NOTES
JEWISH INDEPENDENCE DAY
The era of the Seleucidæ among the Greeks and Eastern nations, sometimes called the “era of contracts,” dated from the capture of Babylon by Seleucus Nicator, Oct. 1st B.C. 312. The complete subjugation of the city followed 6 months later, and therefore the Babylonians counted from the spring of B.C. 311. With this exception the former date has been generally regarded as the true epoch. The years run as below:
YEARS OF THE SELEUCIDÆ.
We pause at the beginning of the 171st year because it was a year of great moment in the life of the Jewish nation. The deepest interest is focussed on “the 23rd day of the 2nd month” when Simon, brother of Judas Maccabeus, “destroyed a great enemy out of Israel,” and CLEANSED the Temple of its abominations. He also ordained, that the day should be observed ever after, as a National holiday. – I Macc. XIII. 51.
We note that the 171st year, like all others of the Seleucidæ, began with the month of October, which was the first month of the Macedonian calendar. It was called Hyperberetaeus, the second month Dius, the third, Apellaeus and so on. But the question that concerns us most is, whether the writer of First Maccabees actually reckoned by Macedonian months? A careful examination of the entire book shows that he mentioned 4 Hebrew months by name – “Casleu, Adar, Elul and Sabat” – also that he clearly located another, viz: – Tisri, but not in a single instance did he mention the name of a Macedonian month, or refer to the Macedonian calendar in any manner whatsoever. That he did not regard October as being the FIRST month is plainly declared in I Macc. X. 21, where he says: —
“So in the SEVENTH month of the 160th year, at the feast of tabernacles, Jonathan put on the holy robe,” etc.
Sept./Oct. therefore was the SEVENTH month, according to the usage of the writer of the First book of Maccabees, which gives the following succession: —
The rest of the way is easy. We have only to follow the Jewish calendar of Rabbi Hillel II and we learn that the “23rd day of the SECOND month” corresponded with the
4th day of May B.C. 141,
the great day of National Independence. Having thus far followed exclusively the years of the Seleucidæ as common among Greeks and Orientals, let us now turn to the system of the Babylonians. Their era began, as already explained, with the spring of B.C. 311. Accordingly, their 171st year began with the spring of B.C. 141, and the SECOND month of course coincided with Apr./May, or the Jewish month Iyar. It matters not, therefore, whether you follow the system of the Greeks or that of the Babylonians, you will arrive at the same goal, viz: – May 4th B.C. 141.
One can hardly overestimate the importance of this discovery, because a knowledge of the National Independence day gives a fixed starting point for that mysterious group of DAYS – 2300, 1290 and 1335 – as revealed by the angel Gabriel to “Daniel the Prophet.”
NOTE A
DARIUS, OR CYAXARES. [DANIEL V. 31.]
“And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” In the first verse of the 9th chapter we are told that Darius was the son of Ahasuerus, the same Assuerus spoken of in the 15th verse of the 14th chapter of Tobit, the Astyages of Median history. Astyages was king of the Medes and reigned for 35 years from B.C. 593-558. His son Cyaxares [Josephus X. 11, 4.] succeeded him on the throne and his daughter Mandané married Cambyses of Persia. Their offspring was Cyrus the Great, who thus represented the Royal houses of both Media and Persia. Cyaxares therefore was the uncle of Cyrus. As a boy Cyrus was brought up by his grandfather and accompanied his uncle on shooting expeditions. A very strong attachment was formed with the latter so that in after years when Cyrus deposed his grandfather, in B.C. 558, he made his uncle the king of Media. Still later when Cyrus took Babylon and pacified the inhabitants he made his uncle Cyaxares king pro tem, who occupied the throne from B.C. 538-536. Cyrus of course continued to be, as the annalistic tablet relates, “the powerful king, the king of Babylon, ‘the king of Sumar and Akkad’ – the king of the four zones.” But the laws of Persia as outlined by Herodotus [VII. 1. 2. and III. 66] made it necessary for him to appoint a successor before starting out to war, who would govern during his absence. So we find, “after Gobryas the governor of the country of Ararat and the soldiers of Cyrus, without fighting entered Babylon,” the country became submissive and attention could be directed elsewhere; that “when in the course of their march they arrived in the Median territory Cyrus turned off to visit Cyaxares; and after they had embraced each other, Cyrus first told Cyaxares that there were domestics and palaces set apart for him in Babylon, that when he came thither he might have what was his own to come to.” [Xenophon VIII.] It is hard to imagine how Cyrus could have paved the way more perfectly for the reign of his uncle Cyaxares in Babylon, whom we believe was Darius the Mede of Scripture. His reign was of short duration, but it came at a critical period in the history of the Jews. Only two years remained to complete the Babylonian captivity and Divine influences were at work for the return of the chosen people. [Daniel X. 13.] More than a century previous to that time the Scriptures had named Cyrus as the “shepherd,” [Isaiah XLV. 1, 3.] and when Cyrus placed his uncle temporarily on the throne of Babylon, a heavenly messenger was sent to Darius who “stood to confirm and strengthen him.” [Daniel XI. 1.] This gave the Jews a friend at court who paved the way for that celebrated emancipation proclamation which Cyrus issued on his return to Babylon. Naturally such a document belonged among the state papers and should have been found “in the house of the rolls where the treasures were laid up in Babylon,” but diligent search proved of no avail. [Ezra VI. 1.] However, as the document was dated in the time of Darius the Mede, official attention was next directed to “the palace that is in the province of the Medes,” where a careful search proved successful. [Ezra VI. 2.] There they found the original “roll” stowed away among the royal documents and forwarded it to King Darius Hystaspes. The king promptly ratified the decree of Cyrus and added, “Let it be done with speed.” The history of Darius the Mede is therefore one of peculiar interest in the life of the Jewish people.
NOTE B
“THE SUM OF THE MATTERS.” [DANIEL VII. 1. AND 25.]
The vision of the four great beasts is now complete and we have reached the sum of the matters in verse 25. Already in chapter II. the same subject was summarized by the following language: “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed … and it shall stand forever.” The present summary differs from the first in that it localizes the endless kingdom, and tells the year when it would be set up. Whenever we send a telegram and wish to conceal our meaning from the public we employ single words to express conditions and quantities. Twice, Daniel was told by his heavenly visitor: – “shut thou up the vision,” it is therefore proper to infer that the word TIME was used to express a certain number of years and TIMES to express a greater number of years. But what heavenly measure of time do we find in the Bible, associated with the punishment of nations, that can be taken as the unit period for measuring seasons of God’s displeasure? Turn to Zech. I. 12th and we read: – “Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years.” For other examples, see Note D. If then the word TIME was inserted in the heavenly message as a symbol for 70 years, and the numeral 7 conveyed to the Jewish mind the idea of a perfect quantity, then a week of TIME, or 7 times 70 might very naturally be symbolized by the word TIMES. We find in Gen. II. 4. that the 7 DAYS of creation are spoken of in the singular as, “the DAY the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” Besides every 7th year was a Sabbatic year. So that whatever the word TIME means in the singular, we may reasonably take the word TIMES to mean a 7 fold quantity in the plural. We find another measure in Matt. XVIII. 22. where the Divine idea of forgiveness is expressed in numerals. The apostle Peter thought that he did well in fixing the unit of forgiveness at 7 fold, but he was told to multiply his scant number by 70 before he could attain to the Divine standard. If now we substitute these values for their symbols in the formula: “Time, Times and Half-time” we shall obtain, 70 plus 490, plus 35, equals to 595 years. Verse four supplies the initial date for this series of years. From it we learn that the “sum of the matters” started with the Medo-Persian kingdom of Cyrus, who united in his own person the blood of both royal houses and became king in B.C. 558. From this date to the Christian era was 557 years and from the era to A.D. 39 was 38 years more, making a total of 557 plus 38, or 595 years. From which we learn that the “sum of the matters” or the full time arrived for the setting up of the kingdom in A.D. 39. The prophecy therefore gives us the year, and we shall find that the 12th verse of the 12th chapter supplies the day when “all these things” were finished. The apostle Peter in describing the events of that day said: – “Forasmuch then as God gave them (the Gentiles) the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also on the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” Acts XI. 17, 18.
The admission of the Gentiles was deemed a matter of so great importance that the formula has been repeated in the 7th verse of the 12th chapter, also material has been given in the 12th verse of the same chapter by which the very day itself can be computed. The passages stand to each other in the relation of demonstration to proof.
NOTE C
“DAYS.”
In searching for symbolic numbers we found that number 49 stood both for the Jubilee year and for the Feast of Weeks: – Concerning the Jubilee it was said: – “And thou shalt number 7 sabbaths of years unto thee, 7 times 7 years: and the space of 7 sabbaths of years shall be unto thee 49 years.” Leviticus XXV. 8. – Concerning Pentecost it was said: “And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God” – “Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the 7 weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.” Deu. XVI. 9, 10. The feast was to be kept in a fourfold manner with the offering of a tribute, with rejoicing, with remembrance, and with obedience. For more than 3600 years has this beautiful custom been observed among the Jews, so that 49, the number of days, comes to us with special emphasis. With such a prominent place assigned to it in the Jewish ritual, no wonder if it found a place in the symbolic language of the heavenly visitor. We have discovered that such was the case and accordingly have made calculations for the three periods represented by “2300 days,” “1290 days” and “45 days” (1335 less 1290) on the basis that each prophetic “day” equals 49 ordinary days of 24 hours each. They stand for 112,700 ordinary days; 63,210 days and 2205 days. In reducing these days to years the sidereal year was taken as the Standard year. A sidereal year, or time in which the earth makes one revolution, the point of reference being a fixed star, amounts to 365 days 6 hours 9 minutes 96/10 seconds, expressed decimally it equals 365.2563611 days. By dividing each period of ordinary days by the number of days in a sidereal year we obtain the actual length of each prophetic period. In arranging these periods, the starting point was May 4th B.C. 141, or day on which the Temple precincts were cleansed by Simon Maccabeus. The 1290 days carries us directly to May 24th A.D. 33, which was the day of Pentecost “that great and notable day of the Lord” when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples at Jerusalem. It is interesting to note in this case how very precise is the language of Scripture. The passage reads: – “When the day of Pentecost was FULLY come.” After their return from Babylon the Jews were accustomed to devote two days, instead of one, to the observance of the feast, and as Pentecost that year fell on May 23rd and 24th, the day of Pentecost was FULLY come on the day indicated by our chart. The event therefore happened precisely as foretold by the heavenly visitor, who said to Daniel, “the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is TRUE,” and it came about with that degree of exactness with which astronomers become familiar in their study of the heavenly bodies. The chart clearly proves that the “1290 days” is a perfect fit between two well-known dates. The other periods give us two extremely important dates heretofore absolutely unknown to Bible students.
THE ONLY KEY TO DANIEL’S PROPHECIES.
The Holy Spirit’s appearance to the Gentiles in the Summer of A.D. 39 was at a time peculiarly favorable for the conversion of Cornelius. The persecution of A.D. 36, following the dismissal of Pilate, was succeeded by a period of rest and rapid growth among the infant churches. There was, then, neither the marching of armies, nor even the rumor of war. True, these all came in the Fall of A.D. 40, when Petronius was sent to Syria with instructions to place the images of the Romans in the Temple at Jerusalem. It may be said in passing, that the expedition landed in Ptolemais and there wintered. But in the Spring of A.D. 41 the attitude of the Jews was so determined, that Petronius sent to Rome for additional instructions. The Emperor, however, died quite suddenly, and the expedition was finally abandoned. The year A.D. 39 was a time of peace and good order; a time most favorable to the all-important mission of the Holy Spirit.
NOTE D
“TWO THOUSAND AND THREE HUNDRED DAYS.” [DANIEL VIII. 14.]
In the vision of “the evening and the morning” it is evident that 2300 days must end with a complete cleansing of the sanctuary, and unquestionably this was accomplished by Simon Maccabeus on May the 4th B.C. 141. [I Mac. XIII. 51]; but at what time they should begin to count is not so evident. The 19th verse tells us: “I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation.”
We ask: what indignation? When was the first end? When the middle? and When the last end?
We note first, that the speaker was the angel Gabriel, consequently the indignation referred to was of Divine origin. The word indignation stands for “sore displeasure” [Zech I. 2]. It arose in the year B.C. 590, the seventh of the captivity, at which time Israel was cast off and Nebuchadnezzar prepared to wage war against them. It was announced in the following words: – “As I live saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you” [Ezek. XX. 3]. The indignation lasted just 70 years [Zech. I. 12] and ended by a promise of pardon made in the eighth month, which according to the calendar of Rabbi Hillel II. (Idan Olamim of J. L. Sossnitz) began October 25th B.C. 520 [Zech. I. 1 and 3]. We note in passing that although Cyrus put an end to the Babylonian captivity in B.C. 536 and the people returned to the land of Judea, yet they encountered insuperable obstacles which held up their work [Ezra V. 3] until the year B.C. 520, which was the end of 70 years’ indignation. From these passages we learn what were the limitations in one case of “sore displeasure.” But Isaiah prophesied that Jerusalem would receive of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins [Isa. XL. 2]. Jeremiah also spoke in the same vein “And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double” [Jer. XVI. 18]. When we reach B.C. 433 we find that Nehemiah dreaded a still further return of God’s sore displeasure and warned the nobles of Judah against profaning the Sabbath day. [Neh. XIII. 16, 18.] As the first indignation ended with the 8th month of B.C. 520, a double period ought to end with the 8th month of B.C. 450, that is, with October 2nd of that year. But you object, how could a period be truly 70 years in length, when it began with October 25th and ended with October the 2nd? This question admits of easy explanation. According to the Jewish calendar the eighth month comes and goes with the phases of the moon, just like our Easter occurs at different seasons, hence we must take the average of these dates, viz: October the 14th as our representative day. We have already alluded to the delays experienced by the Jews when freed by Cyrus and desire at this point to draw attention to the fact that Zerubbabel’s temple was not completed until B.C. 515, JUST 5 YEARS after the indignation period expired, in B.C. 520; and that in like manner Nehemiah’s temple was not completed until B.C. 445, JUST 5 YEARS after the next indignation period expired, in B.C. 450. We might also add that from the time when the Jews first worshipped in Babylon as captives in B.C. 585, to the time when they worshipped in Zerubbabel’s temple as free men in B.C. 515 was another instance of a period 70 years long. This frequent recurrence of 70-year periods shows that as a numeral 70 may justly be regarded as one of the units of TIME in the dispensation of God’s providence, and therefore to be reckoned with in the study of prophecy.
But returning to our representative day, October 14th B.C. 450, we realize that when the first and the second indignation had passed, the time came for “the last end of the indignation” spoken of in the 19th verse, and known as the “2300 days.” By the calculations given in Note C, we find that 2300 prophetic days exactly fill the interval between Oct. 14th B.C. 450 and May the 4th B.C. 141. Having thus brought out the limitations of the “2300 days” we would add, that Daniel’s eleventh chapter gives in outline a complete history of the period under consideration, so that the Jews had it in their power to tell the prophetic time of day at any moment between B.C. 450 and B.C. 141.
“DAYS.”