The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

Furuli’s First Book 443
The principle of interpretation Furuli refers to is correct. But does Furuli
correctly use it? Is it really true that the passages at Daniel 9:2 and 2 Chronicles
36:21 are unambiguous, whereas the statements of Jeremiah are ambiguous? A
critical examination of Furuli’s linguistic analyses of the passages reveals that
the opposite is true. To start with the brief references to Jeremiah in Daniel and
2 Chronicles, as Furuli does, is really to “turn the matter upside down” and
abandon “the mentioned principle.” This will be shown in the following
discussion.
The 70 years at Daniel 9:2
In his discussion of Daniel 9:2, Furuli first presents a transliteration of the
text, accompanied by a word-for-word translation. It is followed by a fluent
translation, which turns out to be the Watchtower Society’s New World
Translation (NWT, Vol. V, 1960; the rendering is the same in the revised 1984
edition). According to this version, Daniel “discerned by the books the number
of years concerning which the word of Jehovah had occurred to Jeremiah the
prophet, for fulfilling the devastations of Jerusalem, [namely,] 70 years.”
This rendering might have been changed in a new, not-yet-published,
revised edition of the NWT. In the revised Swedish edition of the NWT
published in 2003, the text has been changed to say that Daniel “discerned in
the books the number of years which according to the word of Jehovah, that
had come to Jeremiah the prophet, would be completed concerning the
desolate state of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.”
Note in particular that the phrase “for fulfilling the devastations of
Jerusalem” has been changed to read “be completed concerning the desolate
state of Jerusalem.” This brings the rendering of the text in close agreement
with that of the Danish linguist quoted below.
Although Furuli repeatedly claims that Daniel unambiguously states that
Jerusalem would be desolate for 70 years, he feels the statement needs to be
explained. He says:
“A paraphrase of the central part of Daniel 9:2 could be: ‘God gave
Jerusalem as a devastated city 70 years to fill.’ There is no ambiguity in
the Hebrew words.” (p. 77)
But if Daniel’s statement is as clear and unambiguous as Furuli claims, why
does he feel it needs an exposition in the form of a paraphrase? Furuli’s
paraphrase, in fact, gives the text a meaning that neither follows from his
grammatical analysis nor is obvious in the translation he quoted.
The fact is that neither Jeremiah nor Daniel say that God “gave Jerusalem
… 70 years to fill,” nor does Daniel say that “the desolation of Jerusalem would
last 70 years,” as NIV renders the clause. Both examples are paraphrases (cf.
GTR 4 , Ch. 5, C-3) aimed at giving the text a specific interpretation. Another
paraphrase, based on a careful grammatical analysis of the text, points to a
different understanding. The well-known Hebrew scholar and Bible
commentator Dr. Edward J. Young translates the last part of the passage as “to
complete with respect to the desolations of Jerusalem seventy years,” adding: