GUINNESS on SOLI-LUNAR CYCLES
THE APPROACHING END OF THE AGE VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY,
PROPHECY, AND SCIENCE
by H. GRATTAN GUINNESS (1879), SECTION III
SOLI-LUNAR CYCLES, AND THEIR RELATION TO THE CHRONOLOGY OF HISTORY
Contents
- SOLAR
AND LUNAR SUPREMACY IN THE ORDERING OF TERRESTRIAL TIME.
- DIFFICULTY OF HARMONIZING SOLAR AND LUNAR
MEASURES.
- CYCLICAL CHARACTER OF THE PROPHETIC
PERIODS OF DANIEL AND THE APOCALYPSE. DISCOVERIES OF M.. DE CHESEAUX.
- THE PROPHETIC TIMES AND THEIR EPACTS.
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CHAPTER I.
SOLAR AND LUNAR SUPREMACY IN THE ORDERING OF TERRESTRIAL TIME.
We have already called attention to the multiplied proofs afforded by
every branch of science, of the universal dominion exercised by the sun
and moon, both over the organic and inorganic creations.
We have shown that it is to its various relations, with these two
vastly dissimilar, yet equally controlling bodies, that the earth owes
its entire life and activity; that its rotation, revolution, heat,
light, seasonal changes, magnetic impulses, and tidal phenomena, its
winds, waves, currents, rains, snows, and frosts, all proceed directly
or indirectly from the influence of the sun and moon. We have also
shown that the distribution of vegetable and animal life, on the
surface of the globe, and many of the laws by which both-including the
development of the human race itself-are governed, are distinctly
traceable to the same cause. Solar influence is simply supreme in the
production of all terrestrial change and movement, and in the
sustenance and regulation of all vegetable and animal life.
We now turn to the second phase of solar and lunar dominion, and show
the place of paramount importance occupied by these two great
luminaries, in the regulation of times and seasons.
The three great tasks assigned to the sun and moon in the first of
Genesis are to rule, to give light, and to divide; to mark out the
boundaries that separate day from night, month from month, year from
year, "appointed time" from "appointed time." The sun and moon are thus
constituted not merely beneficent fountains of light to a dark world,
and all-influential rulers over our globe, but also principal hands of
the divinely constructed and divinely appointed chronometer, by which,
in all its course, terrestrial time is measured.
Nor does the record imply, that this chronometer is to be used by man
alone " Let them be for signs and for seasons," or appointed times, is
an expression which may legitimately include a fact, which it is our
object in the present chapter to demonstrate. God, who assigned to
these worlds their paths and their periods, has regulated all his
majestic providential and dispensational dealings with mankind, by the
greater revolutions of the same chronometer, whose lesser revolutions
mark our days and months and years. That chronometer is adjusted to
measure not only the blossoming of the day-lily and the life-time of
the ephemera, but also periods which are incalculable by human
intelligence, and which border on infinity.
It must be noted that the inspired narrative says "let them be for
signs and for seasons, and for days and years," not "let the sun" be
so, or the moon, or the sun and moon separately, but let them in their
conjoint revolutions be such. So obvious and influential are the maw
revolutions of these "great lights that in all ages men have as a
matter of fact, divided time by their means. But this is not all, they
have in addition less obvious cycles, which have been, as we shall see,
divinely employed as chronological measures.
Though time like distance, may theoretically be measured by comparison
with standards of any length, yet practically, none are so convenient
as those afforded by the conspicuous movements of the heavenly bodies.
These provide not only obvious and universal standards, but what is
equally needful, varied standards. For the subdivision of comparatively
brief periods of time, a short standard is evidently desirable,- for
longer periods a longer standard is required, while to measure periods
which embrace hundreds of thousands of years, a standard of immense
proportions is evidently needful. An inch is a good standard by which
to divide into equal portions a yard, but it would be tedious to have
to measure by Inches the circumference of our globe. The distance of
the earth from the sun may be measured by millions of miles, but for
the almost infinitely greater distance of the fixed stars, we need a
longer unit or standard of measurement, and find one in the velocity of
light.
Thus the revolution of the earth on its axis, giving rise to the day,
is a good unit of measurement for the month or moon’s revolution in her
orbit, and the month in its turn for the year, or earth’s revolution in
its orbit. This last is a good measure for centuries, but when we rise
to millenaries and still longer periods we need larger units of
measurement. These are afforded by the revolutions of the sun and moon,
as we shall presently show, not by their obvious conspicuous axial and
orbital movements merely, but by the cycles of discrepancy between
them, and by their recurring epochs of harmony, as well as by their
grand secular revolutions. The soli- lunar chronometer is adapted to
measure any period, from an hour to an age of all but infinite extent.
It has its second hand, its minute hand, its hour hand-its diurnal
bell, its monthly chime, its annual peal, its secular thunder, its
millennial choral-harmony. Man uses its minor measures, God requires
its major standards; man counts by its days, and months, and years;
God’s providence employs all its "appointed times."
"Let them be for times and for seasons." The movements of the sun and
moon are such that naturally in most lands and ages, those of both, and
not those of either alone, have been employed as measures of time.
The solar day is of course a division of time which both the physical
constitution of man, and his occupations, have in every part of the
world, and in every state of society, forced upon him, and compelled
him to adopt as his fundamental unit of time.
The solar year as comprising the complete revolution of the seasons,
and thus the entire round of the operations of husbandry, forces itself
similarly into observance as a larger unit of measurement.
But the dais of a whole year are far too numerous to admit of each one
being distinguished by a name, and separately remembered and
recognised. All nations have felt the necessity of grouping the days
into smaller parcels which might be named, and the days in each
distinguished by numbers.
The remarkably conspicuous revolution of the moon, being intermediate
in its period between the solar day and year, has been adopted for this
purpose, and the month has been the principal measure universally
recognised, between the year and the day.
The marked phases of the moon, new, first quarter, full, and third
quarter, might at first sight be supposed to have given rise to the
fourth commonly received measure of time-the week. But while in a
general way these phases harmonize with the week, they do not do so
with sufficient accuracy to account for the use of this period, and the
week evidently owes its origin not to any astronomical movement, but to
the Divine institution of the Sabbath in Eden. (#Ge 2.)
CHAPTER II.
DIFFICULTY OF HARMONIZING SOLAR AND LUNAR MEASURES.
IT might have been supposed, that as solar and lunar revolutions were
to be employed by man, as measures of time, God would have made them so
harmonize, as that some definite number of the lesser, would be exactly
commensurate with one of the greater, and a definite number of these
again, with one of the greatest. We might have supposed for instance
that thirty revolutions of the earth on its axis, would have occupied
precisely the same time as one revolution of the moon in her orbit, and
twelve such revolutions of the moon, precisely the same time, as one
revolution of the earth in its orbit.
This arrangement would have made the month exactly thirty days, and the
year exactly twelve months. Had it been selected by the Creator, the
great natural chronometer in the heavens, would have acted, as do our
little artificial time-pieces; its hands would, so to speak, have kept
pace together, the second, minute, and hour hands, returning
simultaneously to their common starting- point, at the close of every
major revolution, and setting out again on a new round, in identically
the same order as at first. New and full moon would have fallen
invariably on the same day of the month, and of the year and the
endless variety we now experience in this respect would have been
replaced by perfect uniformity.
Such a plan would have been, in some respects, convenient to mankind,
and would have made the arrangement of the calendar an exceedingly
simple matter, instead as it is, a most complex and difficult one. But
it would have been adapted to the measurements of short periods of time
only, and would have afforded no standards for longer intervals.
The arrangement actually adopted on the other hand, while it creates
some difficulty in the exact and uniform adjustment of days and months,
to years, gives rise to an infinite variety of cycles, or circles of
change and harmony, which enable the soli-lunar clock to measure out
the revolutions of ages, by standards, varying in length from three
years to over a thousand years.
Of these cycles we shall have much to say presently; and it must be
distinctly borne in mind, that it is not in connection with them alone,
that we employ soli-lunar reckoning, hut that our ordinary computation
of time is soli-lunar. Our calendar is neither purely solar-regulated
by the sun alone; nor is it wholly lunar-regulated by the moon alone;
but it is soli-lunar-regulated by both, adapted to the motions of both
sun and moon.
As this soli-lunar reckoning of time is fundamental to our present
investigation, it will not be out of place to dwell a little more fully
on the subject of
THE CALENDAR AND ITS HISTORY.
It is evident that one of the first cares of every civilized or even
partially civilized society, must always have been to establish some
uniform method of reckoning time. Without such a standard of reference,
the administration of public affairs would be impossible, and even the
regulation of the common concerns of every-day life. For the adjustment
of civil and religious ceremonies and institutions, for the fixing of
the proper periods for seed-time and harvest, and for the transmission
to later generations, of the dates of events worthy of remembrance, a
well-regulated calendar is a matter of the utmost importance..
A moment’s reflection will show the difficulty which must attend every
attempt to construct a calendar, practically adapted to the wants of
mankind, out of elements so inharmonious as the natural day, month, and
year.
The day, measured by the revolutions of the earth on her axis, and
marked by the apparent diurnal revolution of the entire
heavens,-contains twenty-four hours, and is the fundamental measure of
time.
The month, or interval between one new moon and another, occasioned by
the moon’s revolution in her orbit, contains 29 days 12 hours 44
minutes and 3 seconds.
The year, or apparent course of the sun round the earth, from any given
point in his orbit, to the same point again, occupies 12 months 10 days
21 hours, or 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 49 seconds.
How many days make a month? How many months make a year? In either case
the answer involves a fraction, and the fraction involves more
practical difficulty, than can be easily conceived by the uninitiated.
Before observations were as accurate and information as full, or
experience as great, as they now are, it is easy to understand that the
ancients would grapple boldly with a difficulty which to them may have
appeared slight Twenty-nine or 30 days to the month, and 12 months to
the year, was a fair approximation to actual facts, and would be
supposed to, be sufficiently near the mark. But the very purposes aimed
at in the use of a calendar, would quickly be defeated by the
employment of so inaccurate a one as this. It would for a time agree
pretty well with the course of the moon; but each year it would get
more and more out of harmony with the true course of the sun, by eleven
days. Now as the seasons are regulated by the course of the sun, it is
evident that practical confusions, and irregularities of a most
embarrassing kind, would quickly arise. For supposing it to have been
settled at any time, that the new year should begin in the spring,
sixteen years afterwards, new year’s day would fall in the autumn, and
in thirty-three years it would have worked its way all through the
seasons, back to spring again..
Intercalation, or the insertion of days at certain junctures, was the
remedy employed to meet this difficulty; but it was an uncertain,
awkward, and imperfect remedy. About the time of the Christian era, it
was felt that a reformation of the calendar was urgently needed. Julius
Caesar, calling to his aid the most eminent mathematicians of his time,
attempted the task. A careful consideration of the elements of the
problem proved, that no satisfactory solution could be found, which did
not make the sun’s annual course the principal measure and adapt to it
the months and days. He therefore made the year to consist of 365 days
for three years successively, and of 366 every fourth year, in order to
take in the odd six hours.
This reformation was made BC 45, of the year of Rome 708. The beginning
of the year was fixed to the 1st of January; and the months were made
to consist of 30 and 31 days alternately, with the exception of
February, which in ordinary years had only 28 days, but in the fourth
year, when the new day arising from the odd six hours was added to it,
29 days.
This Julian calendar, though superior to any that had preceded it, was
still far from perfect, for the odd six hours is not actually six full
hours, but 5 hours 48 minutes and 49 seconds as we have said: so that
the year of the Julian calendar exceeded the true solar year by 11
minutes and 11 seconds.
This difference amounts in r 30 years to an entire day, and in process
of time throws the whole seasons again out of course. In the 16th
century the vernal equinox, which had by the Council of Nice in A.D.
325 been fixed to the 21st of March was found to happen instead on the
11th of that month, the error having, in the intervening period,
accumulated to the extent of ten days.
The present and prospective inconvenience of this state of things was
represented to the Councils of Constance and Lateran, by Cardinals
Ailli and Cusa, and attempts to remedy it were proposed and discussed.
Pope Sixtus IV., in the year 1474, called to Rome the celebrated
mathematician Regiomontanus, and bestowed on him the Archbishopric of
Ratisbon, that through his aid he might accomplish the required fresh
reformation of the calendar. The premature death of the mathematical
archbishop, disappointed however the project, and nothing was done for
another century. Then Pope Gregory XIII., after consulting
mathematicians, and obtaining the consent of the various princes of
Christendom, to a plan submitted to him by the astronomer Luilius,
called a council of the most learned prelates to consider the question,
and having with their concurrence decided it, he published a brief in
March, 1582, abrogating the Julian reckoning, and substituting for it
the Gregorian calendar which we now employ.
By this alteration, or "new style," the ten days which the civil year
had gained on the true solar year, were deducted from the month of
October of the year 1582, the equinox being thus brought back to the
21st of March, as it had been settled by the Nicene Council; and in
order to prevent a recurrence of the irregularity, it was ordered, that
instead of every 100th year being a leap year, as by the old style,
only every 400th year should be such, and the rest be considered as
common years. As a day had been gained by the former method every
hundred and thirty years, or about three days in four hundred years,
the omission of three leap years every four centuries, would evidently
nearly rectify the defect. A much more difficult matter was to adjust
the lunar to the solar year, and to settle the time for the observance
of Easter and other move-able feasts.
It was ordered the Council of Nice, that Easter should be celebrated on
the first Sunday after the first full-moon, next following the vernal
equinox. In order that this rule might be properly observed, it was
needful to know the days when the full moon would happen, in any given
year. This however it was extremely difficult to ascertain : for the
nineteen-years’ cycle discovered by the Greek philosopher Meton, which
nearly. harmonizes the movements of sun and moon, and brings the days
of new and full moons back to the same days of the year, was found to
be too long by an hour and thirty-two minutes (Julian year measure).
After sixteen Metonic or lunar cycles the true phases of the moon would
precede those shown in the calendar by a whole day.
At the time of the Gregorian reformation, the error occasioned by this
means amounted to four days; had the old calendar still been followed,
it would in time have announced full moon, at the time of change, and
Easter would consequently have been celebrated at a period, exactly
opposite to that commanded by the Church. By an ingenious device,
Luilius, the astronomer employed by Gregory XIII. in this intricate
business, succeeded in arranging a plan by which the period of the new
moon may be ascertained for any month of any year.
He rejected the "Golden numbers" formerly employed for the purpose, and
made use of Epacts in their stead.
The Epact is the moon’s age at the end of the year. If for example the
new moon occurs in a given year on new year’s day, we should say there
was no epact that year. But as twelve lunations (or lunar months) are
completed in 354 days and the year is over 365 days, it is evident that
on the second new year’s day, the moon would already be eleven days
old, while by. the third, she would be twenty-two, or have twenty-two
days’ epact, and by the fourth thirty-three. But as the time of the
entire lunation is never more than 29 days and a half, the epact cannot
possibly exceed thirty. In the latter case, therefore, thirty must be
subtracted, and at the beginning of the fourth year the epact would
only be three. By observing this rule through a period of i 9 years,
the epacts would stand in the following order :-
0, 11, 22, 3, 14, 25, 6, 17, 28, 9, 20, 1, 12, 23, 4, 15, 26, 7, 18.
As in sixteen lunar cycles, or 304 years, the slight error of that
cycle amounts to an entire day, these numbers have then to be increased
by unity, and for the second period of 304 years will stand in the
order, 1, 12, 23, 4, 15, 26, 7, 18, 29, 10, etc.
Gregory XIII. ordered all ecclesiastics tinder his jurisdiction to
conform to the new method of reckoning, and exhorted all Christian
princes to adopt it in their dominions. The Catholic nations did so at
once, the Protestant nations refused to for a time. But the difference
between the "old" and new style, as the Julian and Gregorian accounts
were called, occasioned so much confusion in the commercial affairs of
the different states of Europe, that by degrees popular prejudice
against the change was overcome even in Protestant countries, and in
1752, the new style was by Act of Parliament adopted even in England. A
century having elapsed, instead of cancelling ten days as the Pope had
done, eleven days were ordered to be left out of the month of
September, and accordingly on the second of that month the old style
ceased, and the next day instead of being called the third, was called
the fourteenth. Russia still retains the old style.
This Gregorian calendar is practically correct for a very long period;
it is not absolutely so, and it would probably be impossible to arrange
a calendar that should be theoretically perfect for all time, but it is
so accurately adjusted to actual solar and lunar movements, as to be
free from the error of a day in some thousands of years. A better plan
had been previously proposed which seems to have been unknown to
Gregory XIII. Herschel says: "A rule proposed by Omar, a Persian
astronomer of the court of Gelaleddin Melek Schab, in A.D. 1079 (or
more than five centuries before the reformation of Gregory) deserves
notice. It consists in interpolating a day, as in- the Julian system,
every fourth year, only postponing to the 33rd year the intercalation,
which on that system would be made on the 32nd. This is equivalent to
omitting the Julian intercalation altogether in each 128th year
(retaining all the others). To produce an accumulated error of a day on
this system, - would require a lapse of 5000 years. So that the Persian
astronomer’s rule is not only far more simple but materially more exact
than the Gregorian."
CHAPTER III.
CYCLICAL CHARACTER OF THE PROPHETIC PERIODS OF DANIEL AND THE
APOCALYPSE. DISCOVERIES OF M.. DE CHESEAUX.
THE perplexities and difficulties which encumber the all tempt to
adapt brief periods of time to both solar and lunar movements, as in
the calendar, disappear, directly it is a question of longer intervals.
Short periods have to be artificially harmonized, longer ones harmonize
themselves. There exist various times and seasons, which are naturally
measurable both by solar years, and lunar months, without remainder, or
with remainders so small as to be unimportant.
Such periods are therefore SOLI-LUNAR CYCLES, and we shall henceforth
speak of them as such. They harmonize with more or less exactness solar
and lunar revolutions, and they may be regarded as divinely appointed
units for the measurement of long periods of time, units of precisely
the same character as the day, month, and year, (that is created by
solar, lunar, and terrestrial revolutions) but of larger dimensions.
They are therefore periods distinctly marked off as such, on the same
principles as those on which our calendar is based, that is they are
natural measures of time, furnished by the Creator Himself for human
use.
The lunar cycle of nineteen years employed by the Greeks is one of
these periods, and the ancient cycle of Calippus is another. Their
discovery has always been an object with astronomers, as their
practical utility is considerable. But it was exceedingly difficult to
find cycles of any tolerable accuracy, especially cycles combining and
harmonizing the day, and the month, with the year.
About the middle of last century a remarkable fact was discovered by a
Swiss astronomer M.de Cheseaux, a fact which is full of the deepest
interest to the Christian mind, and which has never received either at
the hands of the Church or of the world, the attention that it merits.
The prophetic periods of 1260 years and 2300 years, assigned in the
Book of Daniel and in the Apocalypse, as the duration of certain
predicted events, are such soli-lunar cycles, cycles of remarkable
perfection and accuracy, but whose existence was entirely unknown to
astronomers, until, guided by sacred Scripture, M.. de Cheseaux
discovered and demonstrated them to be such. And further, the
difference between these two periods, which is 1040 years, is the
largest accurate soli-lunar cycle known.
The importance of this discovery, and the fact that it is exceedingly
little known, must be our apology for entering into a somewhat full
account of the matter here. It is besides vital to our own more
immediate subject, and was indeed the means of leading us to the
present investigation.
M..de Cheseaux’s book is out of print, difficult to procure and even to
consult. A copy of it exists in the library of the University of
Lausanne, and another in the British Museum. It is entitled
"Mémoires posthumes de M. de Cheseaux" and was edited and
published by his sons, in 1754. It contains "Remarques historiques,
chronologiques, et astronomiques, sur quelques endroits du livre de
Daniel." The calculations of the astronomical part, were submitted to
Messrs. Mairan and Cassini, celebrated astronomers of the Royal Academy
of Sciences at Paris, neither of whom called in question the accuracy
of M. de Cheseaux’s principles, or the correctness of his results. M.
Mairan, after having carefully read his essay, said that "it was
impossible to doubt the facts and discoveries it contained; but that he
could not conceive how or why they had come to be embodied so
distinctly in the Holy Scriptures." M. Cassini wrote, after having read
the treatise and worked the problems, that the methods of calculating
the solar and lunar positions and movements, which M. de Cheseaux had
deduced from the cycles of the Book of Daniel, were most clear, and
perfectly consistent with the most exact astronomy;" he wished the
essay to be read before the Academy.
M.de Cheseaux was engaged in some chronological researches, and in
order to fix with certainty the date of the Crucifixion, he was led to
examine certain parts of Scripture, and especially the Book of Daniel.
The first portion of his essay is purely chronological, and unimportant
to our subject, we may say, however, that he clearly perceived that the
" time times and a half-" of Dan. vii. meant a period of 1260 years.
"The importance of this conclusion and of some of the foregoing
principles," he adds, "will be perceived, when we show how it led to a
discovery of the singular relation which exists between this period of
Daniel, and the facts of astronomy. However strange it may seem, I can
positively deduce from the periods of Daniel, as accurately as by the
best astronomical methods, and even more so, the five elements of the
solar theory."
He goes on to explain what a cycle is: "a period which brings into
harmony different celestial revolutions, containing a certain definite
number of each, without remainder or fraction," and he shows that there
are four different kinds of cycles connected with the sun, moon, and
earth.
1. Those harmonizing the solar day and year.
2. Those harmonizing the solar year and lunar month.
3. Those harmonizing the solar day and lunar month.
4. Those harmonizing all three, day, month, and year.
M. de Cheseaux adds," the discovery of such cycles has always been a
great object with astronomers and chronologists. They have considered
it so difficult a matter, that they have almost laid it down as a
principle that it is impossible, at any rate as regards those of the
fourth class. Till now, the discovery of a cycle of this kind has been
to astronomers,-like perpetual motion to mechanicians,-a sort of
philosopher’s stone. Anxious to settle whether the thing were really
impossible, I began some time ago to try for a cycle of the second
kind."
M. de Cheseaux then describes the process by which he was led to the
discovery that 315 years is such a soli-lunar cycle, ten times more
exact than the nineteen years Metonic cycle in use by the ancients; the
sun and moon coming after a lapse of that period, to within three hours
twenty-four seconds of absolute agreement: and he proceeds,- "I had no
sooner discovered this cycle, than I observed that it was a quarter of
the 1260 years of Daniel and the Apocalypse, and that consequently,
this period is itself a soli-lunar cycle;" after which the sun and moon
return, within less than half a degree, to the same point of the
ecliptic precisely, and that within an hour of each other.
"The relation of this period, assigned by the Holy Spirit as the limit
of certain political events, to the most notable movements of the
heavenly bodies, made me think it might be the same with the 2300
years. By the aid of the astronomic tables I examined this latter, and
found that at the end of 2300 Gregorian years, minus six hours fourteen
seconds, the sun and the moon return to within half a degree of the
place from which they started, and that an hour later the sun has
reached its exact starting point on the ecliptic: whence it follows
that the prophetic period of 2300 years, is a cyclical period (also
remarkable for the number of its aliquot parts, and for containing a
complete number of cycles) and one so perfect, that though it is thirty
times longer than the celebrated cycle of Calippus, it has an error of
only thirteen hours, a seventeenth part of the error of that ancient
cycle.
"The exact similarity of the error of these two cycles of 1260 and 2300
years, made me soon conclude that the difference between them, 1040
years, ought to be a perfect cycle, free from all error; and all the
more remarkable as uniting the three kinds of cycles, and furnishing
consequently a cycle of that fourth kind, so long sought in vain, and
finally concluded to be chimerical, impossible to find.
"On examination of this period of 1040 years by the best modem
astronomic tables I found that it was even so. Its error is absolutely
imperceptible, in so long a period, and may indeed be accounted for by
errors in the tables themselves, owing to the inaccuracy of some of the
ancient observations on which they are founded..
"This period of 1040 years, indicated indirectly by the Holy Ghost, is
a cycle at once solar, lunar, and diurnal or terrestrial of the most
perfect accuracy. I subsequently discovered two singular confirmations
of this fact, which I will explain presently, when I have adduced all
my purely astronomic proofs; may I in the meantime be- permitted to
give to this new cycle, the name of THE DANIEL CYCLE."
M. de Cheseaux then goes into full astronomic detail, of a kind that
would fail to interest our readers, though proving the very remarkable
nature of this cycle: and he subsequently continues, "As I before said,
a cycle of this kind had long been sought in vain; no astronomer or
chronologist, had been able to light upon one for nineteen centuries;
and yet for two thousand three hundred years, there it has been,
written in characters legible enough, in the Book of Daniel: legible,
that is, to him who was willing to take the trouble of comparing the
great prophetic periods, with the movements of the heavenly bodies; in
other words, to him, who compared the book of nature with the book of
revelation."
"The slightest error, even of a few seconds, in -the determination of
the true length of the solar year, would remove altogether from these
numbers, their cyclical character. Only the perfection of modern
astronomical instruments in fact, can demonstrate it at all. So that we
have the problem, How did Daniel, or the author of the Book of Daniel,
whoever he was (if, as some assert, the prophecy is of a later date
than Daniel), light upon these undiscoverable and undiscovered, yet
excessively accurate celestial cycles, at a time when there were no
instruments in existence capable of measuring solar revolutions with
sufficient accuracy, to reveal the cyclical character of the periods?"
M. de Cheseaux adds, "I must close with one observation. For many ages
the Book of Daniel, and especially these passages of it, have been
quoted and commented on by numerous and varied authors, so that it is
impossible for a moment to call in question their antiquity. Who can
have taught their author the marvellous relation of the periods he
selected with soli-lunar revolutions? Is it possible, considering all
these points, to fail to recognise in the Author of the Book of Daniel,
the Creator of the heavens and all their hosts, of the earth and the
things that are therein?"
In a subsequent portion of his dissertation, M. de Cheseaux shows that
not only can the five solar elements be deduced from the data in
Daniel, but also the lunar. He compared his theoretic results with the
observations recorded by the ancient astronomers Hipparchus and
Ptolemy. Calculating forward first, he finds that the mean new moon of
the vernal equinox of A.D. 1879 will, at Alexandria in Egypt, occur at
11 43 p.m. on the 10th of March (O.S.). He then applies this cycle of
1040 years, and reckons backwards. Two such cycles, equal to 2080
years, from the above date, carry back to 11 43 p.m. of March 26, B.C.
202 (i.e., sixteen days later than March 10, reckoning by Julian
calendar).
Now according to the tables of Hipparchus and Ptolemy the new moon of
the vernal equinox that year, did at Alexandria fall on the 26th of
March, at 11.39 p.m., not quite five minutes earlier than, by the
cyclical calculation, it should have fallen! M. de Cheseaux adds, "I
leave it to others to judge whether a slight difference such as this,
may not well be attributed to the inevitable errors of the best ancient
observations."
In his second dissertation this astronomer deduces the true size and
figure of the earth, from these same cycles, and works by means of them
some thirty or forty elaborate astronomical and geographical problems.
Such were M. de Cheseaux’s discoveries; and they are of the deepest
interest and importance, as manifesting, in a new light, the wisdom and
glory of God in connection with his holy word. That the ancient prophet
Daniel twenty-five centuries ago, and "the disciple whom Jesus loved"
eighteen centuries ago, should both have incorporated in their
mysterious books of symbolic prophecy, as the chronological limits of
certain most important events, periods of time, which the accurate
researches of modern science have proved to be cycles formed by vast,
complex, long-enduring movements of the heavenly bodies, seems a
marvellous fact, a fact to be accounted for only by the Divine
inspiration under which these holy men of old wrote.
For it is certain, and none can dispute it, that these periods are
accurate celestial cycles : it is equally certain, and few will be
inclined to question it, that neither Daniel, nor Jan, the fisherman of
the Sea of Galilee, were able to calculate these cycles, or were even
aware of their existence. Had they been in intercourse with the first
astronomers of their day, or even had they been themselves astronomers
of the highest attainments, it would have been impossible for them in
the then existing state of astronomic science, to have observed the
cyclical character of these periods. There was no such exact knowledge
of either the true length of the solar year, or lunar month, as would
have made the discovery of these cycles possible. In Daniel’s day even
the Metonic or lunar cycle was unknown, and these larger but similar
cycles, were as a matter of fact, discovered only last century.
It was therefore certainly not as moved by their own intelligence, that
the sacred writers selected these periods; and if they were not moved
by Divine inspiration, how is the fact of their use of them to be
accounted for? Could it be by chance-by accident-that to certain
supremely important series of events, were assigned as the period of
their duration, these cyclical periods?
Such an explanation of the fact, would be improbable to the last
degree. Nothing but an unwillingness to admit the miracle of
inspiration, could lead to its being suggested as an alternative. It
would be an unsatisfactory account of the matter had there been one
single cycle only, so employed, and the fact that there are three;
makes it wholly inadmissible. But there are more, and even many such
proofs, of the use in Scripture by writers ignorant of astronomy, of
periods marked out distinctly as cycles, by the less obvious
revolutions of the heavenly bodies. This fact, which has we believe
never before been demonstrated, is of such importance as enhancing the
evidence of the inspiration of Scripture, as to deserve the most
careful consideration..
In the following chapters we shall endeavour to unfold the further
multiplied, and most remarkable links of connection which we have
ourselves discovered, between the chronology of Scripture, historic and
prophetic, and the cycles of soli-lunar revolution.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PROPHETIC TIMES AND THEIR EPACTS.
PROPHECY, which occupies about a third of the Bible, threw its light
beforehand, as we have seen, on all the events of importance which were
to befall the typical and the antitypical Israels, and the empires,
nations, and powers with which in the course of their long earthly
histories they were to be brought more especially into contact. One
large group ot prophecies range themselves around the rise of the
Jewish people, and a similar group clusters around its fall. The
majority of these sacred predictions have in them, no chronological
element, but in several, statements of time are embodied. The
predictions we have now to pass in review, are the chronological
prophecies, delivered about the time of the fall of the Jewish nation,
by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel Some of these prophecies are literal,
and some symbolic. In the literal predictions, the chronological
statements are made in plain terms, while in the symbolic, they are
expressed on the year-day system, in harmony with the nature of the
prophecy. The former generally relate to events near at hand, and were
given for the benefit of the generation which received them, or of the
immediately succeeding generations, while the latter foretell a remote
future, and were given, less for the benefit of the men of that age,
than for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come:
To the prophet who was privileged to receive these wonderful Divine
revelations of the future, and to behold in vision mystic symbols of
events to take place in the time of the end, it was said concerning
them, "Thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to
the time of the end;" and to others, as well as to this greatest of all
chronological prophets, "it was revealed, that not unto themselves but
unto us, they did minister" in their prophecies concerning the
"sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow." These
mystic revelations were not designed to be fully understood until after
the lapse of ages, when the fulfilment of a portion should have thrown
light on the meaning of the remainder, hence they were given in
symbolic language, and their chronology expressed on the year-day
system.
In this second class of prophecies are comprised Daniel’s predictions
as to the duration of the restored Jewish polity after the Babylonish
captivity; the period to elapse before the advent and death of Messiah
the prince, and the subsequent destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans,
the rejection of the Jewish people, and desolation of their Sanctuary;
the long course of the times of the Gentiles, with the events marking
the close of that great dispensation; the resurrection of the dead; and
the final blessedness of the righteous.
Thus, from the time of the prophet Daniel, right on over the first and
second advents of Christ, and over all the intervening events, these
far-reaching and majestic prophecies throw their Divine light, showing
both the close of the Jewish economy, and the end of the Christian
dispensation, and fixing beforehand, in mystic terms, the chronological
limits of both.
They were not given for the wicked to understand, but for "the wise" to
ponder in their hearts, and at the time of the end, when knowledge
should be increased, to comprehend with ever growing clearness.
The predictions of the first, or literal class, which we shall have to
consider are,-
1. That recorded in #Is 7:8; the "sixty and five years" foretold by the
prophet, as to end in the cutting off of Israel’s national existence by
their Assyrian conquerors.
2. That given in #Jer 25:2; and #Jer 29:10; the "seventy years" twice
predicted as the predetermined duration of that Babylonish captivity
which was sent upon Judah as a punishment for sin.
The "thousand years" of the millennial reign of Christ. #Rev 20
Those of the second, or symbolic class, which must pass under our
review, are,-
1. The "seventy weeks," or 490 years, foretold by Daniel as the
interval destined to elapse between the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the
advent and atoning work of the Messiah. #Dan 9.
2. The 2300 years, similarly predicted as the long extended period
which would elapse before the final cleansing of the Sanctuary. #Dan 8.
3. The 1260 years predicted domination of the little horn, which is the
assigned duration of other events also. This period is the base of
several others. It is a half week; "time times and a half" so we must
consider the week of which it is half, the "seven times" or 2520 years
of Gentile dominion and it receives in Dan. xii. two additions, of 30
and 45 years, so it must be studied both alone, and with its addenda,
i.e., as 1290 and 1335 years. It is indeed the most important of these
symbolic periods, and will repay the fullest investigation.
The periods we have to consider are therefore the following
65 years. #Isa 7:8. 70 #Jer 25:11. 490 #Dan 9. 2300 #Dan 8. 1260 #Dan
7. 2520 #Dan 9. 1290 #Dan 11. 1335 30 45 2595 1000 #Rev 20.
A little consideration will show a variety of beautiful and harmonious
relations between these apparently dissimilar and incongruous periods.
They are all proportionate parts of a great week of millenaries, and
fit into each other, and into a framework of 7000 years, in a way that
proves almost to demonstration, that they were designed so to do.
The 70 years pf the Captivity may be regarded as a day; the 490 years
of the restoration is then a week of such days; the 1260 years of the
dominion of the little horn, is eighteen such days; the 2520 years of
the times of the Gentiles is thirty-six such days (a tenth of 360 or a
year of such days) and the 2300 years to the cleansing of the Sanctuary
is a third of the Whole period, the nearest third of seven millenaries,
possible in centuries.
Of all these periods the root is evidently the week of years, the seven
years which, under the Levitical economy, extended from one sabbatic
year to another.
The 70 years during which the Babylonish Captivity was appointed to
endure, were 10 such weeks, and the 490 years of the restored Judaism .
The little horn was to reign 180 such weeks, and the "Times of the
Gentiles" to extend over 360, or an entire year of such weeks, while
the whole period of seven millenaries contains 1000 such weeks.
It must be remembered also that the Jubilee period established under
the law of Moses, was seven such weeks, or 49 years; so that the period
of restored Judaism to the time of Messiah the Prince, was a tenfold
Jubilee, or 490 years.
It should further be noted, that the two principal of these periods,
the 2520 years, and the 2300 years, relate respectively the one to the
THRONE, and the other to the SANCTUARY; the first embracing the whole
period of Gentile rule, from the conquest of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar to
the establishment of the kingdom of Christ, the true son of David; and
the other extending from the time of the Medo-Persian kingdoms to the
final cleansing of the Sanctuary, when Jerusalem ceases to be trodden
down of the Gentiles, the Times of the Gentiles being fulfilled. The
one is thus civil, and the other sacred, in character.
Harmonious and deeply significant mutual relations subsist therefore
among these periods, and between them and the legal and ceremonial
times established under the Mosaic economy. It remains to show that
they are connected also with other periods of Jewish history, and that
though they are not all soli-lunar cycles, they form a series of
septiform soli-lunar periods, and that, of so marked and accurate
character, as to preclude all thought of accidental coincidence, and to
declare with unmistakable clearness the Creator’s plan.
We proceed to consider them in detail.
THE SIXTY-FIVE YEARS OF #ISA 7:8.
Chronological prophecy has always been given, not for seasons of
prosperity, but for seasons of trouble and adversity: for nearly a
thousand years,-ever since the prediction of Israel’s forty years’
wandering in the wilderness, it had been discontinued in Israel, when
it was renewed shortly before the first captivity of the ten tribes,
and continued at intervals during two centuries, up to the time of the
last of Daniel’s visions, and the restoration of Judah from Babylon.
In the year of the death of Uzziah,-the profane and presumptuous
monarch who intruded into the Holiest, and was struck with leprosy in
consequence,-there was granted to Isaiah the prophet a vision of the
God of glory; a vision of Christ the Lord, enthroned in heaven and
adored, as the thrice Holy One, by the Seraphim.
The pollution and approaching rejection and desolation of Israel were
also shown to him, and the future restoration of a remnant. This vision
was immediately prior to the commencement of the "Times of the
Gentiles," for it was given in the year of Uzziah’s death; and early in
the reign of his grandson Ahaz, there was revealed to Isaiah the exact
measures of the brief period that should elapse, before the
commencement of the Captivity of Israel; "within sixty and five years
shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people" (#Isa 7:8).
Called to his sacred office, and cleansed for it by a live coal from
the altar applied to his lips, at this solemnly momentous crisis in the
history of Israel, on the very verge of their incipient rejection by
God, as his people, Isaiah was constituted the evangelical prophet.
He was commissioned to unfold the rejection and death of Messiah, the
call of the Gentiles, and the final restoration of Israel. Through him,
living as he did just before their incipient commencement, was revealed
the general nature of the "Times of the Gentiles;" while to Daniel,
living at their full commencement about a hundred and fifty years
later, was revealed their duration, together with a multitude of
important events, destined to take place during their course.
This first of the Captivity series of chronologic prophecies foretold
the overthrow of the ten tribes only.
It dates from a well-marked epoch; a certain confederacy of the king of
Syria, with Pekah king of Israel, and their joint invasion of Judah
(B.C. 741).
This attack of the hostile allies, struck terror into the heart of Ahaz
king of Judah, and into the hearts of his people; "their hearts were
moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind" (#Isa 7:2); and
it was then that Isaiah the prophet was sent, to announce to the
trembling king of Judah, as a message from Jehovah, the approaching
downfall of one of his enemies. " Within sixty and five years shall
Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people."
This prediction received its fulfilment, in two stages. Shalmanezer,
king of Assyria, came up against Samaria in the reign of Hoshea (B.C.
723) and after a siege of three years, took the city, carried Israel
away into Assyria, placed them in Halah and Tabor and other cities, and
located colonies of Assyrians in the cities of Samaria, in their room.
Subsequently, in 676 B.C., Esarhaddon the son of Sennacherib completed
the work thus begun-carried away the remaining Israelites, replacing
them by fresh parties of Assyrian colonists (from whom the Samaritans,
with whom "the Jews have no dealings," sprung), and completing the
destruction of Ephraim.
This period of sixty-five years stands chronologically thus,-
B.C. 741.SIXTY-FIVE YEARS TO EPHRAIM’S FALL B.C. 676.
It comprised the period of the fall of the ten tribes, as distinguished
from that of Judah; and its close synchronized with the commencement of
Judah’s captivities. It formed the gateway, so to speak, of the great
seven times of Jewish desolation, for this completion of the judgment
on the ten tribes, was quickly followed by the Babylonish captivity,
and the total subjection of the entire Jewish nation to Gentile rule.
Now this period of sixty-five years, is not a soli-lunar cycle, but the
solar gain on the lunar year during its course, is a septiform period,
seven hundred and seven days.
SEVENTY YEARS.
By the mouth of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, the Lord foretold a
seventy years’ captivity in Babylon, as the punishment shortly to
overtake JUDAH for their long-continued sins of idolatry and obstinate
rebellion against God. (#Jer 25:8-12.)
Unlike the judgment denounced against the ten tribes, to which no
promise of speedy restoration was attached, a return to their own land
was distinctly promised to Judah, at the expiration of this seventy
years.
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the
Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and
against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them,
and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual
desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the
voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the
bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And
this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these
nations shall serve the king of Babylon SEVENTY YEARS. And it shall
come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished; that I will punish
the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their
iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual
desolations" (#Jer 25:8-12).
Towards the close of the captivity thus foretold, Daniel says, "In the
first year of Darius . . . I Daniel understood by books the number of
the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet,
that lie would accomplish SEVENTY YEARS in the desolations of
Jerusalem."
Now this period of seventy years, is a remarkable one in many ways. It
extends from the first destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (#2Ki
24:10; and #Jer 25:1), to the Edict of Cyrus for the return of the
Jews, and the rebuilding of the temple (#Ezra 1:2), that is to say,
from B.C. 605 to the end of B.C. 536.
Its relation to the entire course of the history of the Babylonian
Empire, and its chronological position in that history, must first be
noted. The duration of that empire, dating from the era of Nabonassar
(which is its own era), to the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, which
preceded the restoration of the Jews, was 210 years; from B.C. 747 to
B.C. 538.
Now 210 years, is three times seventy years; and the seventy years
during which the captive Jews hung their harps upon the willows, and
sat down and wept by the rivers of Babylon, almost exactly coincided
with the closing third of the existence of the empire. In the year B.C.
538, Babylon fell, Darius the Median took the kingdom (#Dan 5:3), and
the great Medo-Persian Empire succeeded the Babylonian.
This period of 210 years, is also seven prophetic months (30 x 7 210)
50 that the typical Babylon lasted seven such months, and the
antitypical Babylon is twice over in the Apocalypse said to last six
times seven-forty and two-such months. This is the period during which
the symbolic holy city and temple court, are trodden under foot (#Rev
11:2) and the period of the Beast (#Rev 13).
Seventy years was the life-time of the great king and sweet Psalmist of
Israel, "David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned forty years" (#1Sa 5:4). Moses the man of God, declares it to
be the normal measure of human life, "The days of our years are
threescore years and ten;" and it is, as we have seen, the day of which
other prophetic periods are multiples.
It is also ten times the sabbatic week of years, and indeed the
Captivity may be regarded as a larger form of that week, during which
the land, as God by Moses had threatened it should do, lay desolate and
enjoyed its Sabbaths.
Now this period, is astronomically, a soli-lunar cycle, in which the
solar year gains on the calendar lunar year of 360 days, one entire
year.
THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF #DAN 11.
When the seventy years of the Babylonish Captivity were nearly over,
Daniel, "understanding by books" (the books of the prophet Jeremiah)
that they must be well-nigh ended, gave himself to earnest supplication
for his people, and about the city and Sanctuary, which, after a
life-time of honourable exile, were still dear to his heart.
As David, when God had revealed to him his purposes of grace respecting
his seed, cried, "0 Lord God, the word that Thou hast spoken, establish
it for ever, and do as Thou hast said!" so Daniel, when he understood
God’s intention quickly to terminate the long captivity of the Jews,
began to pray for the accomplishment of his purpose. What a lesson,
that a knowledge of the purposes of God, so far from leading to a
fatalistic carelessness about their accomplishment, should lead to
earnest, believing, hopeful, supplication!
"Cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary! Behold the city that is
called by Thy name! Defer not, O my God!" so pleaded this "man greatly
beloved," this devout and intelligent student of prophecy, who became
in his turn a prophet, and we may say, the prince of prophets.
While he was speaking in prayer, the answer was given. Gabriel was sent
forth, commissioned to give him further understanding of the counsels
of God, about the city and temple of Jerusalem, and the future fortunes
of the Jewish nation.
Daniel’s mind was full of the just expiring period of seventy years.
Gabriel revealed to him, as determined by God, a new period of "seventy
weeks." "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy
city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to
make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint
the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth
of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the
Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street
shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after
threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut oft; but not for Himself:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and
the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the
end of the war desolations are determined. And He shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week He shall
cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the
overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate [or, upon the
battlements shall be the idols of the desolator], even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the
desolate"[or, desolator]. - #Dan 9:24-27.
From the then approaching command to restore and to build again
Jerusalem, to the coming of Messiah the Prince,-that grand goal of all
Jewish expectations,-was to be "seventy weeks." The event proved they
were to be weeks of years, not of days; the interval was to be a great
week of Captivity periods, a week each of whose days should equal the
seventy years of the Babylonish Captivity in duration. This had
consisted of seventy solar years; the new period was to include seventy
Sabbatic years, 490 years. The reason why the chronology of this
prediction is expressed in symbolic language, though all the rest is
literal, is obvious.
It was needful so to word the prophecy, as to leave the Jews free to
receive or reject Messiah when He should come, for He was not to be
imposed on them against their will. His coming was to be a test: "It
may be they will reverence my Son." Had the interval to the Advent been
in the prophecy clearly defined as 490 years, Israel would not have
been left free to say, as they alas! did, "We will not have this. man
to reign over. us." "He came unto his own, and his own received Him
not," Messiah was, as predicted, cut off, which would hardly have been
possible had the date of his appearance been beyond dispute. It was
essential that the form of the prediction should not compel a
recognition of Jesus of Nazareth: hence the adoption of language which
time alone could interpret. A term of ambiguous meaning, though
suggesting common weeks, was employed, and yet the larger reckoning was
not by it excluded. On the contrary, it was the basis of the
expectation of Messiah’s immediate advent, so prevalent in Jerusalem
when He did appear.
What then is this great period of four hundred and ninety years?
In reply, let it first be noted that it was no new period in the
history of Israel. It was their jubilee of forty-nine years on a larger
scale, a tenfold jubilee measure; and by it, previous chapters in their
history had been regulated. It may be said indeed to be the peculiar
period of the seed of Abram. The first stage of Jewish history from
Abraham to the entrance into Canaan in the days of Joshua, is similarly
a tenfold jubilee, a "seventy weeks," an interval of about 490 years.
This was before actual jubilee reckoning began, for that was ordained
to be from the time "when ye be come into your land." From Joshua’s
conquest of Canaan, B.C. 1585-6, to the commencement of the Jewish
kingdom under Saul (B.C. 1096), was also, as far as can be ascertained,
ten jubilees, or seventy weeks, that is 490 years, the period of the
Judges, and of the prophet Samuel ;-the Theocracy of Israel.
From the accession of Saul, the first king (B.C. 1096), to the capture
of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, in the days of the last king (B.C.
606), there elapsed ten jubilees more, another seventy weeks, or 490
years, the period of independent Jewish monarchy. So that the seventy
weeks from the restoration to Messiah the Prince, was the fourth in a
series of such periods, extending back to the days of Abraham, just as
the seventy years of the Captivity was the third in a series of such
periods, dating from the era of Babylon, the era of Nabonassar. God had
employed both periods, before He announced either. This great period of
490 years is the connecting link between Old and New Testament times.
Its closing portion was the period of the Advent, the atoning death,
and the world redeeming work of the Son of God.
The soli-lunar measures of four hundred and ninety years are as
follows: they contain twenty-five lunar cycles; and the solar gain on
the lunar year in these twenty-five cycles, is twice seven lunar years
and seven months.
There is a slight fractional remainder in years, the epact of which,
added to that of the twenty- five lunar cycles, makes the epact of the
whole 490 years, twice seven solar years and seven months, with a
fractional remainder of about eight days, calculating by the true lunar
and solar years. But calculating by the Julian solar, and calendar
lunar years, the epact or difference is seven calendar lunar years and
seven weeks, without remainder.
We may add, that in 490 years, the equinoxes retrograde seven days.
Their annual retrogression is 20 m. 20 s., which amounts to seven days
(within about two hours) in the" seventy.
THE "TIME TIMES AND A HALF," OR 1260 YEARS. #Dan 7:25.
This is the next link in the chain of chronological prophecy. The
period is mentioned, under different names, seven tunes in Scripture-in
two chapters of Daniel, and three of Revelation.
It is the duration assigned to,
1.The domination of the little horn over the saints . . . . . . . . .
#Dan 7.
2. The closing period of Jewish dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.#Dan 8.
3. The sojourn of the woman in the wilderness . . . . . . . . . . . .
#Rev 12.
4. The same, her flight from the serpent . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.#Rev 12.
5. The treading under foot of the Holy City. . . . . . . . . . . . .
.#Rev 11.
6. The prophesying of the two witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
#Rev 11.
7. The duration of "the Beast," or 8th head of the Roman Empire . . .
#Rev 13.
It is of course evident that 1260 days are the same period as forty and
two months (30 X 42
1260), and that forty and two months are the same period as three years
and a half (42 ÷ 12 = 3 ) and that therefore, on the year-day
principle, this seven times mentioned interval, is one of 1260 literal
years; half of the great week of "seven times," or 2520 years, which
measures the Gentile dispensation.
It is primarily the period of the dominion of the little horn of the
fourth beast of Daniel’s vision. That beast as we know symbolised the
Roman Empire; and the little horn which had eyes and a mouth speaking
great things, and which persecuted and wore out the saints of the Most
High, represents a power which was to arise in the latter days of that
empire, which would be like the other horns a civil and political
power, and unlike them, at the same time, a religious power-
unquestionably the Roman Papal dynasty.
The second symbol, to which the same period is attached is, as we have
seen, the persecuting blasphemous eighth head of the Roman Beast,
described in Revelation xiii. We have already shown that these
represent one and the same power. They both rise in the latter stage of
the Empire; they both speak great words against the Most High; they
both wage war against the saints and overcome them; and they both
endure for this period. There cannot be two such powers, in the same
days of the same Empire; therefore these passages refer to the same
power-the Papacy.
In #Rev 13, a mysterious number is attached to this power, as "the
number of his name," and special attention is called to it. "Here is
wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast,
for it is the number of a man, and his number is sir hundred,
threescore, and six." A trine of sixes,-666.
Now in the Apocalypse especially, the number seven, is, as elsewhere
throughout Scripture, prominent as the sacred number of perfection and
completeness. The contents of the book which it represents as opened by
the Lamb, is contained under seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven
vials- a trine of sevens.
It is in this book that the number of the Beast is thus presented as a
trine of sixes, and the contrast, as well as the intrinsic meaning of
the numeral, intimates, that whatever else it may be, it is a perfect
number of imperfection, or rather a number denoting perfect
imperfection.
As this is the number of the Beast, we may expect to find it in various
shapes in the chronology of the Beast, and in that of his most
conspicuous Old Testament types. And it is there; a fact which has
never before, we believe, been noted, but which is surely full of
solemn importance. God has,-in secret cipher,-engraven this stigma,
this mark of reprobation, on the very brow of the period of the
self-exalting, blaspheming, saint-persecuting, power; and He has
besides, in order that we may not fail to note the contrast, set it in
the midst of a series of periods, whose septiform measures, bring out
its peculiar and evil character.
There is nothing whatever sacred or septiform about this period,
nothing sabbatic, nothing suggestive of rest, or worship, or liberty,
as in the sevenfold sabbatic and jubilee series. Like some sounds in
music, it is a discord, not a harmony; a symbol of what is imperfect
and evil.
1. Twelve hundred and sixty years is, first, as we have seen, eighteen
of the 70-years cycle. It is 6 + 6 + 6 such cycles.
2. And when we examine its lunar cycle measures we find that they
similarly present a trine of sixes, for it is- 66 lunar cycles +6
years. (60 cycles + 6 cycles + 6 years).
Further; in the lunar cycles of this period, the sun’s gain is 66 weeks
of months, and in the 6 years remainder it is 66 days. Sixfold
throughout! a clear link of connection between the number of the Beast
and his period.
3. The dominion of the typical ancient Babylon over the typical Israel,
lasted, as Clinton shows in his Chronology, accurately 66 solar years,
for the remaining years of the Captivity were under the Medo-Persian
power. The dominion of the antitypical modern Babylon, over the
antitypical Israel—over captive Christendom-endures for 66 lunar
cycles, and 6 years.
Another link between the number and the period of the Beast dependent
on great, and apparent utterly disconnected facts, in the realms of
history and astronomy.
4.It has been well said, that "history is prophecy," for all history
has a tendency to repeat itself. But the saying is, peculiarly true of
Old Testament history. As Paul says of various incidents in the
experience of Israel, "All these things happened unto them for
ensamples (tupoi, types), and are written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the world are come" (#1Cor 10:2).
The literal Babylon was, as we have seen, a type of the spiritual
Babylon-the Church of Rome; and the great king of Babylon, the
destroyer of the holy city and temple, the captor of the children of
Judah, who set up a golden image of himself 60 cubits high and 6 broad
on the plains of Dura, and commanded all peoples nations and languages
to fall down and worship it, and cast into a burning fiery furnace the
faithful witnesses who refused-Nebuchadnezzar, who was a very
incarnation of human pride, is a marvellous type of that Papal dynasty
which is symbolised by the "little horn," and by "the beast." The Pope
is the self-exalting monarch of the modern Babylon, who on a far wider
scale commands all nations, and people, and languages, to bow down and
adore him, and condemned to the flames the saints of the Most High, who
refused compliance. The type- portrait is too like to be mistaken; it
has had but one antitype, the man who sits in the temple of God,
showing himself as a God on earth, and claiming the infallibility of
Deity. We ask then what was the period of this remarkably typical
monarch, Nebuchadnezzar?
Josephus tells us it was forty-three years, and the famous astronomical
canon of Ptolemy confirms the statement; as Clinton says, "The reign of
Nebuchadnezzar is forty-three years, in all the copies of the canon of
Ptolemy, and that number of years is also assigned to his reign by
Berosus."
Applying the same standard as before, we look eagerly to see what are
the soli-lunar measures of this singularly typical reign, and again
.the fatal trinity of sixes meets our view! The soli- lunar gain or
epact in forty-three years is sixty-six weeks, and six days. 66 weeks
+6 days.
5. In considering the four hundred and ninety years’ period, we
observed, that whether regarded as consisting of true solar, or
calendar lunar years, it equally afforded septiform results, when
measured by soli-lunar epact. The elements of the calculation being
different, the results are of course different, but both are septiform.
Similarly, with the period now under consideration, we have this true
testimony of two witnesses. The twelve hundred and sixty years, may be
taken either as ,true solar, or as calendar lunar years, the epact
measurement affords in either case, sixfold; not sevenfold, results.
Treating them as true solar and lunar years, they are, as we have seen,
66 lunar cycles and 6 years. Treating them as prophetic, or calendar
years, on the other hand, we find the gain of the true solar year in
the whole period is 6606 days.
There is a very noteworthy circumstance connected with this last
measurement, to which we must direct attention. We have in a previous
chapter spoken of the Reformation of the calendar effected by Pope
Gregory XIII., A.D. 1582. But for the application to the period in
question, of the more accurate measures of the solar year introduced by
this Papal reformation of the calendar, the above results would have
been hidden from view. The use of the old style Julian years throws
them out completely and make the solar gain in the 1260 years 6615
days. This is because the Julian year of 365 days is slightly in excess
of the true solar year, and the error accumulates in this period to
about ten days.
Now it will be remembered that Gregory XIII. cut off ten days from the
year 1582, and commanded Christendom by a special Papal brief to count
the 5th of October of that year as the 15th. In this he legislated back
for 1260 years, thus changing times and laws for "a time, times, and
the dividing of time," in remarkable agreement with the prophecy about
the little horn.
This arose in the following way. The first general- or (Ecumenical
Council, that of Nice, A.D. 325, had legislated with reference to the
time of the observance of Easter. Gregory XIII. assumed this Council as
a starting-point; and as the error of the old Julian year, had, in the
interval which had elapsed since the Council, thrown the vernal equinox
out, by about nine days and a half, he arbitrarily ordained the removal
of ten days from the calendar, at the same time that he introduced
regulations to avoid irregularities in future.
Gregory XIII. died in A.D. 1585, exactly 1260 years after the Council
of Nice, and his reformation of the calendar only came into use three
years before his death, and that only in the Catholic countries which
accepted it as a matter of course; in Protestant Germany and
Switzerland it did not take effect till A.D. 1700, and in England not
till A.D. 1752.
It is a singular coincidence, to say the least of it, that this
chronological legislation, emanating from the Pope who sanctioned and
struck a triumphant medal, in memory 9f the bloody massacre of the
Protestants of France, on St. Bartholomew’s day, should have removed
from a period of 1260 years (dating from the first General Council
following the rise of Imperial Christianity) the accumulated Julian
error which concealed its true epact measures, and that he should thus
have unintentionally uncovered, as attached to it, one more form of the
triple six, so solemnly linking the period with the number of the
Beast.
The downfall of the temporal power of the Papacy is the event marking
the close of this period of 1260 years, just as the rise of the Papacy
marked its beginning; and it is evident that neither of these events
happened in a year, or indeed in a century. "Rome was not built in a
day," it is commonly said; and assuredly the Roman Catholic Church did
not burst full-blown on the world. It rose into power gradually as the
old Roman empire decayed and passed away; it had various marked crises
of rise, and hence its great period of 1260 years, must have analogous
successive termini, earlier and later, exactly as in the case of the
Captivity era. The earliest possible conclusion of the period, is the
epoch of the Reformation. Up to that time the saints had been delivered
into the hand of this persecuting power without exception, and without
appeal, or redress. Then, and thenceforward, a very considerable
portion of Christendom was delivered from its spiritual and temporal
oppression and tyranny. From the Council of Nice to the full end of the
Reformation movement may therefore, perhaps, be regarded as an
initiatory 1260 years.
The chronological legislation of Gregory XIII., took place at the close
of this period, and corrected the error that had accumulated since its
commencement. Sixtus V., who died five years after Gregory (A.D. 1590),
was "the last pope who rendered himself formidable to European courts."
From his time, to the present, Papal power has been passing through its
period of decline and fall just as from the fourth to the end of the
sixth centuries, the system of the apostasy was gradually rising and
developing into the Papacy.
A second and more evident and accurate measurement, is found by dating
the 1260 years from the Edict of Justinian, which constituted the
Bishop of Rome "Ike head of all the Churches," A.D. 533. This date of
the terminus a quo, gives as the terminus ad quem A.D. 1793, the time
of the French Revolution, in the course of which, as we have seen, the
Pope was carried captive from Rome, and the Papal power received a
tremendous shock, from which it never fully rallied.
But the main reckoning of the period is unquestionably between the
chronologic limits A.D. 606 and 1866-70, the former being the date at
which the title of Pope, or universal bishop, was, by the Emperor
Phocas, conferred upon Boniface III., and the latter, that of the
overthrow of Austria and France, and the consequent loss of the last
vestige of temporal power by Pius ix., when Victor Emmanuel moved his
court to the Quirinal, and became sole king of united Italy. Then, and
never quite till then, the Papacy, as a temporal power-a horn -ceased
to exist. As a religion, it is destined to continue till the second
advent of Christ, when the Lord will destroy it "with the brightness of
his coming." The Beast is to be cast alive into the lake of fire, and
therefore to be still in existence at the Epiphany.
To sum up: 1260 years, the foretold and fulfilled period of Papal
domination in Christendom, and of the temporal political. power of the
Popes of Rome, has the following remarkable astronomic measures.
1260 years is 6 + 6 + 6 soli-lunar 70-year cycles; 1260 years is 66
lunar cycles + 6 years. 1260 years have 6606 days of epact.
The 43-years type of the period of the Beast-the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, whose image was 60 cubits high and 6 broad,-has 66
weeks +6 days of epact.
This period is then bound by multiplied links to the number of the
Beast, 666. And it is thus linked by hidden connections, not obvious
ones; by great unobserved soli-lunar cycles, not by months and years of
conspicuous recurrence; linked therefore by. the Hand that upholds the
stars in their courses, by the Providence that orders all the events of
history, and by the Mind that inspired the Apocalypse, and communicated
to the man greatly beloved, the secrets of this "time of the end."
"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world."
THE TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED YEARS (#Dan 8).
"And out of one of them [i.e., one of the four kingdoms into which the
empire of Alexander the Great was divided] came forth a little horn,
which waxed exceeding great, toward the south and toward the east, and
toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of
heaven : and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the
ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the
Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and
the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him
against the daily sacrifice hy reason of transgression, and it cast
down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Then I
heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain
saint which spake, [or to that wonderful numberer], How long shall be
the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the making desolate
[margin], to give both the sanctuary and the host to he trodden under
foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days [or
evening-morning], then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation:
for at the time appointed the end shall be. . . . In the latter time of
their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of
fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall
destroy wonder. fully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall
destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he
shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself
in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up
against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. . .
. Shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days."
In the year 553 B.C., the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, and
about fifteen years before his subjugation by Darius the Mede, there
was granted to Daniel a third great symbolic vision, that of the ram
and the he-goat, affording a fuller glance than the previous one, at
the history of the second and third of the four great monarchies.
Given as it was at a time when the Babylonian Empire and Captivity were
both rapidly drawing to a close, this vision naturally unfolds God’s
providence with regard to Israel and Palestine, under the MEDO-PERSIAN
and GRECIAN empires. The symbols shown to Daniel prefigured their
history with graphic accuracy: the successive rise of the two horns of
the ram, foreshowing the sway of the two dynasties, which were
afterwards merged in the great MEDO-PERSIAN monarchy; the le-goat from
the west,-with his rapid course, great strength, wide dominion, and
notable horn, abruptly broken, in the plenitude of the goat’s power,
and replaced by four notable horns, prefiguring to the life the
locality of origin, the character, the course of conquest, and
subsequent history of the Macedonian or Greek empire of Alexander the
Great, as well as its fourfold division consequent on his premature
death. In twelve brief years that European monarch overran and subdued
all the fairest provinces of Asia; and no sooner had he reached the
zenith of power than he died, and his empire, after a period of
confusion, was divided (subsequently to the battle of Ipsus), among the
four kings, Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander.
From one of these kingdoms, the prophecy foretells that there would
arise in the latter time a little horn which would ultimately wax
"exceeding great," greater apparently than the "notable horn" itself
which is said to wax only "very great."
This "little horn" is evidently a fellow to the "little horn" of the
previous vision, only it rises, not amid the ten kingdoms of the Roman
earth, but from one of the four branches of Alexander’s Greek Empire.
These four were, the SYRIAN kingdom of the Seleucidae, the MACEDONIAN
kingdom of Cassander, the EGYPTIAN kingdom of Ptolemy, and the kingdom
of Lysimachus, which included THRACE, BITHYNIA, and other parts of
Asia. It was from the kingdom of Ptolemy, as we shall see presently,
that this little horn arose. The direction of the early conquests of
this singular power, are distinctly given, "toward the south, toward
the east, and toward the pleasant land." The main features of his
conduct, as described in the vision, are his self-exaltation against
the Prince of princes, his persecution of the saints, his taking away
the daily sacrifice, and defiling the sanctuary, and his casting down
the truth to the ground.
While beholding the vision, Daniel heard the question asked of the
"Wonderful Numberer" who made the revelation (apparently the Lord
Himself), "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice,
and the making desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be
trodden under foot?" And it is in answer to this question, that the
period we are considering is named.
"UNTO TWO THOUSAND AND THREE HUNDRED DAYS, then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed."
Now, as this question was asked and answered before the close of the
Captivity in Babylon, and when therefore the daily sacrifice and the
sanctuary were not in existence, it is clear that this prediction of a
second destruction; supposes a prior restoration.
This predicted period of 2300 years, commences, therefore, at some
point in the time of the restored national existence, and ritual
worship of the Jews, and includes the entire period of their subsequent
dispersion, and of the desolation of the sanctuary:
Its earliest possible starting point is the decree of Artaxerxes to
restore and build Jerusalem; and, reckoned thus, its opening portion is
the "seventy weeks," and its second portion the 1810 years which
follow, and end in A.D. 1844, the terminus of so many prophetic times.
(We previously mentioned that in this desolation period of 1810 years,
the gain of the solar year on the lunar is 666 months.)
An important later starting point is the era of the Seleucid, or the
era of the founder of the great Syrian dynasty which included Antiochus
Epiphanes, the first of the three powers referred to in the prophecy,
as defiling the sanctuary and causing the daily sacrifice to cease.
Reckoned in lunar years from the era of the Seleucid (and it should be
remembered that the long Mohammedan period of desolation which it
includes is measured by lunar years) it terminates in A.D. 1919-20, Or
just 75 years later on, than when reckoned in solar years from the
decree of Artaxerxes. Thus reckoned in solar and in lunar years from
these two most important starting points, it terminates first at the
commencement and then at the close of the last 75 years of the great
"seven times" of prophecy.
The question may occur, if this prophecy embrace the whole period from
the decree of Artaxerxes to the yet future restoration of Israel, why
did the greatest event to take place in the course of those ages,-the
first advent and death of Christ, find no place in the revelation? The
answer seems to be that the all-important coming and death of Messiah
the Prince, and the events immediately subsequent, were to be fully
treated in a revelation devoted entirely to themselves. They are
similarly passed by in total silence, both in the vision of the four
beasts, Chapter vii., and in that of the fourfold image, Chapter ii.,
though all three prophecies end with the second advent, or its
connected events, the restoration of the throne to the seed of David,
and the final cleansing of the sanctuary of Israel.
The place of paramount importance in this prediction, is given to the
career and actings of an Eastern "little horn;" and our knowledge that
the Papacy was the power predicted under the symbol of the Roman or
Western "little horn" affords a clue to the meaning of this sister
symbol.
The whole range of prophecy presents two, and only two, "little horns;"
and the whole range of history presents two, and only two, powers,
which exactly answer to the symbols; powers which, small and
insignificant at first, gradually acquire empire on the ground of
religion, and wax exceeding great by so doing; proudly oppose Christ,
and fiercely persecute his people; repress and exterminate his truth;
enjoy dominion for many long centuries (during which they tread down
Jerusalem, either spiritual or literal), and perish at last under the
judgment of God.
The Papacy does not stand out more distinctly as the great Apostasy of
the West, than does Mohammedanism as the great parallel Apostasy of the
East. The one originated from within the Church, the other from
without; but they rose together in the beginning of the seventh
century; they have run chronologically similar courses; they have both
based their empire on religious pretensions; the one defiled and
trampled down the Church, and the other defiled and trod down
Jerusalem. In their life, they have been companion evils, and in their
death they are not divided; for the one has just expired, politically,
and the power of the other is fast expiring.
The Mohammedan power is, we think, unquestionably the main fulfilment
of this symbol; but it is almost equally clear that it had a precursive
fulfilment, on a smaller scale, in the person and history of ANTIOCHUS
EPIPHANES. His career accords so closely with almost every feature of
the prediction, as to leave little room for doubt that it was intended
by the Holy Spirit, as one subject of the prophecy. For seventeen
centuries all expositors, Jewish and Christian, held that the prophecy
referred to Antiochus. The Books of Maccabees record his career with
great detail, and trace in it, as does Josephus, the fulfilment of the
predictions of this little horn. But Antiochus never waxed "exceeding
great," he never "threw down the place of the sanctuary," though he
took away the daily sacrifice; and he lived too near the time when the
prophecy was given, to be the full and proper fulfilment of it, seeing
it is said of the vision, "it shall be for many days," "at the last end
of the indignation." Besides this, the time of the desolation effected
by Antiochus,-just three years,-does not in anyways or on any system,
correspond with 2300 days; so that we are driven to regard this, as one
of those prophecies, which has undoubtedly had a double fulfilment,
like #Hos 11:1; or #Psa 72. Antiochus was a precursive little horn,
Mohammedanism is the full and proper reality intended by the symbol.
A certain freedom in the construction of terms must be allowed in the
case of all such double predictions, because the Holy Spirit, having
more than one event in view, and selecting for description mainly those
features which are common to both, may also introduce some, peculiar to
the one or to the other.
Antiochus Epiphanes, the Romans, and the Mohammedans, have all taken
part in accomplishing these predicted desolations of Jerusalem. The
first two took away the daily sacrifice, the second cast down the
sanctuary, all three have defiled the place of the sanctuary, and
trodden it under foot, and by the last two especially have the "mighty
and holy people" been "cast down," and "stamped upon," and "destroyed."
But as the Roman power cannot be represented as "a little horn" arising
out of one of the four kingdoms into which Alexander’s empire was
divided (Dan. viii. 9), whereas both Antiochus and Mohammed can, we
conclude that they mainly are referred to in the prediction, and
especially the latter.
It must be borne in mind that no sooner did the Roman Empire cease to
tread down Jerusalem, than the Moslem power began to do so, and has
continued to do so to this day. The utmost efforts of Christendom,
expended in eight different crusades, failed to drive the Moslem out of
the Holy Land; for twelve centuries he has defiled the sanctuary, and
stood up against the Prince of princes, casting down the truth to the
ground, practising and prospering; but it is written that when this
period of 2300 years comes to an end, "he shall be broken without
hand," and "then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
First, then, with reference to the earlier of the two terminations of
the 2300 years already named:
B.C. 457 - 2300 years to the cleansing of the Sanctuary, — AD. 1844,-
Let it be remembered that all great movements have almost imperceptible
commencements, just as great rivers spring from little brooks. Israel’s
restoration and the destruction of Mohammedan rule, i.e. "the cleansing
of the sanctuary," are not events to be accomplished in a day or in a
year, any more than the overthrow of the city and temple and national
existence of the Jewish people, was accomplished in a day or in a year.
From Ephraim’s earliest down to Judah’s latest captivity, a hundred and
sixty-eight years elapsed; and similarly at the restoration, from the
first edict of Cyrus to the second of Artaxerxes, ninety-two years
elapsed.
We need not marvel then to find that this greater restoration, from
this more than thirty times longer dispersion, should apparently be
destined to occupy a period of seventy-five years. In the year 1844,
for the first time since the days of Mohammed, From that date to the
present time, a process of elevation and incipient restoration of
Israel has been going on. It has been so quiet, so gradual, so
unobtrusive, that few have noticed it; the turn of the tide has taken
place, but the current has foot; but what of the two great Powers which
101 eighteen hundred years (with a few brief intervals) have
successively trodden her down-Rome, and the various forms of that
Mohammedan power, whose present head is Turkey? Rome trod down
Jerusalem in the days of Titus, and Turkey holds her down now. "Rome
cast her to the ground, and when she was down, Turkey set its foot on
her neck. Rome hurled her to the dust, Turkey trampled her in the mire;
Rome destroyed God’s temple and ploughed up the sacred site on which it
stood, Turkey maintains the Mosque of Omar on that sacred site; and on
the holy hill where Abraham offered Isaac, where David offered the oxen
of Araunah, where Solomon built his temple, and where the Lord Jesus,
the Son of David, cast out all that was unholy, there, by Turkish
authority now stands a Mohammedan mosque, and there no Jew is permitted
even to set his foot."
But Pagan Rome passed away long since, and Papal Rome is no longer a
political power in the earth; the first oppressor is gone, and Turkey,
the second, is fast going. "The foot of the sick man is the only one
now remaining on the neck of Jerusalem, and the sick man is dying; when
he dies, why should not Jerusalem arise and be free?" Every step in the
downfall of Turkey, is a step in the direction of the cleansing of the
sanctuary, and these steps are in our day succeeding each other
rapidly. Since 1821, Turkey has lost Greece and Servia, Moldavia and
Wallachia, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt; and now in the recent war,
Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. The once mighty Ottoman Empire is in
Europe practically extinct. Its power in Asia is also seriously
diminished, and notably so in Syria. Aliens, or non Mussulmans, are now
allowed to hold landed property in Palestine, and the number of Jews
resident in their own land is every year on the increase. Thousands of
intelligent Christians visit its shores annually, and the Palestine
Exploration has completed a survey of its every square mile. "Thy
servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof."
There is every sign, when the present is contrasted with the past, that
the time for the complete liberation of Palestine from Moslem tyranny
is at hand.
The second starting.-point from which these 2300 years may be dated is
the era of the Seleucid , B.C 312. The Seleucid were the race of
monarchs (descended from Seleucus Nicator, one of the four notable
horns of the he-goat,) from which ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES sprung.
AS THIS ERA OF THE SELEUCID , LONG USED BY THE JEWS THEMSELVES, AND
STILL EMPLOYED BY THE NESTORIANS AND OTHER EASTERN NATIONS, IS DATED
FROM THE GREAT FOUNDER OF THE DYNASTY OF THE PRECURSORY "LITTLE HORN,"
it is not an unsuitable point of departure. The period of 2300 years
measured from it, and reckoned in lunar years, rules out in A.D.
1919-20, seventy-five years later than its first termination in 1844,
and the same year as the main measurement of the Times of the Gentiles,
dated from Nebuchadnezzar’s overthrow of Jehoiakim, B.C. 602.
B.C 312, 2300 LUNAR YEARS FROM THE ERA OF THE SELEUCID , A.D. 1919-20.
It remains to show that the soli-lunar measures of 2300 years assign to
it a place in the great septiform series of prophetic times.
The sun gains on the moon in this vast period of twenty-three centuries
seventy lunar years and seven months.
2520 YEARS, OR "SEVEN TIMES" (#Dan 4).
As we have already considered this period pretty fully (p. 341) as to
its distinctive moral characteristics, and as to its historical
chronological features (p. 369), we need in this place dwell only on
its arithmetical peculiarities and astronomic measures. It is the great
dispensational week, the arc of time which spans alike each of the
three moral divisions of human history; it is the period of the
fourfold image of Gentile rule, which is to introduce the everlasting
kingdom of the Son of God. It is the most important of all the
prophetic periods, and the oft-repeated 1260 years of the Apostasy, is
its second half.
With regard to it we note in the first place, that 2520 is
arithmetically a most remarkable number; a number as distinct from all
other numbers as the circle is from all other forms. It is not a number
that could possibly have been selected by chance, or put inadvertently
into the important position it occupies in the prophetic word. Its
selection in preference to all other numbers, is an indication of
intelligent design which candour cannot fail to recognise. The
omniscient God has deliberately passed by all other conceivable
numbers, any one of which might have been made the basis of chronologic
prophecy, that He might select, to occupy this position, a number which
is sui generis, altogether unique, one which stands forth by its very
nature as a king among other numbers, conspicuous and paramount. 2520
is the least common multiple of the first ten numbers; in other words,
it is the first in the entire series of numbers, that is exactly
divisible by all the first ten numerals.
1 is contained in it 2520 times without remainder. 2 1260 3 840 4 630 5
504 6 420 7 360 8 315 9 280 10 252
Now ten, be it remembered, is a natural numerical radix, employed in
Scripture and in world-wide use, so that the first ten numbers form a
complete and fundamental series, and their least common multiple is a
great fundamental number in arithmetic.
It is like a complex crystal, capable, from its very nature, of
numerous regular divisions, and it is adapted to harmonize in one
several series of periods of different orders and magnitudes, in a way
that no other conceivable number could do. Is it by chance that this is
the number of years of the great "seven times," which is the vertebral
column of prophetic chronology?
Further: perfect arithmetically, 2520 years is also perfect
astronomically. It contains 132 lunar or Metonic cycles, in which the
epact amounts to- seventy-seven lunar years.
Over and above these cycles there is a remainder of twelve years, which
raises the epact of the entire period to- seventy-five solar years.
Now, here we are confronted with another startling fact, a fact which
it will puzzle the ingenuity of sceptics to account for, a fact which
must have been unknown to Daniel, for the state of astronomic science
in his day (nearly six centuries B.C.), was such that he could not have
been acquainted with it; yet a fact which is absolutely indisputable,
and which a very short calculation will demonstrate. In the last
chapter of Daniel the angel intimates to the prophet in answer to his
chronological inquiries, that while the scattering of the power of the
holy people, should terminate at the end of the second half of the 2520
years, yet that there should be additions of thirty and forty-five
years, before the era of frill blessedness would arrive. (#Dan.
12:11-13.) In other words, to the long period of 2520 years Scripture
adds a brief period of seventy-five years, and as we have just seen,
astronomy does the same. The difference between 2520 true lunar and the
same number of true solar years is seventy-five years. In other words,
the seventy-five years added in the prophecy is exactly equal to the
epact of the whole "seven times." If 2520 lunar, and the same number of
solar years begin together, the former will run out seventy-five years
before the latter. The seventy-five years added to the "Times of the
Gentiles" are equal to the epact of that great dispensational period.
Was it by chance that Daniel lit upon these two periods, so widely
dissimilar, and which yet bear to each other this remarkable astronomic
relation 7 Impossible! as impossible as that he could either have known
that 2300 years (Chap. viii.) was a soli-lunar cycle, or that he could
have selected by chance the exact number of years in that cycle, as the
period of the restored temple and subsequent desolation of the
sanctuary. Such coincidences are not the work of chance. Such Bible
statements must be accepted with reverential awe, as evidences that the
Divine mind which planned the universe, inspired also the sacred Book.
In these added seventy-five years, having this peculiar astronomic
character, we see also one of those evidently intentional elements of
uncertainty which meet us so frequently in chronologic prophecy. Just
as it would be impossible, prior to fulfilment, to say which of several
probable eras was the real commencing era of the seventy years
captivity, and hence of the "Times of the Gentiles," so it is
impossible in this case to decide, whether these added seventy-five
years’ are to have an inclusive fulfilment in 2520 solar years, or an
added fulfilment, or both. Regarding the 2520 years as lunar, and
dating them from 598 B.C, which, as we have seen, is the latest
commencement of the "Times of the Gentiles," they terminated AD. 1848,
and we are now living in the interval created by the inequality of
solar and lunar movements during the lapse of the whole "seven times."
But if the 2520 years be regarded as solar years, and dated from the
same commencing era, they do not terminate, as we have seen, until A.D.
1923, and the concluding seventy-five years may possibly be added to
that date. But the prophecy implies an end at the beginning of this
supplementary seventy-five years; a fuller and more blessed end at the
close of their first section-30 years (a month) of years; and the
fullest and most blessed terminal point at the close of the
supplementary forty-five years; that is, at the close of the whole
seventy-five. What mysteries are here indicated who shall say? The full
establishment of Messiah’s kingdom on earth may, even after his
glorious epiphany, be a work of time. The downfall of the "little horn"
seems to be the event presented in the prophecy as marking the first
close. No events at all are assigned to the other two chronological
points. They are simply indicated, and a character of final blessedness
is stamped on the last; but this is all. It is vain to speculate where
Scripture affords no clue. "The secret things belong unto God, but the
things that are revealed to us and our children."
"TWELVE HUNDRED AND NINETY DAYS" (#Dan 12:1)
We must briefly glance at the two periods of thirty years and
forty-five years, by which the main period of 1260 years, the latter
half of the "Times of the Gentiles," is lengthened.
The glorious One, who makes this final revelation to Daniel, swears by
Him that liveth for ever and ever, that "time, times, and half a time,"
1260 years, should bring to an end the scattering of the holy people,
and the "wonders" of judgment which had been foretold to the prophet.
Daniel, longing to know more, inquires, "O my Lord, what shall be the
end of these things?" The answer is a refusal at that time to reveal
more, or make plainer what had been revealed, coupled with an
intimation that in the time of the end the prophecy should be better
understood. "Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed
till the time of the end." In the meantime he is assured that the
blessed sanctifying work of God in individual souls would go on, in
spite of national apostasies and the machinations of the Evil One.
"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried, but the wicked
shall do wickedly; none of the wicked shall understand" (these
prophecies apparently), "but the wise shall understand." And then the
great Revealer adds one or two further mysterious chronological hints,
evidently designed for the guidance of the saints at the time of the
end, which show plainly, what the analogy of the Captivity period not
indistinctly intimates, that the time of the end, brief as it is when
compared with the "time, times, and a half," and very brief when
compared with the whole "seven times," is yet a period; and not a
point-a course of years, not a crisis; that the full end is to come
gradually, not suddenly.
Thus the rising and falling of the waters of the flood were gradual;
the enslaving and the redeeming of Abraham’s seed from Egyptian bondage
were gradual; the downfall of Jewish monarchy was by stages, and the
final expulsion of the Jews from their land was equally gradual and by
stages. These closing verses of Daniel prove beyond a doubt that the
elevation of Israel, and the introduction of millennial blessedness,
will also be gradual, and that marked stages will occur in its course.
"From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the
abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two
hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the
thousand three hundred and five and thirty days."
The remarkable feature about these two closing chronological statements
is, that they name no terminal event; the former does not even suggest
any; the latter only implies that its close will introduce the era of
blessedness. The emphatic "blessed is he that waiteth and cometh" to
it, recalls the "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrections" of #Rev 20; and we may probably assume that the 1335
days is, in the fullest sense, "the end;" to which the Angel alludes in
his closing words; "Go thou thy way till the end be, for thou shalt
rest (in death), and stand (in resurrection) in thy lot at the end of
the days" (i.e., of these 1335 days, or years).
In considering the 1290 years, we note that it passes beyond the limits
of the primary period by thirty years, or ONE PROPHETIC MONTH.
As no event marking its close is given, in the prophecy, it is
impossible to decide whether it is to be added to the earlier or to the
later close of the "seven times," and its second half, the 1260 years
of the domination of the Desolator.
Astronomically, thirty years is a soli-lunar cycle in which the solar
year and the lunar year agree within a day.
In the whole 1290 years the epact amounts to the septiform period of
2004 weeks, or 14,028 days.
THIRTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE DAYS (#Dan 12:12).
Forty-five years more are in ver; 12 added to 1290, making 1335 years,
carrying us seventy-five years beyond the termination of the Times of
the Gentiles, and introducing the era of full blessedness.
An analogous forty-five years terminated in the inheritance of the
typical rest of Canaan. It will be remembered that Caleb, when
appealing to Joshua to give him the promised possession, said, "The
Lord hath kept me alive these forty and five years, ever since the Lord
spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in
the wilderness, and now I am this day fourscore and five years old. Now
therefore give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake in that day. And
Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron
for an inheritance, and the land had rest from war " (#Josh 14:10-13).
Forty-five years was also a terminal period in the history of the
Jewish dispensation. Our Lord’s crucifixion took place in the year A.D.
29, and his ministry began 3 years previously, or in the year A.D. 25;
the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was in the year A.D. 70,
forty-five years from the commencement of our Lord’s ministry.
The soli-lunar measures of this brief terminal period are strikingly
septiform. During its course the sun gains on the moon seventy weeks,
or 490 days.
In the whole period of "1335 days," or years, there are seventy lunar
cycles, and five years over. The epact of these five years is 54 to 55
days, from which the slight error of the lunar cycle has to be
deducted. In 1335 years this error amounts to nearly a week; the result
is, that the solar gain during the whole 1335 years is seventy weeks of
mouths, and seven weeks of days.
Measured by the prophetic, or calendar year, the solar gain on the
calendar year of 360 days in the 1335 years is a thousand weeks.
TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY-FIVE YEARS.
These two brief periods of thirty and forty-five years make together 75
years, and are added to the second half of the great "seven times" of
prophecy; if we consider them as added to the whole "seven times," or
2520 years, they raise that period to 2595 years.
We may therefore, in closing, glance at the astronomic measures of this
period. It contains i 36 lunar cycles, and the solar gain over the
lunar year in this period, is seventy-seven solar years.
In other words, this comprehensive period consists of seventy-seven
soli-lunar cycles.
There is a remainder of eleven years, which-minus the accumulations of
the small error of the lunar cycle-gives an additional septiform solar
gain of fourteen weeks, making the epact of the whole accurately
seventy-seven solar years, and twice seven weeks.
Grouping together the epacts of the prophetic times, we observe among
them a striking similarity, and indications of the existence of some
underlying law inviting research.
I. EPACTS OF THE PROPHETIC TIMES, AS MEASURED BY TRUE SOLAR AND LUNAR
YEARS.
Prophetic TIMES. EPACTS. 45 years Seventy weeks of days.
65 Seven hundred and seven days. 490 Twice seven solar years, and seven
months. 1290 Twice seven thousand and four times seven days
(two thousand and four weeks). 1335 Seventy weeks of months, and seven
weeks of days. 2300 Seventy lunar years, and seven months. 2520
Seventy-five solar years. 2595 Seventy-seven solar years, and twice
seven weeks. 1000 A month of solar years. 1260 Sixty-six weeks of
months, and sixty days. 1810 Six hundred and sixty-six months.
II.EPACTS OF THE PROPHETIC TIMES, AS MEASURED BY THE PROPHETIC, OR
CALENDAR YEAR OF 360 DAYS.
PROPHETIC TIMES. EPACTS. 70 years One calendar year and one week. 490
Seven calendar years and seven weeks. 1335 A thousand weeks. 2300
Thirty-three solar years. 1000 Twice seven calendar years and seven
months. 1260 Thrice six calendar years, and thrice six weeks; or six
thousand six hundred and
six days.