2001_Seventy Years of Servitude (by Doug Mason).pdf

Doug Mason

Seventy Years of Servitude

This is a FREEWARE publication. This means it may be freely circulated, but

without any amendments.

This is a restructure of material I published in 1972 and incorporates material I

prepared or received in the mid-1970s. This explains the dates of some

quotations.

I will appreciate your corrections, comments, suggestions, information and

criticisms.

Cover picture :

"The Babylonian 'world map' from about 600 BC. The parallel lines running down

the center show the Euphrates, crossed by a rectangle marked, in cuneiform

writing, Babylon. At the bottom another rectangle shows the marshland of

southern Iraq, next to a horn-shaped Persian Gulf. The small circles show the

countries surrounding Babylonia, including Assyria (northern Iraq), Urartu

(Armenia) and parts of western Iran. The map is highly schematic, its main

purpose being to show the 'four regions' at the edges of the world in relationship

to Babylonia. These are shown by the triangles jutting out from the circular

ocean and have captions describing the fabulous beasts that lived there. Overall

it is very reminiscent of the mappae mundi produced two thousand years later in

I am grateful to Bruce Price for his permission to reproduce material that

originally appeared in the mid-1970s in the Witness magazine that he so ably

produced and published. This material is included at Appendix D.

Doug Mason

PO Box 224

Kilsyth

Victoria

Australia 3137

On the Watch

doug_mason1940@yahoo.com.au

Seventy Years of Servitude

Contents

T HE SI GNIF I CA NCE .................................................................................. 1

Jerusalem............................................................................................. 1

Dating the Destruction ........................................................................... 1

The Significance of the Destruction ........................................................... 2

The Significance of the Date.................................................................... 2

The Society's Method ............................................................................. 2

Difficulties Facing the Watchtower Society ................................................. 2

Solid Rock or Simply Sand? ..................................................................... 3

T HE HIST O RY .......................................................................................... 4

The Assyrians ....................................................................................... 4

Nabopolassar........................................................................................ 4

Assyrians and Egyptians in an Alliance ...................................................... 5

Pharaoh Necho...................................................................................... 5

The Battle at Carchemish........................................................................ 5

Judah and Jerusalem under Babylonian Rule............................................... 6

Nebuchadnezzar Ascends the Throne ........................................................ 7

Different Systems of Reckoning................................................................ 7

Jeremiah's Prophecies ............................................................................ 8

The Prophecy at Jeremiah 25................................................................... 8

"Serve the King of Babylon Seventy Years" ................................................ 8

Jehoiakim Hardens his Heart ................................................................... 9

Jeremiah's Repeated Warnings Ignored ..................................................... 9

Jerusalem Falls...................................................................................... 9

Zedekiah Placed on the Throne .............................................................. 10

Zedekiah Rebels .................................................................................. 10

Failure to Serve Babylon Will Increase the Servitude.................................. 10

The False Prophet Hananiah .................................................................. 11

Hananiah Rebuked by Jeremiah.............................................................. 11

Increased Servitude Possible ................................................................. 11

Jeremiah's Final Plea: Spare the City ...................................................... 12

Jerusalem Destroyed............................................................................ 12

People Left Behind............................................................................... 12

A Stiff-necked People Cause Unnecessary Destruction................................ 13

T HE EXE GES IS....................................................................................... 15

Jeremiah's Message ............................................................................. 15

Jeremiah's Ministry .............................................................................. 15

Many nations were to serve Babylon ....................................................... 16

Seventy Years of Servitude

Nebuchadnezzar Returns....................................................................... 17

The Plea to Zedekiah............................................................................ 17

If only they listened ............................................................................. 17

Babylon's Dominance........................................................................... 18

The Choice for the Nations .................................................................... 18

Babylon was Dominating the World......................................................... 19

The False Prophet Hananiah .................................................................. 19

"Head of Gold" by his Second Year ......................................................... 19

World Dominance with the Battle at Carchemish ....................................... 19

The Event that Completed the 70-year Dominance.................................... 20

Ezra Confirms ..................................................................................... 20

Judah's Desolations.............................................................................. 20

Daniel Understands.............................................................................. 21

Desolation While Still Populated ............................................................. 21

Chorbah and Shamem .......................................................................... 21

Ezekiel Shows Shades of Meaning........................................................... 21

The Length of Babylon's Rule ................................................................. 22

"The Problem is Difficult"...................................................................... 23

Other Thoughts................................................................................... 23

Summary ........................................................................................... 24

Appendix A Dating The Jews' Return.......................................................... 25

Cyrus' Decree ..................................................................................... 25

Chronological Principles ........................................................................ 26

Accession-Year Reckoning .................................................................. 26

Calendars ........................................................................................ 26

Using these Chronological Principles........................................................ 26

Ezra-Nehemiah was one book ............................................................. 26

Nehemiah's and Ezra's Tishri reckoning................................................. 27

The Jews' Accession-Year reckoning..................................................... 27

Cyrus' First Year.................................................................................. 27

The Society and Darius ......................................................................... 28

The Society's First Pronouncement....................................................... 28

The Society's Second Pronouncement................................................... 29

The Society's Third Pronouncement...................................................... 29

The Society's Fourth Pronouncement .................................................... 29

The Society's Fifth Pronouncement....................................................... 29

The Society's Sixth Pronouncement...................................................... 29

Daniel's Reckoning............................................................................... 30

Seventy Years of Servitude

Summary ........................................................................................... 30

Appendix B Shades of Desolation .............................................................. 31

Chorbah............................................................................................. 31

Shamem............................................................................................ 31

2 Chronicles 36:21............................................................................... 31

Further Degrees of Desolation................................................................ 32

Resolving the Problem.......................................................................... 32

Appendix C Dating the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Fall of Babylon .......... 33

Absolute Dates.................................................................................... 33

Absolute Dates for the Period.............................................................. 33

The Dating of Tablets ........................................................................ 34

Nebuchadnezzar's 37 th Year................................................................ 34

Nebuchadnezzar's Years Doubly Fixed .................................................. 35

The Date of Jerusalem's Destruction..................................................... 35

Chronologies....................................................................................... 35

The Accepted Chronology ................................................................... 36

Dating Intervening Events.................................................................. 36

Claudius Ptolemy .............................................................................. 36

Lady Adda Guppi Stele....................................................................... 38

Synchronisms with Other Dating Systems ............................................. 39

The Date of Babylon's Fall .................................................................. 39

A Most Difficult Position for the Watchtower Society................................ 40

Summary ........................................................................................... 40

Dating the Destruction of Jerusalem..................................................... 40

Dating the Fall of Babylon .................................................................. 40

Conclusion.......................................................................................... 40

Appendix D "The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy"............................................... 41

Introduction ....................................................................................... 41

The nature of the Canon ....................................................................... 41

Insight on the News: Claudius Ptolemy – a Fraud...................................... 42

My Initial Investigations........................................................................ 43

The Scientific American Article ............................................................... 43

First Letter to Newton .......................................................................... 43

Newton's Replies ................................................................................. 43

Newton Upholds Ptolemy's neo-Babylonian Dates...................................... 44

The Watchtower Society Informed .......................................................... 44

Professor Theile's Comments................................................................. 44

Newton's Letter of January 4, 1978......................................................... 45

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