by Doug Mason 6 Replies latest watchtower bible
In its article on “Chronology” and in the direct context of “From 997 BCE to desolation of Jerusalem”, page 462 of Insight on the Scriptures cites pages 20 -21 of the 1950 edition of Soncino Books of the Bible, Commentary on Ezekiel.
What are the words that the Insight article omitted when it cited the Soncino Commentary?
What does the Soncino Commentary say about the BCE dates of that period?
http://www.jwstudies.com/Soncino_commentary_on_Ezekiel.pdf
Doug
Doug, thanks for the information and the PDF. Interesting, but not surprising. The typical JW bound to WT rules and regulations about not studying outside of WT publications would never know anything about this.
Thanks for this info. We both know how dishonest the WTS is and this is another example of their manipulation.
But just for your information, the Soncino commentary has different dates than the WTS, that's a given. But it still considers the 390 days for Israel, which is 390 years, to date from the schizm "c. 932" down to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE per popular chronology. That is a period of only 346 years! This is in the face of a clear end of the Nortern Kingdom long before the fall of Jerusalem. The Northern kingdom was conquered and deported and thus did not occupy the land of the Northern Kingdom.
Meaning? Meaning both JWs and the Jewish rabbis in this case don't understand the true meaning of these years.
Want to know the true meaning, just for the heck of it? Sure you do. Well I happen to have that information and am glad to inform you.
The 390 years and 40 years are the combined error for all the tribes. They represent missed agri-sabbaths over the entire period of time since they left Egypt. The nation of Israel as a separate entity from the Kingdom of Judah doesn't exist for 390 years, as we've seen.
Basically, the 430 years combine to represent the "half-hearted" application of the agricultural sabbaths for the land which were every 7 years and every 50th year. Thus the 70 years of make-up are directly related to these collective 430 years. The reason why Israel's error is more than Judah is because there are ten tribes. Each tribe has an error of 39 years. Judah's error, who ruled slightly longer is 40 years.
This understanding takes us back to the Exodus. That is, if the Jews kept the sabbaths half the time and that amounted to 430 years, then double that period is the total number of years half-hearted sabbath keeping; a period of 860 years. Add to that period the make-up sabbath period of 70 years and you get 930 years. 930 years is 1 year short of 19 jubilees of 931 years. 49 x 19 = 931. The Israelites left Egypt on a sabbath year for the nation. Here's the formula for the 70 years:
430/7 = 61.4
430/50 = 8.6
TOTAL: 70
The true original chronology, of course, can be calculated using the VAT4956 or the final return jubilee in 1947.
via VAT4956: Preserves year 511 BC for year 37 of Neb2. That requires using the 709 BCE eclipse to date the Assyrian Period, which dates Shishak's invasion to 871 rather than 925 BCE (per the incorrect 763 BCE eclipse). Thus 871 BCE dates year 39 of Solomon and co-rule year 5 of Rehoboam. Year 4 falls in 906 BCE which is 480 years after the Exodus which gets dated to 1386 BCE. The Jews return after the 70 years of exile in the first of Cyrus which falls in 455 BCE, the true date for the 1st of Cyrus.
via 1947: The 70th jubilee for the Jews, the jubilee where the promised messiah would arrive begins in 1947, the year of the "end of the gentile times." This begins a jubilee period of 49 years ending in 1996. This is the 70th jubilee of a week of jubilees going back to the time of Moses. That is, 70 jubilees of 49 years each is 3430 years. Dated from 1996 takes us back to 1435 BCE. The Exodus occurs 49 years later in 1386 BCE. So in that sense the Exodus is a jubilee for the "70 jubilees" which is another form of the "70 weeks." 1435 is the year Moses became age 30 and a "messiah" for the people thus representing Jesus Christ who also became the messiah at 30. This allows the Exodus to be a symbolic "jubilee" year; following the jubilee theme of freedom from bondage, etc. 1947, of course, is another jubilee-theme year where the Jews are finally resotred to their homeland and freed from gentile rule with a country of their own. Thus the Exodus and 1947 are bookend jubilees for this "70 weeks" period of 3430 years.
So that's how you apply the 390 years for Israel and 40 years for Judah.
Again, obviously, this is not about chronological years for these tribes since the Israelite Northern kingdom never ruled for 390 years and why would their error be more than Judah's, only 40 years? Neither Soncino or the WTS were revealed the true understanding of this. Of course, as well, the revised chronology being used by secularists doesn't help the matter. Corrected key dates are:
1386 BCE Exodus
906 BCE 4th of Solomon
871 BCE Shishak's invasion, year 39 of Solomon
529 BCE Fall of Jerusalem
525 BCE Beginning of 70-year exile, year of last deportation, year 23 of Neb2 (Jer. 52:30)
455 BCE 1st of Cyrus, end of 70-year exile.
607 BCE, 586 BCE and 539 BCE are all based on revised chronology and thus are non-Biblical but also now incorrect thanks to the VAT4956's preservation of the original timeline for Neb2.
Thanks, Doug, again, for this heads-up about WTS dishonesty.
LS58
Another dishonest misrepresentation I have know about for some time is their quoting from Josephus.
The WTS correctly recognizes the 70 years of exile and desolation of the land to pay back sabbaths is a literal 70 years. They quote Josephus as a source that also recognizes this as a literal 70 years in his "Antiquities." But Josephus dates the 70 years from year 23, when the "people are removed off their land." This is quite clear when Josephus notes in year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar he descended upon Egypt and removed those Jews who were them back to Egypt! Year 23, of course, corresponds to the Biblical reference to the last deportation. Thus the Bible agrees with Josephus that the 70 years were served by those last deported in year 23 of Neb2.
However, though quoting from Josephus for the general support of the literal 70 years, they skip past that specific reference that those deported in year 23 were from Egypt! That's because this thows a wrench into their claim that the 70 years began the same year Jerusalem fell, which just isn't true! So like the Soncino quote, they take what they need to try to authenticate their position from a secular source, but skip the details that contradict them.
Things like these have me reflecting on why the Bible calls the GB the "man of lawlessness" at 2 Thess 2:3,4.
Thanks, again for your post.
LS
The 70 years actually were 49 years long. (587-538) 70 is likely a 'prophetic' motif in use (sevens and tens being so popular and all). Note the ironic prophecy that Marduke 'inspired' for Babylon:
"Seventy years, the reckoning of it's destruction which He had inscribed, the merciful God Marduke, as soon as his heart had calmed down, reversed the order (of the sign) and ordered it's resettlement after eleven years." Babylonian Inscription of Esarhaddon
Interestingly even the writer of Dan 9 when recycling the 70 motif apparently knew the exile was actually 49 years, referring to as 7 weeks of 7 (days/years) from desolation to rebuilding. He then followed that by 62 weeks bringing the reader to the 2nd century BC when the writer was living and anticipating divine intervention.
Thanks Doug, you never cease to amaze me with what you observe as to WT error and mendacity.
Thanks to peacefulpete too, I like your succinct explanation of the 70 weeks, it makes sense, trying to read in to Daniel a prophecy of Jesus as the Messiah is an eisegetical error made by many.
Peacefulpete: The 70 years actually were 49 years long. (587-538) 70 is likely a 'prophetic' motif in use (sevens and tens being so popular and all).
There are lots of theories about the 70 years. However, it is of note that the Jews themselves via historian Josephus claims a literal and precise 70 years from the last deportation (year 23 of Neb2) down to the 1st of Cyrus.
A direct secular historical source like this from the Jews doesn't allow for speculation regarding any symbolic 70 years unless there is a direct contradiction in the Bible, which there is not. The Bible as well represents the 70 years during the precise same time, from the last deportation down to the 1st of Cyrus. A lot of confusion exists because the Persians revised their timeline, expanding it, while deleting some original NB years, thus the Bible's NB period is 26 years longer than the surviving revised Persian records which the academic world prefers to go by.
Ant. 11.1.1:
1. IN the first year of the reign of Cyrus (1) which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity."
The corrected NB timeline is anchored on the 1st of Cyrus occurring in 455 BCE (per Bible), then adding 70 years back to year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar II (last deportation) in 525 BCE. That means Jerusalem falls in 529 BCE. Secular history represents a 26-year shorter period for this interval.
BIBLE/ORIGINAL HISTORY: 529-455 BCE = 74 years from fall of Jerusalem to 1st of Cyrus
REVISED DATES: 586-538 BCE = 48 years
74-48=26 years too short! Bible vs revised secular.
LS
