Treasures from Gods Word: Jehovah Will Render to Each One According to His Works
Jeremiah 39:4-7 – Zedekiah suffered the consequences of disobeying Jehovah
While it is true that Zedekiah suffered terrible consequences personally, we should also not forget that he was responsible for terrible consequences coming upon the remaining Israelites who obeyed him instead of Jeremiah. Blindly following those in authority has its own consequences, even in small things. For instance, obeying the governing body’s request to put their personal name and address on the letters sent to the Russian authorities could backfire on any witnesses who at a later date need to obtain a visa to visit Russia for business or pleasure reasons. As Christians we need to take individual responsibility for all of our decisions, and not just blindly hand over our decision-making to a body of men who may or may not have our individual best interests at heart.
Digging for Spiritual Gems (Jeremiah 39 -43)
Jeremiah 43:6,7 – What is the significance of the events described in these verses? (it-1 463 par. 4)
The reference states in part, “Hence the count of the 70 years of desolation must have begun [bold ours] about October 1, 607 B.C.E., ending in 537 B.C.E. By the seventh month of this latter year the first repatriated Jews arrived back in Judah, 70 years from the start of the full desolation of the land.—2 Chronicles 36:21-23; Ezra 3:1.”
The dates in this reference do not match the chronology of the period accepted by historians. We find a clue for the difference in the previous paragraph of the reference (par. 3) where it states: The length of this period is fixed by God’s own decree concerning Judah, that “all this land must become a devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”—Jeremiah 25:8-11.
The Bible prophecy does not allow [bold ours] for the application of the 70-year period to any time other than that between the desolation of Judah, accompanying Jerusalem’s destruction, and the return of the Jewish exiles to their homeland as a result of Cyrus’ decree. It clearly specifies [bold ours] that the 70 years would be years of devastation of the land of Judah.
As always, context is the key. In Jeremiah 25:8-11 the seventy years is the period of time the nations will have to serve the king of Babylon, not the length of time during which the land of Israel and Judah would be devastated. Jeremiah 25:12 (part of the context) confirms that by saying when the period of seventy years (servitude by the nations including Israel and Judah, Egypt, Tyre, Sidon, and others) is complete, Jehovah would call to account the king of Babylon and his nation for their error. It would not be the completion of the error of Israel.
We also need to check the tenses. The phrase ‘will have to’ or ‘shall’ is in the perfect (present) tense, so Judah and the other nations were already under the Babylonian domination, and would have to continue 'serving the king of Babylon' until the completion of 70 years, whereas ‘all this land must become a devastated place’ is in the future tense, thereby showing the time of devastation had not yet begun. Therefore the devastation of Judah cannot be the exact same period of time as the servitude to Babylon as it was future, while the servitude was already in progress.
When was Babylon called to account? Daniel 5:26-28 gives the answer in the record of events of the night of when Babylon fell: ‘I have numbered the days of your kingdom and finished it, … you have been weighed in the balances and found deficient, ... your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.’ Using the generally accepted date of mid-October 539 BC[1] for the fall of Babylon we can add back 70 years which takes us to 609 BC. The destruction was foretold because the Israelites did not obey (Jeremiah 25:8) and Jeremiah 27:7 stated they would ‘serve Babylon until their (Babylon’s) time comes’.
Did anything significant happen in 610\609 BC? [2] Yes, it seems that the shift of the World Power from the Bible’s point of view, from Assyria to Babylon, took place when Nabopalassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar took Harran, the last remaining city of Assyria, and broke its power. Within little over a year, in 608 BC, Assyria’s last King Ashur-uballit III was killed and Assyria ceased to exist as a separate nation.
This means that the claim that “The Bible prophecy does not allow for the application of the 70 year period to any time other” is patently wrong. It also is very wrong to claim “It clearly specifies that the 70 years would be years of devastation of the land of Judah”.
Does Daniel 9:2 require the claimed understanding?
No. Daniel discerned from Jeremiah when the devastations (note: plural devastations, rather than singular devastation) would end, not what would mark their beginning. According to Jeremiah 25:18 the nations and Jerusalem and Judah were already a devastated place (Jeremiah 36:1,2,9, 21-23, 27-32[3]). The Bible record indicates Jerusalem was a devastated place by the 4th or 5th year of Jehoiakim, (1st or 2nd year of Nebuchadnezzar) likely as a result of the siege of Jerusalem in the 4th year of Jehoiakim. This is before Jerusalem’s devastation in Jehoiakim’s 11th year, and Jehoiachin’s exile 3 months later, and the final devastation in the 11th year of Zedekiah. It therefore makes sense to understand Daniel 9:2 ‘for fulfilling the devastations of Jerusalem’ as referring to more occasions than just the final destruction of Jerusalem in Year 11 of Zedekiah.
In light of the above, how can we understand 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21?
This passage was written as a summary of past events rather than prophecy of future events. It highlights how, because of doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes and rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar on the part of all the last three kings of Judah: Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, and the people rejecting Jehovah’s prophets, Jehovah finally allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem and kill the majority of those remaining in Judah. The rest were taken to Babylon until its capture by the Persians to fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecies, and to pay off ignored Sabbaths until the completion of 70 years (servitude to Babylon).
A closer examination of verses 20-22 reveals the following:
Verse 20 says: ‘Furthermore he carried off those remaining from the sword captive to Babylon, and they came to be servants to him (fulfilling the servitude) and his sons until the royalty of Persia began to reign (when Babylon fell, not on the return of the exiles to Judah 2 years later);’
Verse 21 states: ‘to fulfill Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had paid off its Sabbaths. All the days of lying desolated it kept Sabbath, to fulfill (complete) 70 years.’ The writer of Chronicles (Ezra) is commenting on the reason why they had to serve Babylon. It was twofold, (1) to fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecies and (2) for the land to pay off its Sabbaths as required by Leviticus 26:34[4]. This paying off of its Sabbaths would be fulfilled or completed at the end of the 70 years. What 70 years? Jeremiah 25:13 says ‘when 70 years have been fulfilled (completed), I will call to account the King of Babylon and that nation’. So the 70 year period ended with the calling to account of the King of Babylon, not a return to Judah. The passage of scripture does not say ‘desolated 70 years’. (see Jeremiah 42:7-22)
Was a specific time period required to pay of the Sabbath’s? If so, on what basis should it be calculated? The construction and wording of the passage does not require that the Sabbath keeping period was required to be 70 years. However taking 70 years as the requirement, between 987 and 587 (the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam and the final destruction of Jerusalem) are 400 years and 8 Jubilee cycles which equates to 64 years and this assumes the Sabbath years were ignored for every single one of these years. It is therefore not possible to calculate the exact number of years that needed to be paid off, nor is there any convenient start period mentioned in scripture to match either 70 or 50 missed Sabbath years. Would this not indicate that the paying off of Sabbaths was not a specific payback, but rather sufficient time elapsed during the period of desolation to pay back what was owed?
As a final point, it could be argued that there is more significance in having a length of 50 years desolation than 70 years. With a length of 50 years of desolation the significance of their release and return to Judah in the Jubilee Year (50th) of exile would not be lost on the Jews who were returning, having served a full cycle of Sabbath years in exile.
Gods Kingdom Rules (kr chap 12 para 16-23) Organized to Serve the God of Peace
Paragraph 17 contains a ploy typical of the organization. It asks ‘What has been the result of the continuing training that Jehovah’s organization has provided?’ Now you would expect an answer such as: The quality of the shepherding of the elders has improved. Or: The training has assisted the elders to better balance the demands of their families and the congregation and helped the flock get needed assistance. Instead the answer provided is ‘Today, the Christian congregation has thousands of qualified brothers who serve as spiritual shepherds.’ Is there a link between training and the numbers of qualified brothers? No link that is demonstrated. They could have lowered the qualification standards to increase the numbers. Alternatively the growth in elders could just be proportional to the increase in the total number of witnesses. Or maybe more actually participate in shepherding. A politician-like answer that sounds good, but doesn’t answer the question.
Paragraph 18 makes another claim that cannot be substantiated. “Christian elders have been put in place by Jehovah through our King, Jesus”. No mechanism to support this process is provided, yet a reader would infer (inference is a dangerous thing) that somehow Jesus chooses each elder and Jehovah ratifies the appointment. So how well are these elders, allegedly put in place by Jesus who can read hearts, doing in leading ‘God’s sheep through the most critical time in human history’? As the child sexual abuse scandal surfacing in many countries would indicate, (including some elders as perpetrators), not too well. Would Jesus appoint KGB[5] agents and paedophile’s as elders. Of course not, yet that is what has happened. We only have to check the organization's literature for examples of the first category. The newspapers, etc, can confirm the latter. Any ex-elder can vouch for the fact that a major factor in determining someone’s suitability to be appointed is the amount of hours they put in the field ministry, rather than Christian qualities.
Paragraph 22, referring to Jehovah and the congregation, states that “His righteous standards do not differ from congregations in one country to congregations in another. .. they are the same for all the congregations” The first sentence about Jehovah is true, but not the latter about the congregation. In some lands like the UK and Australia, an elder sending a child to university would be removed from serving, yet in other lands such as some countries in Latin America, elders will send a child to university and remain an elder. In Mexico in the late 1950's and 1960's brothers used to obtain a document that stated they had done military training and were now members of the reserve forces.[6] Other countries would disfellowship a witness for such actions. In Chile, once a year the national flag has to be raised for a day outside all public buildings like kingdom halls to avoid fines. At least 2 kingdom halls seem to have done it frequently.
http://www.jw-archive.org/post/98449456338/kingdom-halls-in-chile-are-forced-to-fly-the#sthash.JGtrsf4u.dpbs
http://www.jw-archive.org/post/98948145418/kingdom-hall-of-jehovahs-witnesses-with-flag-in#sthash.0S7n8Ne1.dpbs
The same standards for all congregations? That does not seem true.
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[1] According to the Nabonidus Chronicle the Fall of Babylon was on the 16th day of Tasritu (Babylonian), (Hebrew - Tishri) equivalent to 13th October.
[2] When quoting secular chronology dates at this time period in history we need to be careful in stating dates categorically as there is rarely a full consensus on a particular event occurring in a particular year. In this document I have used popular secular chronology for non-biblical events unless otherwise stated.
[3] In the 4th year of Jehoiakim, Jehovah told Jeremiah to take a roll and write all the words of prophecy he had been given down to that time. In the 5th year these words were read aloud to all the people gathered at the temple. The princes and the king then had it read to them and as it was read it was burnt. Jeremiah was then commanded to take another roll and rewrite all the prophecies that had been burnt. He also added more prophecies.
[4] See prophecy in Leviticus 26:34 where Israel would be desolated to pay off its Sabbaths, if they ignored Jehovah’s law, but no time period was specified.
[5] Yearbook 2008 p134 para 1
[6] Crisis of Conscience by Raymond Franz p149-155.
Archived Comments
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Comment by caasi notwen on 2017-05-15 16:40:20
Excellent break down of this week's CLAM. Especially appreciate your clear explanation of the 70 years. I will re read it to understand it better.
One more thought on par 22 of Kingdom Rules study. To my understanding, please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't elders allowed to have beards in the UK?Definitely not so in the US. I am resigning as an elder over this issue. It will be announced at this week's CLAM I think. Not exactly by looking forward to being there.Reply by Tadua on 2017-05-15 18:30:34
Hi caasi notwen
You are correct, in the UK elders and ministerial servants can have beards, though not all congregations will allow a visiting speaker to have a beard. There is no consistency in either application of scripture or their petty unscriptural rules. Unity, what unity? If only more brothers would hold to their bible trained conscience like you have done instead of being yes men.Reply by THE DRIFTER on 2017-05-18 08:43:38
The organization really prefers / imposes uniformity over unity.
Stated reasonings often refer to letting cultural norms dictate personal choice but then push back when these norms / pant suits for women, beards for men, hats for men / are attempted.
Who are they trying to kid?
Reply by Ifionlyhadabrain on 2017-05-16 22:28:57
Still from the grief I had beards are definitely frowned upon by many here in the uk , I was told they were banned at London bethel . The sort of reasoning I had "it's only a little thing to ask a brother to do " my answer if it's only a little thing why do they make such a big deal of it .
Comment by Jerome on 2017-05-15 23:21:56
Thanks Tadua for your research on this.
As an interesting side note ,one of the nations that were to be included for judgment in Jeremiah's prophecy was Tyre. (Jer. 25:22)
Isaiah also prophesied against Tyre. In Isaiah chapter 23, a time period was set for the judgment of Tyre to last, namely 70 years:
“In that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the same as the lifetime of one king. At the end of 70 years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of a prostitute: 16 “Take a harp, go around the city, O forgotten prostitute. Play your harp skillfully; Sing many songs, So that they will remember you.” 17 At the end of 70 years, Jehovah will turn his attention to Tyre, and she will return to her hire and prostitute herself with all the world’s kingdoms on the face of the earth.” (Isaiah 23:15-17)
The book Isaiah’s Prophecy vol. 1, reasons on this prophecy:
21 Isaiah goes on to prophesy: “It must occur in that day that Tyre must be forgotten seventy years, the same as the days of one king.” (Isaiah 23:15a) Following the destruction of the mainland city by the Babylonians, the island-city of Tyre will “be forgotten.” True to the prophecy, for the duration of “one king”—the Babylonian Empire—the island-city of Tyre will not be an important financial power. Jehovah, through Jeremiah, includes Tyre among the nations that will be singled out to drink the wine of His rage. He says: “These nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jeremiah 25:8-17, 22, 27) True, the island-city of Tyre is not subject to Babylon for a full 70 years, since the Babylonian Empire falls in 539 B.C.E. Evidently, the 70 years represents the period of Babylonia’s greatest domination—when the Babylonian royal dynasty boasts of having lifted its throne even above “the stars of God.” (Isaiah 14:13) Different nations come under that domination at different times. But at the end of 70 years, that domination will crumble.” (ip-1 chap. 19 pp. 253-254 Jehovah Profanes the Pride of Tyre)
This book clearly states that “the 70 years represents the period of Babylonia’s greatest domination.” With the fall of Babylon occurring in 539 BCE, this explanation appears to indicate a starting point of 609 BCE rather than 607 BCE for a seventy year period of Babylonian dominance. Why is it that with Tyre, the 70 years are understood as the period of Babylonia’s greatest domination, yet, when it comes to Jerusalem, the 70 years are understood as “a period of severe punishment from God—aimed specifically at the people of Judah and Jerusalem”?Reply by Tadua on 2017-05-16 07:45:02
Hi Jerome, thank you for reminding us about this point concerning Isaiah and Tyre, especially as it highlights the inconsistency in treatment of the 70 year period in the organizations own literature.
Comment by tyhik on 2017-05-16 04:57:58
Hi Tadua. I really want to thank you for your thorough research! You do such a good work dissecting the midweek meeting materials that often there is nothing to add. Please do not let you discouraged by not getting big numbers of comments every time.
You said: "We also need to check the tenses. The phrase ‘will have to’ or ‘shall’ is in the perfect (present) tense, ... whereas ‘all this land must become a devastated place’ is in the future tense"
According to this (fantastic) resource, biblical Hebrew had just two tenses, perfect and imperfect. Imperfect meaning that the action is not completed, but whether the action was started in the past or will be started in the future, must be deduced from the context. There were no present or future tenses as they are in English.Reply by Tadua on 2017-05-16 07:39:41
Hi tyhik
Thank you for your comments. Your link to the biblical Hebrew resource is very good, thank you. Its now added to my resources. I was reasoning on the English tenses, but to be more accurate it is better to examine the original Hebrew tenses. As the link states Hebrew tenses relate to action, either complete or in progress future (not complete), whereas English tenses are time based, past, present, future.
Comment by tyhik on 2017-05-16 06:47:57
In addition to all the overwhelming evidence against WT-s 70 years of desolation theory and for the 70 years of Babylon's rule that has been brought up, there are also clear passages in the recent Bible reading chapters:
Jer 38:17-18 God saying that if Zedekiah surrenders to Chaldeans, Jerusalem will be spared.
Jer 42:9-11 [after Jerusalem was burnt and Gedaliah was murdered] God saying to Johanan and the remnant that they should not fear Chaldeans and if they stay in the land, Jehovah will build them up. Emptying of the land was not God's plan at all.
It all really points towards serving the Babylon. That was God's will and all those Israelites who ignored this will, were either forcefully brought to captivity (serve) or killed. God's word did not fail.
Even without the overwhelming secular evidence against the WT theory, the Bible story is completely against it. It is beyond me how a honest hearted JW cannot see it.Reply by Tadua on 2017-05-16 07:55:51
tyhik
Thank you for emphasizing the clear message that comes through Jeremiah.
Obey Jehovah and stay in the land, or disobey and be destroyed or exiled, either way they had to serve Babylon.
A vital key to understanding Jeremiah and the events he recorded is to endeavor to read it in chronological order which takes a little effort.
These days it is all too easy to view digging for spiritual gems as clicking on a link provided by someone else, when really we need to take the time to dig in God's word ourselves.
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2017-05-16 10:14:06
Hi Tadua. I really appreciate the effort you have put into this subject, on which I have spent considerable time trying to get at the truth. I would just like to throw the following into the pot:-
The GB have cited Josephus (Against Apion 1:19) in support of their view which says "our city was desolate, during the interval of 70 years, until the days of Cyrus". Of course this statement does not of itself support 70 years of desolation adequately at all. It ignores chapter 21 which states that "Nebuchadnezzar, in the eighteenth year of his reign, laid our temple desolate: and so it lay in that state of obscurity for fifty years. But that in the second year of Cyrus, its foundations were laid. Thus, the period of 50 years of desolation harmonizes with both your comments on the sabbath rest, and secular history.
Matthew Henry- in his commentary- also states that most commentators take the 70 years as beginning with the captivity referred to at the beginning of Daniel.
Therefore all the information has been available for many years. There is only one good reason for trying to argue the case for 607 BCE. Anything less causes great problems with JW version of prophecy ending in 1914 BCE, and the longer they stick with this date, the harder it will be to get out of it. Yet what does the Bible say. "Concerning that day and hour, nobody knows...but only the Father".Reply by Tadua on 2017-05-16 11:50:38
Hi Leonardo
I came across the different time periods mentioned by Josephus a few years back when researching chronology and 607 for myself. As you have I came to the conclusion they were referring to different time periods. I spent probably a few thousand hours trying every permutation under the sun with different reign lengths etc, to no no avail. I wasn't prepared to accept worldly chronology and the conclusions of 'Gentile Times Reconsidered' so I started from scratch examining only the scriptures (after putting Jeremiah and Ezekiel, 2 Chronicles, Daniel etc in chronological order).
To cut a long story short, relying only on the Bible record and using 539 as a baseline, I was able to prove all scripture is indeed accurate as per my original premise. The problem was in the official JW interpretation. Also there are a number of different 70 year periods and they are not the same period, which is assumed to be the case by the organisation. The age of Daniel when put in the lions den is an interesting exercise. He would be an impossible age under JW theology, while he would be at a far more sensible old age in the 50 year scenario.
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2017-05-16 13:27:15
Hi Tadua. Looks like we have done much the same research. I came to the same conclusion over Daniel's age (maybe over 100 at 539 BCE). I may add something tomorrow on the subject.
Reply by Tadua on 2017-05-18 10:43:32
Daniel 1:1-6 indicates Daniel was taken to Babylon in the 3rd or 4th Year of Jehoiakim. He would probably have to have been about 7-8 years old or more at that time. Under the scenario of a 50 year desolation, when Babylon fell he would be (7 + 9+11+48 = 75) 75 years old. Under the scenario of a 70 year desolation, he would have been (7+9+11+68 = 95) 95 years old, hardly in a position to prosper in the Kingdom of Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian. (Daniel 6:28)
Comment by Ifionlyhadabrain on 2017-05-16 22:42:22
Thanks tadua for the review , haha would jesus appoint kgb agents as elders , it depends how many hours they do , and they did used to bring the record cards out to see if a brother was suitable , I remember thinking where's that in 1st timothy 3 or Titus ,
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2017-05-17 05:57:37
Hi Tadua
Apart from what has been already stated Jeremiah 52 throws some light on matters. This refers to the 37th year of Jehoiachin at the time of Evil Merodach's rule. Ptolemy's canon puts this at 561/560 BCE which ties in exactly with Jehoiachin being taken into captivity in 597 BCE, 10 years before the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. this would clearly support the actual fall in 587 BCE. Unfortunately Josephus and some other quotes put Evil Merodach's rule as considerably longer, up to 20 years, so someone is wrong but I do not know who.
Zechariah 1:12 refers, in 518 BCE (according to the All Scriptures Inspired book page 294 chart) to 70 years of Jehovah's indignation with Jerusalem for 70 years, taking us back to 587 BCE.
It does seem the weight of evidence points to 587 BCE.Reply by Tadua on 2017-05-18 10:49:51
Hi Leonardo
I spent much time in the past looking at these variations of Evil Merodach's rule. I came to the conclusion that they were probably looking from different aspects or just plain wrong. A longer reign length could be justified if he was also made de-facto King during Nebuchadnezzar's madness of 7 years, but not between Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar due to external links to other Kings and events and other tablet evidence.
Comment by 2017, November 13 – November 19, Our Christian Life and Ministry | Beroean Pickets - JW.org Reviewer on 2017-11-13 12:08:13
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