According to Jehovah's Witnesses, what is "these seventy years" refering to in Zechariah 1:12 and Zechariah 7:1-5?

Question

So the angel of Jehovah said: “O Jehovah of armies, how long will you withhold your mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with whom you have been indignant these 70 years?” (Zechariah 1:12, NWT)

¹ And in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Jehovah came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chislev. ² The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and his men to beg for the favor of Jehovah, ³ saying to the priests of the house of Jehovah of armies and to the prophets: “Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain from food, as I have done for so many years?”
⁴ The word of Jehovah of armies again came to me, saying: ⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and wailed in the fifth month and in the seventh month for 70 years, did you really fast for me? (Zechariah 7:1-5, NWT)

I have a copy of "Aid to Bible Understanding", WBTS, 1971, an encyclopedia of the Watchtower. On page 422 under "Darius" it says:

It is particularly with regard to the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem that Darius Hystaspis [Darius the Great, Darius I] figures in the Bible record.... it continued stopped until the second year of Darius (520/519). ... During this year the prophets Haggai and Zechariah stirred up the Jews to renew the construction ... the temple work went on to successful completion by the "sixth year of the reign of Darius" (Ezra 6:15).. by March 5/6 of 515 BCE.

All of the above dates are in agreement with Parker & Dubberstein's standard work on the chronology of the period, and present no problem to me as an evangelical.

The event recorded in Zech 1:7-12 can be dated via Parker & Dubberstein to 9th Feb 519 BC, Gregorian date; and Zech 7:1-5 can be dated to 2nd/3rd Dec 518 BC, Gregorian.

The temple of Jerusalem was destroyed at the same time as the city, Jer 52:12-14.

If the temple was destroyed in 587 BC per as the Catholic chronologist Valerius Coucke and the evangelical chronologist Rodger c. Young (cf rcyoung.org) then it is easy to understand the meaning of "these seventy years", and easy to understand why the enquirers should be asking the prophet whether it is OK to stop fasting in 518 when the temple rebuild is nearing completion.

But if the temple was destroyed in 607 BCE - as per the articles at the end of this question - then in 518 BCE, not seventy, but nearly ninety years have elapsed.

So my question is 'How do Jehovah's Witnesses explain "these seventy years" in these passages in Zechariah?'

• Part 1: Watchtower, October 1, 2011, page 26
• Part 2: Watchtower, November 1, 2011, page 22

Answer 1

There is a chart of dates in the Watchtower Society's official publication, Insight on the Scriptures, which dates the desolation of Judah as 607 B.C.E., underneath which is To the return of the Jews from exile - 537 B.C.E. = 70 years. (page 459 of Volume 1).

An explanation is given a few pages further on, claiming that the prophetic 70 years servitude to the king of Babylon (Jer. 25:8-11) had to start counting from the desolation of Judah. It concludes that section by saying:

"Hence the count of the 70 years of desolation must have begun about October 1, 607 B.C.E., ending in 537 B.C.E. It was in the seventh month of this latter year that the first repatriated Jews arrived back in Judah, exactly 70 years from the start of the full desolation of the land." Insight on the Scriptures, Vol. 1, p.493, 1988.

So, when Zechariah 1:12 & 7:1-5 speaks of the year for the end of this 70-year servitude, the Jehovah's Witnesses take that year to be 537 - not 518. They stress the arrival of the Jews back to desolated Jerusalem, before any rebuilding of the temple had begun.

Zechariah 7:1-5 specifies the fourth year of Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month as being when Zechariah heard from those men who enquired about how long to continue that particular fast. This is what they ask:

"...saying, 'Shall I weep in the fifth month, practicing an abstinence, the way I have done these O how many years?'" The 1970 edition of the N.W.T.

Then Jehovah's reply speaks of them having done that for seventy years, but the men could have continued that ritual since returning to Jerusalem (in 537) up till that point when the temple's rebuild was nearly complete, with Jehovah referring only to the seventy years while they were still captives. I'm being devil's advocate here as this simply appears to be a logical possibility. It would be good if the Jehovah's Witnesses themselves could either confirm or deny that last point, for until it's cleared up, a big question-mark still hangs over 7:1-5.

Answer 2

Part 1 of this article gives the following explanation based on a claim that 586 or 587 B.C. is “generally accepted as the year of Jerusalem’s destruction and that “most scholars agree the Jewish exiles were back in their homeland by 537 B.C.”

According to historians and archaeologists, 586 or 587 B.C.E. is generally accepted as the year of Jerusalem’s destruction.a Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses say that it was 607 B.C.E.? What is your basis for this date?” [a - Both years are mentioned in secular sources. For simplicity, we will refer to 587 B.C.E. in this series.]

To sum up: The Bible clearly states that there was an exile of 70 years. There is strong evidence—and most scholars agree—that the Jewish exiles were back in their homeland by 537 B.C.E. Counting back from that year would place Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E. Though the classical historians and the canon of Ptolemy disagree with this date, valid questions can be raised about the accuracy of their writings. Really, those two lines of evidence hardly provide enough proof to overturn the Bible’s chronology.

However, further questions remain. Is there really no historical evidence to support the Bible-based date of 607 B.C.E.? What evidence is revealed by datable cuneiform documents, many of which were written by ancient eyewitnesses? We will consider these questions in our next issue.

Part 2 ofthis article sums up Part 1:

Part One Established the Following Points: ▪ Secular historians say that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 B.C.E.a [Both years are mentioned in secular sources. For simplicity, we will refer to 587 B.C.E. in this series.] ▪ Bible chronology indicates that the destruction occurred in 607 B.C.E. ▪ Secular historians base their conclusions on the writings of classical historians and on the canon of Ptolemy. ▪ Some writings of classical historians contain significant errors and are not always consistent with the records on clay tablets.b [See the article “When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Why It Matters, What the Evidence Shows” in our issue of October 1, 2011.]

THE Bible says that the Jewish captives were to be exiled in Babylon “until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.” When were they released? In “the first [regnal] year of Cyrus king of Persia.” (2 Chronicles 36:21, 22, New International Version) Biblical and secular history agree that this exile in Babylon ended after Cyrus conquered Babylon and freed the Jews, who returned to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E. Since the Bible explicitly says that the exile lasted for 70 years, it must have begun in 607 B.C.E.

However, most scholars date the destruction of Jerusalem at 587 B.C.E. This allows for only a 50-year exile. Why do they conclude that? They base their calculations on ancient cuneiform documents that provide details about Nebuchadnezzar II and his successors.1 Many of these documents were written by men who lived during or close to the time of Jerusalem’s destruction. But just how sound are the calculations that point to the date 587 B.C.E.? What do these documents really show?

Part 2 then looks into (1) The Babylonian chronicles, (2) business tablets, and (3) astronomical tablets reaching the following conclusions:

Clearly, much of the astronomical data in VAT 4956 fits the year 588 B.C.E. as the 37th year of Nebuchadnezzar II. This, therefore, supports the date of 607 B.C.E. for Jerusalem’s destruction—just as the Bible indicates.

At present, the majority of secular historians believe that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 B.C.E. However, the Bible writers Jeremiah and Daniel clearly state that the Jews were in exile for 70 years, not 50 years. (Jeremiah 25:1, 2, 11; 29:10; Daniel 9:2) Those statements strongly indicate that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E. As the above evidence shows, that conclusion has some secular support.

These quotations from their official web site show why they arrive at 607 B.C.

I am looking into their reasons for the significance of 607 B.C. regarding the date 1914. 607 B.C. is critical to their chronological expectations. I hope to post an edit later today.

Kristopher has posted a link to another question Jehovah's Witnesses claim Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BCE. What is the evidence?

607 B.C. is fundamental to the Jehovah's Witness belief that Jesus started to reign (invisibly) from heaven in October 1914.

However, this question asks 'How do Jehovah's Witnesses explain "these seventy years" in these passages in Zechariah?' So far, I can find no official answer other than they claim "607 B.C. is generally accepted as the year of Jerusalem's destruction" and "most scholars agree the Jewish exiles were back in their homeland by 537 B.C."