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So,
Solomon gave a glimpse into a period of redemption, restitution and return to
properties formerly given them by Joshua. The covenant made in Joshua 8:30-34, between Mt.
Gerizim (the blessings) and Mt. Ebal (the curse) represented these two
periods. A certain amount of time had been ordained for the curses. This is
likely how Isaiah and Jeremiah could determine the end of the last 70 years.
Even as early as 712 BC, Isaiah knew the name of Cyrus, God’s anointed one,
the future messiah or deliverer of 539 BC. Ezekiel knew about the last 390 years and the
last 70 years. I Googled for “430 days of Ezekiel” and got 206,000 hits.
Seems that everyone has an opinion. Why can’t just one person present an
explanation that the others will all accept, especially when it is so simple?
But the world is full of speculators and false prophets. Ezekiel was shown there would be eight jubilees,
392 years, from 931 BC, when Israel split from Judah as a separate kingdom
until 539 BC, that is, 390 years from 930 BC until the true sabbatical of 541
BC (Ezek. 4:5-6). It was two years before 539 BC. Ezekiel
was also shown that Solomon’s 40 years also represent years of decline, years
of lawlessness in having hundreds of wives and overtaxing the people to build
temples for the gods his foreign wives. It’s that simple. The period of the
decline of the golden age continued to the end of Solomon’s 40 years for
David’s sake and ended with Solomon’s death in 931. 40 years of Solomon plus
392 years of Israel equal 432 years. 931 was followed by a siege on Jerusalem, a
tribulation, a period of being cursed for eight jubilees, that is, 392
years, until the fall of Babylon in 539 BC (931 – 539 = 392). Like Ezekiel,
the last 70 years were revealed to Isaiah and Jeremiah in advance. The
49-year Captivity between 588 to 539 BC
One
should note that time between events may be divisible by 49, 294 or 490 without
actually being in jubilee cycles. There were 392 years (equivalent to 8
jubilees) from 931 (when the house of Israel left Judah) until 539 BC (when
Cyrus captured Babylon). There were 294 years from 868 (the third year of
Jehoshaphat) to 574 BC (the 14th year after Jerusalem fell).
However, the time from 931 to 868 or to 721 is not divisible by 49. Therefore,
if the time between 588 and 539 is 49 years, could this begin and end with
jubilee years in 588 and 539? I believe there was a jubilee in 539. Why?
Because Revelation associates the fall of Babylon with the last trumpet, the
ram’s horn, the trumpet of the jubilee. When Jerusalem fell after 588, the
Jews entered 49 years of tribulation, and many of that generation died in “in
the wilderness”, were buried in a valley of “dry bones” (in Ezek. 38), and
the rest could return in 539, when Babylon fell. Revelation pictures a throne surrounded by 100
million angels controlling an army of 200 million waiting for the Euphrates
river to be parted, just before Babylon came into mind. Cyrus’ army was
likely accompanied by an invisible army, and the leader of that army wrote
upon Babylon’s wall during a feast, “Your days are finished”. 539
BC, 49 years after 588 BC, was the beginning of the years of redemption, a
type of jubilee, a return to original settlements given by Joshua. It was at
the end of 49 years, at the end of 70 years, at the end of 392 years, and at
the end of 430 years of curses on Israel as mentioned by Ezekiel. This would
be 432 years after Solomon’s first year (971 – 539 = 432) (392 + 40 = 432). The sabbaticals descending
from 1255 do not fit into the sabbatical of Jeremiah 34 in 588 BC, which was
repeated in 539 BC, when Cyrus captured Babylon and freed the Jews. In this
case, the sabbaticals would be in 590 and 541 BC, two years earlier. This
view is endorsed by the figures of Ussher and Wacholder. |
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