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1914 A.D., 607 B.C., 586 B.C. and the Jehovah's Witnesses. by Matt Slick
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jwshe...@satx.rr.com
May 19, 2013, 8:55:41 AM5/19/13
to
1914 A.D., 607 B.C., 586 B.C. and the Jehovah's Witnesses.
by Matt Slick
An absolutely critical date for the Jehovah's Witnesses is 1914 AD.
It is the date when, according to the Jehovah's Witnesses, the time of
the Gentiles ended (Watchtower, 5/1/93, page 11) and "Jesus-the
heavenly warrior Michael-became King of God's heavenly
Kingdom," (Watchtower 11/1/93, page 23). To arrive at this date, the
Witnesses take the account in Daniel 4 and apply a 360 day year for
each of the seven "times" for a total of 2520 years. They add this
date to 607 B.C., their date for the fall of Jerusalem under
Nebuchadnezzar, and arrive at 1914 A.D., the date when Jesus
supposedly returned invisibly in the heavens (The Truth Shall Make You
Free, p. 300), the "appointed time of the nations" ended (The Time is
at Hand, page 79), and the beginning of the end of the world commenced
(Watchtower 11/15/50, page 438). Please consider the following quote.
"This marked time began in the year 1914 (A.D.). In that
important year the 'appointed times of the nations,' 2,520 years long,
ran out. If we measure back that many years from 1914 we come to the
ancient date of 607 B.C. That year was marked for the overthrow of the
earthly "throne of Jehovah" and for the destruction of the throne city
of Jerusalem and its sanctuary and for the total desolation of the
land of the kingdom of Judah." (From the Book, "Your Will," 1958, pp.
309-310, Watchtower CD, emphasis added).
Therefore, the date 607 BC becomes the critical date in question. Was
607 BC the date when Jerusalem fell? No, it wasn't. No Bible scholar
and no archaeological scholar holds to that date. The correct date is
586 B.C., not 607 B.C. Therefore, the Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong
about 1914 and everything else they attach to that date based on their
prophet misunderstanding. Let's verify further that 607 B.C. is the
date used by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society before we
establish the counter evidence.
"The true prophet Jeremiah, not the false prophets, was vindicated
when Jerusalem was razed by Babylonian soldiers in 607 B.C.E., the
temple destroyed, and the populace either killed or dragged away
captive to distant Babylon. The pitiful few that were left in the land
fled into Egypt.-Jeremiah 39:6-9; 43:4-7," (Watchtower 2/1/92, page
4).
"In 607 B.C.E., Israel was taken into captivity for 70
years," (Watchtower 4/15/92, page 10).
"Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 740 B.C.E., and Jerusalem and
its temple were destroyed by the Babylonians in 607
B.C.E," (Watchtower, 11/1/92, page 13).
"The Babylonians came in 607 B.C.E. and stripped Jerusalem bare.
Her people and her wealth were carried off to Babylon. The city was
destroyed, the temple was burned, and the land was left desolate.-2
Chronicles 36:17-21," (Watchtower 10/15/88, page 16).
Following are citations verifying that the correct date for the fall
of Jerusalem was not 607 B.C, but 586 B.C.
According to Encyclopedia.com, the Babylonian captivity, is
defined as "the period from the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.) to the
reconstruction in Palestine of a new Jewish state (after 538 B.C.)."
"You will recall that the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar, after
twice laying siege to Jerusalem, finally captured it in 586 B.C.E.
Nebuchadnezzar's army then pillaged the city, destroying the Temple
and sending the inhabitants off to exile in Babylonia. ("Biblical
Archaeological Review, Biblical Archaelogical Review).
"...Nebuchadnezzar promptly invaded his unhappy country and
besieged Jerusalem for a year and a half. In 587 Jerusalem fell and
numbers of its inhabitants were carried away captive to
Babylonia..." (Unger, Merrill, F., Unger's Bible Dictionary, Moody
Press, Chicago, 1966, page 782).
Notice that the year 587 is offered instead of 586. There is
sometimes a difference of opinion as to which year is the exact one.
Nevertheless, it is obvious that 607 B.C. is not even close.
"586, Jerusalem destroyed and burned (Jer. 52:13b.); people taken
captive (52:28-30). (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,
Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1982, page 1016)
It is quite clear that the Jehovah's Witness organization is wrong
about the 607 B.C. date upon which they place so much of their end
times theology. If they are wrong about such a basic event and have
not changed their error to match historical fact, how can they be
trusted to represent biblical truth? They cannot.
The fact is that they can not change their date of 1914 because they
have so much invested in it. They are forced to retain their 607 BC
date even though it is in obvious error. To admit they were wrong is
to undermine the whole credibility and truth of the Watchtower Bible
and Tract Society. This they cannot do because they are more
dedicated to their organization than they are to the truth.
http://carm.org/1914-ad-607-bc-586-bc-and-jehovahs-witnesses
James
May 19, 2013, 11:40:13 AM5/19/13
to
"jwshe...@satx.rr.com" <jwshe...@satx.rr.com>
The reason JW's use 607 is because they use the Bible's dates and
information as the more authentic ones over secular dates.
But yes, they fully admit that secular sources give 586 B.C. as the
date of Jerusalem's fall. But here it is in their own words, the
reasons why they use 607 B.C. and not 586 B.C. And also some insight
into why the secular sources use 586 B.C:
""Your Word Is Truth"
When Did Babylon Desolate Jerusalem?
SECULAR historians usually give the year 586 B.C.E. as the correct
date for the desolation of Jerusalem. Why, then, do Jehovah's
Christian witnesses speak of this event as occurring in 607 B.C.E.? It
is because of confidence in what the Bible says about the duration of
Jerusalem's lying desolate.
The Scriptures assign a period of seventy years to the desolation of
Judah and Jerusalem. After describing the Babylonian conquest of
Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 36:21 reports: "All the days of lying
desolated it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years." By means of his
prophet Jeremiah, Jehovah had declared: "All this land must become a
devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will
have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years."-Jer. 25:11.
Was this really a period of seventy literal years? Yes, that is the
way the prophet Daniel, toward the close of the period of Jerusalem's
desolation, understood it, saying: "I myself, Daniel, discerned by the
books the number of the years concerning which the word of Jehovah had
occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, for fulfilling the devastations of
Jerusalem, namely, seventy years." (Dan. 9:2) Note that here Daniel
speaks of the "number of the years" of devastation as seventy. Surely
he could not have done so if the seventy years were symbolic or an
inflated round number.
Additional evidence is provided in the book of Zechariah. We read:
"When you fasted and there was a wailing in the fifth month and in the
seventh month, and this for seventy years, did you really fast to me,
even me?" (Zech. 7:5; 1:12) The way this question is framed, with
reference to specific months, certainly indicates that a period of
seventy literal years was involved.
That the Jews in ancient times understood the seventy years as being
literal and involving a total devastation of the land is apparent from
the works of Josephus, a Jewish historian. In his Antiquities of the
Jews, Book X, chap. 9, par. 7, he tells that "all Judea and Jerusalem,
and the temple, continued to be a desert for seventy years."
When the Israelites were able to return to Judah and Jerusalem, that
desolation ended. There is general agreement that Babylon fell to
Cyrus on October 5/6, 539 B.C.E. From the Scriptural record at 2
Chronicles 36:21-23 and Ezra 3:1-3, which tells of Cyrus' decree
liberating the Jews and their return to their homeland, the
indications are that the Jews arrived back in their homeland around
the early part of October of 537 B.C.E., ending the seventy years of
desolation. Jerusalem must, therefore, have been destroyed seventy
years earlier, in 607 B.C.E.
Various attempts to harmonize the date 586 B.C.E. with what the Bible
says are therefore unsatisfactory. None of such attempts fit the
Bible's testimony that Jerusalem and Judah lay desolate for seventy
years.
The 586 B.C.E. date is based primarily on what is known as "Ptolemy's
Canon," which assigns a total of 87 years to the Babylonian dynasty
beginning with Nabopolassar and ending with Nabonidus at the fall of
Babylon in 539 B.C.E. According to this Canon, the five kings that
ruled during this period were Nabopolassar (21 years), Nebuchadnezzar
(43 years), Evil-merodach (2 years), Neriglissar (4 years) and
Nabonidus (17 years). In line with the number of years thus assigned
to each ruler, Jerusalem's desolation in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth
year (nineteenth year if counting from his "accession year") would
fall in 586 B.C.E.-2 Ki. 25:8; Jer. 52:29.
But how dependable is Ptolemy's Canon? In his book The Mysterious
Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, Professor E. R. Thiele writes:
"Ptolemy's canon was prepared primarily for astronomical, not
historical, purposes. It did not pretend to give a complete list of
all the rulers of either Babylon or Persia, nor the exact month or day
of the beginning of their reigns, but it was a device which made
possible the correct allocation into a broad chronological scheme of
certain astronomical data which were then available. Kings whose
reigns were less than a year and which did not embrace the New Year's
day were not mentioned." (Italics ours.)
So the very purpose of the Canon makes absolute dating by means of it
impossible. There is no way to be sure that Ptolemy was correct in
assigning a certain number of years to various kings. For example,
while Ptolemy credits Evil-merodach with only two years of rule,
Polyhistor assigns him twelve years. Then, too, one cannot be certain
that just five kings ruled during this period. At Borsippa, for
instance, were found names of a number of Babylonian kings that do not
appear elsewhere.
Nevertheless, someone may ask, Is there not an ancient astronomical
tablet, "VAT 4956," that places the thirty-seventh year of
Nebuchadnezzar's reign exactly in the same year as does Ptolemy's
Canon?
It should not be overlooked that the source of corroborative evidence
should bear the earmarks of dependability. Can this be said about "VAT
4956"? Not really. The text is not an original and it contains
numerous gaps. Certain terms found therein cannot even be understood
now. Twice in the text the notation hi-bi (meaning "broken off,
obliterated") appears. Thereby the scribe acknowledged that he was
working from a defective copy.
Even if, despite these problems, the astronomical information presents
a true picture of the original, this would not establish the
correctness of the historical data. As Ptolemy used the reigns of
ancient kings (as he understood them) simply as a framework in which
to place astronomical data, so the copyist of "VAT 4956" may, in line
with the chronology accepted in his time, have inserted the
'thirty-seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar.' As admitted by the German
scholars Neugebauer and Weidner (the translators of this text), the
scribe evidently changed words to conform with the abbreviated
terminology common in his day. But he was both inconsistent and
inaccurate. So he could just as easily have inserted other information
to suit his purposes. Hence both Ptolemy's Canon and "VAT 4956" might
even have been derived from the same basic source. They could share
mutual errors.
Opposed to Ptolemy's Canon and "VAT 4956" stands the unanimous
testimony of Jeremiah, Zechariah, Daniel and the writer of 2
Chronicles, that Judah and Jerusalem lay desolate for seventy years.
Thousands of ancient manuscripts of these writings contain the
identical testimony. So, because of the problems inherent in Ptolemy's
Canon and "VAT 4956," it takes more faith to accept them than it does
to accept the Bible's testimony, which would place the desolation of
Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E." (1972 Awake, 5/8, pp.
27,28)
The reason JW's use 607 is because they use the Bible's dates and
information as the more authentic ones over secular dates.
But yes, they fully admit that secular sources give 586 B.C. as the
date of Jerusalem's fall. But here it is in their own words, the
reasons why they use 607 B.C. and not 586 B.C. And also some insight
into why the secular sources use 586 B.C:
""Your Word Is Truth"
When Did Babylon Desolate Jerusalem?
SECULAR historians usually give the year 586 B.C.E. as the correct
date for the desolation of Jerusalem. Why, then, do Jehovah's
Christian witnesses speak of this event as occurring in 607 B.C.E.? It
is because of confidence in what the Bible says about the duration of
Jerusalem's lying desolate.
The Scriptures assign a period of seventy years to the desolation of
Judah and Jerusalem. After describing the Babylonian conquest of
Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 36:21 reports: "All the days of lying
desolated it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years." By means of his
prophet Jeremiah, Jehovah had declared: "All this land must become a
devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will
have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years."-Jer. 25:11.
Was this really a period of seventy literal years? Yes, that is the
way the prophet Daniel, toward the close of the period of Jerusalem's
desolation, understood it, saying: "I myself, Daniel, discerned by the
books the number of the years concerning which the word of Jehovah had
occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, for fulfilling the devastations of
Jerusalem, namely, seventy years." (Dan. 9:2) Note that here Daniel
speaks of the "number of the years" of devastation as seventy. Surely
he could not have done so if the seventy years were symbolic or an
inflated round number.
Additional evidence is provided in the book of Zechariah. We read:
"When you fasted and there was a wailing in the fifth month and in the
seventh month, and this for seventy years, did you really fast to me,
even me?" (Zech. 7:5; 1:12) The way this question is framed, with
reference to specific months, certainly indicates that a period of
seventy literal years was involved.
That the Jews in ancient times understood the seventy years as being
literal and involving a total devastation of the land is apparent from
the works of Josephus, a Jewish historian. In his Antiquities of the
Jews, Book X, chap. 9, par. 7, he tells that "all Judea and Jerusalem,
and the temple, continued to be a desert for seventy years."
When the Israelites were able to return to Judah and Jerusalem, that
desolation ended. There is general agreement that Babylon fell to
Cyrus on October 5/6, 539 B.C.E. From the Scriptural record at 2
Chronicles 36:21-23 and Ezra 3:1-3, which tells of Cyrus' decree
liberating the Jews and their return to their homeland, the
indications are that the Jews arrived back in their homeland around
the early part of October of 537 B.C.E., ending the seventy years of
desolation. Jerusalem must, therefore, have been destroyed seventy
years earlier, in 607 B.C.E.
Various attempts to harmonize the date 586 B.C.E. with what the Bible
says are therefore unsatisfactory. None of such attempts fit the
Bible's testimony that Jerusalem and Judah lay desolate for seventy
years.
The 586 B.C.E. date is based primarily on what is known as "Ptolemy's
Canon," which assigns a total of 87 years to the Babylonian dynasty
beginning with Nabopolassar and ending with Nabonidus at the fall of
Babylon in 539 B.C.E. According to this Canon, the five kings that
ruled during this period were Nabopolassar (21 years), Nebuchadnezzar
(43 years), Evil-merodach (2 years), Neriglissar (4 years) and
Nabonidus (17 years). In line with the number of years thus assigned
to each ruler, Jerusalem's desolation in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth
year (nineteenth year if counting from his "accession year") would
fall in 586 B.C.E.-2 Ki. 25:8; Jer. 52:29.
But how dependable is Ptolemy's Canon? In his book The Mysterious
Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, Professor E. R. Thiele writes:
"Ptolemy's canon was prepared primarily for astronomical, not
historical, purposes. It did not pretend to give a complete list of
all the rulers of either Babylon or Persia, nor the exact month or day
of the beginning of their reigns, but it was a device which made
possible the correct allocation into a broad chronological scheme of
certain astronomical data which were then available. Kings whose
reigns were less than a year and which did not embrace the New Year's
day were not mentioned." (Italics ours.)
So the very purpose of the Canon makes absolute dating by means of it
impossible. There is no way to be sure that Ptolemy was correct in
assigning a certain number of years to various kings. For example,
while Ptolemy credits Evil-merodach with only two years of rule,
Polyhistor assigns him twelve years. Then, too, one cannot be certain
that just five kings ruled during this period. At Borsippa, for
instance, were found names of a number of Babylonian kings that do not
appear elsewhere.
Nevertheless, someone may ask, Is there not an ancient astronomical
tablet, "VAT 4956," that places the thirty-seventh year of
Nebuchadnezzar's reign exactly in the same year as does Ptolemy's
Canon?
It should not be overlooked that the source of corroborative evidence
should bear the earmarks of dependability. Can this be said about "VAT
4956"? Not really. The text is not an original and it contains
numerous gaps. Certain terms found therein cannot even be understood
now. Twice in the text the notation hi-bi (meaning "broken off,
obliterated") appears. Thereby the scribe acknowledged that he was
working from a defective copy.
Even if, despite these problems, the astronomical information presents
a true picture of the original, this would not establish the
correctness of the historical data. As Ptolemy used the reigns of
ancient kings (as he understood them) simply as a framework in which
to place astronomical data, so the copyist of "VAT 4956" may, in line
with the chronology accepted in his time, have inserted the
'thirty-seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar.' As admitted by the German
scholars Neugebauer and Weidner (the translators of this text), the
scribe evidently changed words to conform with the abbreviated
terminology common in his day. But he was both inconsistent and
inaccurate. So he could just as easily have inserted other information
to suit his purposes. Hence both Ptolemy's Canon and "VAT 4956" might
even have been derived from the same basic source. They could share
mutual errors.
Opposed to Ptolemy's Canon and "VAT 4956" stands the unanimous
testimony of Jeremiah, Zechariah, Daniel and the writer of 2
Chronicles, that Judah and Jerusalem lay desolate for seventy years.
Thousands of ancient manuscripts of these writings contain the
identical testimony. So, because of the problems inherent in Ptolemy's
Canon and "VAT 4956," it takes more faith to accept them than it does
to accept the Bible's testimony, which would place the desolation of
Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E." (1972 Awake, 5/8, pp.
27,28)
jwshe...@satx.rr.com
May 19, 2013, 12:29:22 PM5/19/13
to
607 B.C.E.
Email us: JWOP...@gmail.com
This article discusses a pivotal year in Watchtower Society teaching:
The historical year of 607 B.C.E.
The year of 607 B.C.E. is crucial to their doctrine regarding Christ's
presence and reign beginning in 1914, as discussed in the previous
chapter. For those who are unfamiliar with the “607” teaching, here is
a quick recap:
The Watchtower Society teaches that Jerusalem fell to the
Babylonians in 607 B.C.E., commencing a period called the “Gentile
Times” which ended in 1914 C.E., according to their understanding of
dates and prophecy. At the end of the Gentile Times, in 1914, Jesus
Christ invisibly returned and was given the throne to the Heavenly
Kingdom. Upon His invisible return He sought out those on the Earth
who were feeding proper “spiritual food” to the people, and found that
the leadership of the Bible Students (the forerunners to the Jehovah's
Witnesses) were the only ones doing so. Being they were the only group
properly feeding people spiritually, Jesus Christ appointed the
Watchtower Society as His Faithful and Discreet Slave; therefore they
were chosen to be God's sole channel of communication with mankind in
1919 C.E. (after they had endured a period of testing). Since the
Watchtower Society is this chosen channel, all members of the
Jehovah's Witnesses are expected to adhere to the teachings and
information that comes down through them, for this is how they show
loyalty to God and His visible Organization on Earth.
Therefore, if the claimed events in 607 B.C.E. didn't happen, then
1914 C.E. is wrong, which makes the doctrine of the chosen channel
wrong, which would mean the Watchtower Society is not the faithful and
discreet slave. In short, the entirety of the Watchtower Society's
core teaching balances on the date of 607 B.C.E.
The problem is, only the Watchtower Society teaches that Babylon took
Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. – all other sources, (historical and
archaeological) peg this event as happening around 586/587 B.C.E.;
which is about twenty years difference. Because so much of the
Watchtower Society's teaching hangs on this date, and because so many
others refute this teaching, it is important to address this issue.
THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY'S EVIDENCE
NOTE: As mentioned here the Watchtower Society's literature uses
the year designations of “B.C.E.” and “C.E.” instead of “B.C.” and
“A.D.” Both types of designations are interchangeable, therefore this
does not change the dates. Remember, when counting forward in “B.C.E.”
years it is the same as counting “B.C.” years – you count backwards
because B.C.E. is negative numbering on a time-line counting down to
the year Christ was born. For example, if the year 7 B.C.E. is
mentioned, the very next year would actually be 6 B.C.E., as shown
(and remember: there is no “zero” year):
B.C.E. >>>>> (Christ's Birth) >>>>> C.E.
-10.. -9.. -8.. -7.. -6.. -5.. -4.. -3.. -2.. ( 1 ).. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5..
6.. 7.. 8.. 9.. 10
The Watchtower Society provides their perception of biblical evidence
regarding the 607 B.C.E. The primary component of their evidence
centers around a prophetic seventy-year time period based on these
words in Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 25:9-12
(9) here I am sending and I will take all the families of the
north,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “even [sending] to
Nebuchadrezzar* the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them
against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these
nations round about; and I will devote them to destruction and make
them an object of astonishment and something to whistle at and places
devastated to time indefinite. (10) And I will destroy out of them the
sound of exultation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the hand mill and
the light of the lamp. (11) And all this land must become a devastated
seventy years have been fulfilled I shall call to account against the
king of Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah,
‘their error, even against the land of the Chal·de´ans, and I will
make it desolate wastes to time indefinite.
* Our footnote: Nebuchadrezzar is also known as Nebuchadnezzar
The Watchtower Society teaches that this prophecy refers to the Jews'
exile into Babylon. They teach that the Jews finished their period of
exile in 537 B.C.E. explaining that, since this passage in Jeremiah
states they would “have to serve the king of Babylon for seventy
years,” it is logical to count backwards 70 years from 537 B.C.E. to
arrive at the beginning date of the Babylonian destruction of
Jerusalem exile as being 607 B.C.E. Although they admit that Babylon
actually fell in 539 B.C.E., which is two years short of the seventy,
they teach that it took the exiles two years to return to their
homeland, thus finishing the 70 year period of exile (Insight On the
Scriptures, 1988, Vol.2, p.332).
One of the smaller problems with this teaching is the fact that, since
the Jews' exile ended two years shy of the seventy, it cannot be said
that they actually served the king of Babylon for seventy years.
Therefore, this should mean that the actual servitude of the Jews
lasted only 68 years, not the full seventy.
A Jehovah's Witness may argue:
But the prophecy does mention a devastation that was also supposed to
last for 70 years. Since it took the Jews two years to return to
Jerusalem after their release, that makes the full seventy years of
devastation.
The Rebuttal:
The fact is, the prophecy does NOT state that the period of
devastation was supposed to last for seventy years, it only states
that a period of servitude was to last for seventy years – read
Jeremiah 25:11 again (underline and emphasis ours):
And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of
It is a known fact that, several years before the Babylonian
destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar set up a Jew named Zedekiah
(a.k.a. Mattaniah) to be his acting king in Jerusalem before this
siege (2 Kings 24:17). Even the Watchtower Society acknowledges this
fact in their book Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.2, p.352,
topic “Mattaniah” and in The Watchtower, December 15, 2002, p.21. The
Watchtower Society even refers to Zedekiah as a “vassal king” under
Nebuchadnezzar (Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, p.415).
Since a vassal is a servant, Zedekiah could not have been ruling as a
sovereign king in Jerusalem because he was a vassal (servant) king
under Nebuchadnezzar for a period of eleven years before Babylon took
Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:18). Essentially, this means Jerusalem had
already been in servitude to the king of Babylon for over a decade
before its siege and fall at Babylon's hand. Furthermore, Babylon had
already taken a large number of Jews into Exile before installing
Zedekiah as king; Scripture states Babylon took everyone from
Jerusalem except for the lowest class citizens (2 Kings 24:11-17). In
short, Jerusalem had become a low class city which ruled by a vassal
king who was beholden to Babylon. This means that the years of Jewish
servitude actually began at least eleven years before the destruction
of Jerusalem due to their vassalage and the exile of all their higher
class citizens. Even the Watchtower Society points out that then-king
Jehoiachin “surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar in 617 B.C.E.” (Insight On
the Scriptures, 1988, Vol. 1, p.1267), further supporting Jerusalem's
servitude several years before 607 B.C.E. (Though this Watchtower
Society information makes it seem like only ten years, it still points
to a servitude happening for several years before 607 B.C.E.)
Since the Watchtower Society claims that the destruction of Jerusalem
happened in 607 B.C.E., and the Bible states that vassal king Zedekiah
ruled for eleven years before the taking of Jerusalem, then the
servitude to Babylon would have actually had to have started in 618
B.C.E. Essentially, this messes up their doctrine's time line, making
the end of the “Gentile Times” happen in 1903 C.E. instead of 1914
C.E.
And this is assuming that the Watchtower Society is correct in using
607 B.C.E. as the starting year.
HISTORICAL / ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
We cannot deny the fact that there is a lot of archaeological evidence
pointing to the time of 586/587 B.C.E. as the actual date that
Jerusalem fell, in contrast to the Watchtower Society's claimed date
of 607 B.C.E. Some of this evidence includes Ptolemy's Canon, the
Nabonidus Chronicle, certain ancient historians, and the Hillah Stele
(pronounced Hill'-uh Stee'-luh).
The Hillah Stele, also known as “Nabon. #8” was discovered in the late
1800's in the area of Hillah, a place located southeast of Babylon.
This archaeological find contains irrefutable evidence against the
Watchtower Society's teaching of the 607 B.C.E. date.
THE HILLAH STELE
NOTE: Regarding kingly rulership, a king's reign is sometimes
counted with the “ascension year,” and sometimes counted by only the
“regnal years.” An ascension year is the year in which a king receives
the throne and usually isn't a full calendar year (for example, if he
took the throne in August of that year) A regnal year, on the other
hand, includes only entire calendar years. Therefore, if you received
the throne in June 2009 and reigned until December 31 2011, you will
have reigned for 3 years if counting the ascension year, or only two
years if counting solely the regnal years. Because of this difference
in counting, some of the following information rounds the dates to
within a year.
The Hillah Stele establishes the kingly time-line because it records
specific astronomical events which happened during the first years of
the reign of Babylon's last ruling monarch, Nabonidus. The specified
events include: The visibility of the planets Venus, Saturn and
Jupiter after dusk while Mercury and Mars were not, along with the
appearance of specific bright stars. Professor Hildegard Lewy* used
this information to calculate the date of his reign and realized: “The
only time within the given interval when this constellation occurred
was the period of 3 days comprised between Simanu 2 and Simanu 6 of
Nabunaid's [a.k.a. Nabonidus] first full year (May 31 - June 4, 555
B.C.E.), during which period, in fact, also the fixed stars enumerated
by the king were visible in the evening sky.” This solidly establishes
the time of Nabonidus's ascension year as being 556 B.C.E. This 556
B.C.E. ascension year is accepted by the Watchtower Society (Insight
On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.2 p.457 subheading “Nabonidus”).
*Hildegard Lewy received doctorate degrees in art history and
Egyptology and taught Assyriology at the Hebrew Union College. She was
also an expert in the Assyrian and Babylonian languages.
This stele goes on to confirm the reign of Nabonidus lasting for 17
years. When paired with other items of archaeological evidence, namely
the Babylonian Chronicle, a.k.a. BM 21901, and the Harran inscription,
a.k.a. Nabon. H1,B, confirmation is made regarding certain events
during the kingly time-line of that period, specifically the time-line
from Nabopolassar's 16th year to Nabonidus, a 54 year period which
ended in the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C.E. (Nabopolassar was the ruler
at the start of this time-line; his successor was Nebuchadnezzar).
Therefore, going backwards through the time line, since this stele
establishes Nabonidus's ascension year as 556 B.C.E., then
Nabopolassar would have his first year begin around 625/626 B.C.E.
This means that Nebuchadnezzar's first regnal year was around 604/603
B.C.E., which means his 18th year – in which he took Jerusalem
(Jeremiah 32:1-2) – would have to have been about 586/587 B.C.E., not
the Watchtower's date of 607 B.C.E. And these dates are all in
agreement with those of Berossus and Ptolemy's lists.
CHRONOLOGY
What's even more interesting is that, even though the Watchtower
Society continually rejects the date of 587 B.C.E. for Jerusalem's
fall, their own publications inadvertently give a chronology that
actually supports the 587 B.C.E. date. Let us show you:
First, we can establish that the Watchtower Society agrees with
historians that the fall of Babylon happened in 539 B.C.E. by reading
the references in The Watchtower, December 15, 2008, p.22; Isaiah's
Prophecy, Light For All Mankind II, 2001, p.335 para.2; and Insight On
the Scriptures 1988, Vol.1 p.239, third paragraph.
And...the Watchtower Society has published information at different
times which, when shown together, establishes a chronological time-
line of the Babylonian kings. Since the Watchtower Society clearly
agrees that the fall of Babylon happened in 539 B.C.E., we only need
to look at the remainder of the Watchtower Society's chronology,
counting backwards from Babylon's fall, to see that they've actually
pointed to a date starting at 587 B.C.E. instead of their teaching of
607 B.C.E. In fact, the Watchtower Society itself has said (underline
ours): It is well to understand that all Bible chronology dates for
events prior to 539 B.C. must be figured backward from the Absolute
date of 539 B.C. (The Watchtower, February 1, 1955, p.95).
Okay, so let's do this Starting from the end of Babylon and working
backward (citations from the following references are given in the
"appendix" section below this article) :
Babylon Fell in 539 B.C.E.
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.30
2. The Watchtower, January 1, 2000, p.7, para.6
3. What does the Bible Really Teach?, 2005, pp.23-25, para. 13-17
Nabonidus, reigned for 17 years
(Reign must begin in 556 B.C.E. in order to stop at 539 B.C.E.)
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.29
2. Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol. 2, p.457
(Nabonidus' son, Belshazzar, was the co-regent: Daniel 5:7, 16,
29)
Labashi-Marduk, reigned for 1 year
(Would have to begin in 557 B.C.E. in order to stop at 556 B.C.E.)
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.29 (actually mentioned as
only 9 months, I rounded it up to a full year)
Neriglissar, reigned for 4 years
(Would have to begin in 561 B.C.E. in order to stop at 557 B.C.E.)
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.29,
2. Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, p.453
Evil-Merodach, reigned for 2 years
(Would have to begin 563 B.C.E. in order to stop at 561 B.C.E.)
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.29,
2. Insight On the Scriptures,1988, Vol.1, p.773
3. Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, p.453
Nebuchadnezzar, reigned for 43 years
(Would have to begin in 606 B.C.E. to stop at 563 B.C.E.)
1. Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.2, p.480
(This Watchtower Society reference cites his 43 year reign as
going from 624 B.C.E. - 582 B.C.E. to match with their 607 B.C.E.
date, but as you can see, this doesn't match with the remaining
chronology in this list)
Now, armed with this information, all we have to do is see when
Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem. The Bible itself tell us this:
Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem in his 19th year
Since his reign truly began in 606 B.C.E., counting by the numbers
mentioned in the following Scriptures will bring us to the year
586/587 B.C.E.
1. 2 Kings 25:8-9
2. Jer. 52:12-14 (This counts his ascension year, making it 19
years)
3. Jer. 32:1-2 (This counts only regnal years, making it 18 years)
The Jeremiah citations refer to “Nebuchadrezzar,"”although it is
the same king.
This list, straight from the Watchtower Society's own publications,
shows that Nebuchadnezzar's reign would have started at 606 B.C.E. in
order to end with Babylon's fall in 539 B.C.E., requiring that the
taking of Jerusalem in his 18th/19th year would have happened around
586/587 B.C.E.
SEVENTY YEARS
Okay, so if Jerusalem was destroyed at around 587 B.C.E., and Babylon
was destroyed in 539 B.C.E., what does this mean in regards to the
seventy years of servitude as mentioned in Jeremiah? The Watchtower
Society claims that the prophecy in Jeremiah 25 was directed only to
the region of Judah (Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, p.463,
Subheading “From 607 B.C.E. to Return From Exile”; Vol.1, p.1213,
Subheading “Interpretation of Prophecy”, fourth paragraph). However,
when looking at the prophecy in Jeremiah 25, we can see that this
isn't an accurate claim. Here is the passage in Jeremiah again:
(9) here I am sending and I will take all the families of the
north,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “even [sending] to Nebuchadrezzar
the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this
land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round
about; and I will devote them to destruction and make them an object
of astonishment and something to whistle at and places devastated to
time indefinite. (10) And I will destroy out of them the sound of
exultation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the bridegroom and
the voice of the bride, the sound of the hand mill and the light of
the lamp. (11) And all this land must become a devastated place, an
years have been fulfilled I shall call to account against the king of
Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘their
error, even against the land of the Chal·de´ans, and I will make it
desolate wastes to time indefinite.
To start with, it is important to know this: By the time this prophecy
was uttered, Israel had been divided into twin kingdoms so that there
was the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah,
with Jerusalem being located in the southern kingdom of Judah. The
Watchtower Society also agrees with this (Insight On the Scriptures,
1988, Vol.2, pp. 73-74, subheading “Jew(ess)” ).
Next, notice that Jeremiah 25:9 begins by stating that God is sending
Nebuchadnezzar to “take all the families of the north.” This cannot be
speaking of the families of Jerusalem in Judah because Judah was the
southernmost of the twin kingdoms. Verse 9 continues on to reveal that
Babylon will come up against “all these nations round about”. Again,
this cannot be in relation to only Judah because the Scripture is
speaking in the plural, indicating that multiple nations in the
surrounding region are included in this prophecy. And then in Verse 11
it states “these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon
seventy years”. In other words, nations other than Judah would be
devastated, and nations other than Judah would be serving Babylon
during a seventy year period. There is no other feasible way for this
passage to be taken.
So, what exactly does this mean in regard to the seventy year time
period?
To begin with, since it is agreed that Babylon fell to the Persians in
539 B.C.E., then it must the seventy years of serving Babylon would
have to have ended in that year. Therefore, counting backward seventy
years from 539 B.C.E., we see that the beginning of the seventy year
period started in 609 B.C.E. According to the Watchtower Society's
teaching, Babylon laid siege against Jerusalem in 609 B.C.E. and
Jerusalem finally succumbed two years later, in 607 B.C.E. (Insight On
the Scriptures, 1988, Vol. 1, p.463). However, as we've already seen,
this is not accurate; in reality Jerusalem was taken twenty years
later, at around 587 B.C.E. If this is true, then did anything happen
in 609 B.C.E. to start this seventy year period?
Looking at the series of ancient clay tablets known as the Assyrian-
Babylonian Chronicles (abbreviated as “ABC”), we find a permanent
record of historical events which happened during the last 1,500 years
before Christ. The Assyrian-Babylonian Chronicles are a major
archeological find from the ancient Mesopotamian region, most of which
are housed in the British Museum. This series of Chronicles agrees
with other historical finds such as ancient Babylonian kings' lists
and such. According to the text of ABC #3, also known as the “Fall of
Nineveh Chronicle”, Nabopolassar (father of king Nebuchadnezzar) took
Assyria in 609 B.C.E.; ABC #4 continues on to document further
military campaigns of Nabopolassar which happened after his taking of
Assyria.
Assyria was one of the northernmost nations in the region, therefore
it fits the parameters of the prophecy mentioned in Jeremiah 25:9.
Thus, Assyria was the first of the nations taken into servitude to
Babylon, commencing the seventy-year period, followed by the others in
quick succession.
Some Jehovah's Witnesses will argue: But the Scriptural passage at
Jeremiah 29:10 states (underline ours):
“For this is what Jehovah has said, ‘In accord with the fulfilling
of seventy years at Babylon I shall turn my attention to YOU people,
and I will establish toward YOU my good word in bringing YOU back to
this place.”
Doesn't this show the prophecy is directed specifically towards Judah?
No, it does not. If you read that same verse in a Hebrew Interlinear
text, you will see that the actual rendering of the verse reads “for
Babylon”, not the Watchtower Society's reading of “at Babylon”. Here
is the English rendition of the Interlinear verse, verbatim from the
Scripture4All Foundation: (For Scholars: This source uses the
Westminster Leningrad Codex and Concordant Hebrew English Sublinear):
that thus he-says Yahweh that to-bidding-of-me to-be-fulfilled-of
for Babylon seventy year I-shall-visit you...
As you can see by the Interlinear text, the seventy-year period wasn't
at Babylon, it was a seventy-year period for Babylon. In other words,
this seventy-year period was a time-line for Babylon, not a time-line
for Judah. Thus, since the time between Babylon's taking of Assyria up
until the destruction of Babylon spanned exactly seventy years, there
is no discrepancy in the prophecy. Bible versions which agree with the
wording “for Babylon” include (but is not limited to): 2001
Translation – An American Version, American Standard Version, The
Bible in Living English, Darby Translation, English Standard Version,
Holman Christian Standard Bible, New American Bible, New American
Standard Bible, New International Version, and the World English
Bible.
DANIEL 9:2
But what about the Scripture at Daniel 9:2? It reads (underline ours):
...in the first year of his reigning I myself, Daniel, discerned
not say “devastations of Jerusalem for seventy years”, no, it speaks
of the devastation of Jerusalem, and then references it in relation to
the seventy year time line that Babylon was given. In other words, the
devastation of Jerusalem is fulfilled at the same time in which
Babylon's seventy years is fulfilled. Nowhere does Daniel state that
the seventy years began with Jerusalem's fall; as we've already seen,
the seventy years began with the taking of Assyria. And, since we've
already proven that Jerusalem wasn't taken until around 587 B.C.E., it
is clear that the seventy years couldn't refer to Jerusalem since the
time period ended in 539 B.C.E. – meaning that Jerusalem only
experienced 48 years of exile. If you add on the previous 11 years of
vassalage before this, you still have only 59 years of servitude.
Second,when Daniel wrote his words at 9:2 we know he was focusing more
on the end of the time period because used a form of the Hebrew word
“male” (pronounced “mah-lay”) in relation to this seventy-year period
– this can easily be verified by checking a Hebrew interlinear Bible.
According to Strong's Hebrew Lexicon, the Hebrew word “male” is
defined as follows (underline ours):
#4390: mâlê' mâlâ' (maw-lay', maw-law') A primitive root, to
fill or (intransitively) be full of, in a wide application (literally
and figuratively): - accomplish, confirm, + consecrate, be at an end,
be expired, be fenced, fill, fulfil, (be, become, X draw, give in, go)
fully (-ly, -ly set, tale), [over-] flow, fulness, furnish, gather
(selves, together), presume, replenish, satisfy, set, space, take a
[hand-] full, + have wholly.
By using the word “male”, he was referring to the finishing, or
completion of a set time period. By choosing this particular word,
Daniel reveals that he was writing in regard to the end of the seventy-
year period, not its full duration, and that the end of Jerusalem's
devastation would coincide with this.
A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE
The Watchtower Society teaches that all of the archaeological evidence
pointing to the true year as being 586/587 is wrong. According to the
Watchtower Society (underline ours):
If we follow the accurate timekeeping of Jehovah God as recorded
in his Word, we see that the desolation of Judah ran from 607 to 537
B.C.E. and will thereby avoid making the mistake of the chronologers
of Christendom who ignore the prophecy of the seventy years’
desolation and date Jerusalem’s destruction as occurring in 587 B.C.E.
They limit the desolation of Jerusalem and the land of Judah to merely
fifty years, accepting the unreliable calculations of pagan historians
rather than the infallible Word of God. (The Watchtower, September 15,
1965, p.569)
Secular historians, relying on their interpretation of what are in
some cases fragmentary tablets unearthed by archaeologists, have
concluded that 464 B.C.E. was the first year of the kingship of
Artaxerxes Longimanus and that 604 B.C.E. was the first year of the
kingship of Nebuchadnezzar II. If that were true, the 20th year of
Artaxerxes would begin in 445 B.C.E., and the date of Jerusalem’s
desolation by the Babylonians (in Nebuchadnezzar’s 18th regnal year)
would be 587 B.C.E. But if a Bible student uses those dates when
calculating the fulfillment of prophecy, he will simply be confused.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been interested in the findings of
archaeologists as these relate to the Bible. However, where the
interpretation of these findings conflicts with clear statements in
the Bible, we accept with confidence what the Holy Scriptures say,
whether on matters related to chronology or any other topic. (The
Watchtower, March 15, 1989, pp.21-22, para. 16-17)
What's interesting is that in these quotes the Watchtower Society
implies that the Bible shows a time-line different from archaeological
evidence. This is a wrong implication, because in truth the Bible
never gives the numerical year of any event throughout its pages, and
thus you really cannot set a numerical year solely by Scripture. For
example, the Bible states “Now in those days a decree went forth from
Caesar Augustus for all the inhabited earth to be registered; (this
first registration took place when Quirinius was governor of
Syria)” (Luke 2:1-2), and it says “And in the fourteenth year of King
Hezekiah, Sennacherib the king of Assyria came up against all the
fortified cities of Judah and proceeded to seize them” (2 Kings
18:13). If you were to go solely by Scripture, you wouldn't have a
clue as to which numerical year it was when Quirinius was governor of
Syria, or which numerical year it was when king Hezekiah's fourteenth
year was because the numerical year is not given. Scripture will give
us the timing of an event, but never gives the numerical year.
HOWEVER....all is not lost: Even though the Bible itself does not give
the actual numerical year designations, many other ancient record
keepers DID keep record of the numerical years of when things
happened. Thousands of ancient businessmen, court officials, royal
wise men, scribes, scientists, and historians all kept meticulous
records of the daily happenings of the times. This is why we now have
hundreds of thousands of ancient artifacts with which we can match
numerical years with events; especially since numerous individual
artifacts corroborate information from other individual artifacts.
It is due to these artifacts that we can know when anything happened
at all. In fact, it is these very artifacts which the Watchtower
Society itself relies on when establishing numerical years and events
(The Watchtower, May 15, 1971, pp.315-316, full article; see also:
Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, pp.147-156; The Watchtower,
December 15, 2008, pp.21-22, full article; The Watchtower, February 1,
1955, pp.93-95 full article; etc.).
That being said, we find it very curious that, even though the
Watchtower Society heavily relies on archaeological evidence to
support their teaching that Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E., it also
heavily denies archaeological evidence when it doesn't fit their
teaching. For example, they will accept evidence based on the
reliability of ancient historians such as Ptolemy, Diodorus and
Eusebius when these agree with Watchtower teaching (All Scripture is
Inspired of God and Beneficial, 1990, pp.281-282, para. 28), while at
the same time discrediting the reliability of these very same
historians when they don't agree with Watchtower doctrine (Insight On
the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1 pp.455-456 subheading Lunar Eclipses). Due
to this penchant for picking and choosing when to rely on a piece of
evidence, the Watchtower Society reveals its bias towards information
that doesn't agree with them – which is not an unusual trend among
some religious bodies.
If you are interested in reading a thorough and accurate examination
of this Watchtower Society's 607 B.C.E. teaching please see the book
“The Gentile Times Reconsidered”, written by Carl Olof Jonsson.
APPENDIX
Citations From the References
The Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29
Nabonidus, who had served as governor of Babylon and who had been
Nebuchadnezzar’s favorite son-in-law, took the throne and had a fairly
glorious reign until Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E.
The Watchtower, January 1, 2000 p.7 para.6
Sure enough, in 539 B.C.E., the prophetic declaration came true.
Mighty Babylon fell, and God’s covenant people were soon able to
return to their homeland.
Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29,
Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law
Neriglissar, who reigned for four years, which time he spent mainly in
building operations. His underage son Labashi-Marduk, a vicious boy,
succeeded him, and was assassinated within nine months. Nabonidus, who
had served as governor of Babylon and who had been Nebuchadnezzar’s
favorite son-in-law, took the throne
Insight On the Scriptures, (1988) Vol. 2, p.457
Last supreme monarch of the Babylonian Empire; father of Belshazzar.
On the basis of cuneiform texts he is believed to have ruled some 17
years (556-539 B.C.E.). He was given to literature, art, and religion.
( Some Watchtower literature states that it was actually Nabonidus's
son, Belshazzar, who was ruling when Babylon fell in 539 BC ("Pay
Attention to Daniel's Prophecy", pp.50-51, para.9), but either way,
the Watchtower maintains that the Babylonian dynasty ended in 539 BC.)
Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29
Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law
Neriglissar, who reigned for four years, which time he spent mainly in
building operations. His underage son Labashi-Marduk, a vicious boy,
succeeded him, and was assassinated within nine months.
Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29,
Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law
Neriglissar, who reigned for four years, which time he spent mainly in
building operations.
Insight On the Scriptures (1988) Vol.1 p.453 ( "Babylonian
Chronology"),
For Neriglissar, considered to be the successor of Awil-Marduk,
contract tablets are known dated to his fourth year.
Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29,
Amel-Marduk (Evil-merodach) as the oldest son succeeded Nebuchadnezzar
to the throne in 581 B.C.E.
Insight On the Scriptures, Vol.1 p.773
(Evil-merodach) [from Babylonian, meaning “Worshiper of Marduk”]. The
Babylonian king who succeeded Nebuchadnezzar to the throne in 581
B.C.E.
Insight On the Scriptures (1988) Vol.1 p.453
For Awil-Marduk (Evil-merodach, 2Ki 25:27, 28), tablets dated up to
his second year of rule have been found.
2 Kings 25:8-9
(8) And in the fifth month on the seventh [day] of the month, that is
to say, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard, the servant of the
king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. (9) And he proceeded to burn the
house of Jehovah and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem;
and the house of every great man he burned with fire
Jer. 52:12-14 (This verse counts his ascension year, bringing it to 19
years)
(12) And in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, that is,
[in] the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon,
Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard, who was standing before the
king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. (13) And he proceeded to burn
the house of Jehovah and the house of the king and all the houses of
Jerusalem; and every great house he burned with fire. (14) And all the
walls of Jerusalem, round about, all the military forces of the Chal‧de
′ans that were with the chief of the bodyguard pulled down
Jer. 32:1-2 (This verse doesn't count the ascension year, making it 18
years)
(1) The word that occurred to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year
of Zedekiah the king of Judah, that is, the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadrezzar. (2) And at that time the military forces of the king
of Babylon were laying siege to Jerusalem; and as for Jeremiah the
prophet, he happened to be under restraint in the Courtyard of the
Guard that is in the house of the king of Judah;
The Jeremiah citations refer to "Nebuchadrezzar", although it is the
same king.
Insight On the Scriptures, Vol.2, p.480
Second ruler of the Neo-Babylonian Empire; son of Nabopolassar and
father of Awil-Marduk (Evil-merodach), who succeeded him to the
throne. Nebuchadnezzar ruled as king for 43 years
http://www.witness-outreach.com/607.html
Email us: JWOP...@gmail.com
This article discusses a pivotal year in Watchtower Society teaching:
The historical year of 607 B.C.E.
The year of 607 B.C.E. is crucial to their doctrine regarding Christ's
presence and reign beginning in 1914, as discussed in the previous
chapter. For those who are unfamiliar with the “607” teaching, here is
a quick recap:
The Watchtower Society teaches that Jerusalem fell to the
Babylonians in 607 B.C.E., commencing a period called the “Gentile
Times” which ended in 1914 C.E., according to their understanding of
dates and prophecy. At the end of the Gentile Times, in 1914, Jesus
Christ invisibly returned and was given the throne to the Heavenly
Kingdom. Upon His invisible return He sought out those on the Earth
who were feeding proper “spiritual food” to the people, and found that
the leadership of the Bible Students (the forerunners to the Jehovah's
Witnesses) were the only ones doing so. Being they were the only group
properly feeding people spiritually, Jesus Christ appointed the
Watchtower Society as His Faithful and Discreet Slave; therefore they
were chosen to be God's sole channel of communication with mankind in
1919 C.E. (after they had endured a period of testing). Since the
Watchtower Society is this chosen channel, all members of the
Jehovah's Witnesses are expected to adhere to the teachings and
information that comes down through them, for this is how they show
loyalty to God and His visible Organization on Earth.
Therefore, if the claimed events in 607 B.C.E. didn't happen, then
1914 C.E. is wrong, which makes the doctrine of the chosen channel
wrong, which would mean the Watchtower Society is not the faithful and
discreet slave. In short, the entirety of the Watchtower Society's
core teaching balances on the date of 607 B.C.E.
The problem is, only the Watchtower Society teaches that Babylon took
Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. – all other sources, (historical and
archaeological) peg this event as happening around 586/587 B.C.E.;
which is about twenty years difference. Because so much of the
Watchtower Society's teaching hangs on this date, and because so many
others refute this teaching, it is important to address this issue.
THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY'S EVIDENCE
NOTE: As mentioned here the Watchtower Society's literature uses
the year designations of “B.C.E.” and “C.E.” instead of “B.C.” and
“A.D.” Both types of designations are interchangeable, therefore this
does not change the dates. Remember, when counting forward in “B.C.E.”
years it is the same as counting “B.C.” years – you count backwards
because B.C.E. is negative numbering on a time-line counting down to
the year Christ was born. For example, if the year 7 B.C.E. is
mentioned, the very next year would actually be 6 B.C.E., as shown
(and remember: there is no “zero” year):
B.C.E. >>>>> (Christ's Birth) >>>>> C.E.
-10.. -9.. -8.. -7.. -6.. -5.. -4.. -3.. -2.. ( 1 ).. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5..
6.. 7.. 8.. 9.. 10
The Watchtower Society provides their perception of biblical evidence
regarding the 607 B.C.E. The primary component of their evidence
centers around a prophetic seventy-year time period based on these
words in Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 25:9-12
(9) here I am sending and I will take all the families of the
north,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “even [sending] to
Nebuchadrezzar* the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them
against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these
nations round about; and I will devote them to destruction and make
them an object of astonishment and something to whistle at and places
devastated to time indefinite. (10) And I will destroy out of them the
sound of exultation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the hand mill and
the light of the lamp. (11) And all this land must become a devastated
place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will have to serve
the king of Babylon seventy years.”’(12) “‘And it must occur that when
seventy years have been fulfilled I shall call to account against the
king of Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah,
‘their error, even against the land of the Chal·de´ans, and I will
make it desolate wastes to time indefinite.
* Our footnote: Nebuchadrezzar is also known as Nebuchadnezzar
The Watchtower Society teaches that this prophecy refers to the Jews'
exile into Babylon. They teach that the Jews finished their period of
exile in 537 B.C.E. explaining that, since this passage in Jeremiah
states they would “have to serve the king of Babylon for seventy
years,” it is logical to count backwards 70 years from 537 B.C.E. to
arrive at the beginning date of the Babylonian destruction of
Jerusalem exile as being 607 B.C.E. Although they admit that Babylon
actually fell in 539 B.C.E., which is two years short of the seventy,
they teach that it took the exiles two years to return to their
homeland, thus finishing the 70 year period of exile (Insight On the
Scriptures, 1988, Vol.2, p.332).
One of the smaller problems with this teaching is the fact that, since
the Jews' exile ended two years shy of the seventy, it cannot be said
that they actually served the king of Babylon for seventy years.
Therefore, this should mean that the actual servitude of the Jews
lasted only 68 years, not the full seventy.
A Jehovah's Witness may argue:
But the prophecy does mention a devastation that was also supposed to
last for 70 years. Since it took the Jews two years to return to
Jerusalem after their release, that makes the full seventy years of
devastation.
The Rebuttal:
The fact is, the prophecy does NOT state that the period of
devastation was supposed to last for seventy years, it only states
that a period of servitude was to last for seventy years – read
Jeremiah 25:11 again (underline and emphasis ours):
And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of
astonishment, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon
seventy years.
This is only the tip of the iceberg.
seventy years.
It is a known fact that, several years before the Babylonian
destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar set up a Jew named Zedekiah
(a.k.a. Mattaniah) to be his acting king in Jerusalem before this
siege (2 Kings 24:17). Even the Watchtower Society acknowledges this
fact in their book Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.2, p.352,
topic “Mattaniah” and in The Watchtower, December 15, 2002, p.21. The
Watchtower Society even refers to Zedekiah as a “vassal king” under
Nebuchadnezzar (Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, p.415).
Since a vassal is a servant, Zedekiah could not have been ruling as a
sovereign king in Jerusalem because he was a vassal (servant) king
under Nebuchadnezzar for a period of eleven years before Babylon took
Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:18). Essentially, this means Jerusalem had
already been in servitude to the king of Babylon for over a decade
before its siege and fall at Babylon's hand. Furthermore, Babylon had
already taken a large number of Jews into Exile before installing
Zedekiah as king; Scripture states Babylon took everyone from
Jerusalem except for the lowest class citizens (2 Kings 24:11-17). In
short, Jerusalem had become a low class city which ruled by a vassal
king who was beholden to Babylon. This means that the years of Jewish
servitude actually began at least eleven years before the destruction
of Jerusalem due to their vassalage and the exile of all their higher
class citizens. Even the Watchtower Society points out that then-king
Jehoiachin “surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar in 617 B.C.E.” (Insight On
the Scriptures, 1988, Vol. 1, p.1267), further supporting Jerusalem's
servitude several years before 607 B.C.E. (Though this Watchtower
Society information makes it seem like only ten years, it still points
to a servitude happening for several years before 607 B.C.E.)
Since the Watchtower Society claims that the destruction of Jerusalem
happened in 607 B.C.E., and the Bible states that vassal king Zedekiah
ruled for eleven years before the taking of Jerusalem, then the
servitude to Babylon would have actually had to have started in 618
B.C.E. Essentially, this messes up their doctrine's time line, making
the end of the “Gentile Times” happen in 1903 C.E. instead of 1914
C.E.
And this is assuming that the Watchtower Society is correct in using
607 B.C.E. as the starting year.
HISTORICAL / ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
We cannot deny the fact that there is a lot of archaeological evidence
pointing to the time of 586/587 B.C.E. as the actual date that
Jerusalem fell, in contrast to the Watchtower Society's claimed date
of 607 B.C.E. Some of this evidence includes Ptolemy's Canon, the
Nabonidus Chronicle, certain ancient historians, and the Hillah Stele
(pronounced Hill'-uh Stee'-luh).
The Hillah Stele, also known as “Nabon. #8” was discovered in the late
1800's in the area of Hillah, a place located southeast of Babylon.
This archaeological find contains irrefutable evidence against the
Watchtower Society's teaching of the 607 B.C.E. date.
THE HILLAH STELE
NOTE: Regarding kingly rulership, a king's reign is sometimes
counted with the “ascension year,” and sometimes counted by only the
“regnal years.” An ascension year is the year in which a king receives
the throne and usually isn't a full calendar year (for example, if he
took the throne in August of that year) A regnal year, on the other
hand, includes only entire calendar years. Therefore, if you received
the throne in June 2009 and reigned until December 31 2011, you will
have reigned for 3 years if counting the ascension year, or only two
years if counting solely the regnal years. Because of this difference
in counting, some of the following information rounds the dates to
within a year.
The Hillah Stele establishes the kingly time-line because it records
specific astronomical events which happened during the first years of
the reign of Babylon's last ruling monarch, Nabonidus. The specified
events include: The visibility of the planets Venus, Saturn and
Jupiter after dusk while Mercury and Mars were not, along with the
appearance of specific bright stars. Professor Hildegard Lewy* used
this information to calculate the date of his reign and realized: “The
only time within the given interval when this constellation occurred
was the period of 3 days comprised between Simanu 2 and Simanu 6 of
Nabunaid's [a.k.a. Nabonidus] first full year (May 31 - June 4, 555
B.C.E.), during which period, in fact, also the fixed stars enumerated
by the king were visible in the evening sky.” This solidly establishes
the time of Nabonidus's ascension year as being 556 B.C.E. This 556
B.C.E. ascension year is accepted by the Watchtower Society (Insight
On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.2 p.457 subheading “Nabonidus”).
*Hildegard Lewy received doctorate degrees in art history and
Egyptology and taught Assyriology at the Hebrew Union College. She was
also an expert in the Assyrian and Babylonian languages.
This stele goes on to confirm the reign of Nabonidus lasting for 17
years. When paired with other items of archaeological evidence, namely
the Babylonian Chronicle, a.k.a. BM 21901, and the Harran inscription,
a.k.a. Nabon. H1,B, confirmation is made regarding certain events
during the kingly time-line of that period, specifically the time-line
from Nabopolassar's 16th year to Nabonidus, a 54 year period which
ended in the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C.E. (Nabopolassar was the ruler
at the start of this time-line; his successor was Nebuchadnezzar).
Therefore, going backwards through the time line, since this stele
establishes Nabonidus's ascension year as 556 B.C.E., then
Nabopolassar would have his first year begin around 625/626 B.C.E.
This means that Nebuchadnezzar's first regnal year was around 604/603
B.C.E., which means his 18th year – in which he took Jerusalem
(Jeremiah 32:1-2) – would have to have been about 586/587 B.C.E., not
the Watchtower's date of 607 B.C.E. And these dates are all in
agreement with those of Berossus and Ptolemy's lists.
CHRONOLOGY
What's even more interesting is that, even though the Watchtower
Society continually rejects the date of 587 B.C.E. for Jerusalem's
fall, their own publications inadvertently give a chronology that
actually supports the 587 B.C.E. date. Let us show you:
First, we can establish that the Watchtower Society agrees with
historians that the fall of Babylon happened in 539 B.C.E. by reading
the references in The Watchtower, December 15, 2008, p.22; Isaiah's
Prophecy, Light For All Mankind II, 2001, p.335 para.2; and Insight On
the Scriptures 1988, Vol.1 p.239, third paragraph.
And...the Watchtower Society has published information at different
times which, when shown together, establishes a chronological time-
line of the Babylonian kings. Since the Watchtower Society clearly
agrees that the fall of Babylon happened in 539 B.C.E., we only need
to look at the remainder of the Watchtower Society's chronology,
counting backwards from Babylon's fall, to see that they've actually
pointed to a date starting at 587 B.C.E. instead of their teaching of
607 B.C.E. In fact, the Watchtower Society itself has said (underline
ours): It is well to understand that all Bible chronology dates for
events prior to 539 B.C. must be figured backward from the Absolute
date of 539 B.C. (The Watchtower, February 1, 1955, p.95).
Okay, so let's do this Starting from the end of Babylon and working
backward (citations from the following references are given in the
"appendix" section below this article) :
Babylon Fell in 539 B.C.E.
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.30
2. The Watchtower, January 1, 2000, p.7, para.6
3. What does the Bible Really Teach?, 2005, pp.23-25, para. 13-17
Nabonidus, reigned for 17 years
(Reign must begin in 556 B.C.E. in order to stop at 539 B.C.E.)
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.29
2. Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol. 2, p.457
(Nabonidus' son, Belshazzar, was the co-regent: Daniel 5:7, 16,
29)
Labashi-Marduk, reigned for 1 year
(Would have to begin in 557 B.C.E. in order to stop at 556 B.C.E.)
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.29 (actually mentioned as
only 9 months, I rounded it up to a full year)
Neriglissar, reigned for 4 years
(Would have to begin in 561 B.C.E. in order to stop at 557 B.C.E.)
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.29,
2. Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, p.453
Evil-Merodach, reigned for 2 years
(Would have to begin 563 B.C.E. in order to stop at 561 B.C.E.)
1. The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, p.29,
2. Insight On the Scriptures,1988, Vol.1, p.773
3. Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, p.453
Nebuchadnezzar, reigned for 43 years
(Would have to begin in 606 B.C.E. to stop at 563 B.C.E.)
1. Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.2, p.480
(This Watchtower Society reference cites his 43 year reign as
going from 624 B.C.E. - 582 B.C.E. to match with their 607 B.C.E.
date, but as you can see, this doesn't match with the remaining
chronology in this list)
Now, armed with this information, all we have to do is see when
Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem. The Bible itself tell us this:
Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem in his 19th year
Since his reign truly began in 606 B.C.E., counting by the numbers
mentioned in the following Scriptures will bring us to the year
586/587 B.C.E.
1. 2 Kings 25:8-9
2. Jer. 52:12-14 (This counts his ascension year, making it 19
years)
3. Jer. 32:1-2 (This counts only regnal years, making it 18 years)
The Jeremiah citations refer to “Nebuchadrezzar,"”although it is
the same king.
This list, straight from the Watchtower Society's own publications,
shows that Nebuchadnezzar's reign would have started at 606 B.C.E. in
order to end with Babylon's fall in 539 B.C.E., requiring that the
taking of Jerusalem in his 18th/19th year would have happened around
586/587 B.C.E.
SEVENTY YEARS
Okay, so if Jerusalem was destroyed at around 587 B.C.E., and Babylon
was destroyed in 539 B.C.E., what does this mean in regards to the
seventy years of servitude as mentioned in Jeremiah? The Watchtower
Society claims that the prophecy in Jeremiah 25 was directed only to
the region of Judah (Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, p.463,
Subheading “From 607 B.C.E. to Return From Exile”; Vol.1, p.1213,
Subheading “Interpretation of Prophecy”, fourth paragraph). However,
when looking at the prophecy in Jeremiah 25, we can see that this
isn't an accurate claim. Here is the passage in Jeremiah again:
(9) here I am sending and I will take all the families of the
north,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “even [sending] to Nebuchadrezzar
the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this
land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round
about; and I will devote them to destruction and make them an object
of astonishment and something to whistle at and places devastated to
time indefinite. (10) And I will destroy out of them the sound of
exultation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the bridegroom and
the voice of the bride, the sound of the hand mill and the light of
the lamp. (11) And all this land must become a devastated place, an
object of astonishment, and these nations will have to serve the king
of Babylon seventy years.”’(12) “‘And it must occur that when seventy
years have been fulfilled I shall call to account against the king of
Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘their
error, even against the land of the Chal·de´ans, and I will make it
desolate wastes to time indefinite.
To start with, it is important to know this: By the time this prophecy
was uttered, Israel had been divided into twin kingdoms so that there
was the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah,
with Jerusalem being located in the southern kingdom of Judah. The
Watchtower Society also agrees with this (Insight On the Scriptures,
1988, Vol.2, pp. 73-74, subheading “Jew(ess)” ).
Next, notice that Jeremiah 25:9 begins by stating that God is sending
Nebuchadnezzar to “take all the families of the north.” This cannot be
speaking of the families of Jerusalem in Judah because Judah was the
southernmost of the twin kingdoms. Verse 9 continues on to reveal that
Babylon will come up against “all these nations round about”. Again,
this cannot be in relation to only Judah because the Scripture is
speaking in the plural, indicating that multiple nations in the
surrounding region are included in this prophecy. And then in Verse 11
it states “these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon
seventy years”. In other words, nations other than Judah would be
devastated, and nations other than Judah would be serving Babylon
during a seventy year period. There is no other feasible way for this
passage to be taken.
So, what exactly does this mean in regard to the seventy year time
period?
To begin with, since it is agreed that Babylon fell to the Persians in
539 B.C.E., then it must the seventy years of serving Babylon would
have to have ended in that year. Therefore, counting backward seventy
years from 539 B.C.E., we see that the beginning of the seventy year
period started in 609 B.C.E. According to the Watchtower Society's
teaching, Babylon laid siege against Jerusalem in 609 B.C.E. and
Jerusalem finally succumbed two years later, in 607 B.C.E. (Insight On
the Scriptures, 1988, Vol. 1, p.463). However, as we've already seen,
this is not accurate; in reality Jerusalem was taken twenty years
later, at around 587 B.C.E. If this is true, then did anything happen
in 609 B.C.E. to start this seventy year period?
Looking at the series of ancient clay tablets known as the Assyrian-
Babylonian Chronicles (abbreviated as “ABC”), we find a permanent
record of historical events which happened during the last 1,500 years
before Christ. The Assyrian-Babylonian Chronicles are a major
archeological find from the ancient Mesopotamian region, most of which
are housed in the British Museum. This series of Chronicles agrees
with other historical finds such as ancient Babylonian kings' lists
and such. According to the text of ABC #3, also known as the “Fall of
Nineveh Chronicle”, Nabopolassar (father of king Nebuchadnezzar) took
Assyria in 609 B.C.E.; ABC #4 continues on to document further
military campaigns of Nabopolassar which happened after his taking of
Assyria.
Assyria was one of the northernmost nations in the region, therefore
it fits the parameters of the prophecy mentioned in Jeremiah 25:9.
Thus, Assyria was the first of the nations taken into servitude to
Babylon, commencing the seventy-year period, followed by the others in
quick succession.
Some Jehovah's Witnesses will argue: But the Scriptural passage at
Jeremiah 29:10 states (underline ours):
“For this is what Jehovah has said, ‘In accord with the fulfilling
of seventy years at Babylon I shall turn my attention to YOU people,
and I will establish toward YOU my good word in bringing YOU back to
this place.”
Doesn't this show the prophecy is directed specifically towards Judah?
No, it does not. If you read that same verse in a Hebrew Interlinear
text, you will see that the actual rendering of the verse reads “for
Babylon”, not the Watchtower Society's reading of “at Babylon”. Here
is the English rendition of the Interlinear verse, verbatim from the
Scripture4All Foundation: (For Scholars: This source uses the
Westminster Leningrad Codex and Concordant Hebrew English Sublinear):
that thus he-says Yahweh that to-bidding-of-me to-be-fulfilled-of
for Babylon seventy year I-shall-visit you...
As you can see by the Interlinear text, the seventy-year period wasn't
at Babylon, it was a seventy-year period for Babylon. In other words,
this seventy-year period was a time-line for Babylon, not a time-line
for Judah. Thus, since the time between Babylon's taking of Assyria up
until the destruction of Babylon spanned exactly seventy years, there
is no discrepancy in the prophecy. Bible versions which agree with the
wording “for Babylon” include (but is not limited to): 2001
Translation – An American Version, American Standard Version, The
Bible in Living English, Darby Translation, English Standard Version,
Holman Christian Standard Bible, New American Bible, New American
Standard Bible, New International Version, and the World English
Bible.
DANIEL 9:2
But what about the Scripture at Daniel 9:2? It reads (underline ours):
...in the first year of his reigning I myself, Daniel, discerned
by the books the number of the years concerning which the word of
Jehovah had occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, for fulfilling the
devastations of Jerusalem, [namely,] seventy years
Okay, so let's talk about this. First, note that this Scripture does
Jehovah had occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, for fulfilling the
devastations of Jerusalem, [namely,] seventy years
not say “devastations of Jerusalem for seventy years”, no, it speaks
of the devastation of Jerusalem, and then references it in relation to
the seventy year time line that Babylon was given. In other words, the
devastation of Jerusalem is fulfilled at the same time in which
Babylon's seventy years is fulfilled. Nowhere does Daniel state that
the seventy years began with Jerusalem's fall; as we've already seen,
the seventy years began with the taking of Assyria. And, since we've
already proven that Jerusalem wasn't taken until around 587 B.C.E., it
is clear that the seventy years couldn't refer to Jerusalem since the
time period ended in 539 B.C.E. – meaning that Jerusalem only
experienced 48 years of exile. If you add on the previous 11 years of
vassalage before this, you still have only 59 years of servitude.
Second,when Daniel wrote his words at 9:2 we know he was focusing more
on the end of the time period because used a form of the Hebrew word
“male” (pronounced “mah-lay”) in relation to this seventy-year period
– this can easily be verified by checking a Hebrew interlinear Bible.
According to Strong's Hebrew Lexicon, the Hebrew word “male” is
defined as follows (underline ours):
#4390: mâlê' mâlâ' (maw-lay', maw-law') A primitive root, to
fill or (intransitively) be full of, in a wide application (literally
and figuratively): - accomplish, confirm, + consecrate, be at an end,
be expired, be fenced, fill, fulfil, (be, become, X draw, give in, go)
fully (-ly, -ly set, tale), [over-] flow, fulness, furnish, gather
(selves, together), presume, replenish, satisfy, set, space, take a
[hand-] full, + have wholly.
By using the word “male”, he was referring to the finishing, or
completion of a set time period. By choosing this particular word,
Daniel reveals that he was writing in regard to the end of the seventy-
year period, not its full duration, and that the end of Jerusalem's
devastation would coincide with this.
A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE
The Watchtower Society teaches that all of the archaeological evidence
pointing to the true year as being 586/587 is wrong. According to the
Watchtower Society (underline ours):
If we follow the accurate timekeeping of Jehovah God as recorded
in his Word, we see that the desolation of Judah ran from 607 to 537
B.C.E. and will thereby avoid making the mistake of the chronologers
of Christendom who ignore the prophecy of the seventy years’
desolation and date Jerusalem’s destruction as occurring in 587 B.C.E.
They limit the desolation of Jerusalem and the land of Judah to merely
fifty years, accepting the unreliable calculations of pagan historians
rather than the infallible Word of God. (The Watchtower, September 15,
1965, p.569)
Secular historians, relying on their interpretation of what are in
some cases fragmentary tablets unearthed by archaeologists, have
concluded that 464 B.C.E. was the first year of the kingship of
Artaxerxes Longimanus and that 604 B.C.E. was the first year of the
kingship of Nebuchadnezzar II. If that were true, the 20th year of
Artaxerxes would begin in 445 B.C.E., and the date of Jerusalem’s
desolation by the Babylonians (in Nebuchadnezzar’s 18th regnal year)
would be 587 B.C.E. But if a Bible student uses those dates when
calculating the fulfillment of prophecy, he will simply be confused.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been interested in the findings of
archaeologists as these relate to the Bible. However, where the
interpretation of these findings conflicts with clear statements in
the Bible, we accept with confidence what the Holy Scriptures say,
whether on matters related to chronology or any other topic. (The
Watchtower, March 15, 1989, pp.21-22, para. 16-17)
What's interesting is that in these quotes the Watchtower Society
implies that the Bible shows a time-line different from archaeological
evidence. This is a wrong implication, because in truth the Bible
never gives the numerical year of any event throughout its pages, and
thus you really cannot set a numerical year solely by Scripture. For
example, the Bible states “Now in those days a decree went forth from
Caesar Augustus for all the inhabited earth to be registered; (this
first registration took place when Quirinius was governor of
Syria)” (Luke 2:1-2), and it says “And in the fourteenth year of King
Hezekiah, Sennacherib the king of Assyria came up against all the
fortified cities of Judah and proceeded to seize them” (2 Kings
18:13). If you were to go solely by Scripture, you wouldn't have a
clue as to which numerical year it was when Quirinius was governor of
Syria, or which numerical year it was when king Hezekiah's fourteenth
year was because the numerical year is not given. Scripture will give
us the timing of an event, but never gives the numerical year.
HOWEVER....all is not lost: Even though the Bible itself does not give
the actual numerical year designations, many other ancient record
keepers DID keep record of the numerical years of when things
happened. Thousands of ancient businessmen, court officials, royal
wise men, scribes, scientists, and historians all kept meticulous
records of the daily happenings of the times. This is why we now have
hundreds of thousands of ancient artifacts with which we can match
numerical years with events; especially since numerous individual
artifacts corroborate information from other individual artifacts.
It is due to these artifacts that we can know when anything happened
at all. In fact, it is these very artifacts which the Watchtower
Society itself relies on when establishing numerical years and events
(The Watchtower, May 15, 1971, pp.315-316, full article; see also:
Insight On the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1, pp.147-156; The Watchtower,
December 15, 2008, pp.21-22, full article; The Watchtower, February 1,
1955, pp.93-95 full article; etc.).
That being said, we find it very curious that, even though the
Watchtower Society heavily relies on archaeological evidence to
support their teaching that Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E., it also
heavily denies archaeological evidence when it doesn't fit their
teaching. For example, they will accept evidence based on the
reliability of ancient historians such as Ptolemy, Diodorus and
Eusebius when these agree with Watchtower teaching (All Scripture is
Inspired of God and Beneficial, 1990, pp.281-282, para. 28), while at
the same time discrediting the reliability of these very same
historians when they don't agree with Watchtower doctrine (Insight On
the Scriptures, 1988, Vol.1 pp.455-456 subheading Lunar Eclipses). Due
to this penchant for picking and choosing when to rely on a piece of
evidence, the Watchtower Society reveals its bias towards information
that doesn't agree with them – which is not an unusual trend among
some religious bodies.
If you are interested in reading a thorough and accurate examination
of this Watchtower Society's 607 B.C.E. teaching please see the book
“The Gentile Times Reconsidered”, written by Carl Olof Jonsson.
APPENDIX
Citations From the References
The Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29
Nabonidus, who had served as governor of Babylon and who had been
Nebuchadnezzar’s favorite son-in-law, took the throne and had a fairly
glorious reign until Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E.
The Watchtower, January 1, 2000 p.7 para.6
Sure enough, in 539 B.C.E., the prophetic declaration came true.
Mighty Babylon fell, and God’s covenant people were soon able to
return to their homeland.
Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29,
Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law
Neriglissar, who reigned for four years, which time he spent mainly in
building operations. His underage son Labashi-Marduk, a vicious boy,
succeeded him, and was assassinated within nine months. Nabonidus, who
had served as governor of Babylon and who had been Nebuchadnezzar’s
favorite son-in-law, took the throne
Insight On the Scriptures, (1988) Vol. 2, p.457
Last supreme monarch of the Babylonian Empire; father of Belshazzar.
On the basis of cuneiform texts he is believed to have ruled some 17
years (556-539 B.C.E.). He was given to literature, art, and religion.
( Some Watchtower literature states that it was actually Nabonidus's
son, Belshazzar, who was ruling when Babylon fell in 539 BC ("Pay
Attention to Daniel's Prophecy", pp.50-51, para.9), but either way,
the Watchtower maintains that the Babylonian dynasty ended in 539 BC.)
Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29
Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law
Neriglissar, who reigned for four years, which time he spent mainly in
building operations. His underage son Labashi-Marduk, a vicious boy,
succeeded him, and was assassinated within nine months.
Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29,
Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law
Neriglissar, who reigned for four years, which time he spent mainly in
building operations.
Insight On the Scriptures (1988) Vol.1 p.453 ( "Babylonian
Chronology"),
For Neriglissar, considered to be the successor of Awil-Marduk,
contract tablets are known dated to his fourth year.
Watchtower, Jan. 1 1965 p.29,
Amel-Marduk (Evil-merodach) as the oldest son succeeded Nebuchadnezzar
to the throne in 581 B.C.E.
Insight On the Scriptures, Vol.1 p.773
(Evil-merodach) [from Babylonian, meaning “Worshiper of Marduk”]. The
Babylonian king who succeeded Nebuchadnezzar to the throne in 581
B.C.E.
Insight On the Scriptures (1988) Vol.1 p.453
For Awil-Marduk (Evil-merodach, 2Ki 25:27, 28), tablets dated up to
his second year of rule have been found.
2 Kings 25:8-9
(8) And in the fifth month on the seventh [day] of the month, that is
to say, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard, the servant of the
king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. (9) And he proceeded to burn the
house of Jehovah and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem;
and the house of every great man he burned with fire
Jer. 52:12-14 (This verse counts his ascension year, bringing it to 19
years)
(12) And in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, that is,
[in] the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon,
Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard, who was standing before the
king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. (13) And he proceeded to burn
the house of Jehovah and the house of the king and all the houses of
Jerusalem; and every great house he burned with fire. (14) And all the
walls of Jerusalem, round about, all the military forces of the Chal‧de
′ans that were with the chief of the bodyguard pulled down
Jer. 32:1-2 (This verse doesn't count the ascension year, making it 18
years)
(1) The word that occurred to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year
of Zedekiah the king of Judah, that is, the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadrezzar. (2) And at that time the military forces of the king
of Babylon were laying siege to Jerusalem; and as for Jeremiah the
prophet, he happened to be under restraint in the Courtyard of the
Guard that is in the house of the king of Judah;
The Jeremiah citations refer to "Nebuchadrezzar", although it is the
same king.
Insight On the Scriptures, Vol.2, p.480
Second ruler of the Neo-Babylonian Empire; son of Nabopolassar and
father of Awil-Marduk (Evil-merodach), who succeeded him to the
throne. Nebuchadnezzar ruled as king for 43 years
http://www.witness-outreach.com/607.html
John Cooper
May 19, 2013, 2:03:59 PM5/19/13
to
"James" <1ri...@windstream.net> wrote in message
news:8jrhp8hur5l176c53...@4ax.com...
You brought this up recently on another newsgroup. You were refuted and
disappeared. Now you crop up again, pushing the same line, word for word
from the Watchtower's books. A sure sign of a cultist. You can't think for
yourself, or do your own research. Well, I did.
These are the verses which speak of 70 years:
'And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where
they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of
Persia: to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the
land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept
sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.' (2.Chronicles 36:20,21)
'And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these
nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to
pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of
Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land
of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.' (Jeremiah
25:11,12)
'For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at
Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing
you to return to this place.' (Jeremiah 29:10)
'In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of
the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that
he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.' (Daniel
9:2)
'Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long
wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against
which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?' (Zechariah
1:12)
'Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye
fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years,
did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?' (Zechariah 7:5)
__________________________________________________________
From these verses it can be seen that there are several periods of 70
years - the first being the length of the time of the servitude of Judah and
the surrounding nations to the king of Babylon (which is also the length of
time allotted to the Babylonian empire, and also the length of the time of
the captivity of those who were taken first from Jerusalem to Babylon).
The second period of 70 years is the time from the beginning of the siege of
Jerusalem (culminating in the destruction of the city and of the kingdom of
Judah) to the time when God removes his anger from the city and his curse
from the land. The third period of 70 years is nearly identical and covers
the time from the destruction of Jerusalem in the 5th month and the murder
of Gedaliah in the 7th month to the question of the Jews regarding fasting
in the 5th and 7th months.
All these prophesies were literally fulfilled. The land came under the yoke
of the Babylonians after Nebuchadnezzar had beaten the Egyptians.
Nebuchadnezzar in his first year took captives from Jerusalem (Daniel
included) who were in Babylon until Cyrus gave them permission to return
after the overthrow of the Babylonian empire by the Medes and the Persians.
The Babylonian empire from Nebuchadnezzar until Belshazzar lasted exactly 70
years. After the return of the first wave of captives, they were in great
poverty due to the unfruitfulness of the ground until the 2nd year of
Darius, which was 70 years from the beginning of the siege (and famine) of
Jerusalem. In Darius' 4th year a question arises among the Jews as to
whether they should continue to mourn and fast in the fifth and seventh
months as they had done for the previous 70 years, precisely because the 70
years from the destruction of Jerusalem and the murder of Gedaliah had come
to an end.
The Watchtower Society dates the 2nd year of Darius (when God is asked how
long it will be before he has mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah
against which he has had indignation 'these 70 years') as 520/19 BC. If this
is the case, then God's anger must have begun to burn 70 years earlier, in
590/89 BC. According to the Bible, the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem
for 2 years before it finally fell. According to historians, this occurred
in 590/89 BC. The Watchtower date is therefore correct.
The Watchtower dates the 4th year of Darius as 518/7 BC. This is the year
when the Jews inquire as to whether they should continue to mourn and fast
in the 5th and 7th months, as they had done for the previous 70 years. 70
years prior to 518/7 BC is 588/7 BC. Again the Watchtower date is correct.
So the Watchtower itself proves you wrong. Now instead of parroting what
you read; study, inwardly digest, and don't do it again.
John Cooper
news:8jrhp8hur5l176c53...@4ax.com...
disappeared. Now you crop up again, pushing the same line, word for word
from the Watchtower's books. A sure sign of a cultist. You can't think for
yourself, or do your own research. Well, I did.
These are the verses which speak of 70 years:
'And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where
they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of
Persia: to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the
land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept
sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.' (2.Chronicles 36:20,21)
'And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these
nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to
pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of
Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land
of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.' (Jeremiah
25:11,12)
'For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at
Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing
you to return to this place.' (Jeremiah 29:10)
'In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of
the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that
he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.' (Daniel
9:2)
'Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long
wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against
which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?' (Zechariah
1:12)
'Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye
fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years,
did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?' (Zechariah 7:5)
__________________________________________________________
From these verses it can be seen that there are several periods of 70
years - the first being the length of the time of the servitude of Judah and
the surrounding nations to the king of Babylon (which is also the length of
time allotted to the Babylonian empire, and also the length of the time of
the captivity of those who were taken first from Jerusalem to Babylon).
The second period of 70 years is the time from the beginning of the siege of
Jerusalem (culminating in the destruction of the city and of the kingdom of
Judah) to the time when God removes his anger from the city and his curse
from the land. The third period of 70 years is nearly identical and covers
the time from the destruction of Jerusalem in the 5th month and the murder
of Gedaliah in the 7th month to the question of the Jews regarding fasting
in the 5th and 7th months.
All these prophesies were literally fulfilled. The land came under the yoke
of the Babylonians after Nebuchadnezzar had beaten the Egyptians.
Nebuchadnezzar in his first year took captives from Jerusalem (Daniel
included) who were in Babylon until Cyrus gave them permission to return
after the overthrow of the Babylonian empire by the Medes and the Persians.
The Babylonian empire from Nebuchadnezzar until Belshazzar lasted exactly 70
years. After the return of the first wave of captives, they were in great
poverty due to the unfruitfulness of the ground until the 2nd year of
Darius, which was 70 years from the beginning of the siege (and famine) of
Jerusalem. In Darius' 4th year a question arises among the Jews as to
whether they should continue to mourn and fast in the fifth and seventh
months as they had done for the previous 70 years, precisely because the 70
years from the destruction of Jerusalem and the murder of Gedaliah had come
to an end.
The Watchtower Society dates the 2nd year of Darius (when God is asked how
long it will be before he has mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah
against which he has had indignation 'these 70 years') as 520/19 BC. If this
is the case, then God's anger must have begun to burn 70 years earlier, in
590/89 BC. According to the Bible, the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem
for 2 years before it finally fell. According to historians, this occurred
in 590/89 BC. The Watchtower date is therefore correct.
The Watchtower dates the 4th year of Darius as 518/7 BC. This is the year
when the Jews inquire as to whether they should continue to mourn and fast
in the 5th and 7th months, as they had done for the previous 70 years. 70
years prior to 518/7 BC is 588/7 BC. Again the Watchtower date is correct.
So the Watchtower itself proves you wrong. Now instead of parroting what
you read; study, inwardly digest, and don't do it again.
John Cooper
John Cooper
May 19, 2013, 2:06:42 PM5/19/13
to
The sequence of events
The land of Judah comes under Egyptian domination. Pharaoh appoints a puppet
king and puts the land under tribute (2.Chronicles 36:2-5). Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon beats the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish (Jeremiah
46:1,2). Jeremiah prophesies against Judah and the surrounding nations, and
predicts the desolation of the whole region and the length of the time of
those nations' subjection to the king of Babylon (70 years). Finally he
predicts the end of the Babylonian empire (at the end of the 70 years)
(Jeremiah 25:1,9,11,12).
God gives Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon the legal right to the whole region
for three generations. All nations are now under divine obligation to submit
to his rule (Jeremiah 27:5-8). Nebuchadnezzar, fresh from his victory over
the Egyptians, comes against Judah. Jerusalem falls, the temple is looted
and captives are taken (including Daniel) (Daniel 1:1-3). This is the very
first stage of the captivity of Judah, and takes place in Nebuchadnezzar's
first year. This captivity is referred to as such in Nebuchadnezzar's second
year (Daniel 2:25).
So Jehoiakim comes under the yoke of the king of Babylon, but then rebels
(2.Kings 24:1). Jeremiah predicts the dismal death and burial of Jehoiakim
(Jeremiah 22:18,19). Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jehoiakim, captures him
and binds him in order to take him to Babylon. The temple is looted again
(2.Chronicles 36:6,7). Jehoiakim dies, probably because of his treatment at
the hands of the Babylonians (see what happened to Zedekiah - 2.Kings
25:6,7). No-one dares mourn him and he is dragged out of the city and dumped
as Jeremiah had predicted. Jehoiachin becomes king (2.Kings 24:6).
Nebuchadnezzar has already taken all the lands that had made up Egypt's
empire (2.Kings 24:7). Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jerusalem again,
besieges and captures it. He loots the temple and takes Jehoiachin captive
to Babylon along with all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all nobles, all
soldiers, all artisans and smiths; only the poorest people remaining. He
appoints Mattaniah king and changes his name to Zedekiah (2.Kings 24:8-17).
Jeremiah prophesies to the captivity in Babylon and exhorts them to settle
down for a long wait - the captivity will last for 70 years. They are not to
listen to their prophets who are prophesying otherwise (falsely) in God's
name in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-10,15). Jeremiah prophesies to the wavering
Zedekiah in his 4th year, and to the people, and exhorts them to submit to
Nebuchadnezzar and to reject the false prophets who incite rebellion and
prophesy liberation from the yoke of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:12-17). Jeremiah
predicts at the same time the removal of the remaining treasures in the
temple to Babylon, and their ultimate restoration to Jerusalem (Jeremiah
27:19-22). Hananiah (a false prophet) predicts the liberation of Judah and
all the other nations from the Babylonian yoke, and the return of Jehoiachin
with all the captives of Judah together with the looted treasure from the
temple in Jerusalem, within 2 full years. Jeremiah predicts the death of
Hananiah within the year, and Hananiah is dead within two months (Jeremiah
28:1-17).
Zedekiah rejects the warnings of Jeremiah and rebels against Nebuchadnezzar
who had appointed him and to whom he had sworn allegiance (2.Chronicles
36:11-13). Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jerusalem in Zedekiah's 9th year and
besieges it until his 11th year when the city falls (in Nebuchadnezzar's
19th year). Zedekiah is captured, blinded and carried into Babylon along
with the rest of Judah (the poorest people excepted). In the 5th month the
temple is burnt along with all the houses of Jerusalem, and the wall of the
city is completely broken down. All the remaining treasures of the temple go
into captivity (2.Kings 25:1-21). Here is another version of the same event
(notice the comment about the land keeping sabbath for 70 years)
(2.Chronicles 36:16-21).
Nebuchadnezzar appoints Gedaliah to rule what is left of the nation in Judah
(the poorest people). The remnants of the army straggle back to him and he
promises that no harm will come to them if they serve the king of Babylon.
In the 7th month of the same year, Ishmael, one of the royal family, murders
Gedaliah, along with all the Babylonians and the Jews who were with them. He
then takes those Jews who are left and flees into Egypt. Judah is now almost
deserted (2.Kings 25:22-26). Five years later the Babylonians round up the
dregs of the nation and transport them to Babylon (Jeremiah 52:30). In the
1st year of his reign, Evil-merodach king of Babylon brings Jehoiachin out
of prison in the 37th year of his captivity and provides for his needs for
the rest of his life (2.Kings 25:27-30). Nebuchadnezzar's grandson
Belshazzar (the last king of Babylon) is slain. Darius the Mede takes the
throne at about 62 years of age (Daniel 5:30,31).
Daniel understands Jeremiah's prophecy that Jerusalem would be desolate for
70 years (Daniel 9:1,2). Daniel is given a revelation concerning the date of
Messiah's death (which would be reckoned from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem) and also concerning the time
of the end (Daniel 9:24-27). Daniel continues in office at the Persian court
until the 1st year of Cyrus (Daniel 1:21).
Cyrus king of Persia (in fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah and of
Jeremiah) decrees that the temple should be rebuilt in Jerusalem and permits
all those Jews who are willing to return to Judah to do so. A number depart
from Babylon under Zerubbabel along with the treasures of the former temple
(which Nebuchadnezzar had looted) which Cyrus now restores (Ezra 1:1-8,11).
The enemies of the Jews hear that they are rebuilding the temple and offer
to assist. This offer is turned down. Their enemies then try to get the
rebuilding of the temple stopped (Ezra 4:1-7). They send the king of Persia
a letter in which they accuse the Jews of rebuilding the city, from which
letter it can be seen that the city is still desolate, and the walls not
rebuilt (Ezra 4:11-16). The king reads their letter and commands that the
building stop. The enemies of the Jews, having achieved their objective,
violently bring to a halt the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 4:17-24).
In the 2nd year of Darius, Haggai and Zechariah begin to prophesy and
encourage the Jews to recommence the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 5:1,2).
Haggai attributes the drought and the lack of fruitfulness of the land to
the fact that the house of the LORD lies waste (Haggai 1:1-15). In the 9th
month of the same year, Haggai prophesies that God has healed the land, from
the very day of the laying of the foundation of the LORD's house, and onward
(Haggai 2:10,15-19).
The enemies of the Jews discover that the work is proceeding, and after
making investigation, send a letter to the king of Persia in order to try to
get it stopped (Ezra 5:3-17). King Darius causes a search to be made and the
decree of Cyrus is found. Darius commands therefore that the Jews be left to
build in peace, and that they be assisted financially (Ezra 6:1-13).
In the 2nd year of Darius, Zedekiah in a vision understands that the anger
of God against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah (which has lasted 70 years)
is now at an end (Zechariah 1:7-17). A delegation comes to inquire of
Zedekiah whether the Jews should fast and weep in the 5th and 7th months as
they had done 'these many years'. (Jerusalem was destroyed in the 5th month
and Gedaliah was slain in the 7th month.) The reason the Jews were wondering
whether they should continue with this custom is because the 70 years had
expired. We also see that Jerusalem and her cities are still largely
desolate (Zechariah 7:1-7). The Jews are encouraged through the prophesying
of Haggai and Zechariah and finish rebuilding the temple in the 6th year of
Darius (Ezra 6:14,15).
Artaxerxes in his 7th year sends Ezra to Jerusalem with gifts to beautify
the rebuilt temple, and permits as many Jews as wish to, to go with him.
Ezra leads the 2nd group of exiled Jews to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:1,6-13,27,28).
In the 20th year of his reign, Jerusalem is still largely rubble, and the
Jews within it are experiencing great hardship (Nehemiah 1:1-3). Nehemiah is
distressed by the news and obtains leave of the king to rebuild Jerusalem as
Daniel had predicted (Nehemiah 2:1-8). Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem and
inspects the walls by night. He encourages the people to rebuild the ruins
of the city and its wall (Nehemiah 2:11-18). The wall is built and Nehemiah
returns to the king after having appointed his brother governor of
Jerusalem. The city is still sparsely populated and most of its houses are
still in ruins (Nehemiah 7:1-4).
John Cooper
The land of Judah comes under Egyptian domination. Pharaoh appoints a puppet
king and puts the land under tribute (2.Chronicles 36:2-5). Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon beats the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish (Jeremiah
46:1,2). Jeremiah prophesies against Judah and the surrounding nations, and
predicts the desolation of the whole region and the length of the time of
those nations' subjection to the king of Babylon (70 years). Finally he
predicts the end of the Babylonian empire (at the end of the 70 years)
(Jeremiah 25:1,9,11,12).
God gives Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon the legal right to the whole region
for three generations. All nations are now under divine obligation to submit
to his rule (Jeremiah 27:5-8). Nebuchadnezzar, fresh from his victory over
the Egyptians, comes against Judah. Jerusalem falls, the temple is looted
and captives are taken (including Daniel) (Daniel 1:1-3). This is the very
first stage of the captivity of Judah, and takes place in Nebuchadnezzar's
first year. This captivity is referred to as such in Nebuchadnezzar's second
year (Daniel 2:25).
So Jehoiakim comes under the yoke of the king of Babylon, but then rebels
(2.Kings 24:1). Jeremiah predicts the dismal death and burial of Jehoiakim
(Jeremiah 22:18,19). Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jehoiakim, captures him
and binds him in order to take him to Babylon. The temple is looted again
(2.Chronicles 36:6,7). Jehoiakim dies, probably because of his treatment at
the hands of the Babylonians (see what happened to Zedekiah - 2.Kings
25:6,7). No-one dares mourn him and he is dragged out of the city and dumped
as Jeremiah had predicted. Jehoiachin becomes king (2.Kings 24:6).
Nebuchadnezzar has already taken all the lands that had made up Egypt's
empire (2.Kings 24:7). Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jerusalem again,
besieges and captures it. He loots the temple and takes Jehoiachin captive
to Babylon along with all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all nobles, all
soldiers, all artisans and smiths; only the poorest people remaining. He
appoints Mattaniah king and changes his name to Zedekiah (2.Kings 24:8-17).
Jeremiah prophesies to the captivity in Babylon and exhorts them to settle
down for a long wait - the captivity will last for 70 years. They are not to
listen to their prophets who are prophesying otherwise (falsely) in God's
name in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-10,15). Jeremiah prophesies to the wavering
Zedekiah in his 4th year, and to the people, and exhorts them to submit to
Nebuchadnezzar and to reject the false prophets who incite rebellion and
prophesy liberation from the yoke of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:12-17). Jeremiah
predicts at the same time the removal of the remaining treasures in the
temple to Babylon, and their ultimate restoration to Jerusalem (Jeremiah
27:19-22). Hananiah (a false prophet) predicts the liberation of Judah and
all the other nations from the Babylonian yoke, and the return of Jehoiachin
with all the captives of Judah together with the looted treasure from the
temple in Jerusalem, within 2 full years. Jeremiah predicts the death of
Hananiah within the year, and Hananiah is dead within two months (Jeremiah
28:1-17).
Zedekiah rejects the warnings of Jeremiah and rebels against Nebuchadnezzar
who had appointed him and to whom he had sworn allegiance (2.Chronicles
36:11-13). Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jerusalem in Zedekiah's 9th year and
besieges it until his 11th year when the city falls (in Nebuchadnezzar's
19th year). Zedekiah is captured, blinded and carried into Babylon along
with the rest of Judah (the poorest people excepted). In the 5th month the
temple is burnt along with all the houses of Jerusalem, and the wall of the
city is completely broken down. All the remaining treasures of the temple go
into captivity (2.Kings 25:1-21). Here is another version of the same event
(notice the comment about the land keeping sabbath for 70 years)
(2.Chronicles 36:16-21).
Nebuchadnezzar appoints Gedaliah to rule what is left of the nation in Judah
(the poorest people). The remnants of the army straggle back to him and he
promises that no harm will come to them if they serve the king of Babylon.
In the 7th month of the same year, Ishmael, one of the royal family, murders
Gedaliah, along with all the Babylonians and the Jews who were with them. He
then takes those Jews who are left and flees into Egypt. Judah is now almost
deserted (2.Kings 25:22-26). Five years later the Babylonians round up the
dregs of the nation and transport them to Babylon (Jeremiah 52:30). In the
1st year of his reign, Evil-merodach king of Babylon brings Jehoiachin out
of prison in the 37th year of his captivity and provides for his needs for
the rest of his life (2.Kings 25:27-30). Nebuchadnezzar's grandson
Belshazzar (the last king of Babylon) is slain. Darius the Mede takes the
throne at about 62 years of age (Daniel 5:30,31).
Daniel understands Jeremiah's prophecy that Jerusalem would be desolate for
70 years (Daniel 9:1,2). Daniel is given a revelation concerning the date of
Messiah's death (which would be reckoned from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem) and also concerning the time
of the end (Daniel 9:24-27). Daniel continues in office at the Persian court
until the 1st year of Cyrus (Daniel 1:21).
Cyrus king of Persia (in fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah and of
Jeremiah) decrees that the temple should be rebuilt in Jerusalem and permits
all those Jews who are willing to return to Judah to do so. A number depart
from Babylon under Zerubbabel along with the treasures of the former temple
(which Nebuchadnezzar had looted) which Cyrus now restores (Ezra 1:1-8,11).
The enemies of the Jews hear that they are rebuilding the temple and offer
to assist. This offer is turned down. Their enemies then try to get the
rebuilding of the temple stopped (Ezra 4:1-7). They send the king of Persia
a letter in which they accuse the Jews of rebuilding the city, from which
letter it can be seen that the city is still desolate, and the walls not
rebuilt (Ezra 4:11-16). The king reads their letter and commands that the
building stop. The enemies of the Jews, having achieved their objective,
violently bring to a halt the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 4:17-24).
In the 2nd year of Darius, Haggai and Zechariah begin to prophesy and
encourage the Jews to recommence the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 5:1,2).
Haggai attributes the drought and the lack of fruitfulness of the land to
the fact that the house of the LORD lies waste (Haggai 1:1-15). In the 9th
month of the same year, Haggai prophesies that God has healed the land, from
the very day of the laying of the foundation of the LORD's house, and onward
(Haggai 2:10,15-19).
The enemies of the Jews discover that the work is proceeding, and after
making investigation, send a letter to the king of Persia in order to try to
get it stopped (Ezra 5:3-17). King Darius causes a search to be made and the
decree of Cyrus is found. Darius commands therefore that the Jews be left to
build in peace, and that they be assisted financially (Ezra 6:1-13).
In the 2nd year of Darius, Zedekiah in a vision understands that the anger
of God against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah (which has lasted 70 years)
is now at an end (Zechariah 1:7-17). A delegation comes to inquire of
Zedekiah whether the Jews should fast and weep in the 5th and 7th months as
they had done 'these many years'. (Jerusalem was destroyed in the 5th month
and Gedaliah was slain in the 7th month.) The reason the Jews were wondering
whether they should continue with this custom is because the 70 years had
expired. We also see that Jerusalem and her cities are still largely
desolate (Zechariah 7:1-7). The Jews are encouraged through the prophesying
of Haggai and Zechariah and finish rebuilding the temple in the 6th year of
Darius (Ezra 6:14,15).
Artaxerxes in his 7th year sends Ezra to Jerusalem with gifts to beautify
the rebuilt temple, and permits as many Jews as wish to, to go with him.
Ezra leads the 2nd group of exiled Jews to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:1,6-13,27,28).
In the 20th year of his reign, Jerusalem is still largely rubble, and the
Jews within it are experiencing great hardship (Nehemiah 1:1-3). Nehemiah is
distressed by the news and obtains leave of the king to rebuild Jerusalem as
Daniel had predicted (Nehemiah 2:1-8). Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem and
inspects the walls by night. He encourages the people to rebuild the ruins
of the city and its wall (Nehemiah 2:11-18). The wall is built and Nehemiah
returns to the king after having appointed his brother governor of
Jerusalem. The city is still sparsely populated and most of its houses are
still in ruins (Nehemiah 7:1-4).
John Cooper
dolf
May 19, 2013, 5:15:48 PM5/19/13
to
On 19/05/13 10:55 PM, jwshe...@satx.rr.com wrote:
> An absolutely critical date for the Jehovah's Witnesses is 1914 AD.
> It is the date when, according to the Jehovah's Witnesses, the time of
> the Gentiles ended (Watchtower, 5/1/93, page 11) and "Jesus-the
> heavenly warrior Michael-became King of God's heavenly
> Kingdom," (Watchtower 11/1/93, page 23). To arrive at this date, the
> Witnesses take the account in Daniel 4 and *apply a 360 day year* for
> An absolutely critical date for the Jehovah's Witnesses is 1914 AD.
> It is the date when, according to the Jehovah's Witnesses, the time of
> the Gentiles ended (Watchtower, 5/1/93, page 11) and "Jesus-the
> heavenly warrior Michael-became King of God's heavenly
> Kingdom," (Watchtower 11/1/93, page 23). To arrive at this date, the
> each of the seven "times" for a total of 2520 years. They add this
> date to 607 B.C., their date for the fall of Jerusalem under
> Nebuchadnezzar, and arrive at 1914 A.D., the date when Jesus
> supposedly returned invisibly in the heavens (The Truth Shall Make You
> Free, p. 300), the "appointed time of the nations" ended (The Time is
> at Hand, page 79), and the beginning of the end of the world commenced
> (Watchtower 11/15/50, page 438). Please consider the following quote.
Most of the weeks/days prophecies in the Bible refer to a 364 days in
> date to 607 B.C., their date for the fall of Jerusalem under
> Nebuchadnezzar, and arrive at 1914 A.D., the date when Jesus
> supposedly returned invisibly in the heavens (The Truth Shall Make You
> Free, p. 300), the "appointed time of the nations" ended (The Time is
> at Hand, page 79), and the beginning of the end of the world commenced
> (Watchtower 11/15/50, page 438). Please consider the following quote.
the year calendar and not the tropical year of 365.2524 days or 360 day
year.
Thus in computing a year for a day principle such as the 70 weeks
prophecy is 70 x 7 of 364 days or 10 Jubilees is 1.34 years less than
490 years.
You might be tempted to side step that fatal error as no big deal
because you fail to realize it is part of the temple service to which
Zacharias (division of Abijah) was aligned.
Hence this chronology was used at the time of Herod and before the birth
of John the Baptist and Jesus.
And 2300 days is 2300 x 364 days and not 2300 x 365.3534 days and gives
an error of about 7.8 years.
So major is the problem that the Church's prophetic beliefs in which
they trust are wrong.
Dave Heil
May 19, 2013, 9:50:55 PM5/19/13
to
there is such a thing I've never visited and tossed insults at you. But
you have visited several Christian newsgroups and posted insulting
nonsense on more than one occasion. You can prove something via the
Watchtower only if the person you are trying to convince accepts the
Watchtower as some sort of authority. I don't.
James
May 21, 2013, 4:09:02 PM5/21/13
to
"jwshe...@satx.rr.com" <jwshe...@satx.rr.com>
Interestingly, you deleted my given explanation based on the JW's
literature, and instead posted information from a JW hate group. I
certainly can't stop you from doing that, so it appears we have a
difference of opinion here. I am going to reinsert my last posting so
that any readers of this will get both sides of the coin, not just
one:
"jwshe...@satx.rr.com" <jwshe...@satx.rr.com>
The reason JW's use 607 is because they use the Bible's dates and
information as the more authentic ones over secular dates.
But yes, they fully admit that secular sources give 586 B.C. as the
date of Jerusalem's fall. But here it is in their own words, the
reasons why they use 607 B.C. and not 586 B.C. And also some insight
into why the secular sources use 586 B.C:
""Your Word Is Truth"
When Did Babylon Desolate Jerusalem?
SECULAR historians usually give the year 586 B.C.E. as the correct
date for the desolation of Jerusalem. Why, then, do Jehovah's
Christian witnesses speak of this event as occurring in 607 B.C.E.? It
is because of confidence in what the Bible says about the duration of
Jerusalem's lying desolate.
The Scriptures assign a period of seventy years to the desolation of
Judah and Jerusalem. After describing the Babylonian conquest of
Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 36:21 reports: "All the days of lying
desolated it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years." By means of his
prophet Jeremiah, Jehovah had declared: "All this land must become a
James
John 4:23,24
www.jw.org
> #4390: ma?le?' ma?la?' (maw-lay', maw-law') A primitive root, to
>walls of Jerusalem, round about, all the military forces of the Chal?de
>?ans that were with the chief of the bodyguard pulled down
Interestingly, you deleted my given explanation based on the JW's
literature, and instead posted information from a JW hate group. I
certainly can't stop you from doing that, so it appears we have a
difference of opinion here. I am going to reinsert my last posting so
that any readers of this will get both sides of the coin, not just
one:
"jwshe...@satx.rr.com" <jwshe...@satx.rr.com>
The reason JW's use 607 is because they use the Bible's dates and
information as the more authentic ones over secular dates.
But yes, they fully admit that secular sources give 586 B.C. as the
date of Jerusalem's fall. But here it is in their own words, the
reasons why they use 607 B.C. and not 586 B.C. And also some insight
into why the secular sources use 586 B.C:
""Your Word Is Truth"
When Did Babylon Desolate Jerusalem?
SECULAR historians usually give the year 586 B.C.E. as the correct
date for the desolation of Jerusalem. Why, then, do Jehovah's
Christian witnesses speak of this event as occurring in 607 B.C.E.? It
is because of confidence in what the Bible says about the duration of
Jerusalem's lying desolate.
The Scriptures assign a period of seventy years to the desolation of
Judah and Jerusalem. After describing the Babylonian conquest of
Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 36:21 reports: "All the days of lying
desolated it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years." By means of his
devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will
have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years."-Jer. 25:11.
Was this really a period of seventy literal years? Yes, that is the
way the prophet Daniel, toward the close of the period of Jerusalem's
desolation, understood it, saying: "I myself, Daniel, discerned by the
Was this really a period of seventy literal years? Yes, that is the
way the prophet Daniel, toward the close of the period of Jerusalem's
books the number of the years concerning which the word of Jehovah had
occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, for fulfilling the devastations of
occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, for fulfilling the devastations of
John 4:23,24
www.jw.org
>?ans that were with the chief of the bodyguard pulled down
jwshe...@satx.rr.com
May 21, 2013, 4:22:06 PM5/21/13
to
posted by someone who hates the churches
of Christ"
Let's quote Irenaeus of Lyons, who knew
Polycarp, who knew the Apopstle John.
According to Tertullian (De praescriptione, 32) and Jerome (Catal.
scr. ecci., 17), he was consecrated Bishop of Smyrna by John.
http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/polycarp.php
1. It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who
may
wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the
apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a
position to reckon up those who were by the apostles instituted
bishops
in the Churches, and [to demonstrate] the succession of these men to
our own times; those who neither taught nor knew of anything like
what
these [heretics] rave about. For if the apostles had known hidden
mysteries, which they were in the habit of imparting to "the perfect"
apart and privily from the rest, they would have delivered them
especially to those to whom they were also committing the Churches
themselves. For they were desirous that these men should be very
perfect and blameless in all things, whom also they were leaving
behind
as their successors, delivering up their own place of government to
these men; which men, if they discharged their functions honestly,
would be a great boon [to the Church], but if they should fall away,
the direst calamity.
2. Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as
this,
to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to
confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil
self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion,
assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say, ] by
indicating
that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very
ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome
by
the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing
out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means
of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity
that
every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-
eminent authority,6 that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the
apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those
[faithful men] who exist everywhere.
3. The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the
Church,
committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of
this
Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him
succeeded
Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles,
Clement
was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed
apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have
the
preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their
traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there
were
many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles.
In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred
among
the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome despatched a most
powerful
letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their
faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from
the apostles, proclaiming the one God, omnipotent, the Maker of
heaven
and earth, the Creator of man, who brought on the deluge, and called
Abraham, who led the people from the land of Egypt, spake with Moses,
set forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has prepared fire for
the
devil and his angels. From this document, whosoever chooses to do so,
may learn that He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was preached
by
the Churches, and may also understand the apostolical tradition of
the
Church, since this Epistle is of older date than these men who are
now
propagating falsehood, and who conjure into existence another god
beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing things. To this
Clement there succeeded Evaristus. Alexander followed Evaristus;
then,
sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him, Telephorus,
who was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus; after him, Pius; then
after
him, Anicetus. Sorer having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now,
in the twelfth place from the apostles, hold the inheritance of the
episcopate. In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical
tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have
come
down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is one and the
same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the
apostles until now, and handed down in truth.
4. But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and
conversed
with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia,
appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early
youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very
old
man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom,7 departed this
life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the
apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are
true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also
those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present time,-a man
who was of much greater weight, and a more stedfast witness of truth,
than Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of the heretics. He it was
who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus caused many to turn away
from the aforesaid heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he
had received this one and sole truth from the apostles,-that, namely,
which is handed down by the Church.8 "
Irenaeus Book III, Chapter III
of Christ"
Let's quote Irenaeus of Lyons, who knew
Polycarp, who knew the Apopstle John.
According to Tertullian (De praescriptione, 32) and Jerome (Catal.
scr. ecci., 17), he was consecrated Bishop of Smyrna by John.
http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/polycarp.php
1. It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who
may
wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the
apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a
position to reckon up those who were by the apostles instituted
bishops
in the Churches, and [to demonstrate] the succession of these men to
our own times; those who neither taught nor knew of anything like
what
these [heretics] rave about. For if the apostles had known hidden
mysteries, which they were in the habit of imparting to "the perfect"
apart and privily from the rest, they would have delivered them
especially to those to whom they were also committing the Churches
themselves. For they were desirous that these men should be very
perfect and blameless in all things, whom also they were leaving
behind
as their successors, delivering up their own place of government to
these men; which men, if they discharged their functions honestly,
would be a great boon [to the Church], but if they should fall away,
the direst calamity.
2. Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as
this,
to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to
confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil
self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion,
assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say, ] by
indicating
that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very
ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome
by
the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing
out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means
of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity
that
every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-
eminent authority,6 that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the
apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those
[faithful men] who exist everywhere.
3. The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the
Church,
committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of
this
Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him
succeeded
Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles,
Clement
was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed
apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have
the
preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their
traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there
were
many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles.
In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred
among
the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome despatched a most
powerful
letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their
faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from
the apostles, proclaiming the one God, omnipotent, the Maker of
heaven
and earth, the Creator of man, who brought on the deluge, and called
Abraham, who led the people from the land of Egypt, spake with Moses,
set forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has prepared fire for
the
devil and his angels. From this document, whosoever chooses to do so,
may learn that He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was preached
by
the Churches, and may also understand the apostolical tradition of
the
Church, since this Epistle is of older date than these men who are
now
propagating falsehood, and who conjure into existence another god
beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing things. To this
Clement there succeeded Evaristus. Alexander followed Evaristus;
then,
sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him, Telephorus,
who was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus; after him, Pius; then
after
him, Anicetus. Sorer having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now,
in the twelfth place from the apostles, hold the inheritance of the
episcopate. In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical
tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have
come
down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is one and the
same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the
apostles until now, and handed down in truth.
4. But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and
conversed
with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia,
appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early
youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very
old
man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom,7 departed this
life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the
apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are
true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also
those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present time,-a man
who was of much greater weight, and a more stedfast witness of truth,
than Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of the heretics. He it was
who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus caused many to turn away
from the aforesaid heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he
had received this one and sole truth from the apostles,-that, namely,
which is handed down by the Church.8 "
Irenaeus Book III, Chapter III
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