I’m trying to figure something out concerning the WT’s 607-1914 chronology that has me confused. I thought they based the chronology on when Jerusalem was destroyed. However, the following is taken from the Daniel book and it seems to base it on something else.
When did the counting of the "seven times" begin? After Zedekiah, the last king in the typical Kingdom of God, was removed from the throne in Jerusalem by the Babylonians. (Ezek. 21:25-27) Finally, by early October of 607 B.C.E. the last vestige of Jewish sovereignty was gone. By that time the Jewish governor, Gedaliah, who had been left in charge by the Babylonians, had been assassinated, and the remaining Jews had fled to Egypt. (Jeremiah, chapters 40-43) Reliable Bible chronology indicates that this took place 70 years before 537 B.C.E., the year in which the Jews returned from captivity; that is, it took place by early October of 607 B.C.E
Correct me if I’m wrong but this seems to differ from past WT articles and publications which place the importance on the destruction of Jerusalem. Here it is placing the importance on the loss of sovereignty and the throne by Zedekiah. Is this another “new light” change? Did the WT abandon the assertion that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 but asserting that it lost it’s sovereignty in 607? Also, when was the Jewish king overthrown? We know Jerusalem was destroyed in 586/587 but it had already been “captive” under the Babylonian empire, but for how many years?
