Josephus has Zerubbabel returning
immediately after the decree of Cyrus. The letter to Ahasuerus is the letter to
Cambyses, and construction is completed in the reign of Darius I – with Ezra
and Nehemiah returning in that reign, and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah
being raised up in the second year of that reign also. According to him, construction
would be completed in 516 BCE. 519-516 BCE was the very earliest time that was
allowed for in the prophecy of seventy years made by Jeremiah and repeated by
Daniel when giving the time for which Jerusalem would be desolate. The time
sequence is too convenient and, had things gone according to the earliest
contingency allowed by the prophecy, there would have been no need for the
missions of Haggai and, to a lesser extent, Zechariah to order them to get on
with the job (Hag. 1:2-15). Ezra 4:23 and 5:1-2 show that Haggai and Zechariah
were appointed after the decree of Artaxerxes forced cessation of construction
(see also 1Esdras 7:5).
Josephus further identifies the
provisioning decree for the return of Ezra with Xerxes and the husband of
Esther as Artaxerxes I. The problem is that Ahasuerus (or Ahasaerus) is the
Persian of Xerxes. Artaxerxes I, who Herodotus states was called Cyrus, was
named Artaxerxes by the Greeks (see also Josephus, Antiq. of the Jews, Bk. XI, Ch. VI:l).
Further information, which is illuminating,
is that there were six generations of Levites involved from the return of
Zerubbabel and the commencement until the completion in the reign of Darius the
Persian (Neh. 12:1-22). Zerubbabel's life was prolonged by the Lord to oversee
the completion (Zech. 4:9) and, after the message of Haggai and Zechariah he
arose and completed the Temple with Jeshua son of Jozadak.
From the arrival of Jeshua with Zerubbabel
until the reign of Darius the Persian, it is recorded at Nehemiah 12:10-11 that
Jeshua had a son, Joiakim, a grandson, Eliashib, a great-grandson, Joiada, a
great-great-grandson, Jonathan, and a great-great-great-grandson, Jeddua.
From Nehemiah 12:22 we see that Jonathan
did not succeed Joiada as chief priest, but rather Joiada's brother Johanan.
Jonathan had married Sanballat, the Horonite's daughter, and was removed by
Nehemiah (Neh. 13:28). However, it is conclusive that there were five
generations born to Jeshua prior to the reign of Darius the Persian, who is the
king that issued the decree for the construction of the Temple, and in whose
reign it was completed. In spite of the fact that Jeshua had a number of sons
who were present with him when the foundations of the Temple were laid after
the second year (Ezra 3:9), it is unlikely that the Darius of the construction
could have been Darius I as he reigned from 521-466 BCE, some 16 years after
the return. It must therefore have been Darius II in 423-404 BCE, some 114
years after the return. Allowing 20 years per generation and allowing that
Jaddua had himself become a priest prior to this king, Zerubbabel was approximately
120 years old and therefore Jeshua would have been approximately 140 years old
at the construction; and they died shortly after. The use of term arose
at Ezra 5:2 suggests that Zerubbabel and Jeshua were of great age and retired
from onerous duties, as Zechariah 4:9 also indicates.
Nehemiah 12:26 shows that Joiakim was chief
priest after Jeshua but implies his death well before Nehemiah and Ezra
returned. Eliashib was the oldest High Priest alive at Nehemiah's return (Neh.
3:1). Johanan seems to have already exercised the high priesthood by Ezra's
return (Ezra 10:6). The priesthood relinquished sacrificial duty at fifty years
of age. Nehemiah also verifies Jaddua on the list of High Priests down to
Darius the Persian. The Temple therefore could not have been constructed
earlier than 417 BCE.
It should also be noted that Iddo returned
with Zerubbabel. During the high priesthood of Joiakim, the priesthood had also
passed two generations, so we see that Zechariah was named among the Levites,
from the time of Iddo. He was in fact Iddo's grandson, the son of Berechiah,
and he was a prophet in the second year of Darius. When Zechariah speaks of the
plumb bob in the hands of Zerubbabel and of the High Priest Jeshua, it is as a
marvel and a sign of God that not only should Zerubbabel lay the foundations
but also that he should still hold a line at its completion. We know from
Nehemiah 12 that Zechariah was priest under Joiakim. Therefore, the premise of
activity from great age seems to stand.
The prophecy of Zechariah relates to the
significance of the construction of the Temple and the seventy weeks of years
from the reign of Darius II in the second year, and its development, completion
and restitution.
Non-biblical
Evidence
A most telling corroboration of the
biblical narrative comes from Aramaic Letters, translated by H.L. Ginsberg and
published in The Ancient Near East: An
anthology of texts and pictures (ed. James B. Pritchard, Princeton, 1958,
pp. 278-282), which were letters to and from the Jews at the Fortress of
Elephantine. This fortress had been manned by Jews and other non-Jewish Semites
since the days of the Egyptian kingdom preceding the invasion of the Medo-Persians.
An impressive Temple had been built there
and was long standing when Cambyses invaded Egypt.
As stated previously, during the reign of
Cyrus Macrocheir or Artaxerxes I, the Athenian invasion of Egypt was put down
in 454 BCE, and the Satrap left in charge was a Medo-Persian named Arsames, who
reigned as Satrap from 455/4 BCE to at least 407 BCE.
During at least some of that time the
leader of the Jews of the garrison was a Jew by the name of Yedoniah. In the
fifth year of Darius II, i.e. 420/419 BCE, Hananiah, a Jewish scribe to
Arsames, wrote to Yedoniah at Elephantine informing him that Darius had sent
word to Arsames authorising a festival of Unleavened Bread for the Jewish
garrison, also giving details of the days of the calculation of the Feast
commencing with 14 Nisan as follows:
So do you count from fou[rteen days of the
month of Nisan and] obs[erve the passoverl], and from the 15th to
the 21st day of [Nisan observe the festival of unleavened bread]. Be (ritually)
clean and take heed. [Do n]o work [on the 15th or the 21st day, no]r drink
[beer2, nor eat] anything [in] which the[re is] leaven [from the
14th at] sundown until the 21st of Nis[an for seven days it shall not be seen
among you. Do not br]ing it into your dwelling but seal (it) up between these
date[s. By order of King Darius. To] my brethren Yedoniah and the Jewish
garrison, your brother Hanani[ah].
Note 1. psh
in two ostraca from Elephantine.
Note 2. The instruction including beer is a
construction based on Jewish tradition.
This celebration by order of Darius in the
fifth year of his reign throughout the Jewish people even into Elephantine is
that Passover celebration referred to in Ezra 6:13-22. This celebration took
place on the dedication of the Temple, which from the letters at Elephantine
would have occurred in 419/8 BCE.
The fifth year of Darius II was the year
before the completion of the Temple, and it is curious that 123 men and women
of the Jewish garrison at Elephantine on the 3rd of Phanenoth (a
month in the Egyptian calendar) in year 5 took up a collection of two shekels
per head, totalling 12 karash and 6 shekels (at 20 light shekels to the karash,
this is 246 shekels). This collection was dedicated to the God, Yaho
(Yah[o]weh). It is curious that the non-Jews of the garrison appear to have
donated also to the extent of 7 karash for Ishumbethel, the male Aramean
divinity, and 12 karash for Anathbethel, the female deity who was synonymous
with Anath, wife of Baal.
This levy of the fifth year was the
equivalent of a special levy and was probably for the decoration of the Temple
at Jerusalem. Whether the other contributions went to other areas in the Levant
to pagan temples or they were contributions to the Temple construction on
behalf of the Aramean cults we can only guess. However, it may be an indication
of the extent to which the people had mixed themselves with the Gentile
populace, as we know happened from Ezra 9:1-4 and continued until Nehemiah.
What we do know is that on the 20th
Marheshwan in the 17th year of King Darius, i.e. 408 BCE, a letter
was sent to Jerusalem to Bagoas, Governor of Judah, detailing the sequence of
events surrounding the return of Arsames, who had returned to Mesopotamia to
the king. After Arsames had returned to Darius, the priests of the god, Khnub,
in the fortress at Elephantine, conspired with the commander in chief,
Vidaranag to wipe out the Temple of Yaho at Elephantine. His son, Nefayan, who
was in command of the fortress at Syene, was summoned and ordered to destroy
the Temple at Elephantine "in the Fortress of Yeb".
He and the Egyptians and other troops
entered and razed the Temple to the ground and smashed the stone pillars and
the five great gateways but leaving the doors standing. They carried off the
basins of gold and silver and all the other artefacts.
The letter reveals that this Temple was the
only one left standing from Cambyses’ invasion. Vidaranag was later killed and
eaten by dogs.
The letter also reveals that when the
disaster occurred a letter was sent to the High Priest in Jerusalem, who was
named Johanan, so that we now know that the High Priest in the year 410 BCE was
Johanan. This establishes beyond doubt that the Darius the Persian referred to
at Nehemiah 12:22 was Darius the Second.
The letter also reveals that they wrote to
Ostanes, the brother of Anani, and the nobles of the Jews. These gentlemen did
not reply ("Never a letter have they sent to us."). The Jews at
Elephantine wore sackcloth and fasted from Tammuz of the 14th year
of Darius, i.e. 411 BCE, to the date of the letter, i.e. in 408 BCE.
They requested assistance to rebuild their
Temple in a most appealing manner, and also informed the Governor that they had
written to Delaiah and Shelemiah, the sons of Sanballat, the Governor of
Samaria. Presumably they wanted them to intercede for them with the Governor.
This Sanballat was the Horonite mentioned at Nehemiah 2:10 and his daughter had
married the son of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the High Priest.
This had disqualified him from office as
High Priest. Eliashib, the High Priest, was still alive at Nehemiah's return
(Neh. 3:1), but Johanan had already exercised the position of the high
priesthood at Ezra's return and certainly in 410 BCE. It can only be concluded
that Eliashib was the oldest of the High Priests left alive at Nehemiah's
return and is thus head of the priesthood, but had long since ceded duties to
Joiada and then Johanan (replacing his nephew) and later Jaddua, who appears to
have succeeded to the high priesthood, according to Nehemiah 12:22, in the
reign of Darius the Persian (II).
Nehemiah 12:22 appears to divide the five
periods into two eras.
The first era was of the watches in the
days of Joiakim, son of Jeshua, and the current era was referred to as
"the days of Nehemiah, the Governor and Ezra the priest, the scribe".
This appears to further confirm the division of time around the high priesthood
who were dead (i.e. Joiakim was the father of Eliashib), and the current era of
the living priesthood, which included Eliashib as the oldest of the living high
priesthood.
On Ezra's return Jaddua is not mentioned;
only Jehohanan is recorded as having a chamber, implying that he was still the
High Priest. Jaddua appears to be included at Nehemiah 12:22 as having held the
priesthood, which could have been on a temporary basis as Nehemiah included all
the priesthood down to the reign of Darius the Persian, who is without doubt
Darius II. Ezra writes as though Johanan (or Jehohanan) and Jaddua were absent
and that he occupied Johanan's chamber in his absence.
The impression from both biblical and
non-biblical sources is that the high priesthood deteriorated after the days of
Joiakim. Eliashib, Johanan and Jaddua do not appear to have devoted due
diligence to their duties. The non-reply to the Jews at Elephantine by Johanan
and the lack of participation in the activities of Ezra and Nehemiah indicate
that they neglected their duties. The intermarriage, pollution, and
desecrations are further substantiated by the letters from Elephantine. A memorandum
recorded that Bagoas and Delaiah wrote to the garrison instructing that Arsames
be informed that the Temple was to be rebuilt at Elephantine with the meat
offering and incense to be made on the altar as it used to be.
No mention of sacrifice was made so as not
to affect the sensitivities of Arsames, a Mazdean who would have regarded the
contact of fire with dead bodies as profane. It is further recorded that the
Jews at Elephantine under Yedoniah in the end had to petition Arsames,
promising no burnt offerings in the Temple and a payment of a thousand ardabs
of barley (texts in Pritchard, ibid.).
It seems as though the Temple was finished
in 417 BCE. The elders of the high priesthood died and some form of lack of
direction occurred, with Eliashib, Johanan and Jaddua inactive to some degree.
What is important about these texts is that
they provide corroborative texts of biblical information, and they demonstrate
the literal accuracy of the Bible. They also demonstrate that the tradition of
the 516 BCE construction date is an impossibility.
Another important corroboration of the
biblical text is found in the Aramaic Letters. Mibtahiah, daughter of Mahseiah,
son of Yedoniah, had married Pi, son of Pahi (Phy), the builder of the fortress
of Syene where Mahseiah was serving in Varizata's detachment. This demonstrates
the extent of intermarriage occurring up to Ezra and Nehemiah.
In the 25th year of Artaxerxes,
the couple were divorced and the agreement is preserved among the Aramaic
Letters. Mibtahiah was even forced to make oath by an Egyptian goddess (Sati)
for the dissolution, and the split of her dowry is recorded.
The destruction of the Temple at
Elephantine was the start of a series of anti-Semitic Egyptian uprisings, which
commenced in 410 BCE and continued until the reign of Artaxerxes II, who faced
an Egyptian rebellion on his ascension in 404 BCE; and in 402 BCE he lost
Egypt. In 401 BCE he fought a civil war in Persia and, throughout this, the
Jews remained loyal, accounting for their favourable treatment.
The Myth of the
Decree of Artaxerxes
The Bible at no stage mentions any decree
by Artaxerxes that was related to the construction of the Temple except to
cease construction, as related in Ezra 4:23. When the provisioning decree was
issued, the Temple had already been constructed, regardless of whether the
decree was issued by Xerxes I or Artaxerxes I or II. In no version known to
ancient history, either biblical or non-biblical, is Artaxerxes I credited with
any decree favourable to the construction of the Temple or provisioning the
Levites. This is a more modern invention.
Theologians who make claim for Artaxerxes
I, especially in relation to the 2,300 days or to the seventy weeks of years at
Daniel 9:25 (which contains a mistranslation in the King James and others, but
is rendered correctly in the RSV), are in error.
Where the Bible differs from historical
sources it is consistently being proved more correct as knowledge increases.
Seventy Weeks
of Years
The significance of the prophecy of the
seventy weeks of years at Daniel 9:25-27 is that, when taken from the decree of
Darius II, it ends in 70 CE, commencing from the surrounding of Jerusalem by
Titus’ army on 1 Nisan, and continues to the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE
– the same day, tradition has it, that it fell to the Babylonians (see
Moffatt's translation). The matter ends with the closure of the Temple at
Leontopolis in Egypt (see below).
The first Anointed One is Nehemiah,
who re-established the Temple priesthood by 372 BCE (7 weeks of years) and
cleansed the Sabbaths and re-instituted the tithe. He completed the walls of
the fortress of the Temple and the walls of the city and reorganised Jerusalem.
The second Anointed One is of
Messiah's ministry. However, the prophecy refers to Jerusalem and to the
function of the Temple, not to the times of Messiah's ministry. Atonement for
sin and everlasting righteousness could not be deemed to have been brought in
or completed while the ceremonial law was still being enacted. The completion of
the prophecy, therefore, was dependent upon removal or elimination of the place
of sacrifice.
For, while sacrifice still continued in the
Temple, the Messiah was not yet supreme or his sacrifice could not be said to
have truly eliminated the daily sacrifice, even though it was effected by his
death. This prophecy has still not ended, and not as a split week as some
claim, but in the fact that the decreed end has not yet been poured out upon
the desolator, i.e. the Roman system. This will be, as Revelation reveals, when
the city is destroyed and the seventh/eighth empire of ten kings is finally
destroyed.
If the decree was taken from 516 BCE from
the reign of Darius 1 to follow on directly from the 70 weeks of years, then
the end of the prophecy was in 26 BCE, which seems to relate to nothing. Modern
Christianity tries to tie the matter to 27 CE and assert that Christ’s ministry
began then, which it did not. Josephus is clearly wrong regarding the
commencement, and his extensions of the Chaldean dynasty seem to be aimed at
extending their reigns to extend dates of the Persian kings to give the
prophecy of 70 weeks of years some meaning from Cyrus. Amongst the Sons of
Zadok, the 70 weeks of years had an entirely different meaning related to the
ages of men, but that is beyond the scope of this work (see Appendix for an
analysis of Josephus).
The alteration of the construction of the
Temple from Darius II to Darius I appears to be a post-Christian contrivance
(adapted by Josephus) which attempts to undermine the significance of the
prophecy of the 70 weeks of years, and is probably the intention of the
apocryphal 1 Esdras, which is in error.
The 70 weeks of years did not commence from
the reign of Darius I or from a non-existent decree of Artaxerxes I, but rather
from Darius II. It is the positive proof of the Messiahship of Christ and does
not require non-scriptural juggling of three-and-a-half or uncompleted
seven-year periods.
The Sign of
Jonah
The Sign of Jonah is the most significant
aspect of Messiah’s ministry. Christ stated this at Matthew 12:39-40:
39An evil
and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given it
except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days
and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of
Nineveh will rise at the judgement with this generation and condemn it; for
they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than
Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will arise at the judgement
with this generation and condemn it, and behold, something greater than Solomon
is here.
This was repeated at Luke 11:29-32. From
Luke we see that Christ says at verse 30:
For as Jonah became a sign to the men of
Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
The Sign of Jonah was not only that he was
three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, but he also entered
Nineveh, which was three days’ journey across and, after one day's journey into
the city, he prophesied to Nineveh. It repented after being given 40 days to do
so (Jonah 3:3-10).
Christ began his ministry after John the
Baptist commenced to teach. John commenced teaching in the 15th year of the
reign of Tiberias Caesar. Using the civil year commencing in Tishri (Sept/Oct.)
and the date of Tiberius’ reign from the death of Augustus rather than the
proclamation of the Senate, the earliest possible date for this would be
October 27 CE (see Timing of the Crucifixion and the
Resurrection (No. 159)). We know that John had been baptising for some
time when Jesus came to be baptised by him. More particularly, we can
reconstruct the days from his baptism down to the Passover of 28 CE, which
appear to total approximately fifty days. From Matthew 4:17 we know that Jesus
did not commence his ministry until John had been placed in prison (Mat. 4:12).
From John 3:22 it is evident that, after the Passover of 28 CE, Jesus and his
disciples were baptising in Judea (although Christ himself did not baptise (Jn.
4:2)). John had not yet been thrown into prison and was baptising at Aenon near
Salim (Jn. 3:23-24). Thus, Christ did not commence his ministry until after the
Passover of 28 CE. Christ thus had a ministry of less than two years. Coupled
with the ministry of John the Baptist and his baptism and selection of the
disciples, the ministry was two-and-one-half years. This was on the year-for-a
day principle for the prophecy of Jonah.
Some modern churches hold that Christ's
ministry was three-and-a-half years and that he was crucified in 31 CE. From
the chronology of John and the others, a Passover of 30 CE is indicated (see Timing of the Crucifixion and the
Resurrection (No. 159)). His ministry was for two years (or two
prophetic days), from Passover 28 CE to Passover 30 CE. There were two wings of
some 50 days or more before his baptism until Passover, and some 50 days after
his resurrection until Pentecost.
When added to that of John the Baptist, a
ministry of less than three years (or three prophetic days) is established, on
a year-for-a day basis with Jonah. John the Baptist’s ministry equals the day’s
march into the city, and the ministry of Christ is the two-day prophecy. From
Christ’s baptism we see the trial of Satan over the 40 days in the wilderness,
prior to Passover of 28 CE and the commencement of Christ’s ministry. The trial
of Satan over 40 days in the wilderness
was in its own way analogous to the period given to Nineveh, and Satan was
judged.
As positive proof of Christ’s ministry,
Jerusalem was given a year-for-a-day compared to Nineveh. The third stage of 40
days for Judah was 40 years ending with the total destruction of Jerusalem in
70 CE, 40 years from Christ's death, because unlike Nineveh they did not repent
– even though a greater sign was given to them than Jonah at Nineveh.
The major significance of Jonah's mission
was that it was to the Gentiles, and that he alone amongst the Hebrew prophets
effected repentance of the Gentiles. This was a prototype of the role of the
Messiah as was indicated by Isaiah 53. By suffering, also indicated by Psalm
22, Christ was aware of the application of these Scriptures. He spoke the words
of Psalm 22 from the stake and gave notice of his mission to the Gentiles in
the Parable of the Husbandman at Mark 12:1-9. The indications of the Synoptic
Gospels are made explicit in John's Gospel, showing that Christ looked to the
suffering and death which, like a grain of wheat, would bear much fruit and
"draw all men unto myself" (Jn. 12:32).
If the Pharisees and Sadducees accepted
that the Temple construction occurred into the reign of Darius II, then it was
inevitable that they stood condemned, and so they contrived erroneous and
distorted sequences. Modern Christian distortions of the 70 weeks of years
around Artaxerxes I are totally contrary to Ezra and Nehemiah, and because of
this are dismissed by Judaism. The 70 weeks of years ended exactly at the
completion of the 40-year period given for repentance to Judah and Jerusalem
commencing from 1 Nisan 70 CE to 1 Nisan 71 CE, by which time the Temple had
been destroyed. Christ’s reference to Nineveh and Solomon demonstrates the
significance of the duration of the Temple and the cessation of the sacrifice.
Jerusalem was surrounded on 1 Nisan and it was sacked and the Temple destroyed
at Atonement 70 CE. There was still part of the sequence uncompleted.
The “70 weeks of
years” started in the first year of a new Jubilee. That was also in the second
year of the reign Darius II. At the end of the Jubilee was the Restoration of
Ezra and Nehemiah (see the paper Reading the Law with Ezra and
Nehemiah (No. 250)).
What is not generally understood is that
the sacrifice still continued in Judah after the destruction of the Temple in
completion of a prophecy in Isaiah 19:19.
Isaiah 19:19 In that day shall there be an altar to
the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof
to the LORD. (KJV)
It is understood that a Temple had been
built at Elephantine and the sacrifice had continued there while the Temple at
Jerusalem lay in ruins from the sack of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. This
Temple continued in full operation until it was sacked after the Jerusalem
Temple had been reconstructed in the reign of Darius II. Jerusalem then
continued as the centre of Temple worship for almost two centuries until the
second century BCE. Isaiah had prophesied that a Temple would be built in
Egypt. This prophecy related to Messiah (Isa. 19:20) who would deliver Egypt.
They were under Roman power at the time and Messiah was indeed sent to Egypt
for safety as a child and to fulfil this prophecy and that in Hosea, so that he
might be called out of Egypt as Son of God and the first of Israel.
The construction of the last Temple there
in Egypt is recorded (at one stage incorrectly dated at 1 BCE) by The Companion Bible at Appendix 81. The
construction is recorded by Josephus (Antiquities
of the Jews, 13.3.1-3; 6; The Jewish Wars 7.10,3; and Against Apion 2.5). The summation is
that, because of the wars between the Jews and the Syrians, the High Priest,
Onias IV, fled to Alexandria. He actively supported Egypt against Syria. He was
welcomed there by Ptolemy Philometor because of that fact. He was made prince
over the Jews there and made Ethnarch and Alabarch. He asked permission of
Ptolemy and Cleopatra to build the Temple there in fulfilment of Isaiah. He
asked permission to people it with his own priests and other Levites. The
letter he wrote and the reply of the king and queen is recorded in the above
Appendix.
The Temple in Jerusalem had been defiled by
the presence of Greek gods placed there by Antiochus Epiphanes. Jerusalem
became highly Hellenised in this period and the system was corrupted.
Onias came to Leontopolis in the
Heliopolite district or nome. The site of the Temple was the place where
Israel had light in their dwellings when Egypt was in darkness. The purpose
here was to represent Messiah who would be the light in the darkness. The
Temple functioned for more than 200 years from 160 BCE to 71 CE, when it was
closed by order of Vespasian. The site was referred to in the LXX as the city
of righteousness (‘ir-ha-zedek).
The Jews were intensely jealous of this Temple and altered the letters of the
words the city of the sun to read the city of destruction (cheres to heres).
The five cities referred to in Isaiah 19:18
are probably Heliopolis, Leontopolis, Daphne, Migdol and Memphis.
The closure of the Temple in 71 CE by order
of Vespasian ended this phase of the Sign of Jonah. Whereas the sacrifice had
been continued at Elephantine during the period that the first Temple lay in
ruins, God did not allow this Temple to survive after the destruction of the
Temple at Jerusalem. This time, the new Temple would be made of living stones
and the authority had passed from Judah to the Church in the wilderness. This
phase of the Sign of Jonah was to judge the nations over 40 Jubilees. The
sacrifice was to cease over this entire period of 40 Jubilees. Anyone who
attempted to reintroduce the sacrifice has been killed or destroyed.
This completed the 70 weeks of years and
the allotted duration of the second Temple. The Sign of Jonah was likewise
completed, and the third Temple from this date was removed from Jerusalem and
scattered.
The third Temple, or fourth Tabernacle, was
to be built of individual blocks of Spirit-begotten Sons of God. The significance
of this is found at Zechariah 3:8-10 and Zechariah 4.
From verse 8, the announcement of the
coming of the Branch is made and the seven eyes are prophesied (these are the
seven stars at Rev. 2:1). From the Advent of Christ, who is to "remove the
iniquity of that land in one day", we see the development through
Zechariah 4:1-3 of the seven eras of the Church, and the two olive trees. These
two olive trees are the two Anointed Ones and apply the oil out of themselves
through two golden pipes (Zech. 4:12). Thus the third Temple is of the Spirit
of God and, therefore, is to accomplish all things from the oil of the Spirit
of God. For grace is given unto it (Zech. 4:7), and from Zechariah 4:6 we see
that all things are accomplished from that time onwards, "not by might,
not by power, but my spirit says the Lord of Hosts".
Because of this the second Temple, or third
Tabernacle, was limited in time and had to give way to the third and spiritual
Temple, the fourth Tabernacle, of the seven candlesticks which are, as we know
from Revelation 2 and 3, the seven eras of the Church. These eras were named
for areas separate from Jerusalem and commenced from Ephesus as the Ephesian
era.
However, from 70 CE Judah's heart was
hardened so that they did not understand the significance of it. It is equally
possible that the rabbinical authorities of the time saw the full significance
of the prophecy and that they stood condemned by it. From then, the fabrication
of the story of construction in the reign of Darius I began to obscure the
significance of the matter.
The last sequence of the Sign of Jonah was
to involve forty Jubilees, which we see from the life of Moses was the third
and final stage typified by the forty years in the wilderness of Israel before
it took up its inheritance. These forty years were the prototype of the forty
Jubilees. The first Jubilee was to involve the birth of Christ and the lead-up
to his ministry. John the Baptist commenced his ministry in the Jubilee year of
27 CE which, being the fifteenth year of Tiberias, must therefore have been in
October. Hence the significance here was that he commenced when the Jubilee was
blown. As we have seen, the symbolism of the restoration of Josiah was in the
first year of the new Jubilee. This is exactly what Christ did. He commenced
his ministry in 28 CE after the Passover. Thus the forty Jubilees take the Sign
of Jonah up to the establishment of the Millennium in the first year of the new
Jubilee in March/April 2028 CE. The sequence of the thirty years is between
1997 and 2027.
The Wrong Track
The pre-occupation of Protestant
theologians with the decree of Artaxerxes stems from attempts to relate the
prophecy to a mistranslation of Daniel 9:25 in the King James Version. In the
late 1830s, William Miller chose this for the commencement date of the prophecy
of 2,300 days. Why he and others should have made this error is puzzling. The
commencement of the prophecy is stated in Daniel as being from the time when
the sanctuary is trampled underfoot and the continual burnt offering in the
Temple is taken away. This did not happen from, or coincide with, any of the
construction decrees or the provisioning decree. Miller was seriously in error
and post-Reformation manipulation of these prophecies has been a source of fascination.
Relating the
Prophecy of 2,300 Days
The earliest time from
which the prophecy can date was the Battle of the Granicus in 334 BCE and then
on up to the invasion of Jerusalem and the desecration of the Temple by Ptolemy
(Soter) at the end of 302 BCE. This places the completion of the prophecy, at
its earliest date, from 1967 with the unification of Jerusalem and to the end
of 1998. Being the most probable date, this means that all will be accomplished
from 1999. Some relate the cessation of the daily sacrifice to Antiochus
Epiphanes in 167 BCE, which could place the completion at 2133 or 2134, but
this would not coincide with Daniel 12 or Revelation. Similarly, a 197 BCE date
would produce a date of 2108.
In 197 BCE, Judea became a province of the
Seleucid Empire, the Eastern successors to Alexander from which Antiochus
Epiphanes came. Seleucus IV began the Hellenistic infiltrations resisted by the
Zadokite High Priest Onias III.
See the papers Advent of Messiah: Part I (No.
210A) and Advent of
Messiah: Part II (No. 210B); see also and the WWIII series (No. 141A_2),
(No. 141B),
(No. 141C),
(No. 141C_2),
(No.141C_3),
(No. 141D),
(No. 141E),
(No. 141E_2),
(No.141F),
(No. 141F_2),
(No. 141G),
(No. 141H),
and (No. 299A), (No. 299B), (No. 299C).
End of the 70
Weeks of Years
The end of the prophecy of the 70 weeks of
years and the details surrounding the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE
require detailed examination to ensure proper understanding.
Jewish jurisdiction over the Temple was
recognised and endorsed by the Romans. The prohibitions against Gentiles entering
the inner courtyards of the Temple were endorsed by the Romans and the
punishment was death, even if he were a Roman citizen. The Romans confirmed
Jewish capital jurisdiction even over non-Jews. It was for this reason that
Paul had to appeal to the Emperor (Acts 25:9-12) and only this prevented Festus
from dealing with Paul in accordance with Jewish law.
From Emile Schürer's The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (Vol.
1, 111.2, T&T Clarke Ltd, Edinburgh, 1973), Jewish worship was not merely
tolerated but enjoyed the protection of the Roman State. And State
administration of the Temple, especially of its finances, occurred from 6-41 CE
(ibid., Vol. 1, pp. 377-379).
From 44 CE to 66 CE the administration was
transferred to Herod of Chalcis and then Agrippa II (ibid., Vol. l, pp.
377,472). The Emperor's portrait was even removed from the Imperial Standards
(ibid., p. 380).
Jews were also exempted from military
service to prevent conflict with the Feasts and Sabbaths (op. cit., Vol. I, pp.
362-363; Vol. II, pp. 474-475; Vol. III, pp. 22-23,120-121). Judah remained
until 70 CE an administrative unit with its own provincial government.
Up until the outbreak of the Jewish War in
66 CE, the Roman army in Caesarea consisted mostly of Syrian Caesarean and
Sebastene troops. In 66 CE, Vespasian was able to enlist in his army, five
cohorts and one ala of cavalry from Caesarea (ibid., vol. I, p.364) the same as
those stationed there in 44 CE. The troops at Acts 27:1 at about 60 CE may have
been one of the five cohorts mentioned by Josephus at The Antiquities of the Jews, Book XX, 8,7, where he holds that the
disorder between the Jews and the Syrians finally caused the war.
The last
construction on the Temple was of a wall on the highest part of the building
belonging to the inner court on the western side to prevent Agrippa's view of
the inner court during the ceremonies (Schürer, vol. I, p. 475). The
destruction of this wall was prevented by appeal to Nero and on intercession of
Poppea, Nero's wife. At this time the high priesthood, being appointed by
Agrippa, commenced to seize the tithes and the poorer priests died of
starvation (ibid., pp. 465, 468-470).
By 62 CE, this last construction on the
Temple was completed and the removal of the tithes established as the norm by
Agrippa's nominees, commencing with Ananus.
The imperial rescripts obtained by the
Syrians from Nero by bribery of Beryllus, Nero's scribe in charge of Greek
correspondence, heavily weighed against the Jews (ibid., p. 467). From 62 CE,
under the High Priest Ananus, Agrippa's nominee, many of the priesthood were
executed.
The High Priest of the fourth Tabernacle or
the third Temple, James, Bishop of Jerusalem, the brother of Jesus Christ, was
executed (ibid., p. 468). This signified the end of the priesthood of the
Temple in Jerusalem and the end of the 62 weeks of years. The new procurator,
Albinus (62-64 CE), was extremely evil, plundering both public and private
moneys, including the treasury.
From this time onward, the high priesthood
was a refuge for scoundrels. One High Priest, Jesus son of Damnai, engaged in a
pitched street battle with his successor, Jesus son of Gamaliel, because he did
not wish to relinquish Holy Office (ibid., p. 469). When Albinus was recalled,
he executed the major criminals and then released all the prisoners – leaving
the prisons empty and the country full of robbers. His successor, the last of
the procurators, Gessius Florus (64-66 CE), was also the worst, being the
greatest scoundrel to hold office. He plundered whole cities and allowed
banditry to go uninhibited (ibid., p. 470).
In 64 CE Nero declared the persecution of
Christians in Rome, and tradition has it that Peter and Paul were martyred. The
"Pact with many" against Jew and Christian was widespread. In 68 CE
the monastery at Qumran was destroyed, and also Nero was deposed.
The revolutionaries developed the practice
of kidnapping the priesthood for exchange of prisoners, and by 66 CE the
authorities, with the Syrians et al., commenced the action that became the
Jewish War.
From 1 Nisan 70 CE, Jerusalem was
surrounded. On the Day of Atonement 70 CE the Temple was destroyed, and from
Atonement 70 CE there was no Temple or sacrifice and oblation until the final
end of the war in 73 CE with the fall of Masada. This period is that referred
to by Daniel 9:27.
For a week of years, the main body of the
people ceased to practice their religion, i.e. from 63 CE to 70 CE, because of
the pollution of the Temple and the thefts of the tithe and the deaths of the
priesthood. The term for half of that
time sacrifice and offering shall cease is generally taken to refer to half
of the week of years, but it probably refers to the time after the destruction
from 70-73 CE when the nation fought on but without the Temple or sacrifice.
Thus, the 70 weeks of years is clearly a fulfilled prophecy. After the death of
James and prior to the destruction in 70 CE, the Church fled Jerusalem to Pella
(ibid., p. 498 and note 65) because they knew from prophecy that the end of
this period was to occur and the next Temple of the seven churches, the fourth
of Ezekiel's Covering Cherubs (Ezek. 1:15), was to commence. From Ecclesiastes
6:6, Solomon had indicated that it might last two thousand years. The Sign of
Jonah then went into its next and little understood phase, the Time of the
Gentiles. This was to last for forty Jubilees until the return of the Messiah
and the start of the Millennium referred to at Revelation 20:4.
The Church under Symon, nephew of Messiah,
returned to Jerusalem around 72 CE and established the churches of the Desposyni
or those belonging to the Lord, and provided bishops to the churches of
Asia and Egypt for many decades until Rome replaced them with Greeks.
One might well ask the question: “What would have happened had the Jews
repented?” The answer is provided by the reference to Israel in the
wilderness where the spies or witnesses were sent to spy out the Promised Land.
One man from each of the tribes was sent. Hoshea the son of Nun was from Ephraim
and was called Joshua by Moses (Num. 13:8,16). They were sent from Zin,
returning at the end of forty days (Num. 13:25). They refused to take up their
inheritance, witnessing against the productivity of their inheritance – all
except for Joshua and Caleb (Num. 14:6-7). Not one person over twenty who
grumbled against God was allowed to enter the Promised Land except Joshua and
Caleb. The children were given forty years in the wilderness as wandering
shepherds paying the penalty of their unfaithfulness. This represented Judah
and Levi at the time of Messiah.
The forty days of witness became the forty
years of the Sign of Jonah from Messiah to the destruction of the Temple. The
forty years in the wilderness became the forty Jubilees of the wanderings until
the second coming.
Judah could have repented and we would have
been brought in under their leadership. They did not repent, and God knew they
would not repent. We were then called out under different circumstances.
However, Judah will be given repentance soon.
found
under Jerusalem's Western Wall indicate it took much longer to build than was
previously believed. It was thought that the wall was constructed and completed
by King Herod before he died in 4 BCE. However the discovery of these artifacts
confirms the writings of a first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, who said
that the project was completed decades after Herod's death.