APL,

The passage you quoted from Review and Herald includes more paragraphs of explanation which follow. It is also more complete in Patriarchs and Prophets as quoted below.



"As in" means equal with. The word "jubilee" is a special designation which covers the "sabbatical" concept, just as "passover" is a special designation which also covers the sabbath. Notice that the land is returned during the jubilee, not AFTER as you have attempted to claim Leviticus 25:15 supports. It does not. Read it again. It says nothing of the land being returned. It speaks of the land being bought again, AFTER the Jubilee.

If we look at a week, we see Sunday being the "first day of the sabbath" in the Bible, Monday the "second day," and so on. The sabbath is not again made "the first day of the sabbath. Neither was the Jubilee the first year of the next Jubilee cycle. That wouldn't make sense. When the Bible is so clear about beginning to buy land again AFTER the jubilee, we have clarity on how the numbering worked.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Very good Green!!! You recognize that proof texting has issues. However, your interpretation also has issue. The "as in" means that the observance has the same feature of land rest, BUT, the Jubilee did NOT equal the Sabbatical years, it had more. The Jubilee was not and is not the same as a Sabbatical year.

Now - YOU may not think it make sense, but that does not mean your interpretation is correct. You can see that your interpretation was not used by William Miller. Why do you think that was Green????

The jubilee YEAR started on the Day of Atonement. It was the fiftieth year, attested both by the Holy Bible, God's Word, and by Ellen White. This is not the first of 49 years, because the year following, according to Leviticus, was the year when buying land was to resume, land that, also according to the Bible, would have to be returned to its original owner in the fiftieth year following such a purchase. If only 49 years occurred from Jubilee to Jubilee, a fifty-year time span would have never been possible. It would have only been possible to own a piece of land for 48 years, and then give it up in the 49th.

Whether you acknowledge the sabbath sacredness of the year of Jubilee or not, the math itself is self-evident.



The fiftieth year, not the forty-ninth, was here declared holy. The forty-ninth year was already counted as a sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year is in addition to it. During the year of Jubilee, in addition to letting the land have a Sabbath rest, every land was returned to its original family/owner, and every indentured servant (slave) was forgiven his debt and he was released to return to his property.

After the year of Jubilee, property could again be sold--which would have to be again returned fifty years later. This means it could not have been 49 years (which would only leave 48 years between Jubilees).

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

APL, GC, I'm considering your comments and objections. Let me finish my posting and see if it doesn't address at least some of them. For now, let me just say that the super Jubilee, the 70th isn't the close of probation, the outpouring of the latter rain etc. It's the purification of the sons of Levi, the gospel harvest, the final atonement of Christ. Just as at the close of the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 when Christ suddenly came to His temple and cleansed it at the start of His ministry, in the same way at or near the start of the 70th Jubilee the Lord will do the same - He'll cleanse the church and purify the sons of Levi. Christ did that twice during His ministry, once at the start and once at the close. Ellen White says that this history will be repeated in the church in the future. I think we're soon about to see it. Our prayer now should be "Spare your people O Lord!".

In Galations 3:16-18 the Apostle Paul describes a parallel 430 year period of sacred history mirroring the 430 reign of the Davidic dynasty. This period takes us up to the Exodus. It begins with the “seed”, the birth of Isaac, the child of the covenant promise, and goes to the Exodus. Exodus 12:40,41; Galatians 3:16-18; Genesis 22:1,2,10-18. The apostle says:
Isaac was a type of Christ in that he is the seed through whom all of the earth is blessed, the child of promise and of faith. So it is appropriate that Inspiration would mark the start of the 430 years from his birth until the Exodus when the promise of deliverance made to Abraham was fulfilled. This divine period is bracketed with two great events of faith – the birth of Isaac and the liberation of Israel and giving of the law. Similarly, David’s throne was established by a prophetic promise and as a type of the throne of Christ. The house of David reigned as a type of the “seed”. Jacob’s prophecy regarding Judah is fulfilled first in the Davidic dynasty and then in Christ, Shiloh.



Notice the symmetry of the divine chronology: From Isaac to Exodus 430 years. From Exodus to King David 440 years. From David to Zedekiah, 430 years for a total of 1300 years from Isaac to the end of the Davidic dynasty.

After 430 years of rule, David’s descendants sinned and broke the covenant and after 70 Sabbaticals went unobserved, the crown was removed from David’s house until Shiloh came, the one “whose right it is”.



So 586 BC marks not only the destruction of Jerusalem but also marks the removal of the crown and the end of the 430 year reign of the house of David as foretold by the prophet. Ezekiel’s acted prophecy establishes the date for the start of David’s reign, 1016 BC, and the date of 976 BC as the fourth year of Solomon’s reign. From this date, and using I Kings 6:1 we can go back 480 years to the Exodus, 1456 BC, and then go forward 40 years to the entering of the promised land which is year one of the first Sabbatical and Jubilee, 1416 BC.

And if this interpretation is correct it solves the problem of the chronology of the kings. For those who've struggled with the chronology of the OT, especially the kings, this resolves the co-regencies and allows us to provide accurate dates back to Adam. It is about 10 years different from Edwin Thiele's chronology and about 30 from Usher's.

Taking the year 1416 BC as the beginning of the Jubilee cycle and counting 70 Jubilees to the final Jubilee year yields the year September 2015 to September 2016. This Jubilee year is corroborated in scripture because; 1) We know 2015 to be the end of a Sabbatical because the Sabbatical count has been maintained by the Jews and ancient historians. Although the Jews have lost track of the Jubilees they have maintained the Sabbatical count to modern times. The Jubilee always follows a Sabbatical. 2) The prophecy of Daniel 9 states that the Messiah will be cut off in the middle of a “seven”. Taking 1416 BC as the starting date, our Lord was cut off for us, crucified, in the exact middle of a Jubilee cycle, 31 AD.

The point of this is that we are on the verge of the most solemn, joyful, terribly awesome time in human history – when the Jubilee trumpet of God resounds throughout the world proclaiming total liberty to the enslaved human family; when God purifies the sons of Levi just before He sends His Son to take His pure Bride home.

Mark,

I'm not merely picking at straws here, but I've been studying these chronologies for most of my lifetime, having taken interest in them while I was yet in elementary school. I dare say I had no special agenda, no argument to prove, etc. at that time when God first inspired me with interest in those "boring" begats.

You said: "Isaac was a type of Christ in that he is the seed through whom all of the earth is blessed, the child of promise and of faith. So it is appropriate that Inspiration would mark the start of the 430 years from his birth until the Exodus when the promise of deliverance made to Abraham was fulfilled."

But the 430-year figure you present is inaccurate. The Bible accurately prophesies a 400-year period for Abraham's descendants, starting with Isaac, to be in Egypt. At that time, the entire land of Canaan was a part of Egypt, as the maps at the back of many Bibles will show. So while they were in "Canaan," they were in Egypt. The 400 years of the affliction of Abraham's descendants while in Egypt begin at Isaac's weaning ceremony, with his 14-year-old half brother Ishmael bullying him. He was only five years old. The extra 30 years, as are noted in Exodus 12:40-41 are for Abraham himself, beginning at the time he departed from Haran, at the age of 75 (see Gen. 12), and entered Canaan.

Regarding David's dynasty, as a responsible chronologist I must recognize that there are some gaps for which we simply cannot know of a certainty the dates. David chose Solomon to reign, and wisely installed him before his own death. David was still considered king until he died. We may safely assume he was not long co-regent with Solomon, but at the same time, at least one year, and perhaps more, of their reigns overlapped. This is why a text like 1 Kings 6:1, which connects Solomon all the way back to the Exodus, is so important.

You said: "After 430 years of rule, David’s descendants sinned and broke the covenant and after 70 Sabbaticals went unobserved, the crown was removed from David’s house until Shiloh came, the one 'whose right it is'."

Again, this is not correct. It does not align with your own thinking, much less mine. You appear to have at one and the same time included David's reign in your reckoning, amounting to 430 years, and then said that his descendants ruled for 430 years. Furthermore, you say they sinned after this time.

This is another point that is addressed in the Ezekiel's Prophecy thread, at that post I just linked.

It was Jeroboam who sinned and who made all Israel to sin, according to the Bible. His sin started the 390 day/year clock ticking. The seventy years of captivity were mentioned in 2 Chron. 36:21 as being to help the land fulfill her sabbaths, but the prophecy as given by Jeremiah himself in Jer. 25:11-12 makes no mention of sabbaths. God indicates there through Jeremiah that this punishment comes because the people have not listened to Him. While that might include the land sabbaticals, it obviously includes much more--for the chapter itself speaks of the people going after other gods, serving and worshiping them, and says they have not heed the prophets which God had sent. No mention is made of sabbaticals, which is interesting.



We cannot have accurate dates back to Adam. The generations from Adam to Abram are the weakest on the time line in terms of accuracy. For example, Luke records a son between Arphaxad and Salah which is absent in the Genesis record. Further compounding things, we cannot know how much rounding of years occurred. The culture was to always round UP, never down, so the years which we come to are likely in excess of the actual years which transpired, with exceptions for places like Cainan getting missed in the time line (unless Luke is wrong--but again, how does one know which is right)? There is no prophecy to span the first generations, unlike the rest of the time line. Prophecies can really help us.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

GC, you're right that the inspired rule is to round up regarding ages. So we have a couple options. Either assume the pre-flood reckoning is accurate or assume it follows the scriptural rules of age reckoning. If it is the latter, the average error pre-flood would be an added half year per generation. Noah was the tenth generation from Adam so the total pre-flood reckoning would be about 5 years less if you assume the years given are rounded up. That assumption should be looked at carefully though before adopting it.

But if my solution is valid, it gives the prophetically important dates - the Exodus and the start of the Jubilee - spanning the full period from the Exodus with prophecy or long recorded periods and is independent of reignal or age data. The point of the thread is to discuss whether Daniel 9:24 predicts the complete solution to sin, the establishment of "everlasting righteousness"; whether it predicts the time of the everlasting covenant at the end of the 70th Jubilee.

Whether we agree or not, you can see the potential import. Christ's teaching was based on the same prophetic cornerstone - Daniel 9. He pointed to the start of the 70th week of Daniel 9 as the fulfillment of His announcement of the kingdom. In the same way, our message today is based on the same scripture, the start of the 70th Jubilee - the announcement of pardon and complete liberty.

Above I mentioned a quote from Ellen White that predicts a dual cleansing of the church in the near future. Here is one of her statements. You can find one or two other variations on the same thought:

As a church we've been much too complacent when we read a statement like that. We tend to think it applies to "the world". Not so. It applies as much and more to Adventism as it does to the backslidden churches because judgment begins at the house of God. Ezekiel 9 and I Peter 4:17. "Spare your people O Lord!" is my prayer. Please join me.

This above quote by Ellen White is connected to Daniel 9 in this way: if we are now in the super Jubilee, both the latter rain and the first cleansing of the church are immanent. Awesome thoughts.