Bible Prophecy
Numbers
"Yes,
it is I"
Ten
Epoch Events{1}
Chapter Two 'A'
(Expanded)
Back
to ch. 1a
(not expanded)
To ch.
1b
(The dates
used are common among modern
scholarship, secular and religious alike.
{2}
They
are found in most modern commentaries and study Bibles. Importantly,
they are not those of my own making.)
1.) Abraham
enters Canaan: (2091 BC)
Abraham enters Canaan (and Egypt).
(Genesis 12:1-20; cf. 12:10 with Isaiah 52:4, see Isaiah 29:22, "…Who redeemed Abraham"), 2091 BC.
2.) Israel
enters Egypt: (1876 BC)
Israel enters Egypt exactly "430 years,"
( Exodus 12:41), spr. 1876 BC until spr. 1446
BC.
(See Isaiah 51:9-13 for reference to Egypt’s shattering).
3) Israel
leaves Egypt: (1446 BC)
(See above, 1446
BC)
4) Fall of Israel (725-721
BC {or 722})
Assyria conquers Samaria,
the capital of Israel, (i.e., the Northern Kingdom). The siege (likely) lasted a
little more than three years, 725 to
early 721 BC.{3}
5) Near fall of Judah (701
BC)
When
Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, it virtually wiped out the
Southern Kingdom of Judah as well, (701 BC),
but Jerusalem was
spared––for a time (Isaiah 36-39).
6) Fall
of Assyria: (614-612 BC)
Assyria’s
ancient capital of Ashur, and Nimrud (the capital at the time of
Samaria’s fall), and Nineveh (the capital after that), all fell to
the Babylonians and the Persians between 614-612 BC, "effectively putting an end to the Assyrian empire."{4}
7.)
Fall of Judah: (589-586 BC)
Babylonia conquers
Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. The full siege lasts 945{5}
days, 589/8–586 BC.{6}
8.)
Fall of Babylon: (539-536 BC)
Persia
conquers Babylon in Oct. 539
BC. From 538 to spr. 536, Jews leave
Babylon and begin to re-build the temple.
Fall
of Persia: {Persia
falls to Greece in 334–330 BC. See note{7}}
9.) Birth
of "Suffering
Servant" (5 BC or 1 BC)
"He
was numbered with the transgressors," (Isaiah 53:12b, cf.
52:13–53:12).
Jesus
was born about 5 BC, (but Dec. 25th 1 BC according to tradition).
10.) Death
of "Suffering
Servant" (AD 30)
His
ministry lasted 3½ years, aut. AD 26 to spr. AD 30; (although according to tradition the spr. of AD 30 is
ironically when Jesus began His ministry instead!){8}
To last part of chapter one:
"What do Bible Prophecy
Numbers Reveal?"
Notes:
{1}
The initial exiles from Israel and Judah (before
their complete destruction in 722 and 586 BC), are of secondary
importance and will be treated as such. This holds true for Judah’s
subsequent returns from exile as well, (after the main return of 538
BC).
Sennacherib’s
catastrophic invasion of Judah in 701 BC is listed among our
"epoch events" because it is the very focal narrative of the
Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 36–39), and therefore especially applicable to
our text of Isaiah 52:4. (Note the importance granted it by the rest of
Scripture as well, 2Kgs. 18–20; 2Chr. 32).
{2}
Many secular scholars refuse to believe
the exodus really occurred and therefore do not assign it any date.
Also,
there are believing scholars who place the exodus around 1290 BC
instead of the customary 1446
BC, but they must reject the natural
meaning of "the 480th year" of 1Kgs. 6:1 to do
so.
In any
case, "1290 BC" is significant since 1290 is the number
specifically mentioned in Daniel 12:11. Also, the 1290 exodus date
amounts to the same as 3 x "430" years (of Ezekiel 4:4-6),
which further combines with the previous "430 years" just
spent in Egypt till this exodus (Exodus 12:40)! Moreover, 1290 BC is
approximately the same as the Jewish traditional date for the exodus
of 1313 BC––an important date that will be examined later.
The New
International Version Study Bible, (in the Introduction to the
"Exodus"), outlines the main argument for the 1290 BC date.
"The
appearance of the name Rameses in Exodus 1:11 has led many to the
conclusion that the 19th-dynasty pharaoh Seti I and his
son Rameses II were the pharaohs of the oppression and the exodus
respectively…(and) lead to a date for the exodus of c. 1290"
In
spite of that, the NIVSB still strongly favors the traditional view of
adhering to the "480th year" of 1Kgs. 6:1,
pointing out that "Rameses" (Exodus 1:11) is very likely a late
editorial-update, just as in Genesis 47:11.
However,
since all Scripture is inspired of God, the insertion of "Rameses"
into the text is meant to draw our attention (among other things) to
the time of Rameses as being symbolically related to the exodus.
Symbolic
(idealistic) dates LOGICALLY deduced are consistently significant in
the numbers, usually more obvious in meaning then the actual literal
dates themselves.
{3}
From 2Kgs. 17:5 and 18:10, we learn that the siege of Samaria by
Shalmaneser king of Assyria lasted "3 years." Then,
Shalmaneser himself died Dec. of 722 BC.
However, his son who succeeded him also lays claim to Samaria:
"In
his annals Sargon II lays claim to the capture of Samaria at the
beginning of his reign, but it was hardly more than a mopping-up
operation." (Footnote to 2Kgs. 17:6 in the NIV Study Bible).
Hence
we have a late 722 or early 721
BC date for the end of the northern kingdom of Israel.
{4}
John Brinkman, "Nineveh," in Encarta 97 Encyclopedia,
CD-ROM.
{5}
To be exact, the siege of Jerusalem lasted 942 or 945 days since there
is a three-day discrepancy between 2Kgs. 25:8 and Jeremiah 52:12. Both
siege spans are used in our studies however, although the 945 of
Jeremiah predominates since he was a prophet, and since he was
contemporaneous with Ezekiel––the one who had himself
"besieged" Jerusalem.
Ironically,
Jewish tradition complicates matters still more by their attempt to
correct this three-day discrepancy. They have 944 days (to Av 9)
instead of 945 (to Av 10).
{See
Calendar converter for 360-day year of Bible prophecy
for help in calendar conversion and exact day
counts even over thousands of years. But keep in mind that this site
uses the modern Jewish system of reckoning (rather than the ancient
practice of adjusting to the equinox, and to the first sighting of the
crescent moon), so that any particular lunar day may be out a day or
two, or behind one full month.
For
example, there are 29.53059 days averaged in a lunar month. Since the
siege lasted exactly 32 months, therefore 32 x 29.53059 = exactly 945
days––nevertheless, it is given as 943 days at that web site.}
{6}
Some scholars (not the majority) put the dates of the three exiles of
Judah back a full year instead, (i.e., 606, 598, and 587 BC). They
reach these conclusions based upon another viable method of computing
the years of a king’s reign.
The
standard dates for the siege, however, are Dec. 11, 589 BC (or, Jan. 9, 588 BC), to the
destruction of the temple in July 14 (or, Aug. 13), 586 BC, as based on
Jeremiah 52:4-12.
Unless
otherwise stated, dates will be set to the Gregorian calendar (i.e.,
the modern calendar that we all use today).
{7}
Since the Persian kingdom is not one of the oppressive nations
specified or clearly implied in Isaiah 52:4, but is only the instrument
by which Babylonia falls, a summary of patterns to do with Persia’s
demise will be presented as an excursus only.
{8}
Generally speaking, the tradition that placed the birth of Jesus on
Dec. 25, 1 BC, also fixed spr. of AD 30 as the start of His
ministry––calculated as "30 years" from His conception.
To last part of chapter one:
"What do Bible Prophecy
Numbers Reveal?"
Also see, How
past events are tied to the future in Bible Prophecy Numbers
Back
to ch. 1a
(not expanded)
To ch.
1b
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