However, not one of those 2000 tablets mentions or refers to the biblical 70 years.
scholar JW
No duh, because the modern translation is wrong. The Bible is not a historical document, it talks in the language of signs and portents.
According to the Jews, "70 years" is a complete period of judgment from G-d, 7 being the natural order of things and 10 the number of completeness. So they were exiled "until the completion of the natural order of things" or "complete judgment", it's not literal.
Jews today accept that their leadership was exiled, but Jerusalem was historically never really abandoned, although scripture says it was a wasteland, they accept the historicity of ~50 years, they still call it '70 years' because it's a sign, not a fact. They accept that the place was never really abandoned and that at no point has anyone literally removed or torn down every stone from either the temple or the city walls as the Bible also predicts. Jews have lived in Jerusalem and the surrounding land for thousands of years continuously, even today, there are millions of people in the area, however they still call it spiritually 'abandoned' from the viewpoint of G-d no longer being present (with the holiest places currently being held by a terrorist state).
Literal interpretations of the text only started with late 19th century evangelicals looking for mystical connections and numerology, CT Russell and co being a big proponent of them, copying them from others such as Miller and giving it his own spin. The late 1800s and early 1900s were full of cults reinterpreting and giving several dates for apocalyptic events. Interestingly enough, all of these, take part of the text literally and part of the text to be figuratively, depending on what suits their current eschatology better. The WTBTS had predicted the end of the world based on the actually correct date of 587, only inventing 607 numerology when the promised end didn't happen and retroactively applying it to some other random event.
Also note that MOST of the texts (Daniel and Jeremiah) were written and edited long AFTER the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, again, something most modern Jews will accept and they say it is a "warning" to future generations, not a numerological prophecy involving advanced math. No Jew is waiting for the rebuilding of the temple to happen in 1914, you'd think they come to the same conclusion if it were so simple.
As far as the texts you don't take literal is these components of the same verses in Daniel that describe 70 years: to put an end to sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness, the description of four beasts and everything ELSE in Daniel, yet somehow you think the number 70 is relevant and literal and then only when it suits you, again, sometimes the WTBTS says that days and weeks are actually years, other times it does not, no explanation as to why other than to shoehorn in a falsified prophecy. Even Daniel said prophecy would END after the 70 years, yet WTBTS continues prophesying, Jesus supposedly prophesied after the Jews returned. I don't see an end to sin or everlasting righteousness anywhere happened literally.
