I'm fighting this one right now. Thanks for the info!
586/587 the K.I.S.S. approach --- no VAT4956, Ptolemy, Josephus needed
by Alleymom 147 Replies latest watchtower bible
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GoingGoingGone
Bumping this to the top again!
GGG
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TopHat
butt
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watson
Hmmmm, interesting thread. For my records.
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besty
For all the newbies a 2008 bump
Enjoy - one of the best posts I have ever read on JWD -
still_in74
How does it get any better/easier than this?
This thread actually pisses me off cause I feel like a total ass!!!!!!!!!!
It is getting more and more difficult for me to keep my feelings to myself about this org. I have to escape!
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digderidoo
Good thread. I have been researching this one today. Thanks for bumping it up still in 74
Paul
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Awakened at Gilead
I printed out the w65 and w68 references. Its such obvious manipulation of dates that it's stupid.
Yes stillin74, don't be an ass. Escape! It only gets better!
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Awakened at Gilead
If you don'y have the CD-Rom here are the articles that were mentioned on p.1 of this thread:
***it-2p.480Nebuchadnezzar***Second ruler of the Neo-Babylonian Empire; son of Nabopolassar and father of Awil-Marduk (Evil-merodach), who succeeded him to the throne. Nebuchadnezzar ruled as king for 43 years (624-582 B.C.E.),
*** w65 1/1 pp. 29-30 The Rejoicing of the Wicked Is Short-lived ***BABYLON’S LAST DYNASTY OF SEMITE KINGSNebuchadnezzar was now growing old, and eyes began to turn toward a successor for him. By his Median queen Amytis Nebuchadnezzar had his first son, Evil-merodach. He had two sons-in-law, Neriglissar and Nabonidus. The latter was the husband of Nitocris, Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter by his wife of the same name. This marriage produced Belshazzar, who was therefore a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar and a great-grandson of Nabopolassar, the founder of the last dynasty of Semite kings of Babylon.
Amel-Marduk (Evil-merodach) as the oldest son succeeded Nebuchadnezzar to the throne in 581 B.C.E. He did a kindness to one of the Judean captives, by which kindness he unwittingly carried out Jehovah’s purpose. Second Kings 25:27-30 states: "It came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin the king of Judah, in the twelfth month [in 580 B.C.E.], . . . Evil-merodach the king of Babylon, in the year of his becoming king, raised up the head of Jehoiachin the king of Judah out of the house of detention; and he began to speak good things with him, and then put his throne higher than the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon. And he took off his prison garments; and he ate bread constantly before him all the days of his life." Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah) had seven sons in Babylonia, including Shealtiel, whose nominal son Zerubbabel became governor of rebuilt Jerusalem, and through whose line of descent Jesus Christ came.—1 Chron. 3:17-19; Hag. 1:1; 2:23; Ezra 5:1, 2; Matt. 1:12.
Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, who reigned for four years, which time he spent mainly in building operations. His underage son Labashi-Marduk, a vicious boy, succeeded him, and was assassinated within nine months.Nabonidus, who had served as governor of Babylon and who had been Nebuchadnezzar’s favorite son-in-law, took the throne and had a fairly glorious reign until Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E. He devoted his time to literature, art and religion. He is reported to have been the son of a priestess of the moon at Harran (Haran), which fact had endeared him to Nebuchadnezzar. Says TheEncyclopediaAmericana, Volume 2, page 441:
He was an enthusiastic religionist and antiquarian. He built and rebuilt many temples in the principal cities of his kingdom. Nabonidus’ enthusiasm carried him too far, for he attempted to centralize in Babylon the religion of the kingdom. In doing this he alienated the priesthood, and even aroused their active opposition. For throughout the history of Babylonia each city had its own patron deity, to which its temple was dedicated and its people devoted. The images and shrines of these various divinities were collected to Babylon. This act, with others of similar offense to the priests, paved the way for his downfall before a mightier power.
Nabonidus set up a second capital for Babylonia at the oasis of Tema in Arabia. In the third year of his reign he made Belshazzar coregent. While Nabonidus was absent from Babylon and down south in Tema, Belshazzar officiated in Babylon as second ruler of the land. Belshazzar was also very religious, a thing required by the Babylonians of their kings. He reverenced the Babylonian gods greatly, but insulted and blasphemed Jehovah, rejoicing over the supposed victory of his gods in the fact that the Jews were in captivity to Babylon. (Dan. 5:1-4) He built sanctuaries, making offerings of gold and silver and sacrificial animals. There are six cuneiform texts that have been discovered that run from the fifth year to the thirteenth year of the reign of his father Nabonidus that prove this fact. Belshazzar even paid the Babylonian religious tithe. He was a devotee of the gods.
*** w68 8/15 pp. 490-491 The Book of Truthful Historical Dates ***
THE ABSOLUTE DATE OF 539 B.C.E.
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One such fixed or absolute date is in connection with the events recorded in the fifth chapter of Daniel, verses one to thirty-one. That was concerning the time when the Medes and Persians under Cyrus the Great broke up Belshazzar’s notorious carousal, captured the city of Babylon, and overthrew the Third World Empire. The year was 539 B.C.E. on the Gregorian calendar, four years after the Buddhist Era began in India.13
The fixing of 539 B.C.E. as the year when this historical event occurred is based on a stone document known as the Nabonidus (Nabunaid) Chronicle. This important find was discovered in ruins near the city of Baghdad in 1879, and it is now preserved in the British Museum. A translation of this finding was published by Sidney Smith in BabylonianHistoricalTextsRelatingtotheCaptureandDownfallofBabylon, London, 1924, and reads in part:14
"In the month of Tashritu [Tishri, Hebrew 7th month], when Cyrus attacked the army of Akkad in Opis on the Tigris, the inhabitants of Akkad revolted, but he (Nabonidus) massacred the confused inhabitants. The 14th day, Sippar was seized without battle. Nabonidus fled. The 16th day [October 11-12, 539 B.C.E., Julian, or October 5-6, Gregorian] Gobryas (Ugbaru), the governor of Gutium and the army of Cyrus entered Babylon without battle. Afterwards Nabonidus was arrested in Babylon when he returned (there). . . . In the month of Arahshamnu [Heshvan, Hebrew 8th month], the 3rd day [October 28-29, Julian], Cyrus entered Babylon, green twigs were spread in front of him—the state of ‘Peace’ (Sulmu) was imposed upon the city."—AncientNearEasternTextsRelatingtotheOldTestament (Princeton; 1955), James B. Pritchard, p. 306.15
Please note, the Nabonidus Chronicle gives precise details as to the time when these events took place. This, in turn, enables modern scholars, with their knowledge of astronomy, to translate these dates into terms of the Julian or Gregorian calendars. Explaining why this Chronicle makes no particular reference to Belshazzar in connection with the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, and also confirming the date of 539, note what professor Jack Finegan says in LightfromtheAncientPast (1959), pages 227-229:16
"Nabunaid (Nabonidus) shared the kingship with his own oldest son Belshazzar. Belshazzar is named as the crown prince in Babylonian inscriptions. . . . Since, therefore, Belshazzar actually exercised the coregency at Babylon and may well have continued to do so unto the end, the book of Daniel (5:30) is not wrong in representing him as the last king of Babylon. In the seventeenth year of King Nabunaid, Babylon fell to Cyrus the Persian. The Nabunaid chronicle gives exact dates. In the month of Tashritu on the fourteenth day, October 10, 539 B.C., the Persian forces took Sippar; on the sixteenth day, October 12, ‘the army of Cyrus entered Babylon without battle’; and in the month of Arahsamnu, on the third day, October 29, Cyrus himself came into the city."17
Other investigators say this: "The Nabunaid Chronicle . . . states that Sippar fell to Persian forces VII/14/17 (Oct. 10, 539), that Babylon fell VII/16/17 (Oct. 12), and that Cyrus entered Babylon VIII/3/17 (Oct. 29). This fixes the end of Nabunaid’s reign and the beginning of the reign of Cyrus. Interestingly enough, the last tablet dated to Nabunaid from Uruk is dated the day after Babylon fell to Cyrus. News of its capture had not yet reached the southern city some 125 miles distant."—Brown University Studies, Vol. XIX, BabylonianChronology626B.C.—A.D.75, Parker and Dubberstein, 1956, p. 13.18
Recognized authorities of today accept 539 B.C.E. without any question as the year Babylon was overthrown by Cyrus the Great. In addition to the above quotations the following gives a small sampling from books of history representing a cross section of both general reference works and elementary textbooks. These brief quotations also show that this is not a date recently suggested, but one thoroughly investigated and generally accepted for the past sixty years.Interestingly, they never list all the dates together in any single article, since people might add them up. Just add up the highlighted figures this proves that the WTS is a blatant liar. If the originator of this thread is still on JWD, many thanks!
A@G (of the "its easier to catch a liar than a thief" class)
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still_in74
Dig... no problem, it a great thread
A@G - yes i need too!!!!!