his own day, the Chronicler is answering that question with a ringing affirmation. He is saying in effect, “God has loved us from the foundation of the world; we are a prepared people brought to a prepared land. It is a new day.” Since each of Jeremiah’s seventy years represented an unobserved sabbatical year, it is also natural to ask whether the Chronicler had in mind some definite 490-year period during which the laws regarding the sabbatical year (Lev 25) had not been observed. Many suggestions