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Created
5940(?) 05 16 2026 [2010-07-29]
Last edited
5940(?) 05 17 2026 [2010-07-30]
Extensive
review and revision 5968[v2023-12-04] 11
21 – 11 26 2040… [Thu 2025-02-20 – Tue 2025-02-25] – Cf. last
prior version!
Haggai
vs Zechariah Reckoning
Finally
Resolved!
-
A
Study in Progress:
(Therefore, please forgive me for any errors, whether
words remaining from past thinking and not yet corrected or thoughts of mine
that are still suffering from being in error until somehow
I am given additional rays of light!)
Abstract:
As
it turns out Haggai must be recognized, not only as using the Babylonian
calendar, which begins its years with Nisan 1, but, possibly, also as using a
different event, and thus also a different date, for the beginning of Darius’
reign than does Zechariah. That is, Haggai’s reckoning could be based upon a
recognition of the existence of a reign of the False Smerdis, whereas the
reckoning of Zechariah is disregarding that reign as if it never existed… as
did also King Darius himself!
Given
not only that the False Smerdis reigned from Tammuz 6, 521 BCE to Tishri 10,
521 BCE, which in and of itself alone makes no difference, but that, subsequent
to False Smerdis, first Atrines, the son of Opadarmas, of Susiana, and then Nidi-tabelus,
son of Anires, of Babylonia, aka Pseudo-Nebuchadnezzar, reigned. Pseudo-Nebuchadnezzar
[III] reigned for a minimum of not quite 12 months. This makes for at least a
one-year difference in the numbering of the calendar years being referenced by
the scribes. [That is, regardless of whether or not such scribes were using the
Scriptural or the Babylonian calendar!]
In
the end, I find that seeing that the Scriptural reckoning of Darius’ regnal
years precede the corresponding Babylonian reckoning, this is sufficient in and
of itself to clarify the apparently contradictory dating of one and the same
event by Haggai vs Zechariah. That is, the 8th and 11th
months of Darius’ 2nd year of reign (per Zechariah 1:1, 7,)
Scriptural calendar reckoning, both precede the 6th, 7th,
and 9th months of Darius’ reign, Babylonian calendar year reckoning,
referenced by Haggai (Haggai 1:1, 15; 2:1, 18).
Considerations:
It may have appeared as though the question re the different reckoning
of Haggai vs. Zechariah have been even previously resolved, that is, merely by
recognizing that Haggai is using the Babylonian calendar whereas Zechariah is
using the Scriptural calendar…
But is that really true? Is that resolving all our questions? Perhaps no
one has found reasons for looking even deeper? Perhaps the waters of our
understanding these issues have been so muddled that no one has even heretofore
recognized that there could be even more of an apparent discrepancy that needs
resolving?
A number of years ago, as I was reviewing my
prior work[1] re these items it suddenly dawned on
me that these particulars have never before been fully resolved by myself. In
particular, how is it that the 8th and 11th months of
Darius’ 2nd year of reign (Zechariah 1:1, 7,) Scriptural calendar reckoning,
per Zechariah both precede (Zechariah 1:17) the 6th, 7th,
and 9th month of what may seem to be much the same 2nd
year of Darius’ reign, Babylonian calendar, per Haggai? Can this dilemma be
resolved merely by recognizing that Haggai is using the Babylonian calendar
while Zechariah is using the Scriptural calendar? In my earlier
version of this article I wrote that “It cannot!” Nonetheless, it can, and
it does whenever an accession event occur between Abib 1 – Tishri 21. That is,
whenever the Scriptural reckoning of regnal years precedes the Babylonian
reckoning of regnal years by those close to seven months.
Accordingly, my prior mistaken thought, based,
as it was, upon my then more limited information, caused me to return to the
basics: What event initiated Darius’ reign, and when
did it occur? Having discovered some years ago Darius’ autobiographical report
re his actions it suddenly came to me that Darius’ words are in themselves the
resolution to this question, that is, as quoted below (emphasis in bold blue and red font added:)
“10 And DARIUS
the King says: This is, what I did, by the grace of ORMAZD, when I gained the
kingdom: The named CAMBYSES, son of CYRUS, was king here before me. This
CAMBYSES had a brother, named SMERDIS (BARDIYA), they had the same mother and
the same father. Afterwards, this CAMBYSES killed SMERDIS. When CAMBYSES killed
SMERDIS, the people did not know, that SMERDIS was killed. Then CAMBYSES went
to Egypt. The people became bad, and many falsehoods grew up in the provinces,
as well in Persia, as in Media, as in the other lands. And then a man, a
Magian, named GOMATES, from Pasargada,[2] near the mount named Arakadris, there he arose. On
the 14th day of the month Viyakhna,[3] thus he arose: To the
people he told lies, and {p.90} said: "I am SMERDIS, the son of CYRUS, the
brother of CAMBYSES." Then all the people revolted from CAMBYSES, went over to him, and the
Persians, and the Medes, and the other nations. He seized the kingdom. On the 6th day of the month Garmapada[4] he took the royalty
from CAMBYSES. Then
CAMBYSES[5] died, killing himself.
“11 And DARIUS
the King says: Of this my kingdom the Magian GOMATES had deprived CAMBYSES,
this kingdom had belonged to our race since the most ancient times.
Now, GOMATES the Magian, deprived CAMBYSES as well of the Persians, as of the
Medians, as of the other nations, he did according to his own will, and seized
the royalty over them.
“12 And DARIUS the King says: There was neither
a man in Persia, nor a Median, nor any one of our race
who would have dispossessed GOMATES the Magian of the kingdom. The people
feared him utterly. He killed many people who had known the former SMERDIS. He
killed many persons for the following reason, thinking: "May they not
acknowledge me, that I am not SMERDIS, son of CYRUS?" And nobody dared to
say about GOMATES the Magian, any thing whatever,
until I came. And I prayed to ORMAZD. ORMAZD was my helper. By the grace of
ORMAZD, on the 10th day of the month
of Bagayadis,[6] then accompanied by a
few men, I killed {p.91} GOMATES the Magian, and with him the men who were his principal
adherents. There is a fortress, named Sikhyuvatis,[7] in the country called Nisaea, in Media; there I killed him, I dispossessed him of
the royalty, by the grace of ORMAZD, I had the kingly power, ORMAZD gave to me
the royalty.
“13 And DARIUS the
King says: The kingdom which had been robbed from our race, I restored it. I
put again in its place. As it had been before me, thus I did. I
re-established the temples of the gods which GOMATES the Magian had destroyed,
and I reinstituted,
in favour of the people, the calendar and the holy
language, and I gave back to the families what GOMATES the Magian
had taken away. And I replaced (the) people in their ancient state, as well the
Persians, as the Medians, as the other nations, just
as they had been before. I restored
{p.92} what had been robbed. By the grace of ORMAZD, thus I did; I
made great efforts, until I established again our house in its state, as it had been before; and thus
I made my efforts, by the grace of ORMAZD, as if
GOMATES the Magian had never dispossessed our family.”
(THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL
ARCHAEOLOGY, RECORDS OF THE PAST, Vol.
7)
It
follows that, Gomates aka. False Smerdis aka. Bardes (Bar-zi-ya) began his de facto reign, as reckoned, on “the 14th
day of the month Viyakhna[8]” = Adar 14 = Feb
27, 521 BCE, after which he “took the royalty” from the day Cambyses, who died shortly after “The 6th day of the
month Garmapada[9] ” = Tammuz 6 = June 16, 521 BCE.
Thereafter continuing his reign until Darius killed him on “The 10th day of the
month of Bagayadis.[10] ”, i.e.
Tishri 10, September 16, 521 BCE, a total of 110+100±2 days or so.
Darius
reckoned his reign from the day Cambyses died shortly after “The 6th day of the
month Garmapada[11] ” = Tammuz 6, 521 BCE. Gomates aka. False Smerdis aka. Bardes
(Bar-zi-ya) was obliterated ab initio out of history.
Darius did not reckon his reign from the day he killed False Smerdis
aka. Bardes (Bar-zi-ya) aka. Gomates on “The 10th day of the
month of Bagayadis.[12] ”, i.e. Tishri
10, September 16, 521 BCE.
Accordingly,
does it make any difference whether or not Haggai and/or Zechariah reckoned Darius’
reign from the death of Cambyses, or from the death of False Smerdis? No,
because either way the Scriptural regnal year reckoning would precede the
Babylonian year reckoning, that is, given that Cambyses and Gomates both died within
one and the same Abib 1 – Tishri 21 window of time!
It
follows that per Scriptural calendar reckoning the 8th and the 11th
months of Darius’ 2nd year precedes the 6th, 7th,
and 9th months of Darius’ 2nd year as reckoned per the
Babylonian calendar.
Apparently,
the issue that initiated this little study of mine, re date stamps of Haggai vs
Zechariah, was all in my own head. Or was it? Was it important for me, and perhaps
for others, to know how deal with the reign of the False Smerdis? Yes, it
was!...
And
furthermore, as it turns out, following the death of False Smerdis, there was two
additional revolts, and reigns. First Atrines, the son of Opadarmas, of
Susiana, and then came Nidi-tabelus, son of Anires, of Babylonia, aka
Nebuchadnezzar III aka. Pseudo-Nebuchadnezzar…
(From Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society. Vol. XIV. Part I. Pages 89, 99, and 104.)
…whose
reigns lasted almost a full year:
That
is, until at least Elul 15 of the subsequent calendar year (whether per
Scriptural or Babylonian calendar reckoning.) Evidence for the timing of these
intermediate reigns is found (for instance) in the form of dated Babylonian
clay tablets (cf. the above three pictures) known as the Egibi Firm contracts.
Notice in particular that no Egibi Firm clay tablets were found bearing a date
within either False Smerdis’ or Darius’ accession years. Indeed, not until the
very last month of Darius’ 1st year of reign do we find an Egibi
Firm clay tablet contract being dated in terms of Darius’ reign. That is,
paralleling the time of Pseudo-Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. In other words, it is
clear that the Egibi Firm did not recognize Darius Hystaspes as the regent of
Babylon until after all three of these usurpers on the throne of Assyria. That
is, not until after the end of Pseudo-Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Cf. Transactions
of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Vol. VI (London, January 1878), pp.
66-69.[13]
. .
. . . . .
A
note re certain words of Zechariah from the prophetic pen of Ellen G. White
(Parenthetically,
another consequence of this reckoning is that a prophetic utterance of Ellen G.
White re a 500-year difference between the prophetic utterance of Zechariah and
the birth of Yeshua now finds a potential maximum 502-year[14] difference, that is, whereas before
I found a maximum 501-year[15] difference between these events…
And, whereas, per commonly accepted history, there is a 521-year difference
between these events!
That
is, between Darius’ 4th year, Kislev 4, 519 BCE and Elul, 16 BCE,
the month when the angel Gabriel visited Mary, there are 502 Abib 1 New Moons,
as well as also 502 Tishri 1 New Moons (along with 502 Tishri 22 Eighth Day
Feasts).)
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