SOME CALCULATIONS ON THE JUBILEE CYCLES
Your calculation of the Jubilee Cycles (as published in September issue of Overland Monthly, 1910) beginning the count from the time Israel entered the land of Canaan, is so remarkably simple that I am surprised it did not come to my attention sooner; as it is with this added new viewpoint that certain questions which have somewhat puzzled me before have now been thoroughly cleared up in my mind, I am noting them for your consideration. They are as follows:
1. Why did not Israel celebrate 20 instead of only 19 Jubilees in the land before the great Cycle of 50 Jubilees began their count, so that the entire 70 Jubilees would be complete?
2. Why did the Jews remain in their land 19 years after the celebration of their last typical Jubilee? Why did they not immediately go into captivity?
3. Did the 70 years of desolation typify anything? If so, what?
As a result of your article in the Overland Monthly I have been helped to a solving of these questions, and I am sending you herewith my calculations and conclusions for any comments or added thoughts you may have or can suggest.
This is my understanding of your reckoning as presented in Overland Monthly:
"To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for [R4779 : page 76] as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill three score and ten years."—2 Chron. 36:17-21.
In the above quotation we find the entire number of Jubilee years the Lord purposed for Israel to be 70, which mark 70 cycles or periods of time. Each cycle was 49 years and its Jubilee the 50th year.
70 times this number (50 years) would be.......... 3,500 yrs.
And this period, measured from the time Israel
entered Canaan, which occurred before the date
known as A.D. 1.................................. 1,575 "
——-
Hence the years since A.D. 1, to complete above
period of 3,500 years, are....................... 1,925 "
Or 1925 A.D. marks the date when the full number of Israel's Jubilees would have been accomplished as indicated by the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet.
This calculation is based on the Jubilees from the standpoint of the Law which was given to Israel as a nation and to which they bound themselves, and which has been and is now being fulfilled with regard to the Jews.—Lev. 26.
This calculation in no way antagonizes the view as expressed in SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Vol. 2, chapter 6, paragraph 2, page 180; also page 181; but is considering it only with regard to the Jewish nation and their land and not with regard to the restitution or antitypical Jubilee as set forth in S.S., Vol. 2.
The multiplying of the Sabbath or 7th day by 7 (7 x 7 = 49) pointed out Pentecost, the 50th day, or Jubilee day, which followed.
The multiplying of the Sabbath or 7th year by 7 (7 x 7 = 49) made the cycle which pointed out and led to the 50th year or Jubilee year.
The multiplying of the Sabbath or 50th year by 50 (50 x 50 = 2,500) made the cycle which pointed out and led to the 51st cycle or Jubilee cycle.
As the Jubilee day was not celebrated on the last or 49th day, but on the following or 50th day, and the Jubilee year was not celebrated on the last or 49th year, but on the following or 50th year, so the Jubilee cycle (of 50 years) was not celebrated on the last or 50th cycle, but on the following or 51st cycle.
The Law required that where the typical system ended, the antitypical counting should begin.
Total number of years in Great Cycle.............. 2,500 yrs.
From the celebration of the last Jubilee by Israel to
the year A.D. 1..................................
625 "
——-
The number of years since A.D. 1 necessary to
complete the cycle of 2,500 years................ 1,875 "
If the year 1875 A.D. marks the end of the Great Cycle of 50 x 50 years, then the following 50 years, or from 1875 A.D. to 1925 A.D., will be the Jubilee Cycle or period of time during which the Jews will be returned to their possessions. (This date, 1925 A.D., as we have seen, is the date originally intended by Jehovah as marking Israel's full number of Jubilees.) And how harmoniously does this agree with the ending of the Times of the Gentiles, which terminate during this Jubilee period; their lease of power departing from them allows the Law to be fulfilled toward the Jew, who can now come into his possessions.
Here we get the key to the matter regarding the celebration of only 19 and not 20 cycles before the Great Cycle (of 50 x 50 years = 2,500 years) began to count. The last or 20th Cycle of 50 years was reserved for the Jubilee Cycle to follow the Great Cycle.
Jubilees celebrated in the land by Jews...........
19
Jubilees represented in Great Cycle...............
50
Jubilee period representing the time in which the Jew,
according to Jubilee celebration, should return to his
possessions......................................
1
—
70
"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
"A Jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed."—Lev. 25:10,11.
Here we have two statements made respecting the Jubilee year:
1. The RETURN of every person to his possession; and
"Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land REST and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall REST; because it did not REST in your sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it."—Lev. 26:34,35.
Here again we find that while Israel celebrated the Jubilee when they dwelt in the land, and each man may have returned to his possession and family at the Jubilee period, nevertheless the Lord declares that the land "did not REST" in its Sabbaths when they dwelt upon it.
So the Lord provided the REST feature of the Jubilee for the land when Israel went into captivity for 70 years, and here the 70 Jubilees of REST were accomplished for the land, but during that time the other feature of the Jubilee was neglected (the RETURN of each man to his possession and family), for we find the very reverse of this condition to be true. The Jews, instead of returning to their possessions during that time, were in captivity to and serving the King of Babylon.
How, then, and when will this returning feature of the Jubilees be accomplished?
As shown in SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Vol. II., chap. 6, Israel celebrated 19 Jubilees before going into captivity, and we have no reason to doubt that at each of these celebrations the RETURNING of the people to their possessions was accomplished to the best of their ability.
Now, as 70 was the number of Jubilee Sabbaths or years of REST celebrated for the land (during the captivity), but only 19 Jubilees or years with the RETURNING feature were celebrated, when will the other 51 Jubilees or years with the RETURNING feature be fulfilled? We answer:—
70—Full number of Jubilee Cycles ordained of God.
19—Cycles (with Jubilees) celebrated (50 years
each)........................................
950 yrs.
51—Cycles remaining (without Jubilees) celebrated
(49 years each).............................. 2,499 "
——-
Total years............. 3,449
Number of years Israel entered Canaan before the
date known as A.D. 1............................. 1,575 "
——-
Total number of years since date known as A.D. 1
to complete above period of 3,449................ 1,874 "
Or the year 1874 A.D. completes the above period as was actually fulfilled. This date, 1874, is just 51 years prior to the year 1925 A.D., which, in the first calculation, was found to be the date originally intended by Jehovah as completing the Jubilees for Israel.
Here we have the 51 Jubilees or years to be celebrated all at one time and not individually as were the first 19. What wisdom on the part of our Heavenly Father! The land has already enjoyed the REST feature of the Jubilees (while the Jews were serving in captivity to Babylon) and now Israel, being deprived of the privileges of the RETURNING feature of the Jubilees for 51 Cycles (of 49 years each), can celebrate the 51 Jubilees with RETURNING feature from 1874 A.D. to 1925 A.D. And this we find fully corroborated, for in 1874 the first Jewish colony was founded in Palestine. (Overland Monthly, September, 1910, page 324, 7th line from top of page.) And we see every year the increase of Jews RETURNING to their land and fulfilling the purpose of these 51 Jubilees.
The further question as to why Israel remained in the land 19 years after the celebration of the last Jubilee, is answered, to my mind, as follows:—
If a day symbolically represents a year in Scripture, and 7 days mark to Israel the Sabbath which was carried out in the larger or 7-year system, would not the year symbolically represent the next greater time measure, or the Cycle period? If so, then, after the typical feature had ceased and the Great Antitypical Cycle began to count, Israel's 19 years in the land and 70 years captivity would fitly represent, or typify, the 19 Jubilee Cycles which Israel celebrated in their promised land, and 70 Cycles or (70 x 50 years = 3,500 years) 3,500 years of captivity before they would be permitted to FULLY POSSESS again their land.
Number of years in 70 cycles...................... 3,500 yrs.
Number of years Israel celebrated their last Jubilee
before the date known as A.D. 1..................
625 "
——-
Number of years after date known as A.D. 1. when
the 70 cycles end................................ 2,875 "
The year 2,875 A.D. is just 1,000 years from 1875, the time the Jews began to return to their possessions. At that time, we trust, according to the sure promises of the Lord, the Jews, as well as all mankind, will not only be established in their land but be capable of POSSESSING it and WILL POSSESS it; and it shall be for Abraham and his seed for an everlasting POSSESSION.