607 BC and the fall of Jerusalem
The Watchtower Society has invested a lot of their reputation and spilled a lot of ink on the date 1914, so they needed to justify how they arrived at this date. If anything about this date or its significance is wrong then it affects a lot of the Society’s other teachings.
The Watchtower uses a complicated chronological and biblical argument to make the case that Christ came invisibly in 1914. The foundation for this chronological argument uses the starting date of 607 BC to begin a calculation that uses multiple disconnected verses that ends with the date of 1914 AD. The problem is that no one agrees with the WT that the date of 607 BC is correct. Ironically, even the Watchtower’s own documents provide evidence on the reigns of Babylonian kings that lead to the conclusion that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587/6 BC not 607 BC.
| Event/King | Watchtower Quote | Length of Reign | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall of Babylon | *** w57 9/15 p. 555,
par. 30 Babylon the Golden City *** Thus in 539 B.C. the impregnable city of Babylon fell in a single night without a battle. In an inscription Cyrus said: “I am Cyrus, king of the world. Without a battle my troops entered Babylon.” |
539 BC | |
| Nabonidus | *** it-2 p. 457, par.
3 Nabonidus *** 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 BC). He was given to literature, art, and religion. |
17 years | 556-539 BC |
| Labashi-Marduk | *** w65 1/1 p. 29, par.
9 The Rejoicing of the Wicked Is Short-lived*** 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. |
9 months | 556 BC |
| Neriglissar | *** w65 1/1 p. 29 The
Rejoicing of the Wicked Is Short-lived *** 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. |
4 years | 560-556 BC |
| Evil-Merodach | *** w65 1/1 p. 29, par.
9 The Rejoicing of the Wicked Is Short-lived*** Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law Neriglissar… |
2 years | 562-560 BC |
| Nebuchadnezzar | *** it-2 p. 480, par.
3 Nebuchadnezzar *** 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 (624-582 BC), this period including the “seven times” during which he ate vegetation like a bull. (Da 4:31-33) |
43 years | 605-562 BC |
| Total years of kings: 66.75 years ( 539 + 66 = 605 ) |
605-539 BC | ||
| Jerusalem was destroyed during the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. (18 years + some months) Jeremiah 52:12-14 (NASB) Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire. So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. |
605 BC – 18 yrs 587 BC |
||
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vEQN_ifh0o
Another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOsgO5I77xs
The WT claims that Daniel 4 has a secondary fulfillment, even though no other prophecy or vision of Daniel has a secondary fulfillment.
The WT uses a variety of unrelated scriptures to inform its extrapolation of numbers used in Daniel 4. This is another example of a “this means that” methodology of biblical interpretation. The authority for making a connection between unrelated texts is based on the modern interpreter, not a biblical author.
The WT wrongly claims that Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 607 BC even though WT’s own publications demonstrate that the correct year is 587 BC which all historians and archeologists agree on.
The WT then adds its unfounded 2,520 year extrapolation to the incorrect year of 607 BC to arrive at its erroneous 1914 year.
The WT dishonestly states that 1914 has always been the year that the Watchtower has believed Jesus presence and rulership began. CT Russell always and consistently taught that Christ’s presence began in 1874. Rutherford also taught that Christ’s presence began in 1874 for a number of years into the early 1930’s.
WT methodology for this erroneous extrapolation actually originated with the Adventists, long before Charles Russell picked it up. As far back as 1823 when John Aquilla Brown’s book, “The Even-Tide” where Daniel 4 and the 2520 year calculation appears.
Excerpt from “Crisis of Conscience” by Raymond Franz
Months of research were spent on this one subject of “Chronology” and it resulted in the longest article in the Aid publication. Much of the time was spent endeavoring to find some proof, some backing in history, for the 607 BC date so crucial to our calculations for 1914. Charles Ploeger, a member of the headquarters staff, was at that time serving as a secretary for me and he searched through the libraries of the New York city area for anything that might substantiate that date historically.
We found absolutely nothing in support of 607 B.C.E. All historians pointed to a date twenty years later. Before preparing the Aid material on “Archaeology” I had not realized that the number of baked-clay cuneiform tablets found in the Mesopotamian area and dating back to the time of ancient Babylon numbered into the tens of thousands. In all of these there was nothing to indicate that the period of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (in which period Nebuchadnezzar’s reign figured) was of the necessary length to fit our 607 B.C.E. date for the destruction of Jerusalem. Everything pointed to a period twenty years shorter than our published chronology claimed.
Though I found this disquieting, I wanted to believe that our chronology was right in spite of all the contrary evidence, that such evidence was somehow in error. Thus, in preparing the material for the Aid book, much of the time and space was spent in trying to weaken the credibility of the archeological and historical evidence that would make erroneous our 607 B.C.E. date and give a different starting point for our calculations and therefore an ending date different from 1914.
Charles Ploeger and I made a trip to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, to interview Professor Abraham Sachs, a specialist in ancient cuneiform texts, particularly those containing astronomical data. We wanted to see if we could obtain any information that would indicate any flaw or weakness whatsoever in the astronomical data presented in many of the texts, data that indicated our 607 B.C.E. date was incorrect. In the end, it became evident that it would have taken a virtual conspiracy on the part of the ancient scribes—with no conceivable motive for doing so—to misrepresent the facts if, indeed, our figure was to be the right one. Again, like an attorney faced with evidence he cannot overcome, my effort was to discredit or weaken confidence in the witnesses from ancient times who presented such evidence, the evidence of historical texts relating to the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In themselves, the arguments I presented were honest ones, but I know that their intent was to uphold a date for which there was no historical support.