When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed? Why It Matters - What the Evidence Shows

by wannabefree 224 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  Doug Mason

  Over the years, I have presented much on the WTS's misquotations, misrepresentations, lies and deceits, and I did not want to repeat old territory.

  My intention with the piece is to track the arguments put out in the Watchtower's article and to then provide counter arguments at those points. I visualised a JW pointing to a certain location in the article and I wanted to provide a tool that enabled a person quickly to locate the counter argument. Hence my constant references to page numbers.

  I have now taken the next natural step with that piece by including headings. This should make it easier to use.

  The article is available at the same URL:

  http://www.jwstudies.com/Commentary_on_When_Was_Ancient_Jerusalem_Destroyed.pdf

  I am still very keen to hear good criticism, which, as you can see, I am prepared to take on board.

  Doug
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  Black Sheep

  Page 26
  
  Ezra reflected on the prophecies of Jeremiah
  and linked the end of “the seventy years”
  tothe timewhen “the LORD moved the heart
  of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation.”
  (2 Chronicles 36:21, 22, NIV) When
  were the Jews released? The decree ending
  their exile was issued in “the first year of Cyrus
  the king of Persia.” (See the box “A Pivotal
  Date in History.”) Thus, by the fall of
  537 B.C.E., the Jews had returned to Jerusalem
  to restore true worship.—Ezra 1:1-5; 2:1;
  3:1-5.
  
  Why do they quotes end at 3:5? Could it be that the following verses are a problem for them?
  
  6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, though the foundation of the LORD’s temple had not yet been laid.
  
  Rebuilding the Temple
  
  7 Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
  8 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years old and older to supervise the building of the house of the LORD. 9 Joshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah[a]) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.
  
  10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel.
  
  Note that there is information in those verses that looks useful in dating the return.

  Now for a lesson in honesty ..........

  Using the verses they conveniently forgot to reference in conjunction with Josephus' Against Apion, Book 1, (which they conveniently forgot to use when telling us the length of the reigns according to Josephus so that they could make him look like a nitwit), the year that they returned can be calculated.
• 

  Black Sheep

  Page 31

  The Conclusion Based on This Evidence

  To sum up: The Bible clearly states that there was an exile of 70 years. There is strong evidence—and most scholars agree—that the Jewish exiles were back in their homeland by 537 B.C.E.

  LOL

  I just noticed that the way the cunning ratbags worded this, even if 'most scholars' agreed that the exiles were back in 538 B.C.E., the statement, "There is strong evidence—and most scholars agree—that the Jewish exiles were back in their homeland by 537 B.C.E." would still be true. They have managed to tell a lie without actually lying. It would still have been true if they had said 535 B.C.E.
• 

  breakfast of champions

  I truly appreciate everyone's research on this article...

  BLACKSHEEP - I was looking for that quote too but didn't find anything! Thanks for your efforts. Excellent job.
• 

  Vanderhoven7

  Bookmarked
• 

  AnnOMaly

  Interesting.

  From the Danish edition of the article, p. 26:

  Senere tilføjede han: „Dette siger Herren: 'Først når der er gået halvfjerds år i Babylon [in/at Babylon], vil jeg drage omsorg for jer, og jeg vil opfylde det gode løfte, jeg gav jer, og bringe jer tilbage til dette sted.'"(Jeremias 29:10, da. aut.)

  Here they do not use the NWT. They use the Authorized Danish version (1931 "danske autoriserede" - see added comment on para. 1, p. 27). Why? As Doug brings out in his critique, the Danish NWT has "for Babylon" and the footnote on the same page of the WT article praises the NWT for being "reliable" or "fuldt pålidelig."

  From the Swedish edition of the article, p. 26:

  Längre fram tillade Jeremia: "Detta är vad Jehova har sagt: 'När sjuttio år har gått i Babylon skall jag vända min uppmärksamhet till er, och jag skall gentemot er befästa mitt goda ord genom att föra er tillbaka till denna plats.'" (Jeremia 29:10, fotnoten)

  The Swedes do not use the main body of the NWT text which has "för Babylon," but have to resort to using the 'runner up' rendering in the footnote.

  The English article subtly misleads the reader into thinking that translations like the NIV's "for Babylon" lead "some historians" down a chronologically wrong path. But that cannot be true because the Danish and Swedish NWT versions use the same preposition! The fact that these WT editions have favored another translation or secondary footnoted rendering for the sake of keeping with the following comments about "some historians" ... well, the fig leaf is too small to cover their embarrassment, I think.
• 

  thetrueone

  The truth of the matter or topic is that there were select Jews who were exiled to Babylon starting in 605 BCE.,

  further capturing of more Jews continued throughout the following years leading up to 586 BCE.. when the

  destruction of the temple took place, by order of king Nebuchadnezzar.

  This can be calculated by various means even by using the bible itself.

  There have been many archaeological pieces of evidence discovered to collaborated with these dates.

  The WTS. stated that the destruction of ancient Jerusalem occurred in 607 BCE which is calculably wrong.

  The reason this date was selected was done solely to support the 7 times prophecy leading up to 1914 .

  Lets not forget that 1914 was strongly promoted by Russell's idealogical concept of Pyramidology.

  Dates like these held posturing value to these book publishers, vital to attract the publics attention, even though they

  were created fictitiously.
• 

  thetrueone

  A little more infomation about the temple in ancient Jerusalem

  The Hebrew Bible reports that the First Temple was built in 957 BCE [ 1 ] by King Solomon (reigned c.970-c.930 BCE). [ 2 ] As the sole place of Jewish sacrifice, the Temple replaced the portable sanctuary constructed in the Sinai Desert under the auspices of Moses, as well as local sanctuaries, and altars in the hills. [ 3 ] This temple was however sacked a few decades later by Sheshonk I, Pharoah of Egypt. Although efforts were made at partial reconstruction, it was only in 835 BCE when Jehoash, King of Judah in the second year of his reign invested considerable sums in reconstruction, only to have it stripped again for Sennacherib, King of Assyria in c700 BCE. The First Temple was totally destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE when they sacked the city. [ 4 ]

  According to the Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and began in 538 BCE, after the fall of the Babylonian Empire the year before. It was completed 23 years later, on the third day of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the Great (12 March 515 BCE), [ 5 ] dedicated by the Jewish governor Zerubbabel. Despite the fact that the new temple wasn't as extravagant or imposing as its predecessor, it still dominated the Jerusalem skyline and remained an important structure throughout the time of Persian suzerainty. The temple narrowly avoided being destroyed again in 332 BCE when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Alexander was allegedly “turned from his anger” at the last minute by astute diplomacy and flattery. After the death of Alexander on 13 June 323 BCE, and the dismembering of his empire, the Ptolemies came to rule over Judea and the Temple. Under the Ptolemies, the Jews were given many civil liberties and lived content under their rule. However, when the Ptolemaic army was defeated at Panium by Antiochus III of the Seleucids in 198 BCE, this policy changed. Antiochus wanted to Hellenize the Jews, attempting to introduce the Greek pantheon into the temple. A rebellion ensued and was brutally crushed, but no further action by Antiochus was taken. When Antiochus died in 187 BCE at Luristan, his son Seleucus IV Philopator succeeded him. However, his policies never took effect in Judea, since he was assassinated the year after his ascension.
• 

  moomanchu

  I think this will actually backfire on the Watchtower.

  When I was in the Watchtower, I didn't even know there was an issue with the 607 date.

  When I realized everyone else on the planet said 587, I started researching and the rest is history.

  Thanks Watchtower !
• 

  diamondiiz

  I didn't even know there was an issue with the 607 date.

  So true, I think most of us didn't know about it. This was the turning point with me as well thanks to their Thy Kingdom Come book.