Doing a bible study with a Jehovas witness. Called him out that they could not form doctrine around 607 b.c.e as being the "destruction of Jerusalem". In their literature I was told that both Witnesses and Secular historians agree that the Jews returned in 537 b.c.e. Is this true? Also after the study I was emailed this...
"Cyrus’ Decree for the Return of the Exiles. By his decreeing the end of the Jewish exile, Cyrus fulfilled his commission as Jehovah’s ‘anointed shepherd’ for Israel. (2Ch 36:22, 23; Ezr 1:1-4) The proclamation was made “in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia,” meaning his first year as ruler toward conquered Babylon. The Bible record at Daniel 9:1 refers to “the first year of Darius,” and this may have intervened between the fall of Babylon and “the first year of Cyrus” over Babylon. If it did, this would mean that the writer was perhaps viewing Cyrus’ first year as having begun late in the year 538 B.C.E. However, if Darius’ rule over Babylon were to be viewed as that of a viceroy, so that his reign ran concurrent with that of Cyrus, Babylonian custom would place Cyrus’ first regnal year as running from Nisan of 538 to Nisan of 537 B.C.E. In view of the Bible record, Cyrus’ decree freeing the Jews to return to Jerusalem likely was made late in the year 538 or early in 537 B.C.E. This would allow time for the Jewish exiles to prepare to move out of Babylon and make the long trek to Judah and Jerusalem (a trip that could take about four months according to Ezr 7:9) and yet be settled “in their cities” in Judah by “the seventh month” (Tishri) of the year 537 B.C.E. (Ezr 3:1, 6) This marked the end of the prophesied 70 years of Judah’s desolation that began in the same month, Tishri, of 607 B.C.E.—2Ki 25:22-26; 2Ch 36:20, 21." Does this hold water?
The 537 date isn't an issue. The end of the Babylonian Exile is usually dated to 538/537. However, it's 607 as the start date that is incorrect.
The Babylonian Exile was not a one-time event wherein everyone in the Kingdom of Judah was taken to Babylon in one fell swoop. It occurred in waves over several years.
King Johoiachin was part of the first wave of exiled peoples and his exile is usually dated to 598/597 BCE. This is the date provided in a footnote in my New American Bible and corroborated by Lawrence Boadt in his textbook Reading the Old Testament.
The major wave of the Exile occurred in 587/586 BCE. This is when the destruction of the First Temple (if it actually existed) is usually dated and the Book of Jeremiah covers this portion of the Exile in detail (beginning with Chapter 34).
There was also a smaller, later Exilic wave in approximately 582 BCE that Jeremiah himself was supposedly caught up in, but this wave was sent to Egypt and not Babylon.
In any event, none of the Exilic dates correspond to 607 BCE. That's about a decade too early for the Babylonian Exile.
Sources: 2 Kings, The Book of Jeremiah, Reading the Old Testament by Lawrence Boadt