PSacremento
Post 1860
The date 609 BCE for the end of the Assyrian Power is a matter of some conjecture by scholars because no date for this has been universally accepted. Therefore, such a date is useless for determing the beginning of a definite fixed period of history such as the 'seventy years'. Even Carl Jonsson was uncertain about whether 609 or 605 BCE should be employed because most scholars favour 605 BCE for its beginning but if it ended in 539 BCE according to popular opinion then you would have sixty-six years rather than the biblical 'seventy'. That is one problem. The other problem is that if you end the seventy years at 539 BCE then ou arrive at 609 BCE but that years is too 'fuuzy' to begin a an historic period of seventyh years especially when at that time Babylon as a World Power was in its embryonic stage.
That is why 607BCE is a superior date because it uses notable events and dates at either end which are confiremed by secular and biblical history, the other dates such as 587 or 586 BCE are 'mired' in problems everywhere.
scholar JW