03/07/2022
IN DANIEL’S WEEKS Prophecy, the going forth of a command to rebuild Jerusalem initiates a countdown to Messiah the Prince:
“From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the prince comes, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” (Dan. 9:25).
The Hebrew word translated “weeks” in Daniel, shabua, denotes a period of seven years, or a Sabbatical cycle (Lev. 25:2–7).
Most Bible commentators add the “seven” and “sixty-two” weeks and count from Artaxerxes’ 457 BC decree allowing the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem to arrive at 27 AD: the year Jesus was anointed Messiah.
Thus, by a reckoning of weeks—the seven-year cycles underpinning God’s calendar—Daniel predicts the year of Jesus’ first coming.
NEWTON’S RIDDLE
As I have noted in previous studies, Isaac Newton believed the weeks of Daniel similarly foretell the year of Jesus’ second coming. Newton reasoned that the “seven” and “sixty-two weeks” were mentioned separately because they refer to two distinct appearances of Messiah based on two different returns to Jerusalem: the ancient return following the Babylonian exile, and a latter-days return following a period of worldwide exile.
Newton also understood the seven weeks to denote a jubilee period. He wrote:
“The seven sevens are the compass of a Jubilee and begin and end with actions proper for a Jubilee and of the highest nature for which a Jubilee can be kept.”
Isaac Newton’s interpretation of the seven weeks has fascinated me since I first learned of it more than a decade ago. At the time, an uncanny date alignment fueled expectations that 2015 could be the Jubilee alluded to in Daniel: It was discovered that there were exactly 49 prophetic years (17,640 days) between the June 7, 1967 return to Jerusalem and the Day of Atonement (jubilee-declaration day) in 2015.
Yet, despite the seemingly perfect date alignment, 2015 turned out not to be a Jubilee.
Since 2015, I have counted the seven weeks from various start points to determine the final Jubilee, but to no avail. What seems clear now, nearly seven years later, is that the key to counting the weeks is a precise reading of Scripture and acknowledgment of the Sabbatical cycle currently observed in Israel.
COUNTING THE WEEKS
Understanding that Daniel’s weeks refer to the fixed Sabbatical cycle, there are two dates required to calculate the Jubilee:
1) The date(s) of the return to and restoration of Jerusalem.
2) The start date of the first Sabbatical week following the restoration of Jerusalem.
The only modern return to Jerusalem occurred in 1967 when Israeli forces gained control of the Holy City during the Six-day-War.
The order to rebuild Jerusalem went forth several years later when, in August 1970, the so-called “master plan” to rebuild the ancient city was approved and publicly communicated.
Thus, the correct starting point of the seven weeks is the start of the Sabbatical week following the 1970 plan to rebuild Jerusalem.
According to the Sabbatical cycle observed in Israel today, the first Sabbatical week following 1970 begins at 1973.
Counting the seven weeks from 1973, the presumed Jubilee is 2022.
*Please click the link for a chart illustrating this calculation:https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-35306783/documents/60d73aed93df4c069b5b0653fc3499c8/CALCULATING%20DANIELS%20JUBILEE%20CHART.pdf
CORROBORATING WITNESSES
Seeing that the biblical standard for establishing a matter is the testimony of “two or three witnesses” (Deut. 19:15), it is significant that a number of other Daniel-related calculations support our jubilee reckoning.
In no particular order, they are as follows.
JERUSALEM’S WALL
In Daniel’s Week’s Prophecy, the latter part of verse 25 mentions Jerusalem’s wall being rebuilt:
“From the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times” (Dan. 9:25).
Jerusalem’s walls were ordered rebuilt in 1536–37 AD by Islamic Caliph “Suleiman the Magnificent.” However, because Daniel says to count “weeks,” the count must begin at the start of a Sabbatical week.
The first Sabbatical week following Suleiman’s order to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall begins in 1539 AD.
Counting the “seven” and “sixty-two” weeks from 1539 AD, we arrive at 2022, our calculated Jubilee.
354 WEEKS
As noted earlier, Daniel’s Weeks Prophecy began to be fulfilled in 457 BC with the issuing of Artaxerxes’ decree.
Doing some simple math, we find that from 457 BC to our calculated Jubilee in 2022 is exactly 354 Sabbatical weeks.
The number 354 is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it is the number of days comprising a lunar year, which consists of twelve lunar cycles. In Scripture, the number twelve signifies completeness or perfection related to God’s people and His celestial calendar.
For instance, there are . . .
• Twelve Apostles.
• Twelve sons of Israel.
• Twelve thousand from each tribe of Israel “sealed” for redemption.
• Twelve Signs comprising the Mazzaroth, or heavenly constellation calendar.
• Twelve months dividing the year.
Thus, the number 354 denotes a perfect circle of time pertaining to the congregation of God. In fact, since 354 is the number associated with the Moon, and the Moon is a symbol of the Church, it could be said that 354 is the number of the Church.
The second coincidence related to the number 354 is similarly striking.
I should preface the following by saying I am not one to look for meaning in Strong’s biblical concordance numbers. At the same time, God is sovereign. He is infinitely creative and “speaks” in many languages, including seemingly random thoughts, names, numbers, etc. Bearing this in mind, as I was noting the 354-week timespan from 457 BC to 2022, I felt the urge to look up the Hebrew and Greek words associated with the number 354.
I was flabbergasted by what I found:
Strong’s #354 in the Hebrew concordance is the word ayyal, referring to a stag, or male deer.
Strong’s #354 in the Greek concordance is the word analémpsis, referring to a “taking up” into heaven.
What do these words have in common? Ordinarily, nothing. However, in Song chapter 2, where Jesus is likened to a “young stag” who comes suddenly to gather “up” His beloved, they are profoundly connected:
“The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Behold, he stands behind our wall;
He is looking through the windows,
Gazing through the lattice.
My beloved spoke, and said to me:
‘Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away’” (Song 2:8-10).
To recap: From the start of Daniel’s Weeks Prophecy in 457 BC to our calculated Jubilee in 2022 is exactly 354 weeks. The number 354 is associated with a perfect interval of time, the Church, and—by way of the standard (universally recognized) Bible concordance—a “stag” and a “taking up” into heaven.
While synchronisms like the above obviously do not carry the same weight as Scripture, they nonetheless give one pause. In the New Testament the word coincidence is used only once (Luke 10:31). It is translated from a Greek word, synkyria, which is defined as “a confluence that occurs by God’s providential arrangement of circumstances” (Strong’s #4795).
That is to say, there are no coincidences.
2,520 YEARS
Daniel’s Weeks Prophecy is based fundamentally on the Sabbatical week, a period consisting prophetically of 2,520 days: 7 x 360 = 2,520.
Assuming 2022 is a Jubilee, the final week of Daniel should culminate around Sabbatical year 2028–29.
Significantly, when we do the math, we find that from the start of Daniel’s prophecy in 457 BC to the calculated culmination in 2028–29 is precisely 2,520 prophetic years—the same number of days in a prophetic “week” of years.
Seeing how God’s plan of redemption is measured in weeks (Dan. 9:24–27), it makes sense for the overall fulfillment time—including the lengthy gap between Messiah’s first and second coming—to be equivalent to a “week,” i.e. 2,520 years. It also makes sense for the week to consist of prophetic years as this way of reckoning is common to Daniel and Revelation (Dan. 7:25; 9:27; 12:7; Rev. 11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; 13:5).
Our fourth corroborating witness is not directly related to Daniel’s Weeks Prophecy but is nonetheless based on a prophecy of Daniel.
DOME OF THE ROCK
In Daniel’s final vision of the end times, an abomination that causes desolation is an important time-marker:
“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days” (Dan. 12:11, 12).
In Daniel’s prophecies, a day typically represents a year (Dan. 9:24-27). Counting 1,290 prophetic years from when the daily Temple sacrifice was taken away by Nebuchadnezzar in 586–85 BC, we arrive at 687–88 AD, the year associated with the construction of the Dome of the Rock—an Islamic shrine dedicated to Allah—on the Temple Mount.
What is remarkable is that when we count forward 1,335 years from when the Dome of the Rock was set up in 687–88 AD, we arrive at 2022, our calculated Jubilee.
JUBILEE AND JUDGMENT DAY
A final factor supporting our jubilee reckoning relates to the order of end-times events. While some assume the Jubilee corresponds to the Second Coming, Scripture actually associates the Jubilee with the Rapture:
• Paul uses jubilee terminology such as “liberty” and “redemption” when describing the resurrection–rapture of the Church (Rom. 8:19–23).
• The Jubilee is when servants are redeemed and land is returned to its original owner (Lev. 25). The Rapture is when Christians are redeemed and the “title deed” to Planet Earth, symbolized by the sealed scroll in Revelation, goes back to God (Rev. 5).
• The Jubilee (fiftieth year) is a type of Pentecost (fiftieth day). Since Pentecost is associated with the harvest of the Church (Acts 2), the Jubilee may equally be associated with the harvest–rapture of the Church.
• In Isaiah, the Jubilee is linked to the onset of the Day of Vengeance, or Day of the Lord (Isa. 63:1-6). The Day of the Lord commences around the time of the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:13–18; 5:1–5).
• Based on Scripture and ancient records, scholars believe the Jubilee overlaps, or is identical to, the first year of the next Sabbatical cycle. Since the Jubilee is also the first year of a new seven-year cycle, it is an ideal time for the Rapture and/or start of the Tribulation.
The crux is that since the Jubilee is associated with the Rapture, and the Rapture is imminent, the Jubilee should be considered imminent, i.e. possibly 2022.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Isaac Newton believed the seven weeks of Daniel denote a jubilee period that will culminate in Jesus’ return.
Assuming the Sabbatical cycle as observed is correct, the seven weeks should be counted from 1973, the start of the Sabbatical week following the modern restoration of Jerusalem:
1973 + 49 years = 2022
It bears emphasizing that our jubilee reckoning does not rely on identifying past Jubilees, or any type of subjective math or reasoning. The Jubilee is determined by zeroing in on the only forty-nine year period mentioned in Scripture, which appears in the only Bible verse that addresses explicitly the timing of Jesus’ coming, and counting as instructed: from the start of the “week” following a return to Jerusalem (Dan. 9:25).
In addition to being based on a plain reading of Scripture, our calculation is corroborated by other biblical calculations:
• Counting “seven” and “sixty-two” weeks from the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall circa 1539 AD, we arrive at 2022 (Dan. 9:25).
• Counting 354 weeks from the start of Daniel’s Prophecy in 457 BC, we arrive at 2022.
• Counting 2,520 prophetic years from the start of Daniel’s Prophecy in 457 BC, we arrive at 2028–29.
• Counting 1,335 years from the Dome of the Rock in 687–88 AD, we arrive at 2022 (Dan. 12:12).
Having made a case for a 2022 Jubilee, there is still room for error as the calculation relies on two things: a correct reckoning of the Weeks Prophecy and the Sabbatical cycle. If either is incorrect, so obviously is the end date.
On the other hand, if our jubilee reckoning is correct, it would solve a seven-year old mystery. As noted earlier, based on a straightforward count of forty-nine years from 1967, it was thought that 2015 was a Jubilee.
Yet nothing happened in 2015.
Why?
I believe it is because the count of seven weeks was begun a week prematurely. Since Daniel calls for seven weeks, the count must commence from the start of a Sabbatical week. Because the return to Jerusalem occurred in June 1967, after a portion of the current Sabbatical week had already elapsed, a count of seven weeks could not begin until the start of the next Sabbatical week in 1973.
Could 2022 see the Jubilee to change the world?
It is a distinct biblical possibility, and a thrilling one to consider.
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NOTES:
1. The Hebrew word translated “restore” in Daniel 9:25, shub, means to “return” (Strong’s 7725). Thus, according to Daniel, a countdown of seven weeks begins after the going forth of a command to return to and rebuild Jerusalem.
2. Sabbatical definition: Every seventh year, the Israelites were to allow the land to rest by foregoing planting and harvesting (Lev. 25:2–7). The Sabbatical was also called the year of “release,” or “shemitah,” as all debts were to be cancelled in the seventh month (Deut. 15:1; 31:10).
3. At Jesus’ baptism, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit who descended upon Him in the form of a dove (Luke 3:21, 22). Since the Hebrew word for “Messiah” and the Greek word for “Christ” both mean “the anointed one,” it is logical to identify the first coming of Messiah in Daniel 9:25 with Jesus’ anointing at His baptism.
4. Isaac Newton’s full commentary on Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy (pp. 45–48):http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Observations%20on%20Daniel%20-%20Newton.pdf
5. Newton summarized the whole of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy as follows: “Thus have we in this short Prophecy, a prediction of all the main periods relating to the coming of the Messiah; the time of his birth, that of his death, that of the rejection of the Jews, the duration of the Jewish war whereby he caused the city and the sanctuary to be destroyed, and the time of his second coming: and so the interpretation here is given more full and complete and adequate to the design, than if we should restrain it to his first coming only, as interpreters usually do. We avoid also the doing violence to the language of Daniel, by taking the seven weeks and sixty-two weeks for one number. Had that been Daniel’s meaning, he would have said sixty and nine weeks, and not seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, a way of numbering using by no nation.”
6. The popular explanation for Daniel’s seven weeks being separated from the sixty-two weeks is that they mark the completion of the rebuilding of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day. However, commentators admit that this explanation is not supported by any verse of Scripture or historical record: “The city walls and internal buildings of Jerusalem may have taken fifty years to erect—we simply cannot tell” (Pulpit Commentary, Dan. 9:25). https://biblehub.com/daniel/9-25.htm
7. The view that Daniel’s seven weeks refer to a separate coming of Messiah is supported by various Jewish and English translations:
“Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto one anointed, a prince, shall be seven weeks; and for threescore and two weeks, it shall be built again, with broad place and moat, but in troublous time” (Dan. 9:25 JPS Tanakh 1917).
“Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time” (Dan. 9:25 ESV).
The pause after the seven weeks in the above translations corresponds to the masoretic text of Daniel 9:25, which places the atnach in this same location. The atnach is a Hebrew “punctuation mark” placed under the last word in the first half of a verse to function as the main pause, or break in a sentence.
8. That a latter-days rebuilding of Jerusalem commences a countdown to Jesus’ return is echoed in the Psalms: “When the Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, he will appear in his glory …. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD” (Ps. 102:16, 18).
9. Daniel’s Jubilee in the Dead Sea Scrolls: A fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls (manuscript 11QMelch) has Melchizedek, symbolizing the anointed Prince in Daniel 9:25, returning in “the tenth [final] jubilee” to proclaim liberty to the captives and to execute judgment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11Q13
10. When Are the Sabbatical Years?
http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/sabbatical-years.htm
http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/sabbatical-years-more.htm
11. Sabbatical Years Table:
http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/sabbatical-years-table.htm
12. Daniel’s Weeks Prophecy and the Sabbatical Cycle:
https://biblearchaeology.org/abr-projects-main/the-daniel-9-24-27-project-2/4589-the-going-forth-of-artaxerxes-decree-part1
https://biblearchaeology.org/abr-projects-main/the-daniel-9-24-27-project-2/4590-the-going-forth-of-artaxerxes-decree-part2
13. Sabbatical-cycle corroboration: Counting backwards seven-year periods from Sabbatical year 2021–22, we find that 26–27 AD and 458–57 BC were Sabbatical years. This is remarkable because 457 BC is when Daniel’s Weeks Prophecy began, and the Jews resumed counting Sabbatical years, after the return from Babylonian exile. Thus, the Sabbatical cycle observed in Israel today—the one used in our jubilee calculation—corresponds to the popular interpretation of Daniel 9:25, which has the “seven” and “sixty-two” weeks beginning in 457 BC and ending in 27 AD at Jesus’ anointing as Messiah. Jesus was likely baptized in autumn 27 AD.* Counting three-and-a-half years from then, we arrive at spring 31 AD, the middle of a sabbatical week and the presumed date of His crucifixion.** Jesus was therefore “cut off,” or crucified, “in the middle of a week” in accordance with Daniel 9:26, 27.
*Jesus baptism date: https://bibleask.org/jesus-get-baptized/
**Astronomical data supports a Wednesday crucifixion in 31 AD: http://intercontinentalcog.org/Appendix/Passover_dates_26-34_AD.php
14. When do Sabbaticals and Jubilees begin? Biblically, years begin at Nisan (Ex 12). However, practically speaking, the Sabbatical and Jubilee farming statutes relate to Israel’s “agricultural year,” which unofficially begins when the final harvest is reaped and next year’s crops are sown around Tishrei. If the Sabbatical constraint on farming were to begin at Nisan with no harvesting, the crops planted the previous (sixth) year could not be harvested and would consequently rot in the ground. Thus, the Sabbath for the land commences at the month of Tishrei by foregoing planting. However, this does not mean Tishrei, which Scripture calls the “seventh” month, marks a second New Year, or start to the year.
15. Sabbatical–Shemitah financial crashes: Significantly, the fall–Tishrei financial crashes highlighted by Jonathan Cahn are often the consequence of a larger crisis that manifest in the spring around Nisan. For instance, in Sabbatical year 2007–08, the Global Financial Crisis marked by a record 777-point Dow crash in September–Tishrei actually began with the collapse of Bear Sterns the previous March, corresponding to Adar–Nisan.
16. 1970 master plan to rebuild Jerusalem: The planning and clearing of rubble in preparation for the rebuilding of Jerusalem began soon after the Israeli takeover in 1967. However, the plan to rebuild the Holy City, composed by a team of architects, engineers, and administrators, was not approved and publicly communicated until August 19, 1970. Five months later, in Tevet of the same biblical year (January 1971), the rebuilding of Jerusalem began when “a bulldozer commenced working within the perimeter of the United Nations premises at Government House”:
https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/eed216406b50bf6485256ce10072f637/cad07c91cf05ebf985256437005be684?OpenDocument&fbclid=IwAR2gg_xmU9dFahVmpMLESUG1XxHwINRHZ-9BZhEFoO4Uxz_GMZdT-GSHz8o
https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/22/archives/jerusalem-is-hewing-to-rebuilding-plans.html?fbclid=IwAR2JbgqHHxkuJ7cK-BeNiy52ZUF-4goX-PGDU8xaB0HXJGy1UkaRibBhs1w
17. Strong’s #354 (Hebrew) https://biblehub.com/hebrew/354.htm
18. Strong’s #354 (Greek): https://biblehub.com/greek/354.htm
19. A lunar year consists of twelve orbits of the Moon around the Earth. Since each orbit takes approximately 29.5 days, a lunar year consist of 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, and 34 seconds (354.36707 days).
20. Jesus is likened to a “young stag” three times in Song of Solomon (2:8–10, 17; 8:14).
21. 2,520 calculation: 457 BC + 2028 AD = 2,484 years x 365.25 = 907, 281 days ÷ 360 = 2,520 prophetic years
22. The number 2,520 is a product of the factors 3, 7, 10, and 12, numbers which denote perfection and completion in Scripture:
• 3 is the number of divine perfection.
• 7 is the number of divine completion.
• 10 is the number of ordinal perfection.
• 12 is the number of governmental perfection.
3 x 7 x 10 x 12 = 2,520
Thus, 2,520 could be said to be the ultimate number of completion and perfection, signifying the fullness of time.
23. Dome-of-the-Rock 1,290 prophetic years calculation: 585 BC + 688 AD = 1,272 x 365.25 = 464,598 days ÷ 360 = 1,290 prophetic years
24. The day-equals-a-year principle is also found in the Book of Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:5-6.
25. Fullness of Pentecost/Jubilee: It is interesting that in Acts 2, Pentecost is said to be “fully come” around 9:00am when about 60% of the biblical day, which began the prior evening, has elapsed. Similarly, the jubilee trumpet is sounded when about 60% of the biblical year has elapsed, on the tenth day of the seventh month.
26. While the phrase “Day of the Lord” is used to describe the Tribulation period, it actually applies to the whole thousand-year (Sabbath–millennial) “Day.”
27. Support for a forty-nine year jubilee cycle:
• An indication that the Jubilee overlaps, or is identical to, the first year of the next Sabbatical cycle is Daniel’s Weeks Prophecy where the seventy weeks amount to a period of 490 years, equivalent to exactly ten forty-nine year jubilee cycles. This (non-intercalary) reckoning allows the cycle of weeks to flow interruptedly and mirrors how Pentecost, the fiftieth day, coincides with the first day of the next biblical week.
• Three major studies devoted to the Jubilee and Sabbatical years (see Benedict Zuckermann, Robert North, and Jean-François Lefebvre) agree that the jubilee cycle is forty-nine years.
• Historically, the Samaritans observed a forty-nine year cycle. Also, two instances of a Jubilee mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (tractates Arakin 12a and Megillah 14b) suggest a forty-nine year cycle. Due to a reckoning error, forty-seven years are given from the Jubilee mentioned in the eighteenth year of Josiah (Megillah 14b) to the Jubilee that occurred fourteen years after Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians (Arakin 12a). However, the corrected reckoning (623 BC to 574 BC) actually indicates a forty-nine year interval.
28. A common argument against the forty-nine year jubilee cycle is that if the Jubilee overlaps the first year of the next Sabbatical week, there are only five years available for sowing and reaping, supposedly contradicting the instruction in Leviticus to sow and reap for six years (Lev. 25:3). However, the point of Leviticus 25:3 is not that the Sabbath must always be preceded by six years of sowing and reaping. In times of war and famine, for instance, this may not be possible. The point of the Scripture is simply that a Sabbath must be observed every seventh year, regardless of how many years the land was previously worked.
29. Factors not mentioned in this study, such as “signs in the heavens,” corroborate a 2022 jubilee. It is significant that in 2015, the start of our final Sabbatical week, we saw . . .
• An unprecedented total solar eclipse on Nisan 1.
• A once-in-two-millennia occurrence of the Bethlehem-Star conjunction around the start of summer.
• A “super blood moon” visible above Jerusalem on the Feast of Tabernacles.
It is striking that the Nisan 1 eclipse and Tabernacles blood moon precede by exactly seven years, respectively, the start of the biblical year in 2022 and the pivotal seventh month, the time of the jubilee trumpet blast.
Another noteworthy sign of seven years ago is the two cows born with distinct number “7s” on their heads around the Feast of Trumpets 2014. In prophecy circles, the cows with “7s” were interpreted as a modern-day version of the sign given to Pharaoh about seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine (Gen. 41), presumably pointing to the consecutive Sabbatical weeks 2015–22 and 2022–29. As an aside, it is interesting that the “7” on the second cow was roughly half the size (50% shorter) than the “7” on the first cow, perhaps denoting or highlighting “half” of a seven.
30. If the jubilee calculation proposed in this study is correct, it would appear the latter-days return to Jerusalem was orchestrated (relative to the Sabbatical cycle) to allow the maximum time between the return to Jerusalem and subsequent Jubilee. The seven-weeks timeframe being stretched to the utmost boundary permitted by Scripture is in character with a God known for allowing the maximum time for repentance before bringing judgment.
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*Visit the author’s website: www.theseasonofreturn.com
