Hi jpat1975 ,
I first heard these calculations in a sermon by Jon Courson several years ago. I don't know where he got them. For some reason, I have come to associate it with Grant Jeffrey, but I don't know if he actually deserves the blame for originating it. At the web link you gave I did not see the name of the author, either of the page, or of the advertised book from which the material was said to be drawn. In any case, this material has gotten around in dispensational circles to prove the prophetic significance of the reestablishment of the nation Israel in 1948.
So, how is any of this math justified?
390 days Judgment against the 10 northern tribes 'Israel'
+ 40 days Judgment against the 2 southern tribes 'Judah'
= 430 years Judgment against the nation of Israel
Why would you add the 40 years of judgment upon Judah to the 390 years of judgment on Israel, when they may be intended to run concurrently? Scholars disagree as to when either of these periods are thought to begin and end, but making one start after the other has finished is not the only possibility.
The Fulfillment of the Prophetic Judgment Begins . . .
In 606 B.C. Israel (Judah) was taken into captivity by Babylon for exactly 70 years ...
Since the prophet identified the judgment on Judah as lasting 40 years (not 430), why would you subtract the 70 years of exile from that period? How do you subtract 70 from 40?
If you can justify gratuitously adding the periods of judgment of Israel and of Judah together, making 430 years, why would you start calculating this number from Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion of Judah, in 606 BC? The "390 years" speak of the judgment on "Israel" (as distinct from Judah). The northern kingdom (Israel) had come to an end 116 years prior to 606 BC, so it seems very unnatural—even impossible—to begin calculating Israel's judgment from a date over a century after the nation ceased to exist.
If you can gratuitously justify beginning the calculation of Israel's judgment at the time of Judah's captivity, why choose 606 BC, when there are two other dates that could mark that captivity's commencement (depending on how one wishes to look at it). In 606 (or 605), a few Jews (including Daniel) were captured and taken to Babylon. This hardly qualifies as the captivity of the nation. Then, in 597 BC, a few more Jews (including Ezekiel) were taken into Babylon. It is possible that, because of its impact on him personally, Ezekiel might think of this as the beginning of the captivity. However, one could very reasonably mark the beginning of the general exile in 586 BC, when Jerusalem was destroyed, and Judah was essentially evacuated of Jewish residents by the Babylonians. If we want to calculate some interval beginning at the exile, why choose 606 BC, when two alternative dates are available? Isn't this just a matter of arbitrarily choosing dates that can be made to work with one's desired results?
As an aside, it would seem more reasonable to see the 390 years as those from 975 BC (when Israel separated from Judah under Jeroboam) to the year 586 BC, when Judah's punishment (the destruction of the temple and the exile of its population) was realized.
430 years of judgment determined against nation Israel
- 70 years fulfilled during the Babylonian captivity
= 360 years remaining in judgment against the nation of Israel
This number (360) becomes essential for the later calculations. Yet, how was it arrived at?
First by assuming that the 390 years and the 40 years should not run concurrently (an assumption possibly true, but possibly not), and
Second, by arbitrarily beginning the period of the punishment of "Israel' (as distinct from Judah) at a year over a century after the extinction of that nation.
If either of the first two assumptions are invalid (the second, at least, seems almost certainly wrong), then the whole calculation is worthless.
Having arrived at this chosen figure (360), we must now find some justification for multiplying it by seven. How is this done? Perhaps Leviticus can help!
The 7X Factor of God's Judgment . . .
... "And after all this, if you do not obey Me,
then I (God) will punish you seven times more for your sins."
(Leviticus 26:18)
...(Leviticus 26:21)
...(Leviticus 26:27-28)
...(Leviticus 26:33)
...
Prophecy Fulfilled . . .
Now, let's apply the 7X factor to the remaining 360 years of judgment against nation Israel in this remarkable mathematical prophecy . . .
Okay, my next question is "Why make this multiplication?" This is the most artificial of all parts of this calculation.
Leviticus 26 lists a series of specific judgments that God will bring upon the nation of Israel, if they violate His covenant. He breaks up the list into segments. After the first of these segments, He says, "And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sin" (v.18).
The "seven times" is repeated three times in the chapter:
"Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins" (v.21)
"then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins" (v.24)
‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me...I will chastise you seven times for your sins" (vv.27-28)
Notice two important points:
1. God does not say, "I will multiply your punishment (or the length of your punishment) by a factor of seven!" He says, "Seven more times." This could easily mean seven more punishments, rather than seven times as much punishment; and
2. If we wish to take the "seven" literally (almost certainly a symbolic number), then we have to do the math like this:
If you keep sinning, I will multiply that 360 by seven, which equals 2,520! (v.18)
After that, if you don't repent, I will have to multiply that number by seven, making 17,640! (v.21)
If this doesn't get your attention, then I will up the ante, multiplying again by seven, reaching the number 123,480! (v.24)
Finally, if you do not stop sinning, I will have to multiply this by seven again, making a grand total of 864,360 years of judgment! (v.28)
If these verse 18 is speaking of literal multiplication by seven (as the end-times speculators require) then the same multiplication must be applied in vv.21, 24 and 28. It is obvious from the flow of the chapter that these sevens are separate from and sequential to each other. They are not the same seven in each case.
Thus, everything about the calculation is artificial—except, of course, the target date of 1948, which was determined to be the outcome before anyone pulled out their calculators.
How do I explain the incredible coincidence? There is none. Once a particular result is desired (i.e., 1948), any number of mathematical routes may be chosen to reach it. There are many numbers in the Bible. There are the seventy weeks of Daniel. These are divided into seven, sixty-two and one. If I allow myself to take these numbers, there are a variety of ways that I can add, multiply, or divide them by each other in order to seek a result I desire. If none of these processes yield the desired end, I can bring in any other numbers, found anywhere in the Bible—three, five, six, seven, twelve, forty, seventy, 150, 390, 1,260, 1,290, 1,330, 144,000, etc.
Consider also the great number of dates of significant events that might be chosen as starting points for any calculation—one might choose the date of the creation of the world, the flood, the call of Abraham, the descent to Egypt, the Exodus, the invasion of Canaan, the anointing of David, the building of the temple, the division of the kingdom, the fall of Samaria, or of Judah, or the decree of Cyrus, or the first or second decree of Artaxerxes, the birth of Jesus, the baptism of Jesus, the crucifixion, the fall of Jerusalem, the beginning of the Crusades, etc., etc. etc.—depending on what one is hoping to prove.
If I have both the time and the incentive, beginning with a date of my arbitrary choosing, I can continue adding, subtracting, multiplying, squaring, any combination of these numbers that will finally get the result I want.
Some of my number choices and methods of calculation may seem counterintuitive or arbitrary, but no more so than the ones used in the above calculations. The main factor in my success is the gullibility of the Christian public, and their lack of reasoning skills.
Some of us are old enough to remember Edgar Whisenant, and his infamous book.Here is a summary of his infamy, from Wikipedia:
Edgar C. Whisenant (September 25, 1932 – May 16, 2001), was a former NASA engineer and Bible student who predicted the Rapture would occur in 1988, sometime between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13.[1] He published two books about this, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 and On Borrowed Time. Eventually, 300,000 copies of 88 Reasons were mailed free of charge to ministers across America, and 4.5 million copies were sold in bookstores and elsewhere. Whisenant was quoted as saying "Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong; and I say that to every preacher in town" and "
f there were a king in this country and I could gamble with my life, I would stake my life on Rosh Hashana '88."
He obviously would have lost his bet and his life, had that been possible. Yet he was an engineer—a math expert. His book was filled with calculations from arcane numbers, gleaned from various biblical passages, and factored with each other in arbitrary way to yield his fanciful result: the rapture would be in September of 1988.
Learning nothing from history, Harold Camping calculated from interval between creation and Noah's flood (!) and added and multiplied randomly by other biblical numbers to reach the amazing conclusion that Jesus would come in 1994. When this did not happen, he set another date in May, 2011.
There have been many lesser-known date calculators—every one wrong, but every one convinced that his calculations were valid. The difference between them and the calculations above is only that 1948 is in the past, while these others were calculating to a future date. The arbitrariness of the calculating assumptions, however, are exactly equal. Those who set dates set target dates that they wished for, and then found all the Bible numbers they could use to reach them. In their case, their targets were speculative, and the invalidity of their methods were thus exposed.
The only difference in the present case is that the target date is known in retrospect, so it is not vulnerable to being disproven by future developments (unless, of course, Israel, in the future, comes under a new wave of similar disasters, showing that her "judgment" is not yet finished!).
If you're short on callers or material for you next radio broadcast I was wondering if you could take a quick look at the calculations on this page regarding Israel's restoration as a nation in 1948, and if this is as "precise" as some say, or not? How do you explain this, IF, the numbers indeed check out? What are the implications here for you, if you - for the sake of argument - conceded that yes, this could not be coincidence, and God's hand was in it?
