Jehovah's Witnesses: Was Jerusalem destroyed in 607 or 587 B.C.E?

Question

The WTS claims that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E. and uses Dan 4:23-25, Rev 12:6, 14, Num 14:34, and Ezek 4:6 to come up with 1914 C.E., which is 2,520 years later, as the year that Jesus began his reign in heaven. If the WTS’s claim that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E. is correct, then why is it that every reference source, including the Encyclopedia Britannica, Microsoft Encarta, The World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Americana, Compton’s Encyclopedia, Acedemic American Encyclopedia, Cambridge Ancient History – Vol. III, The Oxford Dictionary of World History, etc, etc, all state that Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC? If the WTS is correct that Christ’s reign in heaven started 2,520 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, shouldn’t this event have occurred in 1935 instead of 1914? Should we view the overwhelming opinion of essentially every historian who is an expert on ancient history, or the WTS, as unreliable?

Answer 1

The further back in time you go, the less reliable secular history becomes. Secular historians do not turn to the Bible for dates, but often publish dates that are at odds with the Bible.



I believe the Bible to be a reliable historical book, that never changes. I believe that secular history is prone to speculation and is subject to change when new information comes to light.



Remember, secular historians said that Belshazzar of the same time period was a myth concocted by the Jews, until new information came to light, and now he is an established historical figure.

Answer 2

"If the WTS’s claim that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E. is correct, then why is it that every reference source, including the Encyclopedia Britannica, Microsoft Encarta, The World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Americana, Compton’s Encyclopedia, Acedemic American Encyclopedia, Cambridge Ancient History – Vol. III, The Oxford Dictionary of World History, etc, etc, all state that Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC?" Perhaps you should do some research and see what the Bible says about the so-called experts of this world who put their own intelligence about what the Bible says. Research and meditate on it.

Answer 3

Christ Reigned before is written, The Right Hand of God and The Power of God in The Resurrection and The Life in Redemptive grace unto works and fruits done through God, for God, and by God for we are the peoples of His Handiworks is written..



circa 605 Nebucadnezzar.



2520 - 605 -1 = 1914 Jehovah's Witness Watchtower...



1914 + 100 of the age of Abraham when affirmed the coming of the child of Promise = 2014



Actually, they are really close... and are a sign to many.



(20 X 10) + 7 + 7 + 7 = 2021.



2014-2021 is a seven year period window tribulation coming.



2580 (1290 + 1290 two halves of the weeks divided) - 580+- = 2000 + 7 + 7 = 2014 + 7...

Answer 4

Do you believe scientists that claimed humans had been around for millions of years? or do you believe the account taken from the Bible that humans are around a little more than 6,000 years?



Matt 1:1-16

Luke 3:23-38 (compare with Genesis account)

Answer 5

Because we fully believe in what God's word says, we know the year of Jerusalem's desolation to be definitely 607 BCE.



We know that the restoration of Jehovah’s worship was in the autumn of 537 BCE

(539 BCE being a pivotal date in secular history, and the restoration work taking place 18 months after) The year 537 BCE marked the end of a prophetic period. It was the “seventy years” during which the Promised Land “must become a devastated place” and concerning which Jehovah also 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.”

Jeremiah. 25:11, 12

Jeremiah 29:10

Daniel, who was well acquainted with this prophecy, acted in harmony with it as the “seventy years” drew to a close. (Daniel 9:1-3) Counting seventy years from the autumn of the year 537 BCE brings us to the autumn of 607 BCE.

Also please read Jeremiah chapter 52



You may choose to believe the date was 587 BCE if you wish to, but Jehovah's Witnesses choose to believe the Bible, God's word instead of man's assumptions.

Answer 6

Hello Sonny Daye,



You've done a lot of work to bash JW's. What did they do to you? I used to do the same kind of detailed research about the Mormons so I think you must be pretty unhappy with those JW's.



I'm sorry both you and I had such bad experiences with religions. We have, however, gained a lot of information and I doubt we'll ever make the same mistakes again! Right?



So . . . good luck and thanks for sharing all that work with us. Bye.

Answer 7

I am not JW. In my notes, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD.

Answer 8

Well every expert in the world said the world was flat?, and One man said it wasn't, guess who turned out to be right, you got it the minority? Just something to think about...

Answer 9

I thought Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.

Answer 10

Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult and much of their claims have been disproved. Like you point out they claimed the second coming was supposed to start in 1914 and they have rescheduled it over and over again. They have also made numerous other false prophecies. A true prophet of God is always accurate or he is a false prophet. Since the WTS has made false prophecies they are a false church and not of God.

Answer 11

Greetings,



It should come as no surprise that there is disagreement between True Christians and secular authorities regarding the date of Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E. Since True Christians believe that the Bible is accurate they accept its chronology rather than the uncertain and contradictory chronology found in human historical records.



Pointing out the problems with the secular evidence Professor Edward F. Campbell Jr. says: “The more one studies the intricacies of the chronological problems in the ancient Near East, the less he is inclined to think of any presentation as final. For this reason, the term circa [about] could be used even more liberally than it is.”—The Bible and the Ancient Near East (1965 ed.), p. 281.





So, while most historians base their date for the destruction of Jerusalem on uncertain secular evidence, Jehovah's Witnesses base theirs on a Biblically-foretold seventy-year period of servitude to Babylon for Judah.



Basically, the question is a simple one. Do you accept the Bible’s word that the Jews were in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem for a period of 70 years, or do you accept secular historians dating? (2Chron. 36:21; Jer.29:10; Dan. 9:2)



The majority of historians are in agreement on the fixed date that Cyrus conquered Babylon in October 539 B.C.E. and that Cyrus’ first regnal year began in the spring of 538 B.C.E. This means that the Jews would be back in their homeland by October 537 B.C.E. or “the seventh month (Tishri)” as Ezra 3:1 says.



It is a simple matter of counting back 70 years which brings us to 607 BCE for Jerusalem’s destruction. Dates other than 607 BCE ignore the statements in Scripture that the land would be desolate for 70 years and arbitrarily change it to not mean a full 70 years. Yet, Daniel’s account shows that he relied on a literal 70 years and not a round number (Dan 9:1, 2).



So, Jehovah's Witnesses accept the detailed testimony of the Bible, the inspired Word of God, over the present understanding of secular history. "Christians who believe the Bible have time and again found that its words stand the test of much criticism and have been proved accurate and reliable. They recognize that as the inspired Word of God it can be used as a measuring rod in evaluating secular history and views."—"Let Your Kingdom Come," p. 187.



Witnesses are willing to be guided primarily by God’s Word rather than by a chronology that is based principally on secular evidence that disagrees with the Scriptures because the Bible has proven itself over against secular history many times. There is no reason to believe that it is inaccurate in this instance.





I will close with several quotes:



“The encyclopaedias are wrong, their dates are based on only two pieces of evidence - Ptolemy's Canon and a Babylonian king-list. Now the problem with them is that neither has a fixed date, they have arbitrarily fixed the point when both start. In our favour we have God's word, in particular a verse in Daniel and verses in Ezra, Haggai and Nehemiah. We know that the Babylonian exile lasted 70 years, that is a fixed absolute, so knowing when it ended and counting back the 70 years we can find its beginning.”



"The Bible prophecy does not allow for the application of the 70-year period to any time other than that between the desolation of Judah, accompanying Jerusalem's destruction, and the return of the Jewish exiles to their homeland as a result of Cyrus' decree. It clearly specifies that the 70 years would be years of devastation of the land of Judah. The prophet Daniel so understood the prophecy, for he states: "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." (Da 9:2) After describing the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21 states: "Furthermore, he carried off those remaining from the sword captive to Babylon, and they came to be servants to him and his sons until the royalty of Persia began to reign; to fulfill Jehovah's word by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had paid off its sabbaths. All the days of lying desolated it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.""—Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 1, p. 463.



“Concerning the date of Jerusalem's destruction, many scholars claim to be concerned about harmonizing their views with the Bible, but in fact, are more concerned with not contradicting secular chronology. On the other hand, the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses have paid "more than the usual attention" to detail, and they have arrived at the only conclusion that they conscientiously can. (Hebrews 2:1) Their methodology involves adhering to the Bible in its entirety and not compromising on issues that might seem insignificant to secular historians. To do otherwise would make them guilty of distorting Jehovah's intended message.”





As for 1914, the 70 years of Jeremiah's prophecy and Daniel's taking it as a literal 70 years is unquestionable. This gives a solid *biblical* base for 607 BCE. So, the date 1914 is solidly confirmed by evidence from history, Bible chronology and the indisputable fulfilment of Jesus' prophecy regarding the last days.







If anyone wants a detailed examination of the chronology related to this subject they should obtain my friend’s books. Look up Professor Rolf Furuli's books on Persian Chronology and the Babylonian Exile.



Also the Awake magazine May 8, 1972, pp. 27-8 When Did Babylon Desolate Jerusalem?



Yours,



BAR-ANERGES

Answer 12

According to Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the organisation now known as Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus took up his heavenly throne in 1874, not 1914:



“We would like to correct this misapprehension once for all, by stating that we do not expect Jesus to come this year (1881), nor any other year, for we believe that all time prophecies (bearing upon Jesus’ coming) ended at and before the fall of 1874, and that He came there, and the second advent is now in progress and will continue during the entire Millennial age. We believe that His presence will be revealed to the eyes of men’s understanding gradually during the ‘Day of the Lord,’ (forty years – from 1874 to 1914) as it now is to ours; except that we discern it through the world of prophecy revealed by the Spirit, and they will recognise His presence by His judgement upon Nominal Zion, and the World.” (Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 1 May 1881) http://www.quotes-watchtower.co.uk/1914.htm



“The most important thing to which all the prophecies point, and for which the apostles looked forward, has been the second coming of the Lord. It is described by the prophet as a blessed time. Daniel then says: “blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days” (Daniel 12:12)... This date, therefore, when understood, would certainly fix the time when the Lord is due at his second appearing. Applying the same rule then, of a day for a year, 1335 days after 539 A.D. brings us to 1874 A.D., at which time, according to biblical chronology, the Lord’s second presence was due. If this calculation is correct, from that time forward we ought to be able to find evidence, marking the Lord’s second presence.



“There are two important dates here that we must not confuse, but clearly differentiate; namely, the beginning of “the time of the end” and the beginning of the presence of the Lord. ‘The time of the end’ embraces the period from 1799 A.D. to the complete overthrow of Satan’s empire and the establishment of the kingdom of messiah. The time of the Lord’s second presence dates from 1874 and is during the latter part of the period known as ‘the time of the end’.” (Creation, 1927, page 319) http://www.quotes-watchtower.co.uk/1914.htm



In 1892 Russell said Armageddon had started in October 1874 and would end in October 1914. He applied all the signs of Christ’s ‘parousia’ to events from 1874 onwards (Zion’s Watch Tower 15 July 1894 and Pastor Russell’s Sermons published 1914, page 676). He said this ‘parousia’ was a presence, not a visible return to earth - it was invisible. That enabled one-word changes to be made in 1916 editions, switching belief from 1914 marking the END of the time of trouble to 1914 marking the START of the time of trouble! Jesus was now said to have been invisibly ‘present’ as King in 1914 and not 1874.



The shift from 1874 to 1914 was accomplished because Russell said the earliest years of the millennium would not be marked by cataclysmic changes. He said the restoration of mankind to Edenic perfection would be gradual and, at first, imperceptible to all but the few who had understood the significance of the old prophecies. The Millennial Dawn would be marked by reforms in political, social, economic and industrial life (The Time is at Hand, 1889, page 199 onwards). After Russell died, the 1916 edition of Thy Kingdom Come contained subtle changes: “That the deliverance of the saints must take place very soon AFTER 1914 is manifest” and “Just how long AFTER 1914 the last living members of the body of Christ will be glorified, we are not directly informed.” The pre-1916 editions said BEFORE 1914! From then on, Rutherford gradually dismantled Russell’s chronology and changed it. He began by getting George H. Fisher and Clayton J. Woodworth to write a 7th volume of Studies in the Scriptures. This was supposed to be based on notes for it, left by Russell, but Russell had not been working on the 7th volume.



The 1914 date is arrived at by interpreting prophecies in Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation and is based upon the incorrect belief that Jerusalem was trampled on by the Babylonians in 607 B.C. Historians and reputable scholars put the destruction of Jerusalem around 587 or 586 B.C. but Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to accept the factual evidence presented by professionals. They must stick to 1914 because everything they say about the coming millennial reign of Christ (after Armageddon) hinges on that date. Take away 1914 and you take away the main pillar of their religious beliefs.



To answer your question, the chronology of the WTS can not be changed because everything hinges on their belief that Jesus took up his heavenly throne invisibly in 1914. Anyway, they claim that since 1919 they are God's sole chanel of communication so the historians must be wrong. Given the constant changes they've had to make to their chronology, I do not consider the WTS to be reliable.

Answer 13

congrats on the gold medal.