Questions related to the "70 years"

by Doug Mason 2 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Doug Mason

  This post, although about the "70 years", is not about the accuracy or otherwise of dates assigned to that period. Rather, this post is about the nature of the Biblical record that we now have.

  (1) Much discussion, from myself included, centres on the meaning of the declaration at Jer 25:11-12. Since the LXX and the MT of these verses are different (indeed of the whole of Jer 25), does this affect the intent of these verses? Does the fact that differences do exist between these accepted sources diminish the value of these verses for the WTS as a key foundation of its existence?

  NIV of Jeremiah 25:8-12:
  Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the LORD, “and will make it desolate forever."

  NETS of Jeremiah 25:8-12 LXX:
  Therefore this is what the Lord says: Because you have not believed my words, behold, I am sending for and I will take a paternal family from the north, and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all nations around it, and I will utterly devastate them and render them into an annihilation and into a hissing and into an everlasting disgrace. And I will banish from them a sound of mirth and a sound of gladness, a voice of bridegroom and a voice of bride, a fragrance of perfume and light of a lamp. And the whole land shall become an annihilation, and they shall be slaves amongst the nations seventy years. And when seventy years are completed, I will punish that nation, and I will make them an everlasting waste."

  (2) Although the Jews (Judahites) recorded their history (albeit with a theological intent) from Moses to the destruction of Jerusalem, they did not provide an equivalent historical account of their experiences during the Exile/Captivity. What does this tell us, especially since they worked very actively on their prior historical material during their time in Chaldea? (Neither Daniel, Ezekiel nor Lamentations provides an historical account that is equivalent to the Jews' account of their history that brought about the destruction of Jerusalem.)

  (3). Is it possible to identify Chiasms in the structures of the MT and the LXX of Jeremiah? If so, does this tell us anything?

  Doug
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  Narkissos

  1. Only the MT (which the NWT follows) retains the (apparently earliest) understanding of the "70 years" as referring to a general period of Neo-Babylonian rule over the nations, although combining it with the theme of the Judean exile and desolation. This understanding is absent from the LXX wording which focuses on the Judean exile amongst the nations. In a sense, the LXX would serve the WT doctrine better, but this is hardly a handy argument for them as the consequences of preferring the LXX would be disastrous for their entire doctrine and use of scripture.

  2. It doesn't seem psychologically strange to me that the thinking and literary work of the exile focuses on recollecting and reconstructing pre-exilic history (along the line of "how did we get here?" among others) rather than the gloomy and uncertain present. However, the historiographical work may have begun before the exile and certainly went on later, with new issues at stake; especially the power and tradition struggle between the Jerusalem returnees and the "people of the land" who never went into exile.

  3. That would take more time to study than I have right now, sorry... :)
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  wantingtruth

  Hi DM

  I see , the 70 years are related with Babylon / Jer. 29:10 /

  and with Jerusalym Zecariah 1:12

  If we want to understand this according to Jesus , we have to seek the "spiritually" understand of the issue, because Jesus put/set the "foundation" for this kind of understanding of the prophecies , which is part of the new kind of worshiping God ..with spirit and truth" .

  this 70 years period is related with the Great Tribulation which come over the saints in the "latter days" according with the rule given by God Himself to Daniel , and to which Christ Himself was obeing

  Daniel 10:

  14 Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for many days:

  so , we as "seekers" of God's word have to seek for -- who is Daniel's people and when are the "latter days"..