THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED Carl Olof Jonsson Fourth Edition Revised and Expanded COMMENTARY PRESS • ATLANTA • 2004 Because of its subject matter, in this book Bible texts are generally quoted from the New World Translation (represented by the abbreviation NW), published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. Abbreviations for other translations of Biblical quotations, listed in the text or in the footnotes, are: ASV American Standard Version KJV King James Version LXX Septuagint Version (Greek) MT Masoretic text (Hebrew) NAB N ew American Bible NASB New American Standard Bible NEB New English Bible NIV New International Version NKJV New King James Version NRSV New Revised Standard Version RSV Revised Standard Version RV Revised Version THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED FIRST EDITION © 1983 by Hart Publishers Ltd. of Lethbridge, Alta., Canada and Good News Defenders of La Jolla, CA, U.S.A. for Christian Koinonia International. SECOND EDITION © 1986 Published by Commentary Press, Atlanta, GA 30336. THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND EXPANDED © 1998 Published by Commentary Press, Atlanta, GA 30336. FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND EXPANDED © 2004 Published by Commentary Press, Atlanta, GA 30336. Internet edition: Tönis Tönisson, Vretstorp, 2009 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America ISBN: 0-914675-07-9 Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 86-70168 Contents Foreword v Introduction 1 1 The History of an Interpretation 23 2 Biblical and Secular Chronology 72 3 The Length of Reigns of the Neo-Babylonian Kings 89 4 The Absolute Chronology of the Neo-Babylonian Era 153 5 The Seventy Years for Babylon 191 6 The “Seven Times” of Daniel 4 236 7 Attempts to Overcome the Evidence 283 Appendix For Chapter 1 312 For Chapter 2 314 For Chapter 3 321 For Chapter 4 332 For Chapter 5 335 For Chapter 7 353 Additional material The 20th year of Artaxerxes and the “Seventy weeks” of Daniel 382 Professor Robert R. Newton, “Ptolemy’s Canon”, and the “Crime of Claudius Ptolemy” 394 Rolf Furuli’s First Book – A Critical Review 401 Rolf Furuli — Sham Scholarship 457 Rolf Furuli’s Second Book – A Critical Review 484 Indexes 551 FOREWORD T HE SUBJECT of the “Gentile times” is a crucial one today for millions of persons. Christ employed that phrase on a single occasion, as part of his response to his disciples’ question about his future coming and the end of the age. In the centuries that followed, numerous interpretations and time-applications of his expression have developed. While this book provides a remarkably broad view of the subject it primarily focuses on one prominent interpretation, one that in a very real sense defines for millions of Jehovahs Witnesses the time in which they live, supplies what they consider a powerful criterion to judge what constitutes “the good news of the Kingdom” which Christ said would be preached, and acts for them as a touchstone for assessing the validity of any religious organization’s claim to represent Christ and the interests of his Kingdom. An unusual fact is that the foundation of this interpretation is a “borrowed” one, since, as the author documents, it originated nearly a half century before their own religious organization began to appear on the world scene. Rarely has a single date played such a pervasive and defining role in a religion’s theology as has the date focused on by this interpretation: the date of 1914. But there is a date behind that date and without its support 1914 is divested of its assigned significance. That prior date is 607 B.C.E. and it is the Witness religion’s linking of that date with a particular event—the overthrow of Jerusalem by Babylon—that lies at the crux of the problem. Those of us who have shared in editing this present work and who were ourselves, twenty-seven years ago, part of the writing and editorial staff at the international headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York, can remember the rather stunning effect the arrival of a treatise on the “Gentile times” from Carl Olof Jonsson it Sweden had on us in August of 1977. Not only the volume of the documentation, but even more so the weight of the evidence left us feeling somewhat disconcerted. We were, in effect, at a loss as to what to do with the material. That treatise later formed the basis for Carl Olof Jonsson’s book The : v vi THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED Gentile Times Reconsidered, now in its fourth printing. When we today read this book we become the beneficiaries of more than three decades of thorough and careful research. Not just the immense amount of time, but also the means of access to the sources of information that made possible so intensive a study, are something very few of us would have at our disposal. The author has not only made use of such facilities as the British Museum but also has had personal communication with, and assistance from, members of its staff, as also Assyriologists of various countries. The research takes us back some two and a half millennia in the past. Many of us may think of those times as “primitive” and it thus may come as a surprise to realize how advanced certain ancient peoples were, their writings covering not merely historical events and monarchical dynasties, but also dealing with dated business documents such as ledgers, contracts, inventories, bills of sale, promissory notes, deeds, and similar matters. Their understanding of astronomy, of the progressive and cyclical movements of the lunar, planetary and stellar bodies, in an age unequipped with telescopes, is extraordinary. In the light of the Genesis statement that those celestial luminaries serve to “mark the fixed times, the days and the years,” this takes on true significance, particularly in a study in which chronology plays a central role.1 Nothing, except the modern atomic clocks, surpasses those heavenly bodies in precision in the measurement of time. Of the quality of the research into the Neo-Babylonian period, Professor of Assyriology Luigi Cagni writes: Time and again during my reading [of Jonsson’s book] I was overcome by feelings of admiration for, and deep satisfaction with, the way in which the author deals with arguments related to the field of Assyriology. This is especially true of his discussion of the astronomy of Babylonia (and Egypt) and of the chronological information found in cuneiform texts from the first millennium B.C.E., sources that hold a central position in Jonsson’s argumentation. His seriousness and carefulness are evidenced in that he has frequently contacted Assyriologists with a special competence in the fields of astronomy and Babylonian chronology, such as Professors H. Hunger, A. J. Sachs, D. J. Wiseman, Mr. C. B. F. Walker at the British Museum and others. 1 Genesis 1:14, NAB. Foreword vii With respect to the subject field I am particularly familiar with, the economic-administrative texts from the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods, I can say that Jonsson has evaluated them quite correctly. I put him to the test during the reading of the book. When I finished the reading, I had to admit that he passed the test splendidly?2 Readers of the first or second edition of this book will find much that is new here. Entire sections, including some new chapters have been added. Contributing to the readability of the book is the inclusion of about thirty illustrations, including letters and other documents. Many of the illustrations are rare and will undoubtedly be new to most readers. The original research behind the book inescapably brought the author on a collision course with the Watch Tower organization and—not unexpectedly—led to his excommunication as an “apostate” or heretic in July 1982. This dramatic story, not told in the first two editions, is now presented in the section of the Introduction titled “The expulsion.” The discussion of the chronology of the Neo-Babylonian period has been greatly expanded. The seven lines of evidence against the 607 B.C.E. date presented in the first two editions have since been more than doubled. The evidence from astronomical texts forms a separate chapter. The burden of evidence presented in Chapters 3 and 4 is indeed enormous and reveals an insurmountable disharmony with, and refutation of, the chronology of the Watch Tower Society for this ancient period. Despite the wealth of information from ancient secular sources, this book remains primarily Biblical. In the chapter ‘Biblical and Secular Chronology” it clears up a common and serious misconception as to how we arrive at a ‘Biblical chronology,” as also the erroneous idea that a rejection of the Watch Tower’s 607 B.C.E. date implies a placing of secular chronology as superior to such “Biblical chronology.” We are confident that the reading of this unique book will aid many to gain, not only a more accurate knowledge of the past, but also a more enlightened outlook regarding their own time, and increased appreciation of the trustworthiness and historicity of the Scriptures. The Editors 2 From the preface to the Italian edition of The Gentile Times Reconsidered by Luigi Cagni, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Naples, Italy. Professor Cagni was, among other things, a leading expert on the Ebla tablets ,the about 16,000 cuneiform texts that have been excavated since 1975 in the roya1 palace of the ancient city of Ebla (present Arabic name: Tell Mardikh) in Syria. Luigi Cagni died in January, 1998. viii THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED INTRODUCTION T HE DISILLUSIONING and sometimes dramatic process that ended up in the decision to publish this treatise could fill a whole book. Due to considerations of space, however, that background can be only touched upon briefly here. Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught to put great trust in the Watch Tower Society and its leadership. Toward the end of my twenty-six years as an active Jehovah’s Witness, however, the signs indicating that such trust was mistaken had mounted. To the very last I had hoped that the leaders of the organization would honestly face the facts respecting their chronology, even if those facts should prove fatal to some of the central doctrines and unique claims of their organization. But when at last I realized that the Society’s leaders— apparently for reasons of organizational or “ecclesiastical” policy — were determined to perpetuate what, in the final analysis, amounts to a deception of millions of persons, doing this by suppressing information which they regarded and continue to regard as undesirable, no other course seemed open to me but to publish my findings, thus giving every individual who has a concern for truth an opportunity to examine the evidence and draw his or her own conclusions. We are each responsible for what we know. If a person has information on hand that others need in order to get a correct understanding of their situation in life— information that furthermore is withheld from them by their religious leaders—then it would be morally wrong to remain silent. It becomes his or her duty to make that information available to all who want to know the truth, however this may appear. That is the reason why this book has been published. 1 2 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED The role of chronology in the teachings of the Watch Tower Society Few people are fully cognizant of the very central role played by chronology in the claims and teachings of the Watch Tower Society. Even many of Jehovah’s Witnesses are not fully aware of the indissoluble connection between the Society’s chronology and the message they preach from door to door. Confronted with the many evidences against their chronology, some Jehovah’s Witnesses tend to downplay it as something they somehow can do without. “Chronology is not so important, after all,” they say. Many Witnesses would prefer not to discuss the subject at all. Just how important, then, is the chronology for the Watch Tower organization? An examination of the evidence demonstrates that it constitutes the very foundation for the claims and message of this movement. The Watch Tower Society claims to be God’s “sole channel” and “mouthpiece” on earth. Summing up its most distinctive teachings: it asserts that the kingdom of God was established in heaven in 1914, that the “last days” began that year, that Christ returned invisibly at that time to “inspect” the Christian denominations, and that he finally rejected all of them except the Watch Tower Society and its associates, which he appointed in 1919 as his sole “instrument” on earth. For about seventy years, the Society employed Jesus’ words at Matthew 24:34 about “this generation” to teach clearly and adamantly that the generation of 1914 would positively not pass away until the final end came at the “battle of Armageddon,” when every human alive except active members of the Watch Tower organization would be destroyed forever. Thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses of the “1914 generation” fully expected to live to see and to survive that doomsday and then to live forever in paradise on earth. As decades went by, leaving 1914 ever farther behind, this claim became increasingly difficult to defend. After 80 years had passed, the claim became virtually preposterous. So, in the November 1, 1995, issue of the Watchtower (pages 10 through 21), a new definition of the phrase “this generation” was adopted, one that allowed the organization to “unlink” it from the date of 1914 as a starting point. Despite this monumental change, they still retained the 1914 date—in fact they could not do otherwise without dismantling their major teachings regarding Christ’s “second presence,” the start of the “time of the end,” and the appointment of their