10-117; 2 Chronicles 36:9-10.

586 – Despite warnings to the contrary by Jeremiah, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar sent his army. After a two-and-a-half-year siege, the city was captured on 18 July 586. A month later the city was burned and razed to the ground. A small number of Jews, including Jeremiah, were left in Judah under Gedaliah who was appointed governor but when he is murdered, the remaining Jews fled to Egypt, taking Jeremiah with them against his wishes. See 2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36:11-21; Jeremiah 41 – 43. A Concise Chronology of the Bible, p.33, John D Brand, Edinburgh Bible College

However, there is a problem using Gregorian months (as in the quote above) because Israel’s annual calendar shows a difficulty. Hebrew months equate to the second half of one Gregorian month and the first half of its following one. Thus, the Jewish first month of the year, Abib (Nisan), corresponds to our March-April. That is not tricky to deal with, but because the Hebrew calendar was lunar (29.5 days per month) and the Gregorian calendar is not, a difficulty arises with the month of Adar, which corresponds with our February-March. This is explained here:

“Ancient Israel marked the beginning of each month at the new moon, which occurs every 29.5 days, resulting in a 354-day annual calendar, 11 days shorter than the solar year; thus the months in Israel’s calendar do not align with modern (Gregorian) months. In later Judaism, an extra month, called “Second Adar,” was an intercalary “leap month” inserted seven times every nineteen years to realign the calendar with the solar year. Such intercalation of a month occurs in many lunar calendars. In our modern solar calendar, intercalation is unnecessary because the months are not tied to the lunar cycle.” NLT Study Bible, p.145, Tyndale, 2008

According to the Chronology quotes above, the date 10 March 597 would correspond to the end of Adar, but what if there was a Second Adar that year? Would that mean it was actually at the very end of the year 598, and not the beginning of 597? Or, if the 18 July 586 date given for the fall of Jerusalem had a Second Adar ‘inserted’ just before the start of the Jewish new year, would that not bring the year 587 into the frame for the fall of the Temple a month later? I’m not saying – I’m asking.