Complete Works of Saint Jerome, Vol. V

AFrom the first captivity of Israel, which occurred under King Pekah, until the eleventh year of Zedekiah, when the Temple was laid waste, is one hundred and sixty-four alt. seventy years. From the second, when Hoshea was captured and all Samaria was overthrown, is one hundred and thirty-five alt. eighty years. And there were seventy years of the temple's desolation, which, when added to the first captivity, make two hundred and thirty-four years. For in the second year of Darius, king of the Persians, the temple was built by Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, son of Jehozadak, while the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were prophesying. Darius reigned for thirty-six years: with one year removed, his thirty-five years are added. After him, Xerxes, son of Darius, reigned for twenty years. After him, Artabanus for seven months. And Xerxes original: "Xerxes", who was nicknamed Μακρόχειρ Longimanus/Long-handed, reigned for forty years. After him, Xerxes for two months, and Sogdianus for seven months alt. four. He was succeeded by Darius, nicknamed Νόθος Nothus/Bastard, who reigned for nineteen years. After him, Artaxerxes, nicknamed Μνήμων Mnemon/The Mindful alt. Memnon, son of Darius and Parysatis, reigned for forty years; he is called Ahasuerus by the Hebrews. Under him, the story of Mordecai and Esther is narrated (Esther 8): when the entire Jewish people were freed from the danger of death and recovered their former liberty. From the second year of Darius until the last year of Ahasuerus, there are one hundred and fifty-five years and four months. These, added to the previous two hundred and thirty-four years, make three hundred and eighty-nine years and four months.

However, the sleeping on the right side, that is, the forty years, is easily calculated. For after Eliakim, who was nicknamed Jehoiakim, his son Jehoiachin, nicknamed Jeconiah, reigned for three months. While he was reigning, "The servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up to Jerusalem, and it was surrounded by fortifications: and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to the city, while his servants were attacking it. And Jehoiachin, king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his eunuchs, and the king of Babylon received him in the eighth year of his reign, and took out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the royal house." And a little later: "He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of the army, ten thousand into captivity, and every craftsman and smith, and nothing was left, except the poor of the people of the land" (2 Kings 24). After he was taken along with an infinite multitude of the people and all the wealth of Jerusalem, Zedekiah reigned for eleven years: under whom the city was captured and the temple was destroyed. Its solitude lasted seventy years until the second year of Darius.

AIn the thirtieth year of the temple's desolation, Cyrus reigned in Persia, having overthrown Astyages, king of the Medes: he who, according to the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa. 45), sent back almost fifty thousand men of the tribe of Judah to Jerusalem, along with the vessels of the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away and the other things that the history of Ezra narrates (1 Esdras 1). Just as therefore in Israel, that is, the ten tribes under Pekah, king of Israel—under whom Shalmaneser devastated much of the Israelite people—until the fortieth year of Ahasuerus, we calculate three hundred and ninety years, when the persecution of the entire Jewish people was mitigated: so from the first year of Jeconiah, when a great part of Jerusalem was carried into Babylon, until the first year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, which was the thirtieth year of the temple's desolation, forty years are calculated, under whom the captivity of the Jews was loosened and liberty was restored to the people.

Some, joining the three hundred and ninety years of Israel and the forty of Judah, make four hundred and thirty years, and they wish for them to be fulfilled from the baptism of the Savior until the consummation of the world. Others, however, and especially the Jews, wish for the four hundred and thirty years to be calculated from the second year of Vespasian, when Jerusalem was captured by the Romans and the temple overthrown, as being the time the people were set in tribulation, and anguish, and the yoke of captivity; and thus for the people to return to their former state. Just as the sons of Israel were in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years, so the final captivity is to be finished in the same number. It is written in Exodus: "Now the dwelling of the children of Israel, which they inhabited in the land of Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years" (Exod. 12:40). And again: "It came to pass after four hundred and thirty years, all the host of the Lord went out in the night" (Exod. 12:41).

I am quite surprised why the Vulgate copies have one hundred and ninety years, and in some it is written "one hundred and fifty": when the Hebrew, as well as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, clearly hold "three hundred and ninety years," and among the Septuagint themselves, who are not corrupted by the fault of copyists, the same number is found. I believe we have explained this most difficult question—and I say this without arrogance—not so much by our own knowledge as by the Lord’s grace, fulfilling what He himself promised: "Seek, and you will find; ask, and you will receive: knock, and it will be opened to you" (Matt. 7:7). However, one who wishes to calculate from the first captivity, which occurred under Menahem, son of Gaddi, king of Israel, who reigned in Samaria for ten years (2 Kings 15)—when Pul, king of the Assyrians, came into the land of Israel and took a thousand talents of silver; and after him adds the other two years of Pekah who reigned in Israel—will find that in the twenty-eighth year of King Ahasuerus, the three hundred and ninety years are completed, when the story of Esther is said to have occurred: which is also more credible. For Israel did not cast off the yoke of most grievous servitude when the empire of Ahasuerus ended, but while he was still reigning.