The Watchtower 1955

The chronology is once again discussed in the February 1955 Questions from Readers [1].

Chronological Sources

Just like the 1952 Watchtower before it, this article seems to claim the 539 BC date for Babylon's fall can be derived from the Nabonidus chronicle [1, p. 94]:

The outstanding Absolute date for the B.C. period of the Hebrew Scriptures is that for the fall of Babylon as the capital city of the third world power at the hands of Cyrus, king of the Persians, October 13, 539 B.C., Julian calendar (or October 7 by our present Gregorian calendar), which event is referred to at Isaiah 45:1. This date is made Absolute by reason of the archaeological discovery and deciphering of the famous Nabunaid Chronicle, which itself gives a date for the fall of Babylon and which figure specialists have determined equals October 13, 539 B.C., according to the Julian calendar of the Romans.†

† Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.—A.D. 45, by Parker and Dubberstein, 1942, p. 11.

And likewise regarding Cyrus' first year and the return of the exiles [1, p. 94]:

Actually, a clay tablet has been found dated what amounts to our April 4, 538 B.C., indicating Cyrus’ first regnal year.* Therefore Cyrus’ issuing of the decree for the return of the Jews must have taken place before April, 537 B.C., and this would give the Jews plenty of time to travel back to Jerusalem by the fall of 537 B.C., to rebuild the altar as the first step in rebuilding the temple.—See Ezra 3:1, 2.

* Strassmaier, Cyrus, tablet No. 11.

However, as has already been seen in section The Watchtower 1952 both the Nabonidus chronicle and Strassmaier, Cyrus No. 11 cannot provide us with the date 539 BC. Instead the dates contained within are mapped to the Julian calendar through the use of Parker and Dubberstein's tables, which are in turn based on Ptolemy's canon [2, p. 8] and contradict the Watch Tower's chronology.

Retraction of Russell's Chronology

The article finally acknowledges that Russell's chronology was based on incorrect dates [1, p. 94]:

Jehovah’s witnesses from 1877 up to and including the publishing of “The Truth Shall Make You Free” of 1943 considered 536 B.C. as the year for the return of the Jews to Palestine, basing their calculations for the fall of Babylon on secular histories that were inaccurate, not up to date on archaeological evidences.

References