Sep 9, 2015

Daniel 12:11
“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.

What understanding are we meant to take from these numbers 1290 and 1335? They weren’t explained to Daniel, but were passed on as something important, and were clearly meant to be understood at a later date, as we approach the time of the end. The time periods represented are at least roughly equivalent to a time period of 3 1/2 years mentioned in several other places – sometimes expressed as “a time, times and half a time” (Daniel 7:25, 12:7, Revelation 12:14), sometimes as 42 months (Revelation 11:2), sometimes as 1260 days (Revelation 11:3, 12:6), and referring in all of these cases to the second half of the 7-year tribulation period that will immediately precede our Lord’s return.

Let’s lay aside the numbers from Daniel 12:11 for a moment, and look first at the other ways that the period of 3 1/2 years is described. This will give us some perspective to help us better understand Daniel 12:11. Despite the variety of ways that it’s expressed, a little bit of math shows us that these other cases are all referring to the same length of time. Taking a month to be 30 days, we get 1260/30 = 42 months. And similarly if a year is taken to be 12 months, we get 42/12 = 3.5 years.

But these numbers 30 and 12 are just the nominal, generic lengths of months and years. On the Hebrew calendar, the actual length of a month alternates between 30 and 29 days, and the length of a year alternates between 12 and 13 months, with any 3 1/2 year period having at least one 13th month, and sometimes two.

If what we were being given in these verses was a count of the exact number of actual days in 3 1/2 years, it would have to be something larger than 1260. The exact number would depend on the year, but we could expect to see 43 or 44 for the number of months, and 1269-1271 or 1298-1300 for the number of days.

So what we’re being given in these verses is really nothing more precise than simply 3 1/2 years. It’s sometimes expressed in terms of months or days – but when it says 42 months, all it’s really saying, since 42/12 = 3.5, is just 3 1/2 years. And when it says 1260 days, all it’s really saying, since 1260/30/12 = 42/12 = 3.5, is just 3 1/2 years.

When the time period is expressed in terms of a “number of days,” it’s actually not the exact number of days. And this is fine. I normally wouldn’t expect to need anything more explicit than just 3 1/2 years, or this ballpark figure for a number of days that can represent 3 1/2 years in a simple way.

But suppose a case comes up in which the Lord’s messenger would like us to have something a little bit more explicit. I believe this is what we’re seeing in the numbers of Daniel 12:11 –

Daniel 12:11
“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.

The context makes it clear that this is exactly the same event referred to in Daniel 9 as the “middle of the seven,” and with the time period from here to the end sometimes being referred to as 42 months or 1260 days:

Daniel 9:24-27
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

Revelation 11:1-3
I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

So why does Daniel 12:11 refer to the time period as 1290 days rather than 1260?

My take on it is that it really is exactly the same time period – but the numbering system has been adjusted in order to give us a little bit more information. Notice that if we divide these numbers by 30 just as we did for 1260, we still get very tidy numbers. It’s still holding to the simplifying approximation of 30 days for every month – with 1290/30 = 43 months, and 1335/30 = 44.5 months. But two things are different –

• It’s now counting the actual number of months, acknowledging the 13th months whenever they are present.
• It’s now also paying attention to half months.

The significance of half months is that the timing of events on the Hebrew calendar is based on the cycles of the moon – with some events at the new moon, and some at the full moon. There’s a half month difference between the new moon and the full moon – so the numbers of Daniel 12:11 are able to give us some deeper insight into the exact placement on the calendar of the events that it refers to.

There are three major Hebrew calendar events which happen at the new moon or full moon. At the new moon is Rosh Hashanah, the Hebrew New Year. At the full moon is Sukkot in the fall, and Passover in the spring. And these numbers of Daniel 12:11 suggest that perhaps the beginning and ending points of the time spans are tied to these new moon and full moon oriented calendar events.

For a 3 1/2 year time span to be marked by these events, we have the following possibilities. There are four possible fall-to-spring or spring-to-fall spans, and for each of the four possible spans we have three possible counts for the number of days. Shown first is the count resulting from ignoring the 13th months, as is most often done in prophetic passages. Then the actual number of 13th months in a 3 1/2 year period is either 1 or 2, so next are shown both of these possibilities:

Now looking to see what numbers we come up with, we find both of the cases which appear in Daniel 12:11. I’ve highlighted these in green to make them easier to spot. And then the 1260’s from Revelation are highlighted in yellow.

This shows us some useful things. First, it illustrates the previously mentioned correlation between 1260 days and 1290 days. Though the numbers are different, they can both relate to the same events, with the only difference being whether the 13th months have been included in the count. The two spans that 1260 and 1290 could refer to are Sukkot to Passover, or Passover to Sukkot. And looking at the context of these events in Scripture, seeing that 1260 and 1290 days are described as the time from the middle of the 7-year period to the end, it becomes clear that Passover to Sukkot is the one which fits this description. With the number of months at 43, the one extra month says that this 3 1/2 year span will include one 13th month.

Second, it shows only one possible correlation for the count of 1335, counting from Rosh Hashanah to Passover. Thus rather than seeing these as two time spans which run in parallel from the same starting point, as some scholars have done in trying to interpret these numbers, we find the most straightforward interpretation to be simply that one refers to the second half of the tribulation, while the other – the count of 1335 – refers to the first half. With the number of months at 44.5, the half month accounts for beginning at a new moon and ending at a full moon, and the two extra months say that this 3 1/2 year span will include two 13th months.

Now is this reasonable, for the 1335 days to end in the middle of the 7-year period? It says “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days“. What would be the special blessing of reaching the middle of the tribulation, when the most difficult things are to begin?

I can’t say for sure, but it may be referring to those who are waiting on the Lord at the middle of the tribulation, and as a result are carried away to that place in the desert where they’re taken care of and protected from the harsh events of the second half. We see this expressed in several passages:

Revelation 12:4-9
The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Revelation 12:13-17
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Matthew 24:15-21
“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

That would truly be a blessing, to skip over those terrible times, and just return 3 1/2 years later with the Messiah when He returns to reign on earth. For those people, the mid-point of the seven years essentially is the end. For those who aren’t shielded like this from the second half, the end comes 3 1/2 years later at the Messiah’s return. So perhaps this helps to explain why the two time spans of Daniel 12:11 both sound a bit like countdowns to the end, even though the interpretation we’re finding here suggests that by our earthly timetables we’ll see them as two separate time spans, one following the other.

But can this interpretation actually fit on the calendar? An important detail to understand about the ‘sevens’ in the prophecy given by Gabriel to Daniel in Daniel 9, is that each ‘seven’ is simply a seven-year Sabbatical cycle, ending in a Sabbatical year. This was the case for the 7 sevens and the 62 sevens (see Rediscovering an Ancient Chronology), and it makes the best sense to understand the one remaining seven in the same way. So for the interpretation we’ve found here to genuinely hold together, we would need to find a 7-year period – a Sabbatical cycle, ending in a Sabbatical year – for which there are two 13th months in the first half, and one 13th month in the latter half.

Let’s take a look and see if this can work. We know that the present year, 2014/2015, is a Sabbatical year. From this, let’s look ahead several Sabbatical cycles and see if this interpretation fits any of them. What we’re looking for is a Sabbatical cycle with 44 months in the first half, and 43 months in the second half.

One quick note – to explain columns 1 and 3 which have no headers. Column 1 shows at what point in the Sabbatical cycle each year falls – with each Sabbatical year, year 7 of the cycle, highlighted in a brownish color. Column 3 shows at what point in the Metonic cycle each year falls – with years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 highlighted in a darker shade of blue, to show the correlation between the Metonic cycle and the 13th months:

Yes – it does fit. It could fit in the 2029/2036 Sabbatical cycle. That could be when the tribulation will happen. Or it could be in the 2043/2050 Sabbatical cycle, or in one of the several other possibilities following that.

But at this point in our navigation of these end times, perhaps the more important piece of information we can take from this, rather than when the tribulation will be, is when it won’t be. Perhaps this is the piece that Daniel’s messenger had in mind for us to figure out and understand. These things seem to be saying that the final seven years – the tribulation – is not likely to begin this year, or 7 years from now in the year 2022/2023. They’re saying that it’s actually not likely to begin any sooner than the year 2029/2030.

Now, there are significant things happening in our world right now – and accompanied by more than one kind of heavenly sign, telling us to look up and take notice. Because of the things I’ve seen, I personally believe that some very important fulfillments of prophecy probably are almost upon us. But as we process these things it’s easy to get carried away and assume – maybe even hope – that the absolute end is almost upon us – asking the Lord to please just come and take us home; feeling like coping with this world is just getting way too hard; preferring to just throw in the towel and be done. But my sense as I think on these things, is that the Lord still has important work for each of us to be doing – helping to get every piece in place – paving the way for as many as possible to come to faith in Him while there’s still time.

Because of all that we see happening in our world right now, there are people who fully expect Jesus to return this September. And there are people who expect at least that the tribulation will begin this September, with maybe all the believers being Raptured, and the Lord coming back in just 7 years.

Now, I won’t say that it couldn’t happen this way. We’ll soon know – with the greater clarity that comes with hindsight. But here we have in advance, a strong piece of evidence that the Lord’s return won’t be quite that soon. Scholars have played with these numbers from Daniel 12:11, knowing that they have to mean something – and so, they’ve constructed theories of where these time spans might fit into the picture. But the theories have been just speculative and tangential. Now that we can see an actual significance to the numbers, with precise meanings in terms of the lunar calendar and the Hebrew feast days – this leads us to an understanding of why they were given to Daniel. They’re about when these final seven years can and can’t fall – meant specifically for people of our present day, in these end times – to give us a way to more clearly see in advance what’s coming. To help us avoid wrong turns; to help us avoid telling people that such and such is about to happen, when it actually isn’t. To keep us from turning people away from their faith in God, by giving them expectations which in the end will be proven faulty.

Aug 7, 2022 addendum

(evaluated Sept 8, 2016 – but not edited in until Aug 2022)

Now, some of you know that the standard Hebrew calendar as used today is no longer perfectly aligned to the lunar and solar cycles. There’s been a gradual slippage over the centuries, of the time of year that month 1 begins. This is because since the time of Hillel, the calendar is no longer based on actual observations of the equinox and lunar crescents, but depends instead on a fixed pattern meant to approximate the typical cycles. The Metonic cycle, used to determine which 7 years out of every 19 will get a 13th month, has been applied by letting each 19-year cycle just be followed by another 19-year cycle, and another, and another, as if the cycle were precisely 19 years in length. Though it is pretty close to 19 years, it’s off by enough that to keep the beginning of month 1 from slipping, an adjustment in the placement on the calendar of the 19-year cycle is needed every several hundred years, shifting it back by 8 years to overlap the last 8 years of the previous 19-year cycle.

From the time of Hillel to the present, five such adjustments were needed – but the keepers of the calendar didn’t know about this need, so the adjustments were never made. To catch up for these five missing 8-year adjustments, what would be needed to correct our present-day calendar, is to shift back by 40 years the placement on the calendar of the 19-year Metonic cycle. Or, simplifying this, since a 19-year shift of the placement of the Metonic cycle, or similarly two such shifts for a total of 38 years, would be the same as no shift at all – we can see that shifting the 19-year cycle back by just 2 years is all that’s needed to restore the present-day calendar to what it would have been if all five of those 8-year shifts had been done.

The reason this is important to know about is because, as seen above, the information provided by the numbers 1335 and 1290 in Daniel 12:11 is about the presence or absence of 13th months – so if the calendar we’re using doesn’t have the 13th months correctly placed, then we can’t rely on the understanding that we get from Daniel 12:11. For this reason, the above study has used the corrected placement of 13th months – with the alignment of the Metonic cycle shifted back by 2 years from what the standard Hebrew calendar would show – and thus being in perfect agreement with what’s shown by the astronomically-correct Torahcalendar.

For a comparison of the corrected versus uncorrected versions, here are the results of each, in terms of which Sabbatical cycles could be a match for the final 7-year period that Daniel 12:11 is talking about:

Maybe the most important result of considering this, is to see that for both calendars, 2022-2029 is still disqualified as a potential tribulation period, and 2029-2036 is still qualified as a potential tribulation period. Thus, for evaluating the spans that are currently most relevant to us – it actually doesn’t matter whether we’re using the corrected or uncorrected versions of the calendar. It’s pretty cool how God works these things out. Fully knowing what misunderstandings and errors we’re going to face – when it’s important that we get something right, He knows how to get us to the right answer despite the errors.

Aug 8, 2022 addendum

Now, how much weight really can we give this one piece of evidence – from an interpretation of the numbers from Daniel 12:11, which stands alone, without support from any other scholars?

Well, if it were indeed standing alone, I might see it as just an interesting idea, with maybe no real significance – and be hesitant to share it publicly.

As far as scholarly support, it may indeed stand alone. But in terms of fitting together well with other evidence – with evidence that contributes toward discerning the timeline that’s before us – it’s actually in very good company.

What do you mean? What other evidence have you seen?

Let me see if I can put together a list.

• Lunar eclipses – The partial eclipse on Passover which marked Yeshua’s crucifixion – it points ahead to a total eclipse on Passover exactly 2000 years later, in the year 2033
• Venus/Mercury – The bright morning star – not just any occurrence of Venus as a morning star, but an occurrence of this which is marked by Mercury at both ends of the span, and stands out as the most prominent occurrence of this in a given 40-year span. One of these most-prominent spans of Venus as the morning star began three days after Yeshua’s crucifixion – and then we find this repeated 2000 years later, just before Passover of 2033
• The two days of Hosea 6:2 – I’ve heard from a number of people an interesting understanding of this verse “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him” – which takes this as referring to a gap of 2000 years from the Messiah’s crucifixion to the restoration of His people Israel. This is the same gap marked by the total eclipse, and by Venus the bright morning star.
• Marking by Saturn – The Bethlehem Star pattern as applied to Saturn, having marked the new year following Yeshua’s death and resurrection – and then in the same way pointing ahead by 2003 years, to the year 2036. Now how does this make sense alongside those other events which mark Passover 2033? It happens 3 1/2 years later – 1290 days later, by the measuring scale of Daniel 12:11. And it falls at a meaningful place in the Sabbatical cycle – at the end – with Passover 2033 being right in the middle of that Sabbatical cycle.
• A special marking of the Day of Atonement – In that same year, 2036, Yom Kippur, day 10 of month 7, is marked by a Venus/Saturn conjunction followed by a Venus/Regulus conjunction. A special feature of this day on the Hebrew calendar, is that while in an ordinary year the head of the year is marked by Rosh Hashanah, on day 1 of month 7, in a Jubilee year it’s marked by day 10 of month 7. So it may be that this special marking of day 10 is indicating a reset of the Jubilee cycle – that this year it is to begin anew, at the Messiah’s return.
• The fall feasts – Just as the calendar dates for the spring feasts in 33 AD (see month 1 of 33AD) align with those established both at the Exodus (see month 1 of 1446 BC) and 40 years later at the entrance into the Promised Land (see month 1 of 1406 BC), all having Passover, day 14, on day 6 of the week, the calendar dates for the fall feasts in 2033 (see month 7 of the year 2033) and 2036 (see month 7 of the year 2036) also align with those established at the Exodus (see month 7 of 1446 BC) and the entrance into the Promised Land (see month 7 of 1406 BC), all having the eve of Sukkot, day 14, on day 1 of the week.
• The overall 7000-year plan of the ages as found in some ancient writings. Most scholars have long given up on ever being able to make any real-world sense of this – but we can now see that it actually makes perfect sense when we know the starting and ending points for the spans, and which pieces of our history are not included in the count –
   

  Not counted: The history of the earth and universe from the very beginning, up to the unformed state of the earth described in Gen 1:2 – and the history of the earth from Gen 1:2 up to the point at which the reckoning of years begins, at Adam’s creation in Gen 1:27

  Not counted: The first year, from Adam’s creation, up to the “laying of the cornerstone” as described in Job 38:4-7, happening near the end of year 1

  4003 BC to 3004 BC – The first span of 1000 years, marked at both beginning and end by all 8 morning stars, with an overall span of 999 years and 1 month – but in terms of fall-to-fall years which begin in month 7 and end in month 6, spanning 1000 years – from the last month of the first year, to the first month of the last year, ending on month 7 day 3.

  4003 BC to 3 BC – A span of precisely 4000 years, from month 7 day 3 beginning the fall-to-fall year after Adam’s creation, to month 7 day 3 beginning the fall-to-fall year of the Messiah’s conception and birth – marked at the beginning by the Bethlehem Star pattern as applied to Mars; marked at the end by the Bethlehem Star pattern as applied to Jupiter.

  Not counted: the 34 1/2 years from the Messiah’s coming as foretold by Gabriel in Luke 1:31, to His death and resurrection

  33 AD to 2033 AD – A span of precisely 2000 years, from the Passover on which the Messiah gave His life, to the Passover which falls in the middle of Daniel’s final week of years.

  Not counted: the last 3 1/2 years of the tribulation

  2036 AD to 3035 AD – the final span of 1000 years – the millennium – marked at both beginning and end by 6 evening stars, with an overall span of 999 years and 1 month. Same time span as the first span of 1000 years beginning in 4003 BC – but this span beginning and ending in the spring near Passover rather than in the fall. Though marked in month 1 at the beginning of the year, it’s in month 7 at the head of the year that the millennium actually begins, when Daniel’s 70th seven has come to an end.

If these various pieces of evidence were pointing in different directions, giving us competing scenarios, requiring us to choose between them and decide which ones are convincing enough to take seriously – I might never reach a point of confidence in my understanding of any of it.

But that’s not what we see at all. We find every piece of evidence contributing to the same picture. The same understanding – that “No, the tribulation; Daniel’s 70th week; the last 7 years before the millennium begins – isn’t going to start this year, in 2022. It’s coming soon, yes. But the Lord still has work for us to do here for a bit longer. And things to show us. Amazing things to show us, as He prepares and trains us to do battle against His enemy and ours – the one who has worked so hard since the beginning to mislead us, to hide and misrepresent truth, to do anything he can to turn our hearts away from the One who loves us, who created us with His own hands, and who gave His very life to make a way for us to be delivered from the lies of this enemy.