I appreciate the calculations both leaving_quietly and jgnat have made on this question. Certainly, the WTS way of calculating the length of the Gentile Times is in error. However, as I pointed out earlier, there is no completely accurate way of measuring a solar year. The figure of 365.25 days is itself a mistake.
That number was the length of a Julian solar year and as the centuries rolled by it created all kinds of problems. The biggest concern that arose with the Julian calendar was when to celebrate Easter. Astronomers noted that its date began drifting to a point earlier in the year and that left unchecked, Easter would actually fall before the spring solstice. This was unacceptable so the Gregorian calendar was ensconced in its place.
There are seven ways of measuring a year. One is the old lunar calendar with is 354.372 days. A second is the sidereal year which is 1.00003878 solar years. The other five are measuring from the points of both solstices and both equinoxes as well as an average of these. None of these years can be reconciled with the others. As for the WTS’ assertion that a “prophetic year” is 360 days, there is absolutely no passage in the Bible which can be called upon to support that conclusion.
As for the vision in Daniel 4 about the tree-dream of Nebuchadnezzar, all these speculations would be moot if the readers would accept what Daniel said about the vision and its fulfillment. Daniel explicitly told the king that the tree he saw was Nebuchadnezzar himself. He left no room for a second or “antitypical” fulfillment. Yet the WTS and others choose to believe otherwise.
Quendi
