"What this brain trust (AIW) is suggesting is taking the known fact of Cyrus's overthrow of Babylon (539 BCE.),
minus the 70 years of the prophetic prophecy and you come to 607 BCE.
Opps wait a second we have a problem, Nebuchadnezzar didn't come to power until 605 BCE. upon the death of his father.
So maybe the captivity didn't last 70 prophetic years after all.......shoot !
Hey I thought the bible was the word of god or at least inspired by god.
Its funny how these discreet fibs and stories of embellishment never coincide with facts and reality in the real world outside
of spiritualistic mysticism. I must be too analytical for fictionalized fantasy"
According to the Cyrus cylinder the Jews were released from captivity.
http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/hakhamaneshian/Cyrus-the-great/cyrus_cylinder.htm
Inscription corroborates many of the details in Ezra 1:1-5 describing Cyrus supporting the Jews in returning to Judea from captivity to rebuild the Temple in 537 BCE. Isaiah also backs up the idea of Cyrus as a benign and chosen ruler.
The cuneiform tablet entitled “Strassmaier, Cyrus No. 11” mentions Cyrus’ first regnal year. By this tablet it is calculated that this year began March 17/18, 538 B.C.E., and it ended on March 4/5 of 537 B.C.E., Gregorian time. So Cyrus’ second regnal year began the next day, on March 5/6, 537 B.C.E. In this case Cyrus’ decree must have been made before this latter date that is, late in the year 538 or early in 537 B.C.E. See pages 14, 29 of Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.-A.D. 75, edition of 1956, by Parker and Dubberstein.
607 BCE is derived from counting 70 years from the Jews release from Babylonian captivity (I already pointed this out). If it was 605, the early Bible students would have simply said this. You're using a backwards philosophy and losing yourself in a matrix of information for no good reason. You can either use the fulfillment of the 1914 Bible prophecy to establish 607 as the date of Jerusalem's destruction or an endless array of data to disprove Bible prophecy. It doesn't make any sense to choose the latter if a prophecy has already been fulfilled. You would have to come up with a conspiracy theory as to how Russell and the early Bible students started World War I since the prophecy has already been fulfilled.