Jeffro
hahaha đ€Ł poor 'scholar' insists that the 70 years 'must' begin "not earlier" than 607 BCE because it is 70 years before the year they say the Jews 'must' have returned from exile, which they dogmatically say 'must' have been in 537 because it is 70 years after 607 â». (The correct year is 538 BCE as indicated by Ezra and Josephus, but at 'best' - from the JW perspective - it cannot in any case be definitely stated that they returned in 537.) Of course, the Bible never mentions an "exile of 70 years", and irrefutably says Babylon's 70 years ended when Babylon's king was 'called to account', which definitely happened in 539 BCE. But even if the Bible did say there were an exile of 70 years (which wouldn't make sense as a period starting at an unspecified future time in the context of Jeremiah 29, set in 594 BCE or 614 in JW years), they still wouldn't have anything beyond circular reasoning for their insistence on 607-537. Additionally, the only way 70 years would make any sense as 'years of exile' to the Jews already in Babylon would be for it to refer to the start of their exile in early 597 BCE (617 in JW chronology), which would mean they would expect to return home in 547 BCE (JW years). Little wonder that JW literature never mentions the year for the setting of Jeremiah chapter 29 (though two issues of The Watchtower, from way back in 1964 and 1979, connect '614 BCE' with chapter 28).
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HA HA. The simple fact of the matter is that there was a Jewish Exile of 70 years duration ending in 537BCE or according to scholars roundabout that time so counting backwards one arrives at a date of 607 BCE not 586 or 587BCE. Thus the historical fact of the Jewish Exile of 70 years even if you wish to end it at 539 BCE still does not give you 586 or 587 BCE. Big Pwoblem here.
scholar JW