“In his 19th year, Nebuchadnezzar burnt down Jerusalem”. According to “Dating the fall ofBabylon and Ur thanks to Astronomical Events” by Gérard Gertoux and published by Cornwell University, his 19th year was 586 B.C.E.
The seventy years [in Jeremiah 29:10 & Jeremiah 25:11] refer primarily to the time of Babylonian world dominion and not to the time of the exile, as is often carelessly supposed.” (N. Gottwald, All the Kingdoms of the Earth, New York, Evanston, London: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1964, pp. 265, 266)
“and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years”. The 70 years here and in 29: 10 refer not to the length of Judah's exile or to "Jerusalem's desolations" but to Babylon's tenure as a world power (Duhm). As far as Babylon's tenure as a world power is concerned, 70 years turned out to be a good approximation: “From the fall of Nineveh (612 B.C.) to Babylon‟s capture by Cyrus (539 B.C.) was 73 years; from the Battle of Carchemish (605 B.C.– Nebuchadrezzar‟s first year; cf. 25:1) to Babylon‟s capture by Cyrus (539 B.C.) was 66 years; and from the actual end of the Assyrian Empire (609/8 B.C.) to Babylon‟s capture by Cyrus and the return of the exiles (539 B.C.) was almost precisely 70 years.” (Vol. II, Doubleday, 2004, pp. 249, 250)
Jeremiah
29:10 – “When Babylon has completed seventy years before me. I.e., when Babylon
has served Yahweh as a world power for 70 years. The specified period, which is
a round number and no more, refers neither to Judah's exile in Babylon nor to
Jerusalem's uninhabitation, both of which were considerably shorter (see Note
for 2 5: I I)…. Jeremiah's
opponents were saying that Judah's exile would be brief; Jeremiah was saying it
would be long. Jeremiah, after all, during this same period was delivering
oracles of judgment against Babylon (51:59-64). Calvin is impressed here that God's
thoughts are not always hidden: Babylon's status as a world power, says God
quite openly, will be ended after 70 years.. (Vol. II, Doubleday, 2004, pp. 353)
The Bible
nowhere states that the Jewish exile lasted for 70 years. Jeremiah clearly
states that the 70 years would be a period of Babylonian rule (“seventy years
for Babylon”), when the nations in the Near East would “serve the king of
Babylon.” (Jeremiah 29:10; 25:11) This servitude ended in 539 BCE, when the
king of Babylon was punished. This would take place after the 70 years had
ended. (Jeremiah 25:12)
As long as the Watchtower apologists persist in denying this, they are forced to misrepresent, misapply, and twist the Bible. By their insistence on the 607 BCE date, they have created an artificial conflict between the Bible and the secular sources that does not exist, and never has existed. Their claim to be trusting the Bible, when they are just trusting in a chronological calculation that conflicts both with the Bible and the historical evidence, is nothing but hypocrisy.