Facts about 607 B.C.E., 587 B.C. and whether Jesus started ruling in 1914

Jerusalem fell in 587 B.C. This is stated in virtually all encyclopaedias and supported by a vast volume of historical information. The Watchtower claims this figure is wrong and that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E. This is highly significant for Jehovah's Witnesses, as if Jerusalem was not destroyed in 607 B.C., then Jesus rulership did not commence in 1914, nor was the Watchtower Society chosen by him in 1919.

There is a large weight of evidence that can be used to prove 607 B.C. wrong. As early as 1929, Raymond Philip Dougherty's Nabonidus and Belshazzar, Yale University Press, page 10 showed that the knowledge of the reign of these kings "is based upon more than two thousand dated cuneiform documents. It must therefore be accepted as the ultimate criterion in the determination of Neo-Babylonian chronological questions."

The Jewish year began in either April (Nisan – religious) or in September (Tishri – secular), and therefore does not align with our modern calendar and its January start. For this reason, the fall of Jerusalem is sometimes presented in the form 587/586 B.C.

There are numerous ways used to determine that Jerusalem fell in 587 B.C. This includes Ptolemy's Canon, the Nabonidus Chronicle, Harran, Hillah stele and synchronization with Egyptian chronology. The Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology, page 274 states "Archaeological evidence for the destruction of the kingdom in 586 B.C. comes from Jerusalem, Lachish, Tell Beit Mirsim, and other sites." Tens of thousands of detailed Economic-administrative and legal documents have been unearthed outlining daily, monthly and yearly occurrences during the reign of the Babylonian kings.

Prosopography is the study of careers and makes the Watchtowers addition of twenty years to Babylonian history unlikely due to the extending the life span of discovered Babylonians. A comparison of business people such as the Egibi business house with Watchtower chronology would require people mentioned in these records to have been working to over the age of 100. Likewise the Adad-guppi' stele would require the mother of Nabonidus to have lived until the age of 121.

The highly predicable nature of the stars and planets makes astronomical observations invaluable in dating prior events. Babylonians placed great importance on astrology and the thousands of records uncovered prove precisely the dates for the reign of Babylonian kings. VAT 4956 provides 30 observations, 5 of which place Nebuchadnezzar's 37th year as 568/67 B.C.E., making this an absolute date. This is significant as 2 Kings 25:2,8 places "the eleventh year of King Zedekiah" in "the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar", proving beyond doubt the date for the fall of Jerusalem.

For detailed evidence from Assyrian and Babylonian records proving that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 B.C., see the book The Gentile Times Reconsidered .

Watchtower Refute

Click on the image for a 22 page PDF that shows the Watchtower depends on the same astronomical tablets to arrive at 607 that it says are unreliable for arriving at 587.

The Watchtower claims that the above evidence is meaningless, wrong and cannot be trusted, because it disagrees with Bible prophecy, or more accurately, Watchtower interpretation of Bible prophecy. The Watchtower contrasts inspired "Bible Chronology" with uninspired "secular chronology". More accurately though is that it is contrasting its interpretation of Bible Chronology, which throughout these articles is shown to be flawed, with secular chronology.

The explanation given is that the Bible is inspired and must therefore be taken above any secular source. What this really means is the Watchtower starts with a date taken from secular sources (the 539 B.C. fall of Babylon), without acknowledging the methodology employed by the secular sources, and then applies their own interpretation of Scripture. It is not a question of superiority of “Bible inspiration”, but of having to accept the Watchtower’s flawed interpretation of it.

Since its 15th April 1964 edition, the Watchtower uses the interchangeable abbreviations B.C.E. and C.E. in place of B.C. and A.D. The term Common Era traces back to 1615, and the abbreviation C.E. to the mid-19th century. B.C.E/C.E are becoming more common since the late twentieth century out of sensitivity to non-Christians.

"If we follow the accurate timekeeping of Jehovah God as recorded in his Word, we see that the desolation of Judah ran from 607 to 537 B.C.E. and will thereby avoid making the mistake of the chronologers of Christendom who ignore the prophecy of the seventy years' desolation and date Jerusalem's destruction as occurring in 587 B.C.E. They limit the desolation of Jerusalem and the land of Judah to merely fifty years, accepting the unreliable calculations of pagan historians rather than the infallible Word of God." Watchtower 1965 Sep 15 p.569

"However, where the interpretation of these findings conflicts with clear statements in the Bible, we accept with confidence what the Holy Scriptures say, whether on matters related to chronology or any other topic." Watchtower 1989 Mar 15 p.22

This argumentation is both baseless and counter productive, as the Watchtower relies on the very same historical records to arrive at 607 B.C. Archaeological evidence that shows the destruction of Jerusalem was in 587 B.C. is the same evidence that the Society accepts as proof that 539 B.C. was the destruction of Babylon. The Watchtower determines 607 B.C. as the destruction of Jerusalem by accepting the historical records used to calculate when Babylon fell, and then working back 70 years from there. Archaeologists that prove when Babylon fell are the same people that have proven Jerusalem fell in 587 B.C. (Furthermore, the claim that 587 B.C. conflicts with Bible prophecy is not a relevant argument, as there are historically acceptable ways to reconcile the prophecy, as will be shown later.)

For example, to arrive at 539 B.C. for Babylon’s fall, Insight on the Scriptures relies upon an astronomical tablet and the work of scholars Strassmaier, Kugler, Oppolzer and Gingerich, to determine that King Cambyses’ 7th regnal year was 523/522 B.C.

"A Babylonian clay tablet is helpful for connecting Babylonian chronology with Biblical chronology. This tablet contains the following astronomical information for the seventh year of Cambyses II son of Cyrus II: … (Inschriften von Cambyses, König von Babylon, by J. N. Strassmaier, Leipzig, 1890, No. 400, lines 45-48; Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel , by F. X. Kugler, Münster, 1907, Vol. I, pp. 70, 71). … Thus, this tablet establishes the seventh year of Cambyses II as beginning in the spring of 523 BCE. This is an astronomically confirmed date." Insight on the Scriptures p.453

After accepting the date calculated for the astronomical tablet from Cambyses’ 7th year, Insight then relies on the secular chronology, such as provided by Ptolemy’s Canon, to travel to the date of Babylon’s 539 B.C. fall.

"The date of 539 B.C.E. for the fall of Babylon can be arrived at not only by Ptolemy's canon." Insight on the Scriptures p.454

It is because of the extreme reliability of the information regarding the secular king lists that the Watchtower is able to depend on 539 B.C. as the fall of Babylon, upon which it applies simple maths to determine 607 B.C. as the fall of Jerusalem. Despite absolute dependance on these sources for determining 607 B.C., the Watchtower claims they are unreliable and should not be used to calculate the fall of Jerusalem.

"Though the classical historians and the canon of Ptolemy disagree with this date [607 B.C.], valid questions can be raised about the accuracy of their writings." Watchtower 2011 Oct 1 p.31

The Watchtower has no proof to support 607 B.C. as Jerusalem's fall, other than its esoteric Biblical interpretation. Even then it must rely on historians to calculate back to that date. Nor are they able to logically counter the volumes of information that show Jerusalem fell in 587 B.C. So when it then is required to undermine these very historians it puts itself in a contradictory position that undermines any credibility in 607 B.C. For a prophecy of such importance to the Watchtower, the onus of proof is upon them to provide legitimate support to this teaching. Yet because it is wrong, they necessarily put themselves in a position that makes it impossible to do so.

Calculating 587 B.C. from the Watchtower

There is a large weight of evidence that can be used to prove this year wrong. As early as 1929, Raymond Philip Dougherty's Nabonidus and Belshazzar, Yale University Press p.10 showed that the knowledge of the reign of these kings "is based upon more than two thousand dated cuneiform documents. It must therefore be accepted as the ultimate criterion in the determination of Neo-Babylonian chronological questions." Not surprisingly, since the Watchtower relies on historical evidence to prove when Babylon fell, information presented in the Watchtower's own journals can be used to show that 607 B.C. is wrong.

Following is a simple calculation of when Jerusalem fell, taken solely from Watchtower literature. In viewing the calculation, remember that everything goes backwards when calculating years B.C.

Watchtower publications can be used to show that the date of the destruction is 587 B.C. simply by adding the length of reigns of the Babylonian kings that they have given.

"Amel-Marduk (Evil-merodach) as the oldest son succeeded Nebuchadnezzar to the throne in 581 B.C.E. He did a kindness to one of the Judean captives, by which kindness he unwittingly carried out Jehovah's purpose. Second Kings 25:27-30 states: "It came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin the king of Judah, in the twelfth month [in 580 B.C.E.], . . . Evil-merodach the king of Babylon, in the year of his becoming king, raised up the head of Jehoiachin the king of Judah out of the house of detention; and he began to speak good things with him, and then put his throne higher than the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon. And he took off his prison garments; and he ate bread constantly before him all the days of his life." Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah) had seven sons in Babylonia, including Shealtiel, whose nominal son Zerubbabel became governor of rebuilt Jerusalem, and through whose line of descent Jesus Christ came.-1 Chron. 3:17-19; Hag. 1:1; 2:23; Ezra 5:1, 2; Matt. 1:12. Evil-merodach reigned two years and was murdered by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, who reigned for four years, which time he spent mainly in building operations. His underage son Labashi-Marduk, a vicious boy, succeeded him, and was assassinated within nine months. Nabonidus, who had served as governor of Babylon and who had been Nebuchadnezzar's favorite son-in-law, took the throne and had a fairly glorious reign until Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E." Watchtower 1965 Jan 1 p.29

This article shows that the Watchtower accepts the scholarly view of the Babylonian line of kings. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by:

Where the Watchtower differs with history is that it says Nebuchadnezzar gave up the throne in 581 B.C. History shows it was in 562 B.C. Therefore the two timelines are:

For the Watchtower timeline to be correct Nabonidus needs to have ruled for 36 years, yet the Society admits archaeology shows he only ruled for 17 years.

"Other investigators say this: "The Nabunaid Chronicle . . . states that Sippar fell to Persian forces VII/14/17 [Footnotes]"VII/14/17": The 7th Hebrew month Tishri, 14th day, 17th year of Nabonidus' reign. (Oct. 10, 539), that Babylon fell VII/16/17 (Oct. 12), and that Cyrus entered Babylon VIII/3/17 (Oct. 29). This fixes the end of Nabunaid's reign and the beginning of the reign of Cyrus." Watchtower 1968 August 15 p. 491

"Last supreme monarch of the Babylonian Empire; father of Belshazzar. On the basis of cuneiform texts he is believed to have ruled some 17 years (556-539 B.C.E.). He was given to literature, art, and religion. Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2 p.457 Nabonidus

There is a further problem created by the Watchtower timeline. The following quote goes on to say that there were two Nabonidus' due to tablets showing that Nabonidus was ruling over a city in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar. The reason the Watchtower Society has be forced to create an unattested second Nabonidus is due to their claim that Nebuchadnezzar started ruling in 624 B.C., making Nabonidus too young to rule at that time. However, since archaeology shows Nebuchadnezzar started ruling in 605 B.C. it is perfectly acceptable for Nabonidus to have been ruling a city in 597 B.C., and still been alive in 539 B.C.

"Cuneiform tablets of the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar (Nisan 617-Nisan 616 B.C.E.) list a certain Nabu-na´id as the one "who is over the city," and some historians believe this is the same Nabonidus who later became king. However, this would mean that Nabonidus was a very young man when placed in such administrative position and would make him extremely aged at the fall of Babylon, some 77 years later (539 B.C.E.)." Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2 p.457 Nabonidus

It is amazing that with Watchtower information it can be shown that 607 B.C. was not the year for the fall of Jerusalem. The Bible explains what happened during this period.

2 Kings 24 records that Jehoiakim paid tribute to Babylon for three years. The Babylonian record confirms that this was for the three years of 604, 603 and 602 B.C., with the tribute being collected in November/December. When it came time to collect the tribute in the next year, Egypt and Judah rebelled. The Babylonian record shows that beginning in November 601 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar fought a great war with Egypt, which he barely won, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. It was when Babylon was in this weakened state that Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, as discussed at 2 Kings 24:1-2;

"In his days Neb·u·chad·nez´zar the king of Babylon came up, and so Je·hoi´a·kim became his servant for three years. However, he turned back and rebelled against him. And Jehovah began to send against him marauder bands of Chal·de´ans and marauder bands of Syrians and marauder bands of Mo´ab·ites and marauder bands of the sons of Am´mon, and he kept sending them against Judah to destroy it, according to Jehovah's word that he had spoken by means of his servants the prophets."

As Nebuchadnezzar was personally at war in Egypt, his vassal kingdoms of Syro-Palestine were used to punish Jerusalem for Jehoiakim's rebellion. The destruction they inflicted upon Judah in November/December 601 B.C. was severe enough that it was said to have fulfilled the words of the prophets that Jerusalem would be destroyed. This was the first destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. The well-known second and final destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon was over thirteen years later in 587 B.C.

601 B.C. could be used as the date of the destruction of Jerusalem, though generally the date of 587 B.C. is used as this is when it was totally destroyed. In either case 607 B.C. is unsupported. If the Society decided to use either of these dates then they would have to move the start of the Last Days to either 1920 or 1934.

607 : 1914 : Seven Times

607 B.C. or 587 B.C.

Watchtower Refute

Calculating 587 B.C. from the Watchtower

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