Winstein--1c
Recordings
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 586/587 BC, not 607 BC
as claimed by the JWs leaders,
according to secular sources, the Bible,
and even the JWs leaders
Secular sources
The Bible
The JWs leaders
Complaints about the JWs leaders' use of reference material:
the issue of determining when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem
"Fascism or Freedom" Judge Rutherford October 2, 1938
The first
thing he says on it is that Jesus was resurrected exactly 1935 years
ago, which in 1938 would have been 3 AD. That's
usually put around 33 AD.
(I'm guessing it's his version of Jesus' birth on Earth.)
He then makes his
case of equating the clergy of Jesus' time (the Pharisees)
with Catholic and Protestant (anything Christian and non-Rutherford)
clergy of
Rutherford's time as Satanic, and characterizes all of both groups as fascists
who have intended to keep people
from learning God's truth (Jesus' and Ruther-
ford's stances). Rutherford characterizes his stances as having been
like Je-
sus' in having been honest but persecuted.
Fred Franz, "Divine Will" assembly,
Yankee Stadium and Polo Grounds, July 27
to Aug.3, 1958
In a 1969 interview with Nathan
Knorr, he compares his claim that most clergy-
men are hypocrites, such as for agreeing with teachings about evolution,
with
Jesus' accusations of hypocrisy, says God may use atomic energy for Armageddon,
and gives the JWs leaders' stance
requiring JWs to refuse the medical use of
blood. (link inactive)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68ysCiXR6rc Though the JWs leaders had called 1975 the beginning of God's 7th 1,000
year creative "day" and predicted
Armageddon for it (see the entry for July,
1969), they fudged about Armageddon as 1975 drew near. The recording below
is
of Fred Franz in early or mid 1975 giving sundown of Sept.5, 1975 as the start
of God's 7th 1,000 year creative "day"
but fudging about the time of Armageddon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EvehJGCuMo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses#.22Looking_Forward_to_1975.22_1966-1975
****
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 586/587 BC, not 607 BC
as claimed by the JWs leaders, according to secular sources, the Bible,
and even the JWs leaders
The JWs leaders' stance is that 607 BC is when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jeru-
salem. This is the starting
date for their numerology/prophesy claim that Jesus
began to rule the Earth from heaven, and his invisible presence began
to be
known on Earth, in 1914. They claim they follow the Bible, so reject secular
evidence that contradicts it,
to get their date of 607 BC.
****
Secular sources
****
The Bible
Similarly, the 606 BC calculation made by Barbour and used by Russell is an
1800's calculation arrived at before,
or independent of, the wealth of evidence
that was found--the cuneiform tablets, etc., used to date the time of the de-
struction
of Jerusalem and related matters yet Russell forced as the "Biblical"
idea. 606 BC was later updated to 607 BC by
Fred Franz and other JWs leaders to
get rid of the mistake of adding a year "0" between the BC and AD years yet hold
onto
their 1914 date for their prophesy claim (p.1a).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform_script
The interpretation they forced was that Jeremiah 25:11-12 and Daniel 9:1-2
meant the Jews would be exiled for
70 years. If you counted 70 years back from
536 BC, when some people in Barbour's day thought Babylon fell to Cyrus,
you got
606 BC. More recently, the JWs leaders used the evidence that Babylon fell to
Cyrus in 539 BC, so give
a range of 537-539 for that, and claim the Jews were
exiled for a 70 year period from 607 BC, their updated time for the
fall of Je-
rusalem, to 537 BC.
Jan S. Haugland's article about "The Gentile Times Reconsidered" by Carl Olof
Jonsson is at the next link.
One point to see in it is that the JWs leaders
mischaracterize the Bible as requiring an idea of 70 years of desolation
for
Jerusalem whereas it only requires an idea of servitude.
http://www.towerwatch.com/articles/the_1914_doctrine.htm
Another of the points it makes is that the JWs leaders' NWT (see p.6b) gives
Jer.29:10 as "at Babylon" instead
of "for Babylon" (RSV).
According to the article by Alan Feuerbacher, "The basic notions in the Socie-
ty's application of the 70 years
go back to at least 1823, when John Aquila
Brown published a chronology remarkably like the Watchtower Society's.
Others
expanded upon Brown's ideas, the most notable of whom was William Miller." (For
more on the influence of
Brown and Miller on Charles Taze Russell, see p.1a.)
http://corior.blogspot.com/2006/02/refutation-of-appendix-in-let-your.html
Daniel 9:1,2 summary:
Jeremiah 25:9-12 summary:
Jeremiah prophesied that God will bring Nebuchadnezzar and people of the North
against Judah, its people,
and surrounding nations and
destroy them--make it desolate wasteland.
These nations would then will serve
the king of Babylon 70 years, then
the Babylon king and his nation would be punished and made desolate forever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah
Jeremiah 29:10 summary:
God says when the 70 years are over for Babylon,
God will come to you and take you back there.
One possibility is that Daniel's "desolation of Jerusalem" means captivity
or Babylonian domination,
which lasted from 609 to 539 BC.
2 Chronicles 36:19-21 summary:
They burned the Temple, broke the wall of Jerusalem,
burned the palaces, and destroyed all of value.
Those who survived were exiled to Babylon till the kingdom of Persia came to
power.
The land enjoyed
Sabbath rests till the 70 years spoken of by Jeremiah were
completed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_Chronicles
586 BC destruction of Jerusalem, Temple destroyed
and not in operation for 70 years--586 to 516 BC
Zechariah 1:12, etc.
makes a reference to a 70 year period of God being indignant about Jerusalem
and
Judah, etc.
When 70 years began of Babylon domination of Judah:
The Assyrian Empire dominated Judah and other nations and was conquered by
the Babylonian empire.
In 612 BC, the Babylonians and Medes conquered Nineveh, capital of the
Assyrian empire, which never recovered and
became unimportant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineveh
609 BC demise of the Assyrian Empire and rise of the Babylonian Empire
539 BC end of the Babylonian
Empire
70 years of Babylonian rule--
the 70 year period described in Jeremiah 25:9-12 and 29:10.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia ****
The JWs leaders
The JWs leaders' literature has agreed with the dates of the cuneiform tab-
lets, etc., used by secular sources
and other Bible believers for the time of
the fall of Babylon, 539 BC, and the sequence of reigns of the five kings pre-
ceding
it. This evidence gives 586/587 BC as the time of the fall of Jerusalem,
but the JWs leaders give 607 BC for the
time of the fall of Jerusalem and fic-
tionalize the existence of a missing king who ruled for 20 years to make up the
difference.
539 BC the fall of Babylon to Cyrus
556 BC Nabonidus-------------------17 years
three months in 556 BC Labashi-Marduk--3 months
(WT says less than 9 months)
560 BC Neriglissar------------------4 years
562 BC Evil-merodach
(Awil-Marduk)--2 years
586 BC Nebuchadnezzar--------------24 years left in the 19th of his 43 years
587 BC Nebuchadnezzar--------------25 years left in the 18th of his 43 years
Jeremiah 52:5,12,13,29: Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in his 18th regnal
year (19th if his accession year
is included--2nd Kings 25:8-10). A regnal year
begins at the start of the year following the accession to rulership.
"Insight on the Scriptures," Vol.2, p.480, "Nebuchadnezzar": Nebuchadnezzar
ruled for 43 years.
"Insight on the Scriptures," Vol.1, p.425, "Chaldea": Nebuchadnezzar was suc-
ceeded by Evil-merodach.
"The Watchtower," Jan.1, 1965, p.29: Nebuchadnezzar's successors--Evil-mero-
dach ruled for two years, followed
by Neriglissar, who ruled for four years,
followed by Labashi-Marduk, who ruled for less than nine months, followed by
Nabonius,
who was the ruler of Babylon when Cyrus conquered it in 539 BC.
"The Watchtower," Aug.15, 1968, p.491: Nabonidus ruled for 17 years ending
with the fall of Babylon to Cyrus.
****
Complaints about the JWs leaders' use of reference material:
the issue of determining
when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem
It also contains examples of the JWs leaders' misuse of research material.
This includes complaints from authors
that the JWs leaders misrepresented those
authors' works to falsely give those authors as supportive of the JWs leaders'
claims.
http://www.letusreason.org/JW21.htm
Given that the JWs leaders' play prophet in requiring agreement with their
distinctive stances, the point made
above by Jan S. Haugland's article about
"The Gentile Times Reconsidered" by Carl Olof Jonsson, that the JWs leaders' NWT
(see
p.6b) gives Jer.29:10 as "at Babylon" instead of "for Babylon" (RSV), be-
longs in this category, too. In deliberating
on this, you don't need to be
obliged to the NWT version.
http://www.towerwatch.com/articles/the_1914_doctrine.htm
Also see:
"Complaints about the JWs leaders' use of reference material: the issue of in-
telligent design" on p.1a cont.
"Complaints about the JWs leaders' use of reference material under the heading
'We must preserve the sanctity of our stance
on blood--truth and other's lives,
we're not crazy about'" on p.1a cont.
"Complaints about the JWs leaders' use of reference material: the issue of
pedophilia" on p.5.
"Complaints about the JWs leaders' use of reference material: the issue of the
identity of Jesus and the holy
spirit" on p.6b.
"Complaints about the JWs leaders' use of reference material: the issue of
early Christian history and related
research material" on p.9.
"Complaints about the JWs leaders' use of reference material: the issue of the
medical use of blood and major
blood fractions" on p.14.
