The fulfillment of the "devastations of Jerusalem [namely,] seventy years" at Daniel 9:2 refers to the end of Babylon's seventy years of world domination and the technical end of Jerusalem's devasted condition. It does not mean that Jerusalem - and by extension Judah - was devastated (without inhabitant) exactly seventy years.
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First, one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses' critical errors is their failure to interpret Daniel 9:2 in light of the original prophecy of Jeremiah 25:11 and other verses which explain in detail that the seventy years of servitude referred to many nations falling under the domination of the Babylonian Empire. The key date, and the focus of Daniel’s discernment, was the completion, or end, of that domination which marked the beginning of the process by which the exiles would return to their homeland.
As explained at the beginning of this paper, part of the problem is that the Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret the word “fulfill” to somehow mean “equal” in order to equate Jerusalem’s devastation with seventy years. To fulfill seventy years of devastation means, to them, that the devastation lasted seventy years, but that is incorrect. “Fulfill” when referring to prophetic years means the end of those years, the accomplishment of a prophecy. Daniel discerned that the end of Jewish servitude (and that of the nations) had begun.
With this in mind it would be helpful to revisit Daniel 9:2.
... 2 in the first year of his reigning I myself, Daniel, discerned by the books the number of the years concerning which the word of Jehovah had occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, ...
The word of Jehovah that occurred to Jeremiah is a direct reference to Jeremiah 25:11 and accompanying verses, which detail seventy years of many nations’ servitude to Babylon. Jehovah’s word with respect to the seventy years and the context within which it was presented: a) directed the prophecy to all nations, not only Judah, b) reflected Jehovah’s sweeping grant of authority to the king of Babylon, that all the nations and beasts would serve him, c) listed all the nations that would come to serve the king of Babylon one way or the other, d) stated that “these nations" would serve the king of Babylon seventy years, e) the seventy years would end with Babylon’s fall and the beginning of Persia’s reign, and f) Jehovah would then turn his attention to his exiled people and return them home.
Continuing with Daniel 9:2:
… for fulfilling (ending) the devastations of Jerusalem, [namely’] seventy years. (emphasis added)
Jeremiah understood, or discerned, that the seventy years of Jeremiah 25:11 marked the end, accomplishment or fulfillment of that seventy-year period of servitude. But he could not have believed Jerusalem was uninhabited seventy years because according to Jehovah’s Witnesses, the end of seventy years was still in the future when they returned home. Daniel was fully aware of Scripture which marked the end of the seventy years while the exiles were still in Babylon, when the empire fell and the Persians began to reign.
In light of all that we have learned so far, and in light of the original prophecy, it is simply not credible or possible that Daniel meant that Jerusalem lay devastated without an inhabitant for seventy years following Jerusalem’s destruction. It could not have.
Secondly, there is a contradiction in the Jehovah’s Witnesses' seventy-year uninhabited devastation theory. On the one hand they claim that the seventy years of devastation began with Jerusalem’s destruction: “We believe that the most direct reading of Jeremiah 25:11 and other texts is that the 70 years would date from when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and left the land of Judah desolate. Jeremiah 52:12-15, 24-27; 36:28-31.” Kingdom Come at p.10.
On the other hand, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Setting the Record Straight at pp. 4-5 claim that the seventy years began later, exactly in the 7th month of 607 B.C.E. when the last of the remnant fled to Egypt. As outlined above, much transpired between Jerusalem’s fall including the official appointment of Gedaliah as governor, his assassination, the capture and removal of Jews by Ishmael to the sons of Ammon, their rescue and return to Judah, and along with other dispersed Jews who returned to Judah and picked summer fruit, their eventual flight to Egypt.
Third, Daniel could not have understood the seventy years to be years of devastation of Judah without inhabitant if it began upon the destruction of Jerusalem because Judah was still inhabited by those remaining over whom Gedaliah was appointed governor. And, counting forward exactly seventy years to the month, the exiles would not have yet returned to Judah to re-inhabit it thereby falling short again of seventy years.
Fourth, neither could Daniel have understood the seventy years to be years of devastation without inhabitant if it began when the last of the Jewish remnant fled to Egypt because counting forward exactly seventy years from the month puts the end of the alleged captivity and servitude upon the Jews’ return, and as it hopefully should be very clear by now, the seventy years ended while the Jews were in Babylon when Persia began its reign which amounts to 68 - 69 years, not seventy.
Fifth, Daniel was fully aware of Leviticus 26:32 - 35 which Ezra quoted in part at 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21 where Moses wrote that the desolation would end while the exiles were still in Babylon, in the land of their enemies, not when they returned. He would not have understood the seventy years to have ended two years in the future when they returned. Once again, the time frame falls short of seventy years.
Sixth, in addition to the same reasons stated above, Ezra, the author of 2 Chronicles 36 could not have meant that “All the days of laying desolated it kept the Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years” referred to seventy uninhabited years of devastation beginning with Jerusalem’s destruction. Nowhere does Ezra claim that the land would be, or was, uninhabited. Desolated, yes, but not uninhabited. The reference to keeping the land Sabbath is metaphor - the land was unproductive and rested, not uninhabited. In fact, “Sabbath” connotes a human condition or presence, defined as “the day of rest and religious observance of the Jews….” Paying off its sabbaths is akin to paying off a loan, which was fulfilled or accomplished or ended or finished while the exiles were still in the land of their enemies, Babylon. The fulfillment of seventy years at 2 Chronicles 26 referred to the conclusion of the desolation and sabbatical-like condition which began with Babylon’s fall and Persia’s rise to power. Ezra was not saying the land was desolated without inhabitant for seventy years ending in 537 B.C.E.
One might then ask how the Jews could re-inhabit Judah while still physically in Babylon? The answer is that a) Daniel stated that Jerusalem was already inhabited, and therefore Judah was inhabited, when the seventy year prophecy ended after Babylon’s fall, and b) the prophecy did not require a physical return. An apt parallel can be drawn with Cyrus’ decree setting the Jews free; they were declared free and were therefore free even before they left on their journey home. Similarly, the land was no longer paying off its sabbaths even though the Jews had not returned to their soil. The debt, or condition, was paid off while they were in Babylon; c) physical occupation by the returnees would not end the devastated condition. The land was as devasted the day after their return as it was the day before their return.
It bears repeating, because the "sabbaths” were paid off while the exiles were still in Babylon Ezra could not have meant that the reference to seventy years meant that Judah lie desolate without inhabitant exactly seventy years ending upon the exiles’ physical return in 537 B.C.E. It’s impossible. Remember, Ezra also had access to Jeremiah’s prophecy. He knew the fulfillment and timing of seventy years was tied directly to the fall of the Babylonian Empire and the rise of Persian royalty.
Lastly, lest one forget, there is a mountain of archeological and historical evidence that proves that Jerusalem was not destroyed in 607 B.C.E. but that it was destroyed in 587/6 B.C.E., and that it remained in that severely devastated condition 48-50 years, not seventy years. And, that the exiles removed at Jerusalem’s destruction were not in Babylon seventy years, but 48-50 years. Of course, one is free to ignore such evidence and pretend it does not exist, but it is preferable to harmonize one’s interpretation of the Bible with archeology and history which is possible if Jerusalem was destroyed in 587/6 B.C.E., but not if it was destroyed in 607 B.C.E.
Even though the Jehovah’s Witnesses have attempted to merge the two parts of Jeremiah 25:11, to borrow the seventy years of servitude to improperly extend the length of devastation, in the final analysis all of this talk about seventy years of an uninhabited devastated place is moot; it is a non-existent element of Jeremiah’s prophecy. The concept of seventy years of an utterly uninhabited devastated place, an object of astonishment, is a false doctrine used to gain twenty years in order to reach 607 B.C.E. It is an illogical, unscriptural and gross misinterpretation because the seventy years pertained to the nations’ servitude to the king(s) of Babylon, not Judah’s devastation. And that is precisely what Jehovah’s prophets understood.
The Jehovah's Witnesses' understanding that Jeremiah 25:11 is a composite of “devastation” and "servitude” - that it is actually one prophecy, one indivisible unit - is flawed in yet another way because if it really is a composite it cuts both ways. This would mean that all of “these nations” which served the Babylonian Empire were also “uninhabited” places and objects of astonishment for seventy years, which contravenes history, Scripture and is patently false. The fact that the word "and" separates these two concepts does not equate them or join them together. The phrase "Frank and Henry" does not mean that "Frank is Henry."
539 B.C.E. marked the end of the seventy-year servitude prophecy with the finishing off of Babylon and the rise of Persia and the Medes. Counting back seventy years takes one to 609 B.C.E. and the last Assyrian battle at Haran that saw the demise of Assyria at the hands of the then king of Babylon. This is the only correct and workable chronological slot or window the seventy years of Jeremiah 25:11 fits into.
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