Why is 606 B.C. significant as the beginning of the times of the Gentiles?
606 B.C. marks the beginning of the times of the Gentiles because Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and took Israel captive, and from that point until Christ’s Second Coming Jerusalem has largely remained under Gentile armies and successive Gentile powers. Jesus Himself identified it as that starting point.
Les explains that 606 B.C. is significant because that is when Nebuchadnezzar took the Jews captive and destroyed the temple. From that point in time, Jesus spoke of it as the beginning of the times of the Gentiles, meaning that until the Second Coming of Christ, Jerusalem would for the most part be under the heavy boot of Gentile armies. Since 606 B.C., the land of Israel has been under one Gentile power after another. Les also notes that even in recent times, though Israel seems more sovereign, it remains under the heavy hand of the U.N. and the United States government and is not as free as many think. He connects this to the Jews who were scattered in the Babylonian captivity and later found by Paul in synagogues throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome.