According to Watchtower theory (i.e. orthodoxy) the Gentile times began when Jerusalem was destroyed and sacrifices to Jehovah ceased because there was no way to observe the ritual temple sacrifices. Hence, true religion ceased and Gentile domination began.
The importance of Israel as a people was the pure religion and its correct observance through the priesthood for forgiveness of national and individual sins. Without the proper rituals and priests Israel became as other nations.
The date attributed to the commencement of the Gentile domination is given by the Watchtower Society as 607 b.c.e.The relative merits of the date 607 b.c.e. can be debated till the cows come home. There is another way to refute the Gentile times beginning. That is by attacking the veracity of the theory itself in terms of the end of temple ritual sacrifices according to law. DID THEY END when Jerusalem was destroyed, or not?
Let us look at what history tells us....
1.Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in Egypt in 331 b.c.e. This became a Greek city in an Egyptian world. Alexandria was the center of learning and commerce before too long. As a metropolitan city it welcomed men of learning throughout the world. This would eventually include a great many prominent Jews.
2.With the death of Alexander, his general Ptolemy received Egypt and began the Ptolemic dynasty of kings and queens. It lasted until the death of queen Cleopatra (VII) by suicide in the time of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. (60 b.c.e.)
(Another of Alexander's generals, Seleucis, received Syria and ruled at Antioch.)
Into this cosmopolitan Alexandria the largest Jewish community of any city in the Roman empire beyond the bounds of Israel grew.
Let us take a look at that community. It will strongly figure in our eradication of the Watchtower theory of the end of proper ritual sacrifice at a Jewish temple by the approved priesthood.
Around 300,000 Jews lived in Egypt: half resided in the provincial cities or as landowners in the country. The other half lived in Alexandria.
These were prestigious Jews. They were allowed to operate semi-independantly and did not live as in a Ghetto situation like the others.
They had a presidency of an ethnarch and they ran their own courts. As an example of their influence, power and favor we have only to cite this example. Under Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II (2 b.c.e.) the administration of all Egypt, control of the army and navy was given to two Jews named Dositheus and Onias.
Jewish generals served Pharoahs as far back as the 7th century b.c.e. (Jeremiah himself mentions the Jewish colonies in Memphis [capitol at the time] and sites in Upper and Lower Egypt as well.) Jeremiah 44:1
Importantly, according to papyrus documents, a Jewish military colony was established and thriving on Elephantine Island. (Near the modern city of Aswan). In the 5th century b.c.e. it was guarding the sourthern frontier of Egypt.
This colony included a township of soldiers and their families who were given land on which to live at the end of active duty. There was a fortress and a customs post included.
Side by side there were two temples. One temple was Egyptian and the other was:
A TEMPLE TO JEHOVAH presided over by true Zadokite priests. (Authentic descendants and true heirs of the Levitical priests or the "sons of Zadok" of Ezekiel 44:15-16.
These are the priests which are said to have had Jehovah's permission to enter into the divine presence in order to perform the ceremonies of the sacred liturgy.
Archaeologists working on the site have been finding ostraca which held Aramaic texts recording Jewish names and streets.
Why is this important?
When the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in the 6th century b.c.e. and the population taken in captivity to Babylon it was the temple on Elephantine Island which was the SOLE FUNCTIONING JEWISH TEMPLE conducting the required ritual sacrifices under an approved priesthood!
This puts to bed the Watchtower conceit about true worship being trampled in 607b.c.e in a way which does not even require the usual debates about scholar's king lists.
The remains of the large Jewish community there are still being excavated by a German archaelogical school in Cairo. The official accounts seek to downplay the Jewish element while the on site archeologists are more forthcoming.
When tensions arose between the local Jews and the temple worshippers at the nearby Egyptian temple of the god Khnum during the time of Darius (522-486) there was an eventual clash and conflagration. The Jewish temple was damaged, but rebuilt. Finally, around 401 b.c.e. another clash ended the temple service. Egypt threw off the yoke of the Persians and a new pharoah commenced rule. A national Egyptian resurgence ensured little tolerance for the continuation of Jewish temple worship from that date.
As an interesting side note, the Dead Sea Scrolls community is thought to be the stragglers from the Elephantine Island community of Zadokite priests.
In conclusion we see yet another nail in the coffin of Watchtower befuddlement on their unsupportable doctrines about Gentile times leading to 1914.
Naturally, any who disagree with official Watchtower pronouncements are labeled as "apostates".
From Wikipedia:
The Watchtower, April 1, 1982, p. 27. In The Watchtower of July 15, 1992, the Witnesses are even urged to "hate" such "apostates ... with a complete hatred." (Page 12) This was not just an accidental "slip of the pen". The exhortation was repeated in The Watchtower of October 1, 1993. Former members, who have broken the ties with the Watch Tower organization because they can no longer endorse all its claims and teachings, are not only classified as evil "apostates" but also as "enemies of God", who are "intensely hating Jehovah". They are stated to be so "rooted in evil" that "wickedness has become an inseparable part of their nature". Christians, therefore, "must hate" them and ask God to kill them. (Page 19) As such rancorous attacks on former members of the movement reflect an attitude that is exactly the reverse to that recommended by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:43-48), it may be asked why the Watch Tower Society finds it necessary to resort to such malignant language. The answer is obvious to every informed and attentive observer. The leaders of the movement know very well that if the facts about their "Bible chronology", for instance, that have caused thousands of members to turn their back on the Watch Tower organization in recent years, find their way to the Witnesses in general, great numbers would lose confidence in the organization and its leadership. In order to safe-guard the elevated position they claim for themselves, the leaders of the organization are forced to prevent the Witnesses from learning these facts. The method resorted to is an old and well-tried one in authoritarian organizations throughout the centuries. Dissident members are excommunicated ("disfellowshiped") as heretics ("apostates"), slandered, defamed and isolated. The Witnesses are taught that it is a "deadly sin" to talk to them and read their books and that hatred is the true Christian attitude toward them. In this way it is hoped that embarrasing information can be withheld from the Witnesses. Thus truth has become a dangerous threat to the Watch Tower Society these days. Although this organization uses the word "Truth" more often than most other organizations on earth, truth has, in fact, become the worst enemy of the movement.Terry Walstrom