1914 has not support in the Bible for FOUR REASONS:
1. Jerusalem did not fall in year 18, but year 19!! 607 BCE is based on year 18 of Nebuchadnezzar II. So that bit of "relative chronology" is wrong.
2. The "70 years" upon which 607 BCE is based, that is, 70 years from the year of the return in 537 BCE, dates the year of the last deportation, year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar II. Josephus confirms this. The Bible agrees.
3. The Persians revised the NB timeline. They removed 26 years from the NB timeline. They removed 2 years each from Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus, they removed 16 years from the 18-year rule of Evil-Merodach, and the entire 6-year rule of "Darius the Mede" who conquered Babylon with Cyrus but began to rule from there as the capital of the Median part of the empire. Darius the Mede was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar II. This was when the kingdom was the Medo-Persian Empire. Cyrus was ruling over the Persian part of the empire. But Darius the Mede having no sons, abdicated to Cyrus because he was married to the daughter to Astyages, the king of the Medes. Thus his sons carried on the royal line of the Medes through the Persians. But since the men were the kings, Cyrus became king over a new united Persia. All the "kings" of the various sub-kingdoms took on the title of "governor" (as did Zerubbabel) while Cyrus and his heirs carried the title as "king." Cyrus, at this point, began counting his rulership year as year 1 over the Greater Persian Empire. Later on, after a conflict with the Greeks, Xerxes who was also known as "Artaxerxes" in Persia, used that double name to claim he was his own son after faking his death. This was done for political reasons. Darius I, his father, had only ruled for six years, having been killed by the Athenians while at Marathon, the reason for Xerxes' harsh invasion of Athens. That worked and cooled things down in Greece politics against Xerxes. Later to cover this up, the Persians just revised their history. They did this via propaganda from Greek historians, like Herodotus and Xenophon who were Greeks giving details of Persian history, which is a red flag right there! Turns out in order for Darius to be old enough to be the grandfather of Artaxerxes, who was his own son, they added 30 years to his rule so that the historical records show him ruling 36 years instead of just 6. The Persians removed 26 years from the NB kings to try and make up for the expansion. So, it's not as if we don't know who and why these revisions were made. Bottom line is, the VAT4956 can be used to restore the "absolute" dating to this period, which also agrees with the "relative dating." That is, when year 37 falls in 511 BCE, it dates year 23 to 525 BCE which you can then introduce the 70 years to get the 1st of Cyrus in 455 BCE. So its just amazing. The Bible's own timeline is now confirmed by some secular evidence. Since the primary Babylonian records all are "copies" from Persia, we automatically assume they are revised, which they are.
4. The fourth reason why 1914 doesn't work, is because the WTS mistakenly thinks that it was only Judea that had to be desolated with "no one passing through" the land for the 70 years! So they invent some Jews outside of Judea to be deported in year 23 (Jer. 52:30), totally ignoring both the Bible and Josephus who clearly note those last deported were the remnant of those who had ran down to Egypt, including certainly Jeremiah and Baruch, right? Problem is, it was not just the land of Judah that had to serve these 70 years of complete desolation. Note, for instance, that Tyre, which is a coastal city in the Northern Kingdom had to be desolated as well! So even the WTS confirms that there were people in the Northern Kingdom area up until year 23! But the 70 years can't begin until BOTH the Northern and Southern kingdoms were desolated, even if Judea was desolated after the Jewish remnant ran down to Egypt following the assasination of Gedaliah. Now I can tell the Governing Body this or those on the Writing Committee, and they will immediately understand. The average witness wouldn't have the background to put this into context, which is one reason it is hard to convince many devout witnesses of the "truth" since they have been trained not to know anything. They are "always taking in knowledge, but never coming to an accurate knowledge of the truth", partly because of WTS mind-control methods, but also because they don't want to! They love what is written on the pages of the Watchtower and that's it! They are ignorant and want to remain at that level. They don't have to THINK, just underline answers and read what the WTS says. If you force them to THINK, they think you've demonized and they shut down.
Now at some point, the GB will feel bad that they got this wrong. They know this is the accurate truth now. After they feel rejected by Jehovah and miffed that Jehovah didn't show THEM this information so they could continue to play God's "channel of communication" and bask in the sun of being a true prophet and the giver of light, they are going to then realize I'm the one with holy spirit and that Jehovah has given me this knowledge and holy spirit. You see, even though the average XJW here don't believe in holy spirit or attribute any significance to being "anointed", the GB does. We experience holy spirit and understand it. They are my spiritual brothers, even if they are cast out in the end and cut off. You know, the "ten virgins" start out together, even though there is a split later on when Christ arrives. So my "spiritual brothers" will come to the understanding that I must be the true Christ sooner than the masses will.
So they are sitting on a time bomb. They want to get right. They want to get into the kingdom. The five foolish virgins are realizing what is happening and they are knocking on the door now to get into my kingdom, now realizing I'm the Christ. But its too late. It is time for their "weeping and gnashing of their teeth." I'm sad about that, but they brought it upon themselves with their arrogance and presumptiveness thinking they were the "faithful and discreet slave."
Now, in their defense, there is clearly no way to get around 2 Chronicles 36's reference to the land paying back its sabbaths for 70 years. There is no way getting around Josephus understanding that the 70 years was the time assigned to the exile of the last deportees. I mean, that's a direct read and interpretation by the Jews themselves! So all this fantasy about 70 years (609-539 BCE) or 66 years (604-538 BCE) is just bogus. No one of any informed reference or intelligence can validate this. That's because it never gets to come up. It is based on presuming the "70 years" is an unclear reference, when it isn't. Josephus and the Bible link it to the last deportation which parallels the desolation of the land for 70 years - period! Now if you want to dismiss that as a historical revision, then that's one thing. Maybe Doug Mason is bold enough to do that. COJ wants to compromise on it. But that's what you must do at this point. That's long before then trying to twist the Biblical reference into a 66-year reference to Babylonian domination by arguing a Hebrew word means "for" vs. "at" Babylon.
That's why, when someone calls you "crazy" or "desperate" or something like that, 99% of the time they are running from the academic confrontation and debate they have already lost. Anyone who has an opinion and who is academically qualified can just state that opinion. Martin Anstey claims the 1st of Cyrus should begin the "70 weeks" and concluded there must be 82 years of fake Persian history. Is is a crazy idiot? Is he demonized? No. He's just having an interpretation and an opinion. So its on the table for discussion. You don't have to agree with it. But if someone does say "he's crazy!" then you know someone is afraid of that concept. People who run from you or call you crazy, already know they don't want to be proven wrong in public. The MOST anyone can say in a discussion board like this, is: "I respectfully agree to disagree with you on that point" and then move on.
So it makes you wonder, with the WTS so mind-controlling and dogmatic, why some XJWs can't stand for others to have an opinion that varies from their own. The Bible says always be able to make a defense for your faith or what you believe in. The witnesses forget about that when faced with tough questions and some XJWs here also don't feel they need to do that if they are dealing with a "lunatic", so they call you a lunatic to run from the confrontation.
CONCLUSION: Anyway, the idea of the 70 years being "symbolic" doesn't get a chance to come up since the 70 years are applied to the last deportees and the desolation of the land by Josephus, a Jewish historian reporting on and/or interpreting his own Jewish history. So it's not up for grabs for anything other than the record, including anything symbolic, but especially if it doesn't work unless you make 70 years 66 years like COJ does, which is beyond pathetic, it's ridiculous and laughable.