The Watchtower 1949

The chronology was again revised in The Watchtower November 1st 1949 [1, p. 326].

On the date of Babylon's Fall

Like the Kingdom book (1944) before it, the Watch Tower is now using the correct year for Babylon's fall, and this time they have given the sources they got this date from [1, p. 328].

The Bible time-table connects up with the timetable of mundane history at the first year of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia. Cyrus, together with his uncle Darius the Mede, overthrew the empire of Babylon. On this the 1944 edition of The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible says in its table under "Chronology" (page 108): "B.C. 539 Cyrus takes Babylon." The Encyclopedia Americana of 1929 also says under "Cyrus the Great" (page 373): "In 546 he conquered Crœsus, the rich and powerful king of Lydia, and in 539 took Babylon, which did not offer much resistance, being torn by internal dissensions." The Encyclopædia Britannica (eleventh edition, of 1910) says under "Cyrus the Great" (page 707): "Why the war with Babylon, which had become inevitable, was delayed until 539, we do not know. Here too Cyrus in a single campaign destroyed a mighty state. The army of Nabonidus was defeated; Babylon itself attempted no resistance, but surrendered on the 16th Tishri (10th of October) 539, to the Persian general Gobryas."

However, there is a contradiction in using these sources, since every single one of them also gives the date of Jerusalem's destruction as 586 BC:

• The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible: in the very same page The Watchtower has quoted from it also lists the Temple of Jerusalem being destroyed in the 5th month of 586 BC [2, p. 108].
• The Encyclopedia Americana (1924 edition): 'As Zedekiah who succeeded Jehoiakin in the latter’s exile entered into a treaty with Egypt Nebuchadnezzar’s army besieged and captured Jerusalem a second time, carrying off Zedekiah into captivity (586 B.C.)' [3, p. 34].
• Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition): 'Zedeklah's revolt in 588 B.C led to another siege of Jerusalem, which was taken and destroyed in 586 B.C.' [4, p. 332].

On Cyrus' first year

The Watch Tower is still insistent that 'Darius the Mede' became king of Babylon after its fall [1, p. 328]:

This Gobryas is frequently identified as Darius the Mede. Daniel 9:1 and 11:1 speak of "the first year of Darius" as "king over the realm of the Chaldeans". Babylon was overthrown in October of 539 B.C., but the ordinary Babylonian reckoning of a king's reign was from the 1st of the month Nisan in the spring of the year. Hence the months from October of 539 to Nisan 1, 538 B.C., were referred to as the "beginning of kingship". The first full year of Darius would therefore be from Nisan 1, 538 B.C., to the end of the month Adar in 537 B.C., or, about, March 24, 538, to March 11, 537 B.C., Julian Calendar (or, March 18, 538, to March 5, 537 B.C., Gregorian Calendar).

But this time they offer two different theories on when 'the first year of Cyrus' began – either that his first year began in Nisan 538 BC as a co-regency with 'Darius the Mede' [1, p. 328]:

The first year of Cyrus is now usually given as 538 B.C. So if Cyrus reigned along with Darius, the first full year of Cyrus allowed more than two months in 537 B.C., for Cyrus to issue his decree for rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem.

Or alternatively that it began in 537 BC after 'Darius the Mede' had ruled for one year [1, p. 328]:

But if Cyrus succeeded to Darius during or right after Darius' first year, then the first full year of Cyrus would run from Nisan 1, 537 B.C., to the end of Adar, 536 B.C., or, about, March 12, 537, to March 29, 536 B.C., Julian Calendar (or, March 6, 537, to March 23, 536 B.C., Gregorian Calendar). This would allow sufficient months in the year 537 B.C. for Cyrus' decree to get over all his kingdom, for contributions for the temple building to be made, for preparations and the journey to Jerusalem to be made by the Israelites, and for them to settle in their cities before the first day of the seventh month (Tishri) in 537 B.C. -Ezra 1: 1; 2: 68-70; 3: 1, 6. See the footnote. ‡

In the first theory they suggest that Cyrus issued his decree near the end of his first year (approx Jan-Mar 537 BC), whereas in the second theory they state Cyrus must have issued his decree near the start his first year (approx Apr-Jun 537 BC). The footnote does acknowledge the reason behind this strange contradiction and insistence on the 537 BC date regardless of when Cyrus' first year actually began [1, p. 328]:

‡ We hold to the year 537 B.C. as the year for the resettlement of the remnant of faithful Jews in Jerusalem and Judea. It is on the basis of this resettlement that the 70 years of desolation of their land is calculated as having begun in 607 B.C. Whether the time of their arrival and resettlement there be reckoned as in the first or the second full year of Cyrus' reign makes no difference. In either case, as above shown, Cyrus' decree and the Jews' resettlement could both be in 537 B.C.

This is very similar to what we found in section Return of the Exiles; it is a form of circular reasoning:

Assumption A: 'Jerusalem must have been destroyed in 607 BC because this is 70 years before the return of the exiles in 537 BC'.

Assumption B: 'The exiles must have returned in 537 BC (not 538 BC, 536 BC, or some other year) because it is 70 years after Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BC'.

References