Israel's First Captivity and Return On the 14th day of Nisan, Passover, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham for the Promised Land. God also prophesied that Abraham's descendants would be in affliction and bondage for precisely 430 years. "And he said unto Abraham, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years" (Genesis 15:13).
This "affliction" began 30 years later with the hatred expressed to Isaac by Ishmael's mocking attitude (Genesis 21:8-10). This affliction of Abraham's seed in Canaan eventually ended in the bondage in Egypt. "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years,even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:40-41). OnPassover, 430 years later, the captivity ended. The Apostle Paul confirmed that the captivity lasted precisely 430 years (Galatians 3:17).
Israel's Second Captivity and Return When many of the kings of Judah began to rebel against God,numerous people turned to idol worship and pagan gods despiteGod's warnings through His prophets. The 10 northern tribes ofIsrael were conquered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.E. (2 Kings17:6). Then, Jeremiah prophesied that the Kingdom of Judah would also be removed for precisely 70 years from the Promised Landbeginning in 606 B.C.E. because of their sins. "And this wholeland shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years" (Jeremiah25:11). Precisely 70 years later on the first day of Nisan, 536B.C.E. King Cyrus of Persia released the Jews, just as Jeremiah had prophesied. Despite the royal permission, only a small remnant of the Jews left Babylon and returned to Israel. The vast majority never returned, choosing rather to reside in the nationof their captivity.
The Third and Worldwide Captivity The Bible contains numerous prophecies of a final return of the exiles to the Promised Land in the "last days." In light of the precision of the prophecies about the duration of the earlier captivities, it seemed probable to me that the prophets must have revealed when the Jews would return from their final captivity to establish their nation.
The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision concerning the final return of his people. "This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it:according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon itthou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days,three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity ofthe house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for ayear" (Ezekiel 4:3-6).Ezekiel declared that each day represents one biblical year.Israel would be punished for 430 years (390 years and 40 years).
At the end of the 70 years of prophesied captivity in Babylon, inNisan 536 B.C.E., only a small remnant of the house of Judah returned to Jerusalem to fulfill the prophecy. The vast majority of the Jews remained in the Persian Empire as colonists.Therefore, when we deduct the 70 years in Babylon that ended inNisan 536 B.C.E. from Ezekiel's 430 years of punishment, Israel still had 360 years of further captivity due following the end ofthe Babylonian Captivity. Despite the precision of Ezekiel's prophecy there was no return to the land, either 430 years or 360 years after 536 B.C.E.
The solution to this mystery is found in Leviticus 26. The Lord established promises and punishments for Israel based on her obedience and her disobedience. God told Israel four times in this passage that if, after being punished for her sins, they still would not repent, the punishments previously specified would be multiplied by seven (the number of completion). "And ifye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punishyou seven times more for your sins" (Leviticus 26:18; alsoLeviticus 26:21, 23-24, 27-28). In other words, if the Israelites did not repent, the punishment previously promised (360 years)would be multiplied seven times (360 years x 7 = 2,520 biblicalyears) to reach a total of 2,520 years. Therefore, as of 536B.C.E., the final restoration to the Holy Land would occur onlyafter 2,520 biblical years.
The Biblical Year of 360 Days When we refer to biblical/prophetic years we refer to the ancient Jewish year of 360 days. While our modern calendar year contains365.25 days and the modern Hebrew calendar has 354 days, thebiblical year of ancient Israel was lunar-solar and containedonly 360 days. The solar calendar year of 365.25 days was not used by Israel. According to articles in the EncyclopediaBritannica and Smith's Bible Dictionary on chronology, Abraham used a year of 360 days consisting of 12 months of 30 days each.
The Bible's account of the flood confirms the ancient biblical year of 360 days describing a five-month period as consisting ofprecisely 150 days between the 17th day of the second month to the 17th day of the seventh month (5 x 30 days = 150 days). SirIsaac Newton declared that "all nations, before the just length of the solar year was known, reckoned months by the course of the moon, and years by the return of winter and summer, spring and autumn; and in making calendars for their festivals, they reckoned thirty days to a lunar month, and twelve lunar months to a year taking the nearest round numbers, whence came the division of the ecliptic into 360 degrees." The book of Esther (1:4) reveals this 360-day year in its description of a six-month-longfeast that lasts precisely 180 days.
The prophet Daniel also confirms this fact by describing one-half of the 70th week(Daniel 9:24-27) as containing exactly 1,260 days (3.5 x 360days). Sir Robert Anderson, the brilliant head of Scotland Yardin 1895, described the 360-day year in his book The Coming Prince. The Calculation The Babylonian captivity ended in the spring of 536 B.C.E., 1stNisan. This date is the starting point for our calculations. The period of worldwide captivity would last 2,520 biblical years x360 days = 907,200 days. Converting this figure into our calendaryear we divide the 907,200 days by 365.25 to reach a total of2,483.8 calendar years. (Remember that there is only one yearbetween 1 B.C.E. and 1 C.E.; there was no Year Zero).
The end ofIsrael's worldwide captivity would occur after a total of 2,483.8years had elapsed from the end of the Babylonian Captivity in thespring of 536 B.C.E.End of Babylonian Captivity: Spring 536 B.C.E. + the duration ofWorldwide Captivity: 2,483.8 Calendar Years = When the WorldwideCaptivity would end: Spring 1948. The Rebirth of Israel: May 14th 1948 On May 14, 1948, the Jewish people proclaimed the independence ofIsrael and the end of their worldwide captivity at the precise time prophesied by the prophet Ezekiel. On this very day a united Israel took its place as a sovereign, independent state among the nations.
The isreali calendar before AD 300(before the jewish calendar reformation) was a solar calendar,comprising of 12 months each of 30 days.this calendar is well elaborated in the site http://360calendar.com/ ,but the author of the site is under the false impression that prophetic calendar and original jewish calendar are 2 different ones,infact they are both same.there are innumerable historic and archeological evidences for this.try the following link http://www.angelfire.com/ga4/israelites/enochian_calendar_information.htm#where
Early christians observed shabbath,festivals(4 spring festivals already fullfilled by crucifixion,resurrection of Jesus and birth of church on day of pentecost-upper room and 4 fall festivals, all of which are mentioned in leviticus 23) and rosh chodesh(called by israelis as new moon after babylonian captivity-before captivity it was just 1st day of the month-rosh chodesh) and also temple sacrifices in the rememberance of ultimate and eternal sacrifice Jesus the messiah/christ on the cross at calvary.They used the 360 calendar( http://360calendar.com/) for observing these festivals.In the near future when true christianty will be restored and the temple rebuilt in Jerusalem,christians will once again observe the festivals,shabbath,rosh chodesh and temple sacrifices.the temple itself will be called "Prayer house for the people of all nations".The 360 calendar (http://360calendar.com/) will be restored worldwide.This will happen immediately after the soon coming WW3 and before the rapture.This restored church-the true religion aka the godschurch aka the final protestant church, wil have all people living on earth as it's members.But when Jesus comes back on the day of trumpets(rapture) believers will be taken and hypocrites left behind on earth to face the great tribulation.
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