THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE FAITHFUL & DISCREET SLAVE OF THE KING OF KINGS

Copyright Gordon S. Ritchie 1992

INDEX

[1] INTRODUCTION

May the true God reveal to the reader, the true understanding of all the things written in this book. May the reader and the writer both, prove faithful until the end.

The writer expresses sincerest thanks to the faithful and discreet slave, for all of the work that he has done from which the writer has benefited, and all of the many publications that he has provided, without which this book would never have come into existence.

He also would plead with that one to read this book with urgency because we are now in the true 'time of the end' (Dan 8:17, Dan 11:35, Dan 11:40, Dan 12:4 & Dan 12:9), which is the period during which the book of Daniel is unsealed by holy spirit. Which unsealing reveals that the 1,335 days of Daniel 12:12, rather than being a length of time before a convention in the Albert Hall in 1926 (YW p337,338), is in fact the exact length in days of the Great Tribulation of Matthew 24:21. Which unsealing reveals that Daniel chapter 3, rather than being a story about three Hebrew lads who were thrown into a fiery furnace because they would not bow down to a giant gold statue, is a story about the United Nations replacing the seventh world power as the eight king of Rev 17:11, in Nisan 1998 CE, and then taking absolute worldwide power after the manner of Nimrod in Nisan 2001 CE at the start of the last week (of years) of Satan's system and the rescue of the Great Crowd from the fire of the great tribulation, which starts in the middle of that week. Which unsealing reveals that Daniel's victory over the lions, due to his faultlessness (Dan 6:22), is the victory of the anointed brothers of Christ, over the wild beast and its image, due to their righteousness (Rev 15:2). And that the length of time from Nisan 1918, which is when the brothers of Christ who come from the first century preaching campaign are resurrected, until Armageddon is 90 years, which is why Daniel prayed three times a day, for thirty days. Which unsealing also reveals that whereas the Lord's day did indeed begin in Tishri 1914, the 'time of the end' did not begin in 1914, rather it began on:

The prophecies that reveal this date to us will be dealt with in the second half of this book, they have to do with the 1,290 days of Daniel 12 and the 2,300 evenings and mornings of Daniel 8, and the date of Armageddon. For easy reference, and so that the reader is quickly made aware of the potential significance of this work, an accompanying chart: 'The Divine Plan of the Ages' is provided. This 'DPA chart' sets out the chronological part of most of the prophetic understandings in this book. The information in the chart is repeated in Appendix 5. There is no need for the reader to be unduly concerned with the date of Armageddon. This date is one of the least of the many great understandings that Jehovah's prophetic word reveals to his servants in the true 'time of the end', in order to fully prepare them for that fear-inspiring day. The bible, we will see, gives us several prophetic witnesses to the dates of all of the following events:

Please see the chart of bible chronology (DPA chart) provided with this book. We will even go so far as to see prophecies relating to all of the past, present and future presidents and governing body members of the Watchtower Society. We will find out what Paul meant by the term 'third heaven', and we will put this into the context of a greater understanding of the structure of heaven itself. We will see that the bible even prophesies how many of the anointed ones will be remaining here on earth, at various times in the Lord's day. We will see that for a certainty the words of the prophet Amos are true, when he said: 'For the Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets' (Amos 3:7).

We will consider the two scriptures: 'Concerning that day and hour nobody knows' (Mat 24:36), and 'In fact unless those days were cut short no flesh would be saved' (Mat 24:22), in sections 66.1 & 69. However it is here pointed out that Jesus did not say that 'Nobody may know', or that 'Nobody will know', or that 'Nobody can know'. Rather, when asked by his disciples in 33 CE when the end will be (Mat 24:3), he effectively said - Nobody other than God knows that right now! Whereas Daniel, whose book when unsealed provides many witnesses to the date of the first day of the Kingdom of God, has said, referring to the time of the end, that: 'Many will rove about, and the true knowledge will become abundant' (Dan 12:4).

The reader might like to reflect on what the climax of Jesus' efforts to save mankind on his father's behalf is. He might like to ask himself why if 'the one telling from the beginning THE FINALE' (Isaiah 46:10) has told, in advance, even the fate of his son's garment in 33 CE (Psalm 22:18), he has omitted to tell us in advance when the climax of his son's efforts will be? Furthermore the scripture says that not only is Jehovah going to tell us 'the finale', i.e. the date of Armageddon, but he is also going to tell it to us, 'from the beginning'. The reader will see, if he reads this book, three very elegant ways of telling the date of the end, from the date of the beginning: One starting from the date of Adam's sin (Nisan 3993 BCE), one starting from the date of Moses' birth (Adar 1593 BCE) and one starting from the date of validation of the Abrahamic covenant (Nisan 1943 BCE).

However, the unsealing in the time of the end (Dan 12:4) does not only apply to the book of Daniel, it actually applies to the whole bible (Isaiah 29:10-12) with the exception of the majority of the book of Revelation, which Jehovah in his kindness had never sealed up (Rev 22:10). The timing and manner of this unsealing on the part of the holy spirit is really wonderful. The first meaning of the bible we know is the literal and the physical. This meaning applied directly to the Jews, the literal and physical chosen people of Jehovah. The second meaning of the bible is the symbolic or illustrative meaning. This meaning was revealed by Jesus, in his first century ministry, who spoke entirely in illustrations (Mat 13:10-15). This was the meaning which was relevant to the first century Christian, the spiritual Jew. There is however a further meaning which is meant for the twentieth century Christian in 'the time of the end', and this meaning is encoded cryptically in the holy word (see sections 21.1, 52, 52A).

The power in the cryptic meanings of the holy word is astounding (Heb 4:12). We will use this power to deduce the whole timetable of events passed and of events future. What is most fantastic, as far as the writer is concerned, is the manner in which these things are encoded in the bible. Because it is in a pleasant, loving, amusing and intriguing way, that the true God has hidden and sealed these things in his book. They are not, for the most part, judgemental or even corrective. They are in fact an ultimate written expression of the overwhelming love that the creator has for his creation of man, and it is indeed a miracle that Jehovah has performed in the time of the end, and true is the scripture which says:

'Therefore here I am, the One that will act wonderfully AGAIN with his people, in a wonderful manner and with something wonderful; and the wisdom of their wise men must perish, and the very understanding of their discreet men will conceal itself.' (Isaiah 29:14)

For the benefit of the reader, the writer has arranged this book in such a way, that each section is hopefully a logical development of the previous sections. Therefore it is strongly recommended that this book is read in the order that it was written. This order is also more or less the order in which the writer himself became able to understand these things.

THE READER WILL FIND THAT VERY NEARLY ALL OF THE INTERPRETATIONS DISCUSSED IN THIS BOOK HAVE AT LEAST TWO WITNESSES FROM THE BIBLE IN THEIR SUPPORT.

[2] PROPHETIC FORM

This book has its origin in a consideration of Leviticus 26, and in the realisation that this chapter is not only defining laws, blessings and maledictions but is also a prophecy. In fact it is a fundamental determination of the length of the Gentile Times. It therefore provides a second witness to Daniel 4, which is very comforting. But not only is it comforting, it should actually have been expected, because the Most High God Jehovah has stated at Deuteronomy 19:15:

"No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or sin, in the case of any sin that he may commit. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good."

So for a matter to 'stand good' or be established under law, there would need to be two witnesses for it. Since it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrew 6:18), this principle one might think applies to men only rather than to God. But the character of Jehovah is such that he would not put a burden on any of his creations, which he himself was not carrying. Which is why he sent us his son, who is the exact representation of his very being (Heb 1:3), to carry all of our sins, and to demonstrate the personality of the true God to all men, before he asked us, his servants, to try to follow in the footsteps of that one, desisting from sin and carrying each other's burdens.

When the pharisees accused Jesus of bearing witness about himself, he said "I am the one that bears witness about myself, and the father who sent me bears witness about me" (John 8:18). So Jesus accepted and applied the principle of 'two = true' (Deut 19:15) to himself, being a man under law at the time, despite the fact that Isaiah had prophesied concerning him, that 'there was no deception in his mouth' (Isaiah 53:9). Similarly Jehovah, who is the original whom his son was representing, would provide his servants with two witnesses in his book the bible, for any important prophecy. Furthermore, although the bible is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16), it is actually written by men (Rom 3:4). Therefore even in the bible, two witnesses would be required under law. So, for example, when Jehovah told Abraham that his seed would be afflicted for four hundred years at Gen 15:13, we find a second witness at Acts 7:6. There is no chronological prophecy in the bible, of which the writer is aware, for which the true God has only provided one witness.

This concept of 'two=true' actually goes a lot deeper than one might imagine. Because not only do prophecies always have two separate witnesses in the bible, but the prophetic part of each witness is often repeated twice in the same witness! For example in Daniel 4, the phrase 'Seven times themselves', which is the prophetic part of the account, appears three times in verses 23, 25 & 32. This repetition is doing something more than just signifying truth. It turns out that Joseph is the one who explains why there are repetitions of certain phrases in prophecies, and he did this when he explained the meaning of the dream about the 7 cows and the 7 ears of grain to Pharaoh at Gen 41:32, where he said:

"And the fact that the dream was repeated twice means that the thing is firmly established on the part of the true God and the true God is speeding to do it."

He had previously explained that the two dreams were 'but one' in meaning (Gen 41:25). Now if we examine Gen 41:32, carefully we see that Joseph is saying that when Jehovah repeats something, then it is prophetic (firmly established), and Jehovah is speeding to do it, in other words it will come true at the appointed time. Spelling this out, Joseph is actually giving us the key to all bible prophecy, which is the rule that:

TWO = WILL COME TRUE

This quite simply means, that if the bible repeats something (in the same account), then the repeated phrase is prophetic, and has a greater meaning. In other words:

TWO REPETITIONS IMPLY TWO MEANINGS

This simple rule establishes whether or not a scripture is prophetic. The obligatory second witness to this 'Key' is found in Amos chapter 3:3-7 which says:

'Will TWO walk together unless they have met by appointment?' (verse 3)

'Will a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Will a maned lion give forth its voice from its hiding place if it has caught nothing at all?' (verse 4)

'Will a bird fall into a trap on the earth when there is no snare for it? Does a trap go up from the ground when it has absolutely caught nothing?' (5)

'If a horn is blown in a city, do not also the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in the city, is it not Jehovah who has acted?' (verse 6)

'For the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a single thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets.' (verse 7)

Verse 3 means that if a phrase or concept in the bible is repeated twice, then this is not a coincidence, rather it has been done deliberately and for a purpose.

Verse 4 is a typical example of this. The second question is the first question, these two questions have 'walked together', and they have 'met by appointment'. The two are 'but one' (Gen 41:25).

Verse 5 is a further example of this repetition, even a repetition of an example of a repetition, because the two questions are again 'but one'.

The next verse is telling us what this repetition is all about, it is a horn which is being blown at the reader, which horn means that Jehovah is prophesying. This is how the writer has been given the interpretations in this book, every time he has seen a repetition, he has said to himself AHA! this is a prophecy from Jehovah.

The last verse (verse 7) tells us again that this repetition, which should be like a horn to readers of the bible, indicates prophecy, and that all things that the true God is going to do are prophesied in his book. Yes Jehovah will not do a single thing without revealing his confidential matter to his servants. Now for a long time Jehovah's servants have understood Amos 3:7, they know that Jehovah will tell all in advance. But now, we see that Amos 3:3-6 describes how Jehovah will reveal his confidential matters to his servants. Every repeated phrase or concept in the bible is put there, by the true God, not by coincidence, but 'by appointment' (verse 3), and the repeated phrase or concept itself is prophetic, having a greater meaning. Finally experience has shown the writer that there are a few key words and phrases that indicate cryptic prophetic meaning in an account, and are worth looking out for, these are:

LOOK!

SEE THERE!

EVEN

MIDST

DOWN TO THIS DAY

DOWN TO THIS POINT

ON THAT DAY

HIDDEN

CONCEALED

[3] THE FUNDAMENTALS COME FIRST

Yes, if the reader has looked at the 'Divine plan of the Ages', which hopefully is still accompanying this book, he will see that there are many wonderful things that are going to be revealed. But before we consider the 'unsealed prophecies' in Daniel, and in fact all over the bible, we need to get a better understanding of fundamental prophecies. We also need to develop a complete and an absolute faith in the perfection of Jehovah, which implies a complete and an absolute faith in the accuracy of his book. It is as his son said:

'For truly I say to you, that sooner would heaven and earth pass away, than for one smallest letter or one particle of a letter to pass away from the law by any means and not all things take place', (Mat 5:18).

These letters, are the letters of the bible. It is also as the Psalmist said: 'The true God, perfect is his way', (Psalm 18:30), and as Moses said: 'The rock, perfect is his activity' (Deut 32:4).

We therefore start off in sections 4, 4.1, 4.2, 5, 6, 7 with a review and re-evaluation of the only two long range coded chronological prophecies that true Christians currently understand, namely the Gentile Times of Daniel 4, and the seventy weeks of years of Daniel 9. We shall then discover that there are a few more than two, of these sorts of long range coded prophecies in Jehovah's book. By 'coded' we mean implicit prophecies, i.e. those which require decoding, either by taking a day for a year or a time as 360 days or otherwise. We exclude from this definition explicitly stated ones such as the 400 year affliction - Gen 15:13, the 430 years in Egypt - Ex 12:41, the 390 years of Ezekiel's sleepless nights - Ezek 4:5, the 480th year after the exodus, when Solomon started building the temple - 1 Kings 6:1, 70 years in Babylon - Jer 25:11,12 etc.

Before we launch into an all out examination of the perfection of the scriptures, from the point of view of men with large rafters sticking out of our eyes (Mat 7:3), the writer would like to again express his gratitude, firstly to man's perfect creator, for the generosity which he has clearly demonstrated, in his not holding back even the smallest detail of his plans for his creations, from his creations, even before these plans are implemented, and secondly to his faithful and discreet servant, for his work of behalf of his God, in producing various essential publications, especially the Insight book, the All Scripture book, the New World translation and the Concordance. Without these, this book would have taken until Armageddon to write! It took long enough as it is.

[4] LEVITICUS 26: THE FIRST DETERMINATION OF THE 70 YEARS OF EXILE IN BABYLON AND THE SECOND DETERMINATION OF THE GENTILE TIMES

Please read Leviticus 26:1-33 and then consider the summary below:

This chapter is a contract in law. This contract is split into two parts, it has a false-worship prohibition part, with a blessing and a malediction, and it has a Sabbath-keeping part, with a blessing and a malediction. Now the Jews themselves breached both of their obligations under this contract. They therefore suffered both of the prescribed penalties (maledictions). We will find that the penalty for the 70 Sabbath years that were not kept was the 70 years of exile in Babylon, and we will find out that the penalty for the false worship that they carried on was the 2,520 years of the Gentile Times. Yes the Gentile Times were a penalty resulting from the law of Moses.

[4.1] THE SABBATH KEEPING PART OF THE CONTRACT

The obligation on the Jews was (verse 2): 'You should keep my Sabbaths and stand in awe of my sanctuary, I am Jehovah'.

The penalty for breaching this was (verses 34,35): 'At that time the land will pay of its Sabbaths all the days of its lying desolated, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will keep Sabbath, as it must repay its Sabbaths. All the days of its lying desolated it will keep Sabbath, for the reason that it did not keep Sabbath during your Sabbaths when you were dwelling upon it.

This penalty is saying that the number of years of exile will equal the number of missed Land Sabbath years. Also the phrasing of the penalty makes it clear that the Jews will breach and this penalty will result in other words this is a prophecy (notice the repetition - section 2). Now we know from 2 Chron 36:21 that this exile was 70 years long. This means that the Jews must have missed 70 Land Sabbath years. Now the extent of the error of the Jews is prophesied by Ezekiel in Ezek 4:4-6, which tells us that the error for Israel is 390 years and the error for Judah is 40 years:

These two error periods are the temporal extent of the breaching of the contract in Leviticus 26. Both of these error periods ended in Tishri 607 BCE when the exile started (2 Kings 25:25, Jeremiah 41:1,2), this is looked at in W1972 p310. This means that we have an error period for Israel running from Tishri 997 until Tishri 607, and an error period for Judah running from Tishri 647 until Tishri 607.

If we actually work out how many Land Sabbath years are contained in these two error periods (see appendix 1) we find that there were 63 for Israel in the 390 year period and there were 7 for Judah in the 40 year period. So the total number of missed Land Sabbath years was:

63 + 7 = 70

This is why the exile was 70 years long! The bible does therefore tell us that the Jews failed to keep exactly 70 Sabbaths - Insight 2 p833/4 is incorrect.

[4.2] THE FALSE WORSHIP PART OF THE CONTRACT

The Obligation on the Jews (verse 1) was: 'You must not make valueless Gods for yourselves, and you must not set up a carved image or a sacred pillar for yourselves, and you must not put a stone as a showpiece in your land in order to bow down toward it, for I am Jehovah your God.'

The penalty for breaching this was (verse 18): 'If though, despite these things, you will not listen to me, I shall then have to chastise you SEVEN TIMES AS MUCH for your sins.'

This penalty is repeated in verse 21: 'But if you keep walking in opposition to me and not wishing to listen to me, I shall then have to inflict SEVEN TIMES MORE blows upon you according to your sins.'

The repetition of this penalty establishes as it a prophecy (Gen 41:25,32, Amos 3:3-7, section 2). This penalty is a seven-fold penalty. Now the total extent of the error is:

390 years (Israel) + 40 years (Judah) = 430 years

However 70 of these years were Land Sabbaths, and so this error is split into 70 years of missed Sabbath error and 360 years of false worship error:

430 years = 70 years + 360 years

Total error = Sabbath error + False worship error

Therefore the sevenfold penalty for 360 years of false worship error is:

360 years x 7 = 2,520 years

This penalty started to be paid on Tishri 607 BCE, at exactly the same time as when the missed Sabbath penalty started to be paid. So this penalty was all paid up by Tishri 1914, and we have our second determination of the Gentile Times, from the Law of Moses. This split of errors and penalties is what is being said in verse 43:

Since the false worship error was not paid off until 1914 we understand why verse 42 reads "And I shall indeed remember my covenant with Jacob; and even my covenant with Isaac and even my covenant with Abraham". Referring to the spiritualised Abrahamic covenant, with the spiritual sons of Israel (Jacob) because at this time the Law covenant was finished, so there would have been no point in remembering it. The Abrahamic covenant (spiritualised) is still in force now as Paul says: "If you belong to Christ you are really Abraham's seed, heirs with reference to a promise" (Gal 3:29). This promise was the Abrahamic covenant. Which was spiritualised in Tishri 36 CE (Dan 9:27).

So the Gentile Times were as long as they were because the Jews sinned for as long as they did, which is truly amazing. But surely this is unfair, one might say, for the sons to suffer for the errors of their fathers. Well look at verse 39:

'As for those remaining among you, they will rot away because of their error in the lands of your enemies. Yes because of the errors of their fathers, with them (i.e. their fathers errors) they will rot away.'

So the bible tells us that the sons will pay for their fathers' errors and in any case this is nothing new for sons of Adam (Romans 9:14,15). Before we deal with the third witness to the Gentile Times being 2,520 years long, let's briefly compare this second determination of the Gentile Times with Daniel's. There are two conceptual difficulties that bible students can have with the Daniel 4 determination (Live forever book, chapter 16), these are:

Neither of these difficulties exists in the Lev 26 determination, because the day for a year rule is in the prophecy itself at Eze 4:6, which is the scripture which gives us the extent of the breaching of the contract of the law, by the Jews. Also, the dual fulfilment is an integral part of the prophecy, being the two penalties for the two violated obligations of verse 1 and verse 2. This makes Leviticus chapter 26 the perfect way to introduce a student to dual fulfilment because the two fulfilments are explicitly stated and are in fact mathematical complements to each other in that together they add up to make the total error.

The Leviticus 26 determination therefore shows us why the Gentile Times were as long as they were, and shows us the relation between the length of these times and the 70 year exile. But what is more, it also provides a relationship between the Gentile Times and the 70 weeks of years prophecy (see appendix 2). Leviticus 26 even provides a third determination of the times of the nations as we shall see in section 5, in other words:

LEVITICUS 26 IS A FOUNDATION STONE OF LONG RANGE BIBLE PROPHECY.

It is as Jehovah said to Miriam and Aaron: "If there came to be a prophet of yours for Jehovah, it would be in a vision I would make myself known to him. Not so my servant Moses! He is being entrusted with all my house. Mouth to mouth I speak with him, thus showing him, and not by riddles" (Num 11:6-8). So the Gentile Times prophecy was recorded by Moses in Leviticus 26, not as a riddle, and not as a dream or as a vision, but as a straightforward contract in law with penalty clauses.

[5] THE THIRD DETERMINATION OF THE GENTILE TIMES

Returning to Leviticus 26, notice that whilst verses 18 and 21 contain the phrases: "seven times as much" and "seven times more", verses 24 and 28 contain the phrases: "I shall have to strike you seven times for your sins" and "I shall have to chastise you seven times for your sins". These two phrases miss out the concept of "as much" or "more". Since this omission is made twice then to quote Joseph "It is firmly established on the part of God" (Gen 41:25,32, Amos 3:3-7).

So without any calculation at all Jehovah has told us for a fact that the chastisement period will be seven times. So if we now look at Rev 12, we will see that a time is 360 days, and if we now invoke the 'bible rule' of a day for a year (Num 14:34), then we have a figure of 2,520 years for the Gentile Times from Leviticus, Revelation and Numbers !!

We now have our three witnesses to the length of the Appointed Times of the nations. This derivation is probably the easiest one of the three to explain to a bible student.

[6] THE 70 WEEKS OF YEARS OF DANIEL 9, RE-EXAMINED

The theme scripture for this section is Deuteronomy 32:4, "The rock, perfect is his activity"

The first thing we notice when we look at this prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27, is that from the "going forth of the word", from Artaxerxes (Neh 2:1-6), in Nisan 455 BCE to Tishri 29CE when Jesus became the Christ there were NOT 69 weeks of years or 483 years !! There were in fact 483 and a half years. Now the Most High God Jehovah is not known for being half a year out in any of his calculations (Deut 32:4). As he himself said to Moses "The hand of Jehovah is cut short is it?" (Num 11:23). So if Jehovah is not wrong anywhere then man must be wrong somewhere! This problem is considered in Watchtower 1965 p632, where it is pointed out that maybe we should take the start date for the 70 weeks of years as the orders given by Nehemiah himself at the beginning of the month of Ab (see fig 2) to physically start building the city walls (Neh 2:18, Neh 6:15). Or maybe it should be taken from when the city wall was finally completed on Elul 25, 52 days later (Neh 6:15). However, neither of these dates fully resolve the problem.

However, as mentioned above, we do know that the end-point of the 483 years was Tishri 29 CE, because Jesus certainly died in Nisan 33 CE and his ministry was definitely three and a half years long (Dan 9:27). So why don't we just face it - our start date is wrong ! Since we know that Jehovah is perfect, we know for a fact that whatever word went out it did not go out in Nisan 455, it did not go out in Ab 455, and it did not go out in Elul 455, this is because it went out for a certainty in Tishri 455 BCE. This means that it was not Artaxerxes word of Nehemiah 2 and nor was it Nehemiah's word of Neh 2:18 and nor was it the finishing of the wall described in Nehemiah 6:15. So what word did go out in Tishri 455 BCE? Well, let us have look at Nehemiah 8:1-3:

Thereafter the festival of Booths was re-established (Neh 8:17) and an atonement day would have been held on Tishri 10. So this was the word, God's word, that went out, not the word of Artaxerxes. Daniel 9:25 says:

"She will return and actually be rebuilt with a PUBLIC SQUARE and a MOAT".

Daniel does not say that she will be rebuilt with a WALL! This 'public square and a moat' in Dan 9:24 is referring to the 'public square that is before the Water Gate' in Neh 8:3. This moat may refer to Hezekiah's tunnel leading to the spring at Gihon, this body of water is reached through and is nearest to the Water Gate, which had its own public square, as did the gate of Ephraim (See the map of Jerusalem in fig 1).

Daniel 9:24 says "There are 70 weeks ... to terminate transgression and to finish off sin and to make atonement for error." So this whole prophecy has to do with atonement.

So whereas in Nisan and in Ab and in Elul we had a physical restoration of a wall, in Tishri we had a spiritual restoration of true worship. Which do you think is the more likely start date for the 70 weeks of years prophecy a spiritual restoration and a spiritual rebuilding of true worship resulting from the word of God as spoken by his prophet Ezra or a wall construction project resulting from the word of Artaxerxes?

Hopefully we can now see that the restoration of true worship in Jerusalem, and the atonement on Tishri 1 to 10 in 455 BCE prefigured the atonement and restoration of pure worship afforded us by the Messiah.

[7] A PROPHETIC PARALLEL TO THE 70 WEEKS OF YEARS PROPHECY

We now know that the 70 weeks of years period of Daniel 9 started with a re-establishment of pure worship and an atonement sacrifice, the re-establishment of the festival of Booths (Neh 8:17) and the restating of the oath to obey the law of Moses (Neh 10:29) and keep the Sabbath (Neh 10:31), We therefore can see that this period started in Tishri 455 BCE with an inauguration of acceptable worship in this temple. The physical inauguration of Zerubbabel's temple occurred in the sixth year of the reign of Darius (Ezra 6:15,16) which was 515 BCE (Insight 1 p584), 60.5 years earlier. 486.5 years after Tishri 455 BCE is Nisan 33 CE, when Jesus was resurrected and the spiritual temple of Jesus' spiritual body was inaugurated, and approved (Mat 28:6). So there were 69.5 weeks of years between these two temple inaugurations. Now let us look at the time between the inauguration of the tabernacle in the wilderness and the inauguration of Solomon's temple. How long was this time? Exodus 40:17 reads:

'Accordingly it came about that in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up.' Verse 34 says: "And the cloud began to cover the tent of the meeting and Jehovah's glory filled the tabernacle.'

So on Nisan 1, in 1512 BCE, the second year of the exodus, the God of heaven approved the tabernacle for pure worship. Moses and Aaron then conducted a 7 day inauguration and atonement ceremony (Lev 8:33,34). Precisely 486 and a half years (or 69 and a half weeks of years) later, we read in 1 Kings 8:2:

'So all the men of Israel congregated themselves to King Solomon in the lunar month of Ethanim (Tishri) in the festival that is, the seventh month'.

In the rest of the chapter we read about Solomon's giant inauguration ceremony, and Jehovah again signalled his approval by coming down in a cloud (1 Kings 8:10). Solomon's temple was finished in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign in the month of Heshvan (1 Kings 6:38). Solomon became king in 1037 BCE so the temple was finished in Heshvan 1027 BCE, so the inauguration occurred in Tishri 1026 BCE (Insight 2 p988). Just to recapitulate:

Nisan 1512 to Tishri 1026 is 486 and a half years exactly

Tishri 455 to Nisan 33 CE is 486 and a half years exactly

The former being an exact prophetic type for the latter. Zerubbabel's temple was the greater tabernacle and Jesus' heavenly body was the greater temple of Solomon. This parallel confirms all the arguments advanced by the faithful and discreet slave in the Insight book 2 p989, that those who maintain that Solomon's temple was inaugurated in 1014 BCE are wrong. Now we ask the question that set the writer on the course which transformed this work from a 'letter to the society' into this book:

SINCE THE BIBLE PROVIDES A PROPHETIC TYPE FOR THE 70 WEEKS OF YEARS PROPHECY, WHICH ARISES FROM THE ONE PENALTY CLAUSE IN THE LAW AT LEVITICUS 26 (SEE APPENDIX 2), DO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES PROVIDE A PROPHETIC TYPE FOR THE GENTILE TIMES, WHICH ARISE FROM THE OTHER PENALTY CLAUSE IN THE LAW AT LEVITICUS 26 ??

In this section we will see that the Gentile Times is associated with the loss by the physical nation of Israel of their right as the firstborn son of Jehovah (Ex 4:22,23), to have one of their number as the King or family head, over all of Jehovah's people. We will then realise that since the firstborn son had three firstborn rights and not only one firstborn right, that there must be two other periods which are similar in form to the Gentile Times, and which represent a loss of each of the other two rights of the firstborn. Because the firstborn in a family (male son from the father) inherited the following three things by right at his father's death:

The literal sons of the patriarch Israel (Jacob) provide an example of this with the loss of all three firstborn rights by Reuben (who was the oldest son of Jacob) when he slept with his father's concubine Bilhah. (Gen 49:3,4; Gen 35:22). As a result of this act of disloyalty and unfaithfulness against his father his land inheritance went to Joseph (Gen 48:22), whose two sons Ephraim and Manasseh became a tribe each, thereby doubling Joseph's inheritance of all of his father's estate, because Reuben's sons became only one tribe and the land was split up according to the number (twelve) of the tribes. The priesthood went to the sons of Levi, the first high priest was Aaron (Gen 28:1), a son of Levi. The Kingship of all Israel went to the sons of Judah as we know through the royal line of David.

To spiritualise this situation we replace Jacob with Jehovah, we replace Reuben with Adam, we replace Bilhah with Eve and we replace Joseph, Judah and Levi with Jesus and the firstborn spiritually, i.e. the heavenly class, or spiritual Israel.

The spiritual situation is then that Adam was the first fleshly and spiritual human son of Jehovah (he was born with everlasting i.e. spiritual life). He committed an act of spiritual unfaithfulness with Eve against his spiritual father thereby sinning against Jehovah's spirit (Gen 3:17).Whereas Reuben had committed an act of physical unfaithfulness against his physical father, thereby sinning against his father's flesh. Adam lost his land inheritance (the garden of Eden), his patriarchal headship of all mankind and his priesthood of all mankind as a result of his sin. He was thrown out of the garden of Eden, and he died and was therefore head of nothing. Jesus first and then spiritual Israel receive all three firstborn rights because they become a nation of Kings and Priests, "A royal priesthood a Holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9),"they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and they will rule as Kings with him for the 1000 years" (Rev 20:6), and they receive a double inheritance from the estate of their father Jehovah, because they will rule over two realms, the earthly realm and the heavenly realm. For John saw a new heaven and a new earth in Rev 21:1, and Jehovah said in verse 7 'anyone conquering will inherit these things (plural), and I shall be his God and he will be my son'. Whereas Paul has asked to which one of the Angels did he ever say: "You are my son I, today, I have become your father"? (Heb 1:5). Furthermore at his second presence we are told that all God's angels do obeisance do him, whose co-rulers Abraham's seed have become (Heb 1:6).

This parallel is mentioned by Paul at Romans 5:14 and 1 Cor 15:45-49 which reads: "The first man Adam became a living soul, the last Adam became a life giving spirit. Nevertheless, the first is not that which is spiritual, but that which is physical, afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is out of the earth and made of dust; the second man is out of heaven. As the one made of dust so the ones made of dust are also; and as the heavenly one is so those who are heavenly are also. And just as we have born the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one."

There is one further antitype of Reuben's licentiousness, which is to take all Israel, i.e. all the sons of Jacob, who collectively are Jehovah's firstborn, for Reuben, who was Jacob's firstborn. We do this because Jehovah said "Israel is my firstborn, and I say to you send my SON away that he may serve me. But should you refuse me here I am killing your firstborn" (Ex 4:22,23). Also Israel himself was Jehovah's firstborn, as well an Isaac's firstborn, because Jacob was only conceived after Jehovah had cured Rebekah's barrenness (Gen 25:22). The literal sons of Israel would have had all the firstborn rights that the spiritual ones have now but for their unfaithfulness to their spiritual father (1 Samuel 8:7). Which is why, in exodus 19:6, we read "And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation".

The fact that the nation of Israel was going to lose all its firstborn rights was firmly established by Jehovah by the two witnesses given to them at Genesis 21:12, in the case of Ishmael and Isaac, and at Genesis 25:32-34, in the case of Esau and Jacob. In both cases the firstborn lost his rights to the second born. This therefore prefigured and indeed prophetically established that physical Israel would lose its birthright to spiritual Israel. Summarising we have:

Firstborn Firstborn Firstborn rights Firstborn

Gen 2:7 Gen 29:32 Gen 48:5 etc Col 1:18

The purpose of all the above is to demonstrate to the reader that whatever it is that Jehovah is doing with Kingship, he is doing the same thing with Priesthood and Land inheritance, since they are all three part of the same thing namely the rights of the firstborn. We can therefore reasonably expect that just as there has been a 2,520 year Kingship exile period, when no man had Jehovah as his direct ruler, namely the Gentile Times. There has also been a 2,520 year exile of mankind's spiritual head whose name alone is Jehovah, and a 2,520 year land inheritance exile period.

A cursory glance at the figures supports this because 2,520 years before Jesus died was about 120 years before the flood, which was when Jehovah withdrew his spirit from mankind (Gen 6:3), and 2,520 years before the Jews entered the promised land in 1473 was 3993 BCE which would be a reasonable date for an eviction from the garden of Eden (Adam being about 33 years old at the time - he was born around 4026 BCE - Insight 1 p 459). We will now examine these two periods in great detail and see what Jehovah has to say about them.

We know that 120 years before the flood Jehovah alienated himself from mankind. The account of this in Genesis 6:3 reads: "After that Jehovah said, my spirit shall not act TOWARD man indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to 120 years." As an aside the word 'also' appears in this scripture because a lot of the 'men' were 'also' fallen angels. So God's spirit started acting against man at that time. In other words God and man became enemies, we became alienated, we were no longer at one we were at two, we were unreconciled and in need of atonement or reconciliation. Genesis 6:6, one of the most moving scriptures in the bible says:

'And Jehovah felt regrets that he made men in the earth, and he felt hurt at his heart.'

What a terrible situation man had put his creator in! Again in verse 7: "I am going to wipe men whom I have created of the surface of the ground.... because I do regret that I have made them." We know this is meant in the sense that men, whom Jehovah had created, had caused him to feel regret. This did not mean that Jehovah felt that he had made a mistake in creating man (this was Satan's view).

We can certainly see why men and his creator Jehovah God became enemies, alienated, at two and unreconciled at that time. There are at least five references in the bible to this state of affairs and to the reconciliation, atonement, peacemaking and unification that Jesus' sacrifice achieved approx 2,520 years later. These are:

All five of these will be quoted here. Please look out for the four aspects of this spiritual enmity:

SPIRIT AGAINST MAN SPIRIT TOWARD MAN

At two <-----> Atonement

Alienation <-----> Unification

Enemies <-----> At peace

Unreconciled <-----> Reconciled

Malachi 4:5,6: "Look I am sending to you people Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and fear inspiring day of Jehovah. And he must turn the heart of fathers back toward sons, and the heart of sons back toward fathers; in order that I may not come and actually strike the earth with a devoting of it to destruction." Notice that hearts were to be turned back, implying that they were once turned towards each other and then, at the time of Malachi, they were turned away from each other, and then, that they would be turned back towards one another at the arrival of the prophet Elijah, who is symbolising Jesus Christ in this scripture. Obviously we can read "spirit" for "heart" in the above.

Colossians 1:20,21: "And through him to RECONCILE AGAIN to himself all other things by making PEACE through the blood he shed on the torture stake, no matter whether they are things upon the earth or the things in the heavens. Indeed you who were once ALIENATED and ENEMIES because your minds were on the works that were wicked, he has AGAIN RECONCILED by means of that one's fleshly body through his death."

Paul, the superlative spiritual lawyer sums up the whole situation here. Notice that each time the word 'reconcile' appears, it appears with the word "again". Since this is stated twice we know that it is firmly established on the part of God, that God and all living things were originally reconciled, then they were unreconciled, and then they became reconciled again.

Referring now to Ephesians 2:12-16, the enmity mentioned here was the enmity between the nation of Israel and the Gentiles, an enmity which was an integral part of the law of Moses. But we know that the law was a tutor leading to Christ (Gal 3:24), and as with almost everything that the nation of Israel did physically, this pictured a larger spiritual situation. In this case the physical enmity between Jew and Greek under law, stands for the spiritual enmity between God and man. Which enmity persisted throughout the whole period that Israel was under law, and which enmity Jesus Christ nailed to the torture stake, so the scripture reads:

"that you were at that particular time without Christ, ALIENATED from the state of Israel and STRANGERS to the covenant of the promise, and you had no hope and were WITHOUT GOD in the world. But now in union with Christ Jesus you who were once FAR OFF have come to be NEAR by the blood of Christ. For he is our PEACE, he who made the TWO PARTIES ONE and destroyed the WALL in between that fenced them off. By means of his flesh he abolished the ENMITY of the law of commandments consisting in decrees, that he might create the TWO PEOPLES in union with himself into ONE NEW MAN and make PEACE; and that he might fully RECONCILE BOTH PEOPLES in ONE BODY to GOD through the torture stake, because he had killed off the ENMITY by means of himself" (Eph 2:12-16).

The wall between the Jew and the Greek which pictured the enmity between God and man, was also a type for Jesus' flesh, which was an antitype for the curtain separating the holy from the most holy. When Jesus died, his flesh was destroyed, the temple curtain was rent in two (Mat 27:51), and the wall of the law was knocked down. All of this pictured the end of the enmity between God and man. In fact in verse 16, Paul is actually referring directly to enmity between God and man, when he says "Reconcile both peoples in one body to God." This reconciliation was the knocking down of the wall between God and man, which was symbolised by the knocking down of the wall of the law between the Jew and the Greek.

Paul puts this very encouragingly at Romans 5:10: "For if, when we were enemies, we became reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, now that we have become reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

Finally (as a fifth witness) at 2 Corinthians 5:18,19: "But all things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the MINISTRY OF THE RECONCILIATION, namely, that God was by means of Christ reconciling a WORLD to himself".

So by means of the death of Jesus Christ, Jehovah was not just reconciling the Jew to the Greek, he was actually reconciling the whole 'world to himself'. He was in fact ending the Alienation Times.

[9.1] THE EXACT LENGTH OF THE ALIENATION TIMES

Jehovah has provided - as we should expect - several witnesses, in the holy word, which firmly establish that the Alienation Times were exactly 2,520 years long, to the month (Gen 41:25,32, Amos 3:7). We will not reveal what these are yet because it is possible to reach this conclusion by another very beautiful route, which was the route that the writer first took.

There is no argument that the Jews left Egypt in Nisan 1513. This is especially true now that we know for a fact, having performed many calculations correctly (section 4), that the 390 figure in Ezekiel 4:4-6 is the true length of time from Solomon's death to the Exile in Babylon. We also know for a fact that this was exactly 430 years after the Abrahamic covenant was validated when Abraham crossed the river Euphrates, (All Scripture is inspired p286, Gal 3:17, Ex 12:41).

However there is a technical point, which is going to become important to us now. This is the trans-calendral change at 1513 BCE, when the first month of the year changed from Tishri to Nisan (Ex 12:2). Similar care has to be taken here to that which is exercised at the trans-calendral situation at '0 CE'. As the prophet said "And he is changing times and seasons, removing kings and setting up kings, giving wisdom to the wise ones and knowledge to the ones knowing discernment" (Dan 2:21).

Abraham was 75 at the time of the validation of his covenant (Gen 12:1-4), so he was born within a few months of Nisan 2018 BCE (see section 24.2). If we now add up all the ages of his ancestors we can place the flood as occurring 352 years prior to this in 2370 BCE, (Insight 1 p460, All Scripture p286). But when we added all the reigns of the Kings from Rehoboam to Zedekiah we got the figure of 393 years for the length of the period from Solomon's death to the Exile (Insight 1 p462). This figure is 3 years too much, because Jehovah has provided an already added up figure of 390 years for this period in the form of Ezekiel's sleepless nights (Ezek 4:5):

'And I myself must give to you the years of their error to the number of 390 days, and you must carry the error of the house of Israel.'

The house of Israel was established in error (1 Kings 12:24-30), therefore the length of its error was the length of its existence. Therefore it existed for 390 years, and since it ceased to exist in Tishri 607, it was established 390 years earlier, in Tishri 997 CE, which was just after Solomon's death. This example shows us that adding up reigns does not necessarily give an accurate answer to the length of time from Solomon's death until the exile.

And if he provided us with a pre-added up figure for this period (390 years as opposed to 393 years), would our loving father not have provided us with a pre-added up figure for the period from the flood to Abraham's birth? Well he did, it's at Genesis 9:28 which tells us:

Since we already knew that the flood occurred when Noah was 600 years old, i.e. middle aged! (Gen 7:6), Jehovah has stated this 350 year period twice, each time in a different way (once as 350 and once as 950 less 600). But as Joseph said to Pharaoh in Genesis 41:25; "The dream... is but one". And as Amos has said in Amos 3:1; 'Will two walk together unless they have met by appointment'? No sir, our God has 'firmly established' (Gen 41:32) this as a prophetic period. And what was the prophetic significance of Noah's death if he had died 2 years before Abraham was born? Well, who can say? but if he died after Abraham was born, and this period was the time between the flood and Abraham's birth, then this 350 year period would be very significant. So all this is a witness that Noah lived to see the baby Abraham - A most beautiful and loving of interpretations indeed, and an orderly one. We shall see it is a true one, even an interpretation that belongs to Jehovah (Gen 40:8). Consider the following:

1. Would the very definition of love keep Noah alive for 950 years, only for him to die two years before seeing the promised seed, which seed he himself carried as a saviour through the flood?

2. Did Moses walk around the wilderness for 38 years only to die two years before seeing the promised land? No he lived to see the promised land and then died, and furthermore having been a saviour himself, saving a nation and a seed and carrying it through water (the Red Sea), he was an antitype of Noah.

3. The greatest saviour figure to appear was Jesus Christ. Now there were two witnesses, even two prophets, who remained alive until Jesus was born and then died, namely the prophet Simeon (Luke 2:25) and the prophetess Anna (Luke 2:36-38). Please remember that Noah too was a prophet (Gen 9:24-28).

4. If Noah did die just after having seen the baby Abraham, then the period from the flood to Jesus' death would be 2400 years i.e. 2x12x10x10.

From this we can see Saviours and prophets live to see the fulfilment of God's promises. We can therefore strongly assert that Noah died in 2018 BCE, which was the year of Abraham's birth (although we have no direct proof as yet). This would mean that the flood was in progress in Nisan 2368 BCE, which was 350 years before Nisan 2018 BCE which was 75 years before Nisan 1943 BCE, which was when the Abrahamic covenant was validated, which was 430 years before Nisan 1513 BCE (Ex 12:41).

Jesus died on Nisan 14, 33 CE, this is when the reconciliation was fully accomplished. If we count back 2400 years from 14th Nisan 33 CE, we end up in Nisan 2368 BCE, which is 350 years before Abraham's birth, remembering the trans-calendral correction at '0 CE'. Genesis 7:11 tells us that the flood started on Heshvan 17, and ended on Heshvan 27, so Nisan 14 is aroundabout the centre of the flood. So the flood would be from Heshvan 2369 BCE to Heshvan 2368 BCE, (Heshvan was October/ November - see fig 2).

If we count back 120 years before Nisan 2368, which is 2400 years before Nisan 33 CE, then we end up in Nisan 2488 BCE. Now Jehovah said in Gen 6:3;

One of the meanings of this is that the 120 years was the length of time that Jehovah determined would be left for the pre-flood system, measured from the time of this directing of Jehovah's spirit away from man. But this time is stated as an age: 'his days shall amount to 120 years'. One of the reasons why the true God has stated this as an age is because in the bible, ages, which are stated in years, are not accurate to the month, whereas time prophecies stated in years are fulfilled accurate to the month. Ages are in fact accurate to the nearest year, see section 24.2. Which is why the 352 figure (or rather 427-75) in Insight 1 p 460, which is the result of adding up the ages of Abraham's ancestors, is inaccurate if we accept the 350 years of Gen 9:28) as the true figure. This means that ages may be as much as six months out. We shall see in the next section that the 350 years figure is indeed the true length of time from the flood to Abraham's birth and so the flood did indeed run from Heshvan 2369 until Heshvan 2368 BCE. Now, in the case of the 120 years of Gen 6:3, this period actually extended from Nisan 2488 BCE (2520 years before Nisan 33 CE) until Heshvan 2369 BCE, the start of the flood. It was therefore 119 years and 7 months (see fig 2). So to the nearest year it was a 120 year period. Jehovah is perfect!

To paraphrase the words of a certain bible study: "One might expect that the book of numbers would contain a few numbers that were relevant to divine prophetic time". We shall now see that it most certainly does. In this section we first of all look at the details of the ransom of the Levites in Num 3:41-51 which, we will see, prophetically determines various features of the ransom sacrifice of the Christ. Then we look at the sum of the presentations of the 12 tribes in Num 7:84:88. Which presentations, we will see, prophetically determine the length of the Alienation Times which ended in that ransom.

Numbers 3:41 tells us:

This command is repeated in verse 45, almost word for word, by now we recognise this as Jehovah's way of telling us that this is a prophecy (Gen 41:25,32, Amos 3:3-7). The next few verses tell us that there were 273 more firstborn sons of Israel than there were Levites:

'And as the ransom price of the 273 from the firstborn of the sons of Israel, who are in EXCESS of the Levites, you must take 5 shekels for each individual' (verses 46,47).

We then read in verses 48, 49:

Moses then gave this 1365 (273 x 5) shekels to Aaron and his sons (verse 51). We have seen repetition of the whole ransom deal, we have seen repetition of the 'excess' and the payment of the ransom or redemption price for this excess. This means that there is a greater meaning to this ransom deal and a greater meaning to the excess ransom or redemption price (Gen 41:25,32, Amos 3:3-7, section 2).

It is most noticeable that the ransom does not only involve humans but also involves 'domestic animals'. This is mentioned twice and actually follows from the killing of the firstborn of man and beast at the passover in Egypt. Verse 13 describes this:

Now the human element of this ransom deal was actually individually registered, at Jehovah's command, and an excess was established, and this was then paid for at five shekels a head. The domestic animal element of this ransom was not registered individually in its entirety because one cannot really remember all of ones firstborn animals very easily. Because of this, the domestic animals of the Levites quite simply ransomed 'all the firstborn' among the domestic animals of the sons of Israel. In other words both groups were counted as equal. But whereas the total numbers of domestic animals were not registered, there was an excess of Levitical animals that was registered in Numbers 7:2,3. Here we read that the chieftains of the twelve tribes presented 12 bulls and 6 wagons as an offering before Jehovah. The scriptures say from verse 2:

So these animals were very special Levitical animals, they were offered before Jehovah, and so were holy and set apart from the other domestic animals of the Levites. They were then given to the Levites and had a sort of priestly-animal function. They became the property of the Levites on Nisan 1, 1512 (Num 7:1), which was a month before the registration and ransom was effected (Num 1:1, 3:1). First of all we notice that their number is repeated and is very emphatically compared with the number (also 12) of the chieftains. Their number is repeated again in verses 7,8). Therefore their number has a greater prophetic meaning (Gen 41:25,32, Amos 3:3-7 section 2). We have already mentioned that these priestly-animals were actually registered individually and were set aside. Therefore it is apparent that they are treated in a different way from the rest of the Levitical animals, not only in that they are serving as priests but also in that they are a numerically registered excess group with a prophetic significance. This is telling us that they are actually the excess of animals that corresponds to the excess of 273 humans in the ransom deal of Numbers 3:46.

In fact this is witnessed to cryptically by the two statements that the chieftains were: 'Over the ones registered' (verse 2), and that the bulls were proportioned: 'A bull for each one (chieftain)' (verse 3). Combining these two statements, i.e. taking 'a bull for a chieftain' in the statement in verse two, we see that prophetically, the bulls were 'over the ones registered'. In other words, the 12 bulls of the Levitical animal excess were to be taken in addition to (i.e. 'over') the human 'registered' Levites of 22,000 souls, thereby making a total of 22,012 Levitical souls. Which is equivalent to treating them as a registered animal excess over and above the firstborn domestic animals of the sons of Israel. These bulls were also redeemed, because being clean and being offered to Jehovah, they would normally have been killed and eaten by the priests. We then read in Numbers 18:15:

'You should without fail redeem the firstborn of mankind; and the firstborn of the unclean beast you should redeem. And with a redemption price for it for a month old onward you should redeem it, by the estimated value, five silver shekels. Only the firstborn bull or firstborn male lamb or firstborn goat you should not redeem. They are something holy. Their blood you should sprinkle upon the altar.'

So the firstborn of men and unclean animals were to be redeemed at five shekels, but firstborn of clean animals were to be killed. Putting all of this together we see that the 12 bulls, had they been firstborn (which they would have been for an occasion such as this - the first ever offering to the true God from the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel), would normally have been killed because they were clean and therefore unredeemable. But in any case, even if these bulls had been secondborn, they were certainly offered to Jehovah and were not killed. Therefore they were redeemed, even at Jehovah's command, so that they could serve him in his temple - just like the anointed ones today. The redemption price for man or beast was the same - 5 shekels - so they would have been redeemed at 5 shekels per head, just like the other 22,000 Levites. So now we have 22,012 Levite men and animals, and 22,273 firstborn sons of Israel, (Numbers 3:39,43). So having been paid 1365 Shekels by the sons of Israel, the Levites now owed 12x5 or 60 Shekels back, because they had a registered excess of 12 domestic animals. So the total ransom of men and animals was 1305 shekels.

There are no prizes for discerning what this ransom is illustrating here. We have already determined that both the ransom itself and the ransom price of the excess have a greater meaning because they are repeated. We have the following ransom, which is looked at in W 1961 p ###:

Firstborn sons of Israel <----> Sons of Israel's firstborn (Levi)

Levi was the firstborn son of Jacob as far as priestly inheritance was concerned. This ransom is deliberately and very carefully worded above. Levi was Israel's firstborn (as regards priesthood rights), so Levites are the 'sons of Israel's firstborn. Stating the ransom as stated above, clearly demonstrates the justice of Jehovah, because we can see that the two sides effectively have the same weight. If we replace Israel (Jacob) with God we get the ransom below. In other words spiritualising this ransom gives:

We have God's firstborn on the right side of this ransom rather than 'sons of God's firstborn', because Jesus does not die whereas Levi did, and so Levi lives on through his sons, whereas Jesus lives on period. Restating this we can say:

This is therefore the greater ransom. The cost to Jehovah of Jesus' ransom sacrifice was amongst other things, watching the suffering of his son, for 3 years and seven and a half months from Jesus' baptism until his ascension (Dan 9:27). Jesus paid the ransom to his father in heaven on Iyyar 25, 33CE, (Acts 1:3,9), precisely 41 days after finishing his ministry, when he ascended and reappeared before the person of God (Heb 9:24). He had earned this wage on Nisan 14, 33 CE. If we now take 'A day for a shekel' in the total ransom price of 1305 shekels then we are being told that from Jesus' batism into death until payment of the ransom in heaven, there were 1305 days. This is 3 Prophetic Hebrew years (of 360 days) and seven Prophetic Hebrew months (of 30 days) and 15 days in prophetic time (Let the reader use a calculator).

WHEN THE BIBLE STATES A PROPHECY IN DAYS, THEN IT IS ACCURATE TO THE DAY! (section 22.1)

This observation follows from the faith that we have in the fact that Jehovah is perfect (Deut 32:4). Which fact apart from being cited in the scriptures is evident from his works of creation. If we count back 1305 days from Iyyar 25, 33 CE, we end up on Tishri 10, 29 CE (including Tishri 10 and excluding Iyyar 25). Therefore we now know that:

A DAY FOR A SHEKEL

We now look at the account of the inauguration offering, in Numbers chapter 7, we wonder what this could prefigure! Verses 84 to 88 sum up the total offering as follows:

We have read in the earlier verses that the dishes and bowls contained fine flour for a grain offering, and Jehovah has made no distinction between the contents of the dishes and the bowls, (neither is it easy to discern what, in fact, the difference is between a dish and a bowl).

So all of the inauguration sacrifice was physically contained in two types of physical containers, the first had a physical value of 2400 shekels of silver, the second had a physical value of 120 shekels of gold.

Applying our new bible rule of 'A day for a shekel', together with our old bible rule of 'A day for a year', we get:

All of this sacrifice was temporally contained in two types of temporal containers, the silver post-flood container had a temporal value of 2,400 years, the gold pre-flood container had a temporal value of 120 years.

We remember that in Daniel chapter two the gold head period preceded the silver breasts and arms period in time (see section 77.2). Similarly, we now have a gold period of 120 years followed by a silver period of 2400 years. This is one of the many prophecies in the bible, where the physical stands for the temporal.

Now if we look at Numbers 7:87,88 and we see that the total number of animals sacrificed was 252 (let the reader use discernment, or a calculator). The redemption value of this sacrifice is 252x5 shekels or 1,260 shekels. Not that these animals were redeemed, they were of course killed, but the cost to redeem them would have been 1,260 shekels. Of course Jesus, whom these animals prefigure, was killed himself. Applying the new bible rule of 'A day for a shekel' we have the temporal value of this sacrifice being 1260 days, or 3 years and six months, the length of Jesus' ministry before his sacrifice, which we know was the end of all sacrifices. He was a burnt offering, sin offering and communion sacrifice all in one. Now the bible only states this prophecy to the accuracy of one animal or five shekels or five days, and it is in fact accurate to within five days, since the total time of Jesus' ministry was in fact 3 years and six months and four days, i.e. 1,264 days, because the ministry started on Tishri 10, 29 CE, and finished on Nisan 13 33 CE. This is because he was in the heart of the earth for Nisan 14,15,16 (Mat 12:40). Brothers, this is the perfection of the true God.

So the event which marks the division of time into the two containers, is the flood, which happened 2,400 years before Jesus died. 120 years before this, in the earlier or gold system of things, we know that Jehovah alienated himself from mankind at Genesis 6:3 as discussed above.

AND THE ALIENATION TIMES WERE 2400+120=2,520 YEARS LONG

2,520 = 3 x 7 x 10 x 12

Divine temporal completeness, organisational completeness (earthly and heavenly), and emphasis, perfection. (In the bible 3 can mean emphasis, although actually it means building temples quite a lot as we will find out, in the second half of this book; 7 means divine temporal completeness (section 47). It is as the proverb says:

'If you keep seeking for it as for silver, and as for hid treasures you keep searching for it, in that case you will understand the fear of Jehovah, and you will find the very knowledge of God' (Prov 2:4,5)

Putting this diagrammatically:

[11] THE LAW OF MOSES: THE SECOND AND THIRD WITNESSES TO THE LENGTH OF THE ALIENATION TIMES

Both of these witnesses come from the law of Moses, specifically Deuteronomy 15:1,2 and Leviticus chapter 4. The first two verses of Deuteronomy chapter 15 say:

'At the end of every seven years you should make a release'. 'And this is the manner of the release: there will be a releasing by every creditor of the debt that he may let his fellow incur. He should not press his fellow or his brother for payment, because a release to Jehovah must be called.'

This 2,520 days, prefigures the 2,520 years of enmity between man and God, or debt from man to God. This enmity arose due to sin, which is a debt from man to God. But God took this debt on himself. The death of the Christ was a 'release to Jehovah' from all our debts, in that he paid for these personally with his son. We now have our second witness.

Furthermore Leviticus chapter 4 tells us that in a sin offering for the 'high priest' (verses 3,6) or for the 'entire assembly' (verses 13,17), the priest had to spatter the blood seven times before Jehovah. Whereas in a sin offering for a 'chieftain' (verse 22) or a 'soul of the people of the land' (verse 27) this did not occur. This together with the greater meaning is shown in the diagram below:

So we have two groups containing two classes of people. These two groups, under the law, are required to follow two different procedures for their respective sin offerings. The first group of the high priest and the entire assembly, whose sin offerings both involve the spattering of blood seven times before the altar, prefigure the 144,000 anointed priests-to-be, and all of mankind as a group. Therefore the 144,000 individually and mankind collectively are accredited righteousness or atoned for at the end of a period of 2,520 years (seven times), when Jesus' blood is spilt at the altar. The second group, of the chieftains and the souls of the people of the land (i.e. the people of the land as individuals or as souls), prefigure the other sheep of John 10:16, who are not declared righteous as individuals, or individually atoned for, after the seven times of the Alienation Times. However, these ones may well benefit personally and individually from the atoning value of Jesus' blood, after the thousand year reign. This amounts to the prospect of a future atonement for them individually, on the back of an immediate atonement collectively. We now have our third witness to the length of the Alienation Times.

[12] THE EXEDENIC TIMES

First of all we point out that the existence of the Aaronic priesthood did not prove that Jehovah, mankind's ultimate spiritual head, was no longer alienated from his people. This alienation was manifested in the fact that the high priests under the law were not mediators between God and man. There was only one such mediator before the advent of Jesus, namely Moses and he was not the high priest, and furthermore he did not mediate directly between God and man, he actually mediated between the word of God, the Angel Michael, and man (Gen 42:23,see section 31). Whilst it is true that together Aaron and Moses did provide a high priest and a mediator, for 39 years in the wilderness, the mediation was one of law, the purpose of which was to "make transgression manifest" (Gal 3:10), and to lead the nation to Christ. There was no life that resulted from the law, and so it was not a mediation of reconciliation.

Aaron was therefore a physical high priest and not a spiritual high priest. This is summed up as usual by Paul, in Galatians 32:18-22: "For if the inheritance (i.e. everlasting life) is due to law, it is no longer due to promise; whereas God has kindly given it to Abraham through a promise. Why then the law? It was added to make transgressions manifest, until the seed should arrive (Jesus) to whom the promise had been made; and it was transmitted through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now there is no mediator where one person only is concerned, but God is only one. Is the law therefore against the promises of God? May that never happen! For if a law had been given that WAS ABLE TO GIVE LIFE, righteousness would actually have been by means of law. But the scripture delivered up all things together to the custody of sin, that the promise resulting from faith toward Jesus Christ might be given to those exercising faith."

The situation is entirely different with the Kingship, because David was not a mediator of Kingly benefits he actually was the King of Jehovah's people, who sat on Jehovah's throne, which was described both as the 'throne of David' (1 Kings 2:24), and 'Jehovah's throne' (1 Chron 29:23).

Now we know for a certainty the true God has determined a 2,520 year Kingship exile period, and a 2,520 spiritual headship exile period on Mankind. These two witnesses themselves are a pretty strong indication, if they are not even a proof, that there will also be a 2,520 year land inheritance exile. This is because the third right of the firstborn is for a double portion of his father's estate, and in particular this applied to his father's real estate for the sons of Israel, in the initial physical fulfilment of this principle (see section 8). Adam and his sons were effectively exiled from this when the land was cursed as a result of Adam's sin (Gen 3:17-19). In fact all three exile periods are associated with curses:

Gentile Times: Malediction of Leviticus 26:16-40

Alienation Times: Curse of the law, see Galatians 3:13

Exedenic Times: Curse on the ground of Genesis 3:17-19

In the case of the Gentile Times, the length of the malediction was the length of the times, see section 4. In the Alienation Times, mankind was cursed for the whole period of the times, in that Jehovah's spirit was against them because we were at two with God, which most certainly is an accursed condition to be in. Likewise in the Exedenic Times the length of the curse on the ground is the length of the times. This curse was symbolically lifted when the sons of Adam, who were also sons of Jacob, entered into the promised land and received a typical representation of the land inheritance which those putting faith in the Christ will receive after Armageddon (Jos 5:9-12). We know that the whole scene of the falling of Jericho, the saving of Rahab (Joshua 6), the saving of the Gibeonites and the battle that Jehovah and Joshua fought against the five kings (Joshua 10), who had attacked the Gibeonites, is prophetically typical for the Lord's day, with Spiritual Israel standing for Physical Israel (Watchtower 1967 p624-630). After the battle to save the greater Gibeonites of the Great Crowd, which battle is Armageddon, then we do get our land inheritance. Now it remains to find out for certain just how long the land inheritance exile from the expulsion from Eden until the entering into the promised land actually was.

In this spiritual earthquake of a section, we will discover that Cain, Adam's physical firstborn, had a prophetic part to play in Jehovah's grand purpose for mankind! This is fairly astounding although there have been other unrighteous men who have carried prophetic signs (e.g. the men of Sodom).

The inheritance left us by Adam was sin and death (Rom 5:14-16), and his real estate inheritance was a curse as stated in Genesis 3:17:

Now since Cain was Adam's firstborn, he was in the awful position of coming in line for this disastrous inheritance. Which is precisely what he did. Because he indeed sinned after the likeness of his father (Rom 5:14), he obviously died, and more significantly from the prophetic point of view he inherited the curse on the land, having merited it by his sin of murdering his brother, which was a sin after the likeness of his father's sin, because both sins carried the death penalty. We read in Genesis 4:10:

So Cain inherited his father's 'curse in banishment from the ground'. In other words Cain was exiled from the power of the land by this curse. Cain then complained about his punishment, expressing his fear that anyone finding him would kill him and Jehovah responded by saying:

This statement is prophetic. It is referred to again in verse 24, which reads "If seven times Cain is to be avenged, then Lamech seventy times and seven." So the two references firmly establish it as true and qualify it for being prophetic (Gen 41:25,32, Amos 3:3-7, section 2). Watchtower 1973 p 301 makes the point that this sign on Cain was certainly true and recognised at the time.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN ?

Well, we know that Jehovah's law is like for like, soul for soul (Ex 21:23). It most certainly is not soul for seven souls. And even if it was, which man is there who has ever been born with seven souls? However, the next part of the verse is:

BUT WHO REALLY WAS THIS SIGN PUT IN THE BIBLE FOR ?

Because the bible was not written for the literal 'killers of Cain', no it was written for the spiritual 'killers of Cain', (we shall find out what this means later), it was very much written for those who will have 'that which is complete' (which is the completed bible), yes, it was very much written for us! (1 Cor 13:10).

So the immediate physical interpretation of this sign was as given in verse 15, i.e. that no one should strike Cain, (Lamech got that bit right, but the penalty he did not understand - Gen 4:24). But we who are putting faith in the Christ, are no longer seeing with the eyes of men, but are seeing with eyes of faith, because as Jehovah said to Samuel "Not the way man sees is the way God sees" (1 Samuel 16:7). So how did God see this penalty? Let us look at this penalty spiritually.

The spiritual meaning of killing Cain is revealed in the book of Revelation (Just as the identity of the woman in Genesis 3:15 is revealed in the same book), where we find:

Nobody literally died in any of these four events. In the first example 'Killed' we know means pronounced spiritually dead, due to their false worship, it means this also in the second example. In the third example, since it was faithful witnesses who were killed, the killing refers not to the terminating of the life they had, but to the terminating of their true worship. In the fourth example the "killing" refers to the termination of their false worship as members of Christendom. These interpretations are all covered in the Revelation book chapters 23 and 25.

So 'killing' in the bible, can mean the terminating of either true or false worship. If we look at Cain and Abel in this light, then we see that Abel was the true worshipper, and Cain was the false worshipper (Gen 4:3-5):

"And it came about at the expiration of some time that Cain proceeded to bring some fruits of the ground as an offering to Jehovah. But as for Abel, he too brought some FIRSTLINGS of his flock, even their fatty pieces. Now while Jehovah was looking with favour upon Abel and his offering, he did not look with any favour upon Cain and upon his offering."

The prophetic drama between Cain and Abel, is the story all true and false worshippers. This sort of thing is looked at in the recent Watchtower: Dec 1 1991 p9-15

The occurrence of this event would then be signified by:

This would occur simultaneously with and therefore indicate the occurrence of the 'Killing of Cain'. It would also involve the termination of a period of wandering and fugitiveness (Gen 4:14).There is no problem in identifying when all this occurred because one cannot wipe out false worship without first establishing true worship. This happened after the circumcision at Gilgal, as discussed earlier, immediately after which they held the passover:

'On the fourteenth day of the month, in the desert plains of Jericho. And they began to eat some of the yield of the land, the day after the passover, unfermented cakes and roasted grains, on this same day' (Jos 10,11).

This scripture is very significant, this was the first act of pure, clean, true worship that the nation of Israel had ever done, i.e. they killed Cain on that day. Jehovah's nation did not perform any national acts of true worship before the left Egypt. Neither did they perform any such acts in the wilderness because as Stephen has said:

'So God turned and handed them over to render sacred service to the army of the heaven, just as it is written in the book of the prophets: "It was not to me that you offered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness was it, O house of Israel?"' (Acts 7:42)

The first passover in Israel was the "killing of Cain" that the servants of the true God performed that day, this was actually Jehovah's vengeance on Cain, in that he personally had at last re-established the true worship, after the manner of Abel, that Cain had wiped out.

And the very next day was the first time that God's faithful servants had eaten fruit from the promised land, before this they had been exclusively eating Manna, so the land was no longer cursed, and this was the first time that man had eaten the fruit of uncursed land since the garden of Eden. Yes the Exedenic Times had ended!!!. To prove this, in the next four verses the manna stopped, their eating of the yield of the land is again mentioned (firmly establishing it as prophetic), and then Joshua is told by 'The prince of the army of Jehovah' (God's firstborn) that the ground near Jericho where he is standing is holy - i.e. not under any curse - yes, Joshua is in the promised land (Jos 5:11-15).

And the curse of Cain was lifted on Nisan 14, 1473 CE, the same day (not year) that Jesus released the nation of Israel from the curse of the law, thereby ending the seven times of the Alienation Times! So the Exedenic Times ended on Nisan 14,1473 BCE.

Showing this diagrammatically:

By now the reader will have realised that the Exedenic Times, being seven times, were 2,520 years long, and this is what the Most High God meant by "must suffer vengeance seven times" (Gen 4:15). Therefore we can deduce that the first cursing of the land in Genesis 3:17 occurred in Nisan 3993 BCE. Because although Cain was set up by Jehovah as a sign representing this curse, he had merely inherited it from his father, having sinned in like manner to him. The curse started with Adam and not with Cain. We are now able to say that the bible tells us that:

This was when the land was cursed and when Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden of Eden. Now Cain himself was said to take up 'residence in the Land of Fugitiveness to the East of Eden' (Gen 4:16). Furthermore we have read in Gen 3:24, that the true God, when he banished Adam and Eve from Eden:

Whereas when Joshua met angel Michael in the promised land in Joshua 5:13, we read:

These things tell us that the Cherubs guarding the garden, were actually enforcing the Exedenic Times, which is a time in 'the land of fugitiveness'. Because it was not just Cain, it was all of mankind who were fugitives, and especially it was the Jews, until they reached the promised land. This is why both the Cherubs and the 'land of fugitiveness' were to the East of Eden. The sword of Angel Michael, was the replacement for the flaming sword of Gen 3:24. And whereas the flaming sword was 'turning continually to guard the way to the tree of life', we will see later in section 60, that when Jesus came in 1473, he came as the 'way', and when he came in the first century as the 'truth' he said:

'I am the way and the truth and the life' (John 14:6).

And Jesus is the one who really has been guarding the 'way to the tree of life' for all of Jehovah's people, because as the scripture above goes on to say:

Yes, the Jesus replaces the cherubs, and the sword that proceeds from his mouth (Rev 2:16), which is the word of Jehovah, replaces the flaming sword of Gen 3:24, as the guarding weapon for the tree of life.

[13.1] ADAM WAS BORN IN TISHRI 4027 BCE

We know that the flood started on Heshvan 17, 2369 BCE and ended on Heshvan 27, 2368 BCE (Gen 7:11, 8:14, 9:28, section 9.1). We know too that Noah was 600 years old when the flood occurred (Gen 7:6), which figure may be up to 359 Jewish days out either way (section 24.2), and yet this flood began in the six hundredth year of his life (Gen 7:11), which is an exact statement. If the reader has a quick look at section 24.2 he will see how Jewish ages are calculated. Armed with this knowledge we know that Noah was born in the Jewish year between Tishri 2369 and Tishri 2368. Therefore the year from Tishri 2019 to Tishri 2018 was his 950th full Jewish year of life, and he was therefore 950 years old all through that year according to the Jewish way of reckoning ages. If we then add up all the ages of the ancestors of Noah, we get a year for the birth of Adam of 4025 BCE, rather than the 4026 of All Scripture Book p286. Neither of these years are necessarily correct, because adding up ages is inaccurate, because these ages maybe up to 359 Jewish days out (section 24.2).

All that we can definitely say from this that Adam was 32 plus or minus 10 years old when he sinned, in Nisan 3993 BCE, because Noah was the 9th in line from Adam and each extra ancestor introduces a possible 1 year error into the sum of all of their ages. Also we do not know when exactly in the ancient Jewish year starting Tishri 2369 Noah was born. However, 33.5 years old (according to the modern way of counting) is a distinct possibility here and we do know that Adam sinned in the month of Nisan in 3993 BCE. Who does this remind us of?? hmmmmmm. Well there is a lot in this parallel, because as a sister said to the writer, Paul has written in 1 Tim 2:6;