Bernard Muller

About Daniel (through 'Jeremiah'):

In Jer25:8-14, the "seventy years" starts when:

Jer25:9b,11 "... completely destroy them ["completely" does include Jerusalem in 586] and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin ... This whole country [Judea] will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years."

and ends when:

Jer25:12-14 ""... when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt," declares the LORD, "and will make it desolate forever [Babylon was not destroyed and remained a thriving metropolis!]. I will bring upon that land all the things I [God, allegedly!] have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. They themselves will be enslaved [the Babylonians were not enslaved!] by many nations and great kings [only one nation (Persia-Media) and one king (Cyrus I) conquered the Babylonians!]; ...""

See also:
Jer29:10-11 "This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place
[Cyrus I the Persian, after the conquest of Babylon (539), allowed these Jews to go back (Ezra1-2). But that was fifty-three years after Jerusalem downfall, not seventy years!]"

At least, that proves that the book of Jeremiah was written before the fall of Babylon! And now, we know about the problem of prophesying about events before they happen!

It is likely Jeremiah thought (wrongly) the fall of Babylon will resemble the one of Assyria & Nineveh (and be worse!). Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, was conquered and fully destroyed by the Medes & the Babylonians in 612.

In Jer24:8-14, the seventy years clearly relate to the period between the devastation of Jerusalem in 586 and the (unmaterialized) desolation of Babylon. But how could Daniel understand (no prophesying here!) these 70 years in 'Jeremiah' as the elapsed time between the destruction of Jerusalem and, happening after Daniel's alleged times, the reconstruction of its temple?

Daniel 9:2
"in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."

Daniel's distorted "understanding" of Jer24:8-14 proved to be true!

Best regards, Bernard