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“THE NUMBER OF THE YEARS”

THE DAY-FOR-A-YEAR PRINCIPLE IN PROPHETIC TIME PERIODS

JOHN NICHOLLS

THE IDEA that time should be represented figuratively occurs in the early Scriptures. In Genesis, in the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker, and then of Pharaoh himself, symbols are used for time periods. Three branches and three baskets represent two periods of three days (40:12,18). Seven good kine and seven good ears of corn represent seven plenteous years, whilst seven ill-favoured kine and seven empty ears of corn represent seven years of famine (41:26,27). Joseph told Pharaoh that his dream was from God, Who was telling Pharaoh what He was about to do (v. 25).

When we come to the book of Numbers, the symbol of one day for one year is introduced. The forty days spent by the twelve spies searching out the land resulted in a faithless report. This number of days was the basis of the punishment meted out by God of remaining in the wilderness forty years. The record in 14:34 reads: “each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities”.

Another indisputable example of the ‘day-for-a-year’ principle is in Ezekiel 4:4-6. Ezekiel was told to lie on his left side for 390 days, representing 390 years of iniquity by Israel, and then on his right side for forty days, representing forty years of iniquity by Judah. The record says: “I have appointed thee each day for a year”. (The margin seems to emphasise the principle by using repetition: “a day for a year, a day for a year”.)

New Testament reasons

In the New Testament, also, Jesus uses the day-for-a-year principle in his reply to the Pharisees: “Go ye, and tell that fox (Herod), Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following” (Lk. 13: 32,33). Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection were still two years away when Jesus gave the Pharisees this enigmatic reply.

There are other good reasons for applying the day-for-a-year principle to some prophetic time periods. In Luke 21:24 Jesus stated that after Jerusalem had fallen and her people were taken captive Jerusalem would be “trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”. This period clearly extends over many hundreds of years, and the “times” Jesus refers to must be those in Daniel 4:16,23,25,32 and Leviticus 26:18,21,24,28. As is shown later in this article, these times were probably Babylonian years of 360 days, and so it is only by applying the day-for-a-year principle that a reasonable interpretation of Jesus’s prophecy can be made. If the “times” were literal years it would not fit the facts of the case. Five times in the book of Revelation, and twice in Daniel, the period of 1,260 days occurs, variously presented as time, times and a half, 1,260 days or forty-two months (30 days x 42 = 1,260 days). In Revelation these time periods have to do with the blasphemies, and oppression of God’s true saints, as practised by the state religion of the Roman Empire—Roman Catholicism for most of the time. By no stretch of the imagination can this be said to have lasted 3½ literal years, but the 1,260 days of years harmonises with the true facts of the case.

For example, the fleeing of the woman (the ecclesia) into the wilderness from the great red dragon is linked with a period of 1,260 days (Rev. 12:3,6,14). From the time that state Christianity was established in about A.D. 312 to the time of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve in A.D. 1572 (part of the Wars of Religion which led to a measure of religious freedom in France) there was a succession of groups and individuals who protested against the state religion and were persecuted by that religion’s upholders. Brother Alan Eyre writes about some of them in his books The Protesters and Brethren in Christ. The French Revolution, some 200 years later, brought a much greater measure of freedom in Europe from persecution by state religious powers, but it is clear that there was a period of some 1,260 years of persecution and repression of the true ecclesia by the state church.

A final reason for believing that we are right to apply the day-for-a-year principle to the prophetic time periods of Daniel and John is that both 1,260 and 2,300 are exact solar-lunar year cycles. This means that 1,260 solar years and 2,300 solar years are both an exact number of lunar years, periods of time in which the sun and the moon return to exactly the same place in relation to each other. If the literal interpretation is adhered to, then the exact solar-lunar cycle is lost. Numerical patterns abound in Scripture, so the day-for-a-year interpretation forms part of the numerical patterns that underlie God’s purpose with the earth.

It seems to this writer that the test of fulfilment is a most powerful argument for the figurative interpretation. If it can be shown that not once, but many times, the figurative interpretation wholly satisfies the context of the prophecy concerned, then the principle must be true, and we are understanding the prophecy as God intends us to. As examples of this, time periods from Daniel will be examined: the Seventy Weeks Prophecy; the 2,300 period of chapter 8; the Seven Times Prophecy of chapter 4; and the periods in chapter 12.

The Seventy Weeks Prophecy

The old man Daniel, most likely in his eighties, and in an alien land, was actively studying Jeremiah’s prophecy of the seventy years’ captivity (Dan. 9:2; Jer. 25:10-14). As he pondered the prophecy he realised that it could only be a year or two before the seventy years would expire, and God would turn away the captivity of Judah and gather them from all nations whither He had driven them. As a result of Daniel’s prayer, which was stimulated by the study of Bible time periods, the angel Gabriel came to him before he had finished praying (v. 21) to give him the Seventy Weeks Prophecy.

Daniel was told that “Seventy weeks (Heb. sevens) are determined upon thy people” (v. 24), and there follow six prophecies concerning Israel, Jerusalem, and God’s purpose in Messiah. Careful consideration, as undertaken by Brother W. H. Carter in his book,(Footnote 1) shows that all of these six prophecies in verse 24 are capable of a dual fulfilment. The first fulfilment took place at Christ’s first coming as a sacrifice for sin; the second will be when he comes again to establish the Kingdom.

1. The primary fulfilment. Since seventy sevens (weeks) comprise 490 (days), we have to add these on to the time of “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” (v. 25), to bring us to Messiah the Prince. Brother Thomas(Footnote 2) took this to be the twentieth of Artaxerxes (he dates this B.C. 456), bringing us to the crucifixion in A.D. 34.

However, verse 26 shows us that it is after 69 weeks (7 + 62) that Messiah would be “cut off” (crucified), and that during the last week (v. 27) the covenant would be confirmed with many. In the middle of this last week the Messiah would cause sacrifice and oblation to cease. Brother W. H. Carter suggests that in order to get a better alignment of the prophecy with the actual events the seventieth week should commence in A.D. 27/28, when Jesus’s ministry of teaching began with his baptism. This would be the beginning of “confirm(ing) the covenant with many”, as verse 27 says. After about three years, in A.D. 30/31, Jesus was cut off in crucifixion, “in the midst of the week”, causing an effective end to “the sacrifice and the oblation” in the temple. Then, at the end of the final week, in A.D. 34/35, Cornelius was converted, thus unlocking the gospel to the Gentiles (Eph. 3:6).

Brother Carter suggests that the correct starting point is B.C. 455, his date for the decree in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. This decree is recorded in Ezra 7:7,11-26. You may notice a discordance between the chronology of our two brethren. I would suggest, however, that the important point is the agreement between them that 490 years elapsed between the Persian king’s decree to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem and Jesus’s public ministry.The fact that the detail of Messiah’s work as a sacrifice and a means of opening up the Truth to Gentiles was 490 years after the decree of Artaxerxes vindicates the day-for-a-year principle being applied to this prophetic time period.

2. The secondary fulfilment. Brother W. H. Carter argues that, since the Hebrew word is “sevens”, not “weeks”, it could have reference to the sabbatical years which came every seventh year, and to the jubilee years which came every seventh sabbatical year. He argues that the jubilees cover seven weeks of sabbatical years, and are in cycles of forty-nine years. Brother B. C. Perryman, in an excellent unpublished booklet Focus on God’s Timetable”, also supports this theme.(Footnote 3)

It seems reasonable, in view of the fact that the six prophecies in Daniel 9:24 are all capable of fulfilment at Christ’s Second Coming, to assume that the seventy sevens has a larger fulfilment, covering a period of seventy jubilee cycles. Again, if we apply the test of fulfilment, a number of remarkable events took place in jubilee years, all of them in some way relating to liberty being proclaimed (see Leviticus 25:10). The jubilees must have begun when Israel entered Canaan and began to take possession of the land according to their tribes. Brother W. H. Carter computes this to be AM. 2569(Footnote *) (B.C. 1435). In his book(Footnote 4) he gives several significant jubilee years:

Brother Graham Pearce, in his Milestones to the Kingdom, 1988(Footnote 5) has some interesting observations on the jubilees, in particular suggesting that 1995/6 may be the sixty-ninth jubilee (and not the seventieth as Brother Carter thought), with the completion of the jubilee, that is, the regathering of all Diaspora Jews to Israel (Isa. 27:13), lying a further 49 years on. This would be in A.D. 2044/5. The sixty-ninth jubilee would be marked by the resurrection and judgement of the saints, as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16.

The 2,300 period

This time period seems to have been given by one angel, Palmoni or Wonderful Numberer (see Dan. 8:13, mg.; the angel in charge of times in God’s purpose?) to another angel (“saint” in verse 13 is the same word as “holy one” in Daniel 4:13). Daniel hears the angel say that 2,300 days would elapse for the transgression of desolation and treading underfoot of Jerusalem and the Jews. This would be a period of 2,300 years of adversity for Israel and Jerusalem, which would evidently commence from the time of the vision that Daniel was seeing. The vision itself concerned the ram and he-goat, the overthrow of the Persian Empire by the Greeks, especially by Alexander the Great (the “notable horn” of verse 5), and the eventual development from the Grecian Empire of the power of Rome (the “little horn” of the goat of verse 9).

If we look at some of the events of this vision, we get the following:

Both of these dates are significant because they were concerned with the release of Jerusalem from Gentile rule and the end of the scattering of the nation amongst the Gentiles. But there may be other starting and ending points for the 2,300 period, since out of the breaking up of Greece four powers arose, including the Seleucids, from which Rome eventually developed. The Seleucid era began in approximately 311 B.C., and adding 2,300 to this brings us to A.D. 1990. Clearly we can soon expect the complete and final freedom of Jerusalem from Gentile domination; the mosques of Islam and the churches of Christendom have yet to be removed before the pure worship of Yahweh can be established.

The Seven Times of Daniel 4

This prophecy was given to Nebuchadnezzar. He saw a tree, which he was told represented his kingdom of Babylon (v. 22), chopped down by the angels; but it was banded with iron and brass (Rome and Greece were the continuation of the Babylonian kingdom). And Nebuchadnezzar was to live in a state of madness, feeding as an animal for seven times (v. 25). Leaving aside the question of the historical fulfilment of this prophecy with regard to Nebuchadnezzar personally, we can see that in a typical sense he represents the kingdom of men (he is its head in the image of chapter 2). The nations have been, and are, in a state of bestial madness right from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, through Grecian and Roman times, and on to our own day.

What period do the times represent? Brother W. H. Carter(Footnote 6) brings evidence to bear that they were Babylonian ‘years’ of 360 days, showing that the twelve signs of the Zodiac and other human inventions such as the compass and sundial are all subdivided into 360 degrees, and originated from Mesopotamia. They were the basis of their time, and Scripture only uses “times” in connection with Gentile time periods.

“Seven times”, then, represents 7 x 360, which equals 2,520 days. Applying the day-for-a-year principle to the context of the prophecy:(Footnote †)

All of these dates are significant with regard to the Jews; 1917 saw the end of Turkish domination of Palestine and the publication by the British Government of the Balfour Declaration favouring a national home for the Jews in the land. 1967 saw the Jews regain control of the city of Jerusalem. What events may 1989 yet see?

The time periods of Daniel 12

The three periods—3 ½ times, 1,290 days and 1,335 days—mentioned in Daniel 12:7,11,12 have had several interpretations in the Truth’s literature. Brother Edmund Green’s recent book(Footnote 7) has a very balanced and interesting chapter on them (pp. 138-55).

Daniel 12:7 has to do with the scattering of the power of the holy people (Hebrew literally, “shattering the hand of”). The holy people could be (a) the saints, scattered and persecuted by the Roman Catholics, and/or (b) the Jews, persecuted by the Roman Catholics and scattered by all nations. No starting point for the 1,260 (3½ times) is given; only the end point. In case (a) A.D. 1866-8 could be the end point, when the temporal power of the papacy ceased and effective political persecution of the saints ended. This would make the period start in A.D. 606 when papal power began by the decree of the Emperor Phocas. In case (b) the scattering of the Jews ended in 1948 with the establishment of Israel. This would give a commencing date of A.D. 688 when the Dome of the Rock was being built on the site of the temple, a fitting expression of the breaking of the power of the Jews.

By contrast, in verse 11 we are given a starting point for the 1,290-day period, but not an end point: “from the time that the daily (the continual evening/morning) sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days”. This would appear to be an essentially Jewish period, to do specifically with Jerusalem. In A.D. 70 the Romans caused the sacrifice to cease in the temple, but nothing of significance happened in A.D. 1360. The starting point must concern a later abomination. Daniel 9:27 speaks of “the overspreading of abominations”, that is, more than one abomination, and this accords with the facts of the case. First Greece, then Rome, and then the Moslems all set up abominations in the holy place in Jerusalem. The Moslem desolation, already referred to, was the building of the Dome of the Rock in A.D. 685-691. The terminal point would therefore be 1975-81, during which period nothing of major significance occurred concerning Jerusalem, except for the consolidation of the Israeli hold upon it. Perhaps we do not have sufficient detail about the Moslem abomination to be able to get the correct starting point; or should we, like many Christadelphian expositors, apply the period to the establishment of the papacy? Rome has, after all, set up its churches in Jerusalem and encouraged persecution of the Jews:

A.D. 606 + 1,290 = 1896 (emergence of political Zionism;
Decree of Phocas            first Zionist Congress in Basle)

A.D. 533 + 1,290 = 1823 (Greece liberated—decline of Ottoman Empire,
Decree of Justinian          leading eventually to the State of Israel)

Both these decrees were important steps in establishing the power of the papacy.

The 1,335 period is coupled with the 1,290, and we have to assume it has a common starting point. It must end on a date after the resurrection of the saints and their judgement, because of the blessing it pronounces and also because of what verse 13 says: “go thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days”. If we take the 685-91 starting point used for the 1,290, this would give an end point of A.D. 2020-26, at which time we hope Christ’s power will be established in Zion.

It seems to this writer that the 1,290 and 1,335 periods have been made obscure so that we keep thinking and delving in order to understand. The fact that more than one interpretation is possible in no way detracts from the day-for-a-year principle. The rise of the persecutors of God’s people was in stages, and their decline is also in stages. We should expect more than one starting and ending point, as for all the other prophetic times.

Conclusion

Who can really suppose, from these examples, that the day-for-a-year principle is suspect? Surely, as Jesus tells us (Mt. 24:15), they are to be understood by his servants, and taken as warnings and spurs to help us on our way to the Kingdom.

Just because some brethren expected the Lord to come at a certain date, and were proved to be wrong, this should not stop us from studying these prophecies. Jesus’s words, “let him understand”, and Paul’s words to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:1), are powerful exhortations for us to understand the content of the prophecies. We may have to revise our ideas about starting points with the passage of time. But, just as Daniel in his eighties was studying prophetic times, so let us keep on studying and pondering. And, like Daniel, may such study lead us to pray for the early fulfilment of God’s promises. Daniel’s prayer, in chapter 9 of his prophecy, is one of the most moving in all Scripture, and it arose out of the study of chronology. May our prayers be like his, for our troubled Brotherhood, and for the nation of Israel. And may our prayers, like his, be interrupted by the angelic visitation for which we are looking, and the answer of peace for which we long from our Lord and Master.

“Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His: and He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Dan. 2:20,21).

FOOTNOTES

1. W. H. Carter, Times and Seasons, 1961, Birmingham, pp. 38-53.

2. J. Thomas, Prophecy of Daniel, 1921, Birmingham, p. 36.

3. B. C. Perryman, Focus on God’s Timetable, chapter 7.

4. W. H. Carter, op. cit., pp. 54-9.

5. G. Pearce, Milestones to the Kingdom, 1988, 1989, Adelaide, pp. 8-19.

6. W. H. Carter, op. cit., pp. 64,65.

7. E. Green, The Prophecy of Daniel, 1988, Birmingham.

* A.M. years are years from Creation. A.M. is short for Anno Mundi, the Latin for ‘In the Year of Our World’, as A.D. is short for Anno Domini, ‘In the Year of Our Lord’. The date of Creation in this article is that suggested by Brother W. H. Carter, op. cit., pp. 9-12, namely, A.M. 4003/4.

† Brother W. H. Carter’s dates are followed here; op. cit., p. 68.

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