The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

The Seventy Years for Babylon 229
about half through, should . . . continue to hold such a fast.” 48
If now the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple is dated in
607 B.C.E. instead of 587, once again this would make the time
these fasts had been observed ninety years rather than seventy. This
is actually conceded by the Watch Tower Society in the book
quoted above, but no satisfying explanation is given for this
discrepancy. 49
Thus Zechariah 1:7–12 and 7:1–5 both give very strong support
for the year 587 B.C.E. as the correct date for the destruction of
Jerusalem. As in the case of Jeremiah 25:10–12; 29:10; Daniel 1:12
and 2:1, the easiest and the most direct reading of Zechariah 1:7–12
and 7:1–7, too, is seen to be in open conflict with the interpretation
the Watch Tower Society gives to the seventy years.
G: THE APPLICATION OF THE SEVENTY YEARS OF
SERVITUDE
From a close examination of the texts dealing with the seventy
years, certain facts have been established that cannot be ignored in
any attempt to find an application of the seventy-year period that is
in harmony with both the Bible and historical facts:
(1) The seventy years refer to many nations, not Judah only:
Jeremiah 25:11.
(2) The seventy years refer to a period of servitude for these
nations, that is, vassalage to Babylon: Jeremiah 25:11.
(3) The seventy years refer to the period of Babylonian supremacy,
“seventy years for Babylon”: Jeremiah 29:10.
(4) The seventy years were accomplished when the Babylonian
king and his nation were punished, that is, in 539 B.C.E.: Jeremiah
25:12.
48 Paradise Restored to Mankind—by Theocracy!, p. 235.
49 “When the exiled Jews fasted during the seventy years of desolation of the land of
Judah and also during all these years since the remnant of them returned to their
homeland, were they really fasting to Jehovah?”—Paradise Restored to Mankind—
by Theocracy!, p. 237. (Emphasis added.)