I have seen a rather convincing argument that the "30th year" of Ezekiel
1:1, and various other dates in Ezekiel, refer to the jubilee year
cycle. This is in a paper
http://www.etsjets.org/jets/journal/47/47-1/47-1-pp021-038_JETS.pdf,
from the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (so not from a
crackpot). The author, Rodger Young, argues (from the Talmud, more
details in a companion article
http://www.etsjets.org/jets/journal/46/46-4/46-4-pp589-603_JETS.pdf )
that a jubilee cycle started in 623 BCE, and so this date in Ezekiel is
594 BCE.
So, could the 20th year of Nehemiah 1:1 also refer to a jubilee cycle?
Young's date for the next jubilee cycle is 574, the next would be 525,
then 476.
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