[ Home ]  [ Biblical Stuff ]  [ Biblical Subjects ]  [ On Prophecy ]  [ Jerusalem Timeline ]

Jerusalem Timeline

After reading through a number of articles and a few books dealing with modern dispensational millenialist
viewpoints on prophecy, I decided to take a look at the underlying assumptions in their interpretation of
especially the prophecies of Daniel. One thing that stands out glaringly is the capricious nature of their
selection of succession of nations or kingdoms which are fitted to the various metals, horns, or beasts of
the visions in Daniel. That which seems to me entirely obvious, and beyond debate, is the fact that the
prophecies are clearly centered on Jerusalem, the rulership of which is the central concern of the seer
and which should similarly be the central concern of one seeking to interpret the visions in regards to their
original fulfilment and any possible subsequent ones, which so many modern, some quite successful,
prophecy authors write on.

In order to learn whether the rulership of Jerusalem after the Seleucid age would display any discernible
patterns to which Daniel's imagery might be applied, I put together the timeline below. Where I have found
precise dates, I have used them. My primary conclusion, which I had already suspected, is that it's beyond
doubt that any so-called historicist position is simply not tenable given Jerusalem as the center of the
prophecies. While the history of the Holy City is certainly one of many conquerers and many conquered,
I see no way to tie this series of changes of dominion to the spectacular imagery of Daniel outside of the
original Seleucid period to which it first applied. At least at such a large scale as the change of dominion over
Jerusalem between nations, which is usually the scale at which these modern interpreters work at, there does
not appear a pattern. Perhaps a more detailed examination at the level of individual rulers will present such,
as St. John the author of Revelation discovered in applying Daniel's ten horned beast to the Roman emperors.
That will be for another page.

I may work on the presentation a bit more, but the initial version given here will, I think, suffice for now.

As always, your comments are welcome.

Last updated 16 July 2004