Shocking New Revelation!
The Sabbath Cycles, Jubilees & End-Time Prophecy!
Where are we in terms of Biblical prophecy? Are we
living in the “time of the End” – the “crisis at the close”
of this age, before the Messiah comes? In this article
we will explore a NEW revelation and NEW insight
on this matter provided by a study of the Sabbatical
and Jubilee year cycles of God’s calendar!
William F. Dankenbring
In the Torah
given by God to Moses and the children of
“Speak to the children of
into the land which I give you, then
the land shall keep a Sabbath
to the LORD. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you
shall prune your vineyard, and
gather its fruit; but in the seventh
year there shall be a Sabbath of
solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath
to the LORD” (Lev.25:2-4, NKJV).
This cycle was to go on for seven times seven years, or include seven Sabbath years of rest for the land, in a period of 49 years; the following year – the fiftieth year – was to be a special “Jubilee year” – a year of special celebration of freedom and liberty throughout the land!
“And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times
seven years, and the time of the seven Sabbaths of years for you shall
be to you forty nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the
Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month [that is, on Yom
Kippur]; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound
throughout
your land. And you shall consecrate
the fiftieth year,
and proclaim liberty throughout all the land
to all its inhabitants.
It shall be a JUBILEE for you; and each of you shall return to
his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you
shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor
gather the grapes of your untended vine. For it is the Jubilee; it
shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field. In
this Year of Jubilee, each one of you shall return to his possession”
(Lev.25:8-13).
This
law of God is very clear, yet the evidence from Scripture is that
We read of God’s warning of what would happen if this law of the land Sabbaths and Jubilee years was violated in Leviticus 26, the very next chapter. God says:
“But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these command-
ments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors all My
judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but
break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint
terror over you, wasting disease and fever [anthrax? plague? small-
pox?] (vs.14-16). . .
“And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you
SEVEN TIMES more for your sins (v.18) . . . .
“Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me,
I will bring on you SEVEN TIMES more plagues, according to your
sins . . . (v.21).
“And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary
to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet
SEVEN TIMES for your sins . . . (v.23-24).
“And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise
you SEVEN TIMES for your sins . . .” (v.27-28).
Notice, now, the culmination of this awesome prophecy of divine judgment upon God’s people, Israel – and remember, this refers to ALL TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, WHEREVER THEY ARE IN THE EARTH – NOT JUST TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE, WHO ARE THE TRIBE OF JUDAH (with parts of Levi and Benjamin)!
“I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it
shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw
out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
THEN
THE LAND SHALL ENJOY HER SABBATHS so long as it
lies desolate and you are in your enemies’
land; THEN THE LAND
SHALL REST AND ENJOY ITS SABBATHS. As long as it lies
desolate it shall REST – for the time it did
NOT rest on your Sabbaths
when you dwelt in it” (Lev.26:32-25).
This
prophecy was literally fulfilled! We
read in the prophecy of Jeremiah, who lived to see
“And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment,
and
these nations shall serve the king of
(Jer.25:11).
And in the book of II Chronicles we read:
“And those who escaped from the sword he carried away into
the
rule of the
by
the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths.
As long as she lay desolate, she kept
Sabbath, to fulfill SEVENTY
YEARS” (II Chron.36:21).
Thus this punishment was to make up for seventy Sabbatical years which had not been property observed – one year’s punishment for each unobserved Sabbatical year! 70 Sabbatical years would occur in a total of 490 years (7 during a 49 year cycle). However, also unobserved during this period would have been 10 Jubilee years. Thus the total period of time accounted for would be 490 + 10, or 500 years duration.
Jeremiah prophesied that the
God told Jeremiah that many nations
– “these nations” -- would serve the “king of
The punishment upon
The
captivity of the Jews to
The
Number “70” in Scripture
“70” is a interesting number in
Scripture. There were 70 of
Says E. W. Bullinger of this number:
“SEVENTY is another combination of two of
the perfect numbers, seven and
ten.
. . .As compared with the sum of two numbers, the product exhibits
the
significance
of each in an intensified form.
“Hence
7 X 10 signifies perfect spiritual order carried out with all spiritual
power
and significance. Both spirit and
order are greatly emphasized.
“THE
SEVENTY NATIONS which peopled the earth are set forth with a
particularity
which shows the importance of the fact (see Gen.10).
“THE
SEVENTY SOULS OF GENESIS 46 are marked not only by the
perfection
of spiritual truth, as seen by the multiple of 7, but by the perfection
of
Divine order, as seen in the multiple of 10, seventy being 7 X 10. . . .
“These
seventy built up the nation of Israel.
See Genesis 46:27; Exod.1:5;
and
Ruth 4:11.
“Seventy
elders furnished Israel's great Tribunal (Exo.24:1; Num.11:16),
afterwards
called the Sanhedrin. . .
“Seventy
disciples sent out by the Lord prefigure the mighty host which followed
them
(Luke 10:1, 17) in spirit and in power.
“It
is the number specially connected with JERUSALEM, for the city kept its
sabbaths
seventy years, while Judah was in Babylon (Jer.35:11).
“And
seventy sevens were determined upon it to complete its transgression,
and
bring
in everlasting righteousness for it (Dan.9:24)” (Number in Scripture, E.
W.
Bullinger,
pages 270-271).
In Scripture, “7” is the number of
spiritual perfection or completion. The
Sabbath is the seventh day, which completes the week. There are “7” candlesticks on the Menorah, a
type of Israel (Rev.1:20; Gal.6:16). In Hebrew the word “seven” is shevah, from
the root savah, meaning “to be full, satisfied, have enough of.” Thus “7” is the number of spiritual
perfection or completion.
In time, seven completes the
week. In creation, seven completes the
colors of the spectrum or rainbow.
Also, in Scripture, “10” is the
number of ordinal or numeric perfection.
It signifies the perfection or completion of Divine order, as it begins
a whole new set of numbers. The numbers 1-10 is a complete cycle, in itself,
and is repeated over and over as we count numbers. The decimal system is based on the number
ten.
Consider: God gave “Ten Commandments,” the tithe is a tenth
of one's income, there were ten plagues on ancient Egypt, the end-time
kingdom of the “Beast” has ten toes (Dan.2:41-44), and ten horns (Dan.7:7,
24; Rev.13:1), and ten kings will fight against the Messiah at His
Coming (Rev.17:12-14).
Ten is also a number of perfection
or completion. But it signifies
completion or perfection of God's divine order.
The first ten numbers is the pattern for the whole numerical system, as
“numerical DNA” as it were -- and originates the system of numerical
calculation called “decimals.”
Completeness of order, then, is represented by the number “ten.”
All together, then, there are ten
divine sephirot or “traits” of God which represent the connecting link
or “chain of command” between God and our physical world in which we live. Three are hidden (internal), and seven are
revealed (external). The hidden three
are wisdom, understanding and knowledge. The seven sephirot are revealed
in the “Omer Count,” in the spring of the year.
God commands His people to “count the Omer” each day, from the beginning
of barley harvest (Abib 16), till Pentecost, seven weeks later
(Lev.23:15-16). Seven days each week,
for seven weeks, equals 49 days!
According to Jewish interpretation,
each one of these seven revealed sephirot is represented by one of the
patriarchs, who exemplified that particular trait, or characteristic. For example:
Patriarch Hebrew term English meaning
Abraham chesed
loving kindness,
hospitality
Isaac gevurah contained strength, self control
Jacob tiferet beauty, mercy, harmony, compassion
Moses netzach victory, triumph, eternity, dominance
Aaron hod splendor, majesty, glory
Joseph yesod foundational strength, foundation
David malchut kingdom, manifestation, kingship
What is not generally realized is
that these seven patriarchs, and these seven emanations of God's
sephirot, ALSO CORRESPOND TO GOD’S SEVEN-THOUSAND YEAR PLAN that He is
working out on the earth!
In
other words, each of these characteristics fits, in descending order, one of
the seven millennia down through human history, including the “Sabbath rest”
1,000-year period of the reign of the Messiah (Rev.20:1-4).
Notice carefully:
Patriarch Hebrew term Period of Years
Abraham chesed 4004 BC-3004 BC
Isaac gevurah 3004 BC-2004 BC
Jacob tiferet 2004 BC-1004 BC
Moses netzach 1004 BC-4 BC
Aaron hod 4 BC-997 AD
Joseph yesod 997 AD-1997 AD
Thus if we count the millennia from
the Creation of man, Adam and Eve were created in 4004 BC, according to
archbishop Ussher's carefully compiled Biblical chronology. This means the end of the sixth millennium
was 1997 AD, and we are now living in “overtime”!
However, notice that the sixth
millennium, just before the coming of the Messiah and the inauguration of the
seventh millennium, belongs to the patriarch “Joseph.” Joseph was the son of Jacob sold into slavery
by his brothers, who suffered in Pharaoh's prison, but was ultimately raised to
rulership over the whole land of Egypt, and he was the "Messianic figure"
of that age, a type of the true Messiah -- God used Joseph to save his
family, and all the nations of the world, from the scourge of famine and
drought!
The Jewish Talmud states that there
were to be “two Messiahs” -- one the son of Joseph, who would descend from
Joseph, and die in battle, paving the way for the second Messiah -- the son of
David, who would be the final Messiah, descended from David, and who would rule
the world and conquer the heathen nations.
This understanding, however, is a
bit fractured. Rather than two different
“Messiahs,” the Scriptures teach ONE MESSIAH -- WHO COMES TWO DIFFERENT
TIMES -- the first time as a meek Lamb, giving His life for the sins of the
world (Isa.53:3-10; Dan.9:26; Exo.12:6; John 1:29; I Cor.5:7); the
second time as the roaring LION of the tribe of JUDAH (Rev.5:5). Both the Lamb of God and the Lion of God ARE
ONE! (see Rev.5:5, 6, 12:11, 14:1).
However, take note of the fact that
the sixth millennium is the millennium of “Joseph.” It would be a time of the ascendancy of the
tribe of Joseph -- his descendants.
Interestingly, careful Bible study and history prove that the
descendants of Joseph -- Ephraim and Manasseh -- were the leaders of the
ten-tribed Kingdom of Israel who rebelled against the throne of David in the
days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, son of Solomon.
The northern kingdom was taken into captivity for their sins in 718-721
B.C.
History shows that the tribes of
Joseph became the Anglo-Saxon peoples, and settled in the British isles. The word “Brit-ish” in Hebrew means “man of
the covenant,” or “covenant man.” God
made a covenant with the sons of Joseph that they would eventually dominate the
world (Gen.49:22-26), as a “fruitful bough,” with great natural resources. Further, they were prophesied to have the
blessings of the birthright -- the physical blessings of prosperity, abundance,
and wealth, and leadership (I Chron.5:1-2).
And, Moses prophesied that they would “push the people together to the
ends of the earth” (Deut.33:13-17).
Joseph, then, had an oldest son
named Manasseh -- he is in modern day identity, the nations of the United
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa.
Joseph's youngest son was Ephraim -- which means “doubly fruitful” --
and is identified as the United States of America! These nations have indeed “pushed” the
nations around the world in the latter part of the Sixth Millennium -- the 20th
century -- and led the western world to victory in World War I, World War II,
and the Gulf War of 1991.
Even today, “Joseph” is fulfilling
this prophecy by engaging in warfare in far off Afghanistan, bombing and
sending troops to fight the Taliban and terrorists of Osama bin Laden!
The
House of Joseph, dominant during the sixth millennium, especially during this
concluding century, has “laid the foundation” for the coming of the Messiah ben
David. How have they done this? The nations of Joseph are the primary nations
which have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world; they have printed
and distributed more Bibles than any other nation; they have sent more missionaries
into all the world; and Joseph (Great Britain) issued the Balfour declaration,
after a British General captured Jerusalem in 1917 from the Turkish Empire,
permitting Jews to return to their ancestral homeland. And it has been Joseph who has been the
greatest defender of the Jewish state of Israel established in 1948.
But, according to our time-table,
the Josephite Millennium is coming to a close, to be shortly replaced by the
Davidic Millennium -- the millennium of the Messiah!
What are the “signs” of this
transition?
The Sufferings of Joseph
The Scriptures tell us that just before Jacob died, he gave
Joseph an extra piece of the land of Israel -- the city of Shechem
(Gen.48:22). Shechem had an interesting
history. It was Shechem who raped Dinah,
Jacob's daughter (Gen.34:1-5). This led
to the sons of Jacob plotting against the Shechemites, and killing their males
in retribution (vs.13-31), and seizing their property. Shechem was a violent beginning -- and comes
to a violent ending.
It was in Shechem that Joseph's
brothers sold him into slavery, and it was to Shechem that Joseph's bone were
carried from Egypt, to be buried, when Israel left Egypt and returned to the
holy land.
Shechem is called Nablus by the
Arabs. It was here that the
Arab-Palestinian mob ravaged, burned, and pilloried the tombs of Joseph and
Rachel, during the recent intifada, the “Rosh Hashana War” of the year 2000.
Says the Zohar, the chief study
guide of the Kabbala, in a very interesting passage:
“In the time of the resurrection of the
dead, many camps will
arise
in Land of the Galil, because that is where the Messiah
is
going to be first revealed, since it is part of Joseph's territory.
It
will be the first place to be destroyed.
It will begin there
ahead
of all other places, and then spread to the nations”
(Zohar, Vayakhel 220a).
Shechem, according to the Talmud, is where bad things
happen (Sotah 11a). It is a place “set
aside for punishment.” Shechem,
remember, was in the inheritance of JOSEPH – the modern-day Anglo-Saxons –
the British and Americans and English-speaking peoples of the earth! The primary power of the sons of Joseph today
is modern Ephraim – the United States of America!
The Palestinian intifada desecrated
the tomb of Joseph at Shechem. The
Israelis withdrew from the Shechem tomb site, leaving it in the hands of the
Palestinians. Does this withdrawal
signify a withdrawal and weakening of modern “Israel”?
With violence beginning at Shechem,
does this symbolize the modern-day “House of Joseph” -- the United States and
British Commonwealth -- entering a time of punishment, destruction,
instability, and international weakness?
Interestingly, it is also at this
time that history has been made in the United States -- the closest (and
perhaps most fraudulent) Presidential election in American history, reveals a
nation DIVIDED such as it has not been divided since the days of the American
Civil War! (1860-1865).
Jesus Christ warned, “Every kingdom
divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house
divided against itself shall not stand” (Matt.12:25). “And if a kingdom be divided against
itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself,
that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:24-25).
Think about it! With the devastating attack on the Twin Trade
Towers in New York City, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the growing
menace of Anthrax and other terrorist attacks on our western nations, haven’t
we entered the “TIME OF JACOB’S (JOSEPH’S) TROUBLE” (Jeremiah 30:7)?
Have we entered the “twilight” of
Joseph's period of dominance? Are we now
seeing the beginning of the TRIBULATION period, beginning with the House of
Joseph?
It is pointed out in the Kabbala, that
the first letters of each of the words Baruch Shem kevod malchut l'olam
va'ed,the second verse of the Shema said twice every day by Orthodox and
Observant Jews, spell the words, b'Shechem lamed-vav, which means, “In
Shechem, thirty six.”
The second verse of the Shema
represents the Jewish belief that it is God who literally orchestrates the
events of history, even if this fact is hidden or veiled to the world, and they
think “natural causes” control nature.
But as Daniel the prophet told King Nebuchadnezzar, “Blessed be the name
of God for ever and ever . . . And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings and setteth up kings”
(Dan.2:20-21).
This verse of the Shema alludes to
the day when God will stop working invisibly, in a hidden manner, undercover,
but will begin to work openly, in plain sight, and reveal Himself to mankind in
a very obvious manner! No longer will
men question His “existence,” and act as if He did not exist!
So, what is the meaning of, “In
Shechem, thirty six”?
Interestingly, the number “thirty
six” is all about EXILE -- and redemption!
Thirty
six is 6 x 6. Six represents the number
of “man,” falling short of perfection.
Six itself pictures “sin.” The
sixth commandment is against the most violent sin -- murder. Six is also a composite of 4 plus 2, that is,
“man's world” (4) plus man's enmity toward God (2, the number of
division). But in a positive sense, it
also represents 5 plus 1 -- that is, “grace” and “mercy” (5) plus God (1). Since 36 is literally 6 x 6, or 6 squared, it
raises these concepts to the next multiple, higher level. Therefore, it presents the punishment and
exile of man, due to SIN and rebellion, but it also represents God's remedy for
sin and rebellion -- God's grace poured out in abundance upon repentant
sinners!
Thus “punishment” and “tribulation”
began at Shechem -- even so, redemption will also begin at Shechem! It is noteworthy that in the book of Jasher,
it is clear that after the sons of Jacob slaughtered the Shechemites, the whole
surrounding Gentile and Canaanite world gathered together to avenge the deaths
of their neighbors, and wars began between the sons of Jacob and their Gentile
neighbors -- frightful wars, a type of the Great Tribulation and the wars of
the coming “Day of the Lord.” God
delivered Israel then; and He will deliver Israel again, in the near future,
when the Messiah Himself steps in to intervene!
To put it another way, when the
sons of Israel AVENGED the rape of their sister Dinah, the WHOLE GENTILE WORLD
BEGAN TO WAGE WAR against them! But God
delivered them out of that “great tribulation” period, which was a foretype and
forerunner – an anti-type – of the Great Tribulation NOW descending upon the
world!
Is this Palestinian act of
desecration a symbolic act, symbolizing the BEGINNING OF THE FINAL SEVEN YEARS
OF TRIBULATION, “Daniel's 70th week,” and the countdown to the final coming of
the Messiah? Does this represent the
beginning of “Jacob's trouble”? This
attack started the process, and began to “prepare the way” for the Muslim
terrorist attack on America, the dive-bombing of the Pentagon, Twin Trade
Towers, anthrax attacks! And as America
bombs the cities of Muslim Afghanistan, this very war is now uniting millions
of Muslims against the western “Christian” world, leading up to the final war
to end all wars – World War III and nuclear “Armageddon”!
Seven times ten, therefore,
combines both numbers as a multiple, multiplying and intensifying the meaning
or symbolism of both numbers.
As “70” signifies both spiritual
perfection (7) and ordinal (numerical) perfection (10), times each other, the
resultant number is very significant!
It signifies the completion of a spiritual AND ordinal cycle.
If we count back from 605/4 B.C., 490 years, we come to the year 1085/4 B.C. What is the significance of that year? Simply this: Samuel the prophet anointed Saul of the tribe of Benjamin to be Israel’s first truly anointed “king” in the year 1085 B.C.! The indication, therefore, is that from the first year of the monarchy in Israel to the Babylonian captivity, Israel did not observe the Sabbatical years properly! Saul certainly was not an observant or obedient king (I Samuel 15:11-29). But when Judah was brought back from captivity, in 536 B.C., they began to observe the Sabbatical years, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).
As a result, we read in Nehemiah, that –
“Now the rest of the people – the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers,
the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves
from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God , their wives, their
sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and under-
standing – these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered
into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by
Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all of the command-
ments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes
. . . If the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the
Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a
holy
day; and we would forego the seventh
year’s produce and the
exacting of every debt” (Neh.10:28-29).
But is there more to this fascinating, amazing prophecy of the “seven times” of Israel’s punishment, and the “Sabbatical years”? What about our day, today? What about the “Jubilee” cycles?
Let’s take a look!
The Jubilee Cycles from Creation
Notice an amazing prophecy in the book of Genesis! In chapter 6, we read:
“And the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man
forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one
hundred and twenty years” (Gen.6:3).
Many have thought this referred to the time from this statement till the flood of Noah – as a period of 120 years. Although that could be a type or minor fulfillment, God actually was speaking of MANKIND. Nor was He talking about the “life span” of man – very few live to 120 years, but many, soon after the flood, lived much longer. Abraham lived for 175 years (Gen.25:7). Isaac lived to a ripe old age of 180 (Gen.35:28). Jacob lived to an age of 147 (Gen.47:28). So what’s this about “120” years?
Interestingly, since God speaks in His Word of “Jubilee Years,” and a Jubilee cycle of years is 50 years, it is very significant that 50 X 120 years equals 6000 years! Why is this meaningful? Because many Biblical indications show that God has given mankind 6000 years on this earth, before His divine Intervention will occur!
Peter speaks of a “day” in God’s plan as equaling a 1,000 years (II Pet.3:8-10). So does Moses (Psalm 90:4). God’s Plan is pictured by the “seven day week” (Gen.1), which concludes with the seventh day Sabbath rest (Gen.2:1-2). God’s “rest” at the end of His Plan is referred to as the Millennium – a period of 1,000 years (Rev.20:4). If the final “day” of God’s plan is 1,000 years long, then the previous six days must also be 1,000 years each! Or, 6000 years!
Thus God may well have been referring in prophetical typology to man’s years of 120 being 120 Jubilee cycles of years, or 120 Jubilee years – which would indicate that man’s time on the earth, prior to the Millennial reign of the Messiah, would be 6,000 years!
Now, according to the precise chronology of Ussher, using internal Biblical data, Adam and Eve were created in the year 4004 B.C. If we subtract 6000 years from that date, we arrive at 1997 A.D. (remember, there is no year zero, so when crossing from BC to AD, we must add a year!). That was the year of the Hale-Bopp comet – a definite sign from heaven!
But the book of Jubilees, part of the Jewish apocalyptic literature, written or finalized about 150-200 years before Christ, consisting of ancient Jewish haggadah and aggadah, teachings and histories, reveals that Adam and Eve were seven years in the garden of Eden, enjoying its fruits, cultivating it, BEFORE they were tempted by the snake, that old serpent, Satan the devil (Rev.12:9, 20:12). Thus when we count the chronology of the earth, with man beginning his own “government,” apart from God, the 6,000 years of “work” must begin not in 4004 B.C., but seven years later – 3997 B.C.
6000 years
-3997 B.C.
2003 A.D.
+1 (no year zero)
2004 A.D.
Now if we note the fact that Christ’s ministry was 3 years (exactly) in length, when HE was on the earth, having CONQUERED SATAN (Matt.4:1-4), as our coming King, in our midst, so we add these 3 years to the total, we come to 2007 A.D.
2004
+3
2007 A.D.
And, as Nick Wood of England has pointed out, there was another period of time when God ruled and man (Noah and his family, in the Ark) were directly under His government, being saved from the flood – a period lasting exactly 1 year and 10 days (from the 17th day of the second month – Genesis 7:11 – to the 27th day of the second month of the following year – Genesis 8:14-15). If we add that year, we come to:
2007
+1
2008 A.D.
Could this be the year of Triumph – the year of Victory – the year the Messiah fulfills all our hopes and dreams and fervent prayers and anticipations?
But how else do the Jubilee cycles provide us a clue to the conclusion of this age of man?
The
Encyclopedia Judaica
Here’s what we read in the Encyclopedia Judaica, concerning the Sabbatical years and Jubilee cycles:
“THE CALCULATION OF THE
JUBILEE. Both in the tannaitic
literature
and in the
Apocrypha two different systems for the calculation of the Jubilee
and the
Sabbatical year are found. A baraita declares
that the Jubilee year
is the 50th
year, after the completion of the seven sabbatical cycles, the follow-
ing year being
the first of the ensuing shemittah . . . .Judah, however, holds
that ‘the
Jubilee year enters into the calculation of the heptad,’ i.e., the Jubilee
year is the 50th
year after the previous Jubilee and thus also the first of the
ensuing shemittah
and Jubilee (Ned.61a). According to
Judah’s view there
was a widespread
tannaitic tradition that with the exile of the tribes of Reuben,
Gad, and the
half-tribe of Manasseh, the laws of the Jubilee fell into desuetude.
According to the
geonim not only were the laws of the Jubilee not in force from
the time of the
exile of these tribes, but after the destruction of the First Temple
the Jubilee
Years were not even calculated; only those of the shemittot. . . .
Whether in
accordance with the views of Judah or with the tradition that the
Jubilee was not
calculated in the period of the Second Temple, the fact is that
only Sabbatical
Years were counted from the Second Temple period onward”
(“Sabbatical
Year and Jubilee,” vol.14, page 579).
The Jews deduced that the Jubilee did not apply since the exile of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, because the Jubilee was to be proclaimed “unto all the inhabitants thereof” (Lev.25:10), and since those tribes were missing, the command could not be completely observed. Therefore, they believed, it was no longer incumbent upon them to observe it.
Later, Hillel I also ruled that the Sabbatical year was no longer to be a year of “financial” release from indebtedness, reasoning that lenders would withhold loans from the poor if they knew the loans would have to be forgiven if not repaid by the Sabbatical year. Thus men reasoned around the plain and clear laws of God, substituting their own human reason instead (see Prov.14:12).
Interestingly,
however, the Encyclopedia Judaica points out that the sages of Israel in
every period saw a link between the Jubilee and the Sabbatical years with the
laws regarding emancipation of slaves, remission of debts, and prohibition of
land cultivation. The Jubilee was the
capstone of them all. Says the Encyclopedia
Judaica:
“They reckoned
the historical order and the end of time by Sabbatical years
and
Jubilees: ‘Israel counted 17 Jubilees
from the time they entered the land
to the time they
left it’ (Ar.12b). Elijah told Judah,
the brother of Sala Hasida,
‘The world will
endure not less than 85 Jubilees, and on the last Jubilee the
Son of David
will come’ (Sanh.97b). The precept of
the Jubilee is often
regarded as one
of the basic precepts of the Torah. ‘And
its seven lamps
thereon’
(Zech.4:2) is interpreted as referring to the seven precepts – offerings,
tithes, shemittot,
Jubilees, circumcision, honoring of father and mother, and
study of the
Torah which excels them all’ (PR 8.4).
The continued dwelling
in the land was
dependent upon the observance of the shemittah and the Jubilee
(Shab. 33a)” (ibid.,
581).
Now let’s look at this passage more closely. Notice that continued dwelling in the holy land was “DEPENDANT UPON” the observance of the Sabbatical years and the Jubilee years!
Elijah’s
Prophecy
Note, first of all, the prophetic words of Elijah: “Elijah told Judah, the brother of Sala Hasida, ‘The world will endure not less than 85 Jubilees, and on the last Jubilee the Son of David will come’” (Talmud, Sanh.97b).
What does that mean? 85 Jubilees would be a period of
85 Jubilees
x 50
4250 Years
The “world” Elijah was speaking of was most likely “this present evil world.” The Bibles speaks of the “world that then was,” the pre-Flood world, and “the world that now is,” this present world – the post-Flood world. The post-Flood world began in the year 2348, according to Ussher’s chronology. Therefore, subtracting the dates, to arrive at the “beginning” of the END time prophesied by Elijah, we find:
4250 Span of time
-2348 Year of Flood
1902
+1
1903 A.D. – beginning of “time of End,” before which the
Messiah could not come!
Now, in the Talmud itself we read:
“The following Baraita was
taught in accordance with the position of Rav
Katina: ‘Just as the Sabbatical year suspends field
work once in seven years,
so, too, the
world will lie fallow for a millennium in seven millennia, as
the verse states
(Isa.2:11), “And the Lord alone shall be exalted on that day.”
And another
verse states, (Psalm 92:1) “A psalm a poem for the Sabbath
day” – a day
that is entirely a Sabbath, when the whole world lies fallow.
And another
verse states (Psalm 90:4), “For a thousand years in Your sight
are but like
yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.”’
“A sage of the
school of Elijah taught a Baraita: ‘The
world will exist for
SIX THOUSAND
YEARS: -- the first two thousand years – from the days
of Adam to the
days of the patriarch Abraham – the world was still in chaos,
for the Torah
had not yet been given. The next two
thousand years – from the
Torah to the
Mishnaic period – was to be the period of the Torah. And the
next two thousand
years was to be the period of the Messiah.
But because
of our
transgressions, which were so very many, the Messiah did not come
at the end of
the fourth millennium, and those years which have already
passed have
already passed.
“The Prophet
Elijah said to Rav Yehuda the brother of Rav Sila the pious:
‘The world
will endure for not less than 85 Jubilee
cycles (50 year periods),
which is four
thousand two hundred and fifty years, and in the last Jubilee
cycle the
Messiah, the Son of David, will come . . . .
“When the
Prophet Elijah set a time for the Messiah’s arrival, he meant
to say as
follows: ‘Until that time, the eighty
fifth Jubilee cycle, do not even
hope for him,
for he will surely not come before then.
But from then on,
you may indeed
hope for his arrival” (Sanhedrin 97B).
In other words, when the
Messiah came two thousand years ago, the world was not ready for Him, the
“causeless hatred” caused the Jews to reject and crucify Him, and the Romans
put Him to the stake. But now, this
time, He will return as the prophecy states – AFTER 85 Jubilees. From the Flood till the 20th
century, there were 85 Jubilees – so now we are definitely living in the
TIME OF THE END, AND WE MAY EXPECT THE ARRIVAL OF THE MESSIAH, AND YEARN
EARNESTLY FOR HIS COMING!
The Other Jubilee Bench Mark
Note also that there were 17 Jubilees from the time Israel entered the promised land until they left it, or were carried captive to Babylon!
Using these figures as bench marks, we come up with the following facts:
17 Jubilees
x 50 years each Jubilee period
850 years Israel was in the land
586/7 B.C. – Judah carried away to Babylon and Temple destroyed
+850 years Israel was in the land
1436/7 Israel began counting Jubilees (from when they settled the land)
According to Ussher’s highly accurate Biblical chronology, based on internal Bibical evidence, Israel left Egypt in 1491 B.C., and 40 years later began the war of conquest under Joshua, in 1451 B.C. The battle for the holy land lasted seven years, till 1444 B.C., when Joshua finally was able to portion out the inheritances of the tribes. The tribes began to settle down, another process which required about seven years, at which time they began counting Jubilee years. It was the year 1436/37 B.C.
Why is this fact important? What is the significance of the year 1436/37 B.C.? As the Jubilee Years begin from that point, and since as the Jewish rabbis tell us, the Sabbatical cycles and Jubilee years reveal to us “the historical order and the END OF TIME,” let’s see what this signifies concerning the “END OF DAYS.”
We have already noted that God punished Israel 70 years because of their failure to observe 70 Sabbatical years. But Daniel’s prophecy in chapter 9 tells us of a prophecy concerning “70 weeks.” That is, 70 x 7 which equals 490 years! We have expounded on that prophecy in other articles. It is divided up into segments: 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 final week, totaling 70 weeks.