The structure of the jubilee system is both amazing and complex. It is hard to know where to get started.
The dates used in this article (and in all our websites)
are those most commonly used in scholarly writing by evangelical
Christians. They are now what is commonly called, "the traditional
date" for the exodus and conquest, that is, c.1446 and 1406 BC
respectively.
The Jubilee system predates the
Exodus, at least in type:
In 1929 BC, Jacob agrees (covenants) with his uncle Laban to work
seven years for a wife. (Jacob, however, got more than he bargained for.
He ended up working 7 x 2 years for two wives, seven years for each!) Jacob was 77 years old at the time, and would live another 70
years and die at the age of 147 (7 x 7 x 3), and is mourned 70 days, (Gen.
50:3). Sevens or multiples of seven are common in the life of Jacob.
Therefore it is significant that from the time that Jacob covenanted to work for a wife
(in 1929 BC) unto the climax of the exodus from Egypt in 1446 BC are
exactly 483 years. The time frame of 483 years is very important in bible
prophecy, and is referred to by the prophet Daniel in chapter 9. This
"483 years" is seventy-times-seven years less a seven-year
period. (See Daniel 9.) (It also happens that 483 years becomes 490 years
when each year is calculated to be an even 360-days long, unadjusted by leap
months. However, for the sake of simplicity our study here will only
be using a "normal" solar year of 365.25 days.)
The reoccurring theme within the life Jacob is one of forgiveness. Jacob
and his brother Esau had to forgive one another and later Joseph (Jacob's
son) had to likewise forgive his brothers also. Thus it is significant
that Jesus said to the apostle Peter:
"Then came Peter and said to him, Lord, how oft
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven
times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times;
but, Until seventy times seven," (Matt. 18:21-22).
Thus, we can see that the jubilee pattern of
"seven-times-seven years" (49 years) predates the time of the
exodus from Egypt as demonstrated from the time frames revealed in Jacob's
life.
Jacob was renamed by God to be "Israel". As we
shall see next, in a sense Jacob/Israel never did enter his rest, nor did
his descendents. And this is why in a sense the missing jubilees begin
from when Jacob/Israel began to work for a wife after fleeing from his
brother by trickery in 1929 BC.
The Jubilee System:
The bible says that the jubilee cycles began from the
time that Israel (Jacob's descendents) entered the land of Canaan in 1406
BC, (Lev. 25:2). However, God intended that the seventh-year Sabbath
cycles begin 40 years earlier, that is, just after the exodus from Egypt
in 1446 BC. (Note: Israel kept both seventh-day Sabbaths and
seventh-year Sabbaths.) But Israel rebelled and instead
wandered in the wilderness 40 years. When studying the jubilee system, it
is imperative to study it both from when God desired Israel to enter the
land and from when they actually did 40 years later. The reason is that
God will ultimately hold Israel to account for all its missing
Sabbaths including those of the wilderness wandering. God will reckon the
missing Sabbath-years from when they rebelled shortly after the exodus and
not merely from when they finally entered entered the promised land. This
will become increasingly evident as we study the numeric revealed in the
Bible about the missing Sabbaths. Therefore,
although Israel kept track of its Sabbaths and jubilees from the time of
the conquest in 1406 BC (as commanded), yet God kept track of them
according to the plan that He originally intended, because when it
came time to judge Israel for its ongoing rebellion He also included the
40 years of rebellion in the wilderness. And so "the land enjoyed its
missing Sabbath rests" as calculated from the very day that God intended
it to rest. For the land did not rest during those 40 years of rebellion
between 1446 and 1406 BC because the Canaanites still ruled the
land. (See endnote 1 for
more on why the 40-year desert wandering is to be included in the time
that the land should have had its rest.)
A jubilee was simply seven cycles of seven years, with
the 50th year being the jubilee year, but not so as to break the on-going
seven-year Sabbaths. Ten jubilee amount to 490 years, not 500. Leviticus
25 makes this absolutely certain when it talks about the "9th
year". The text makes it clear that both the seventh" and
"eighth" year are to be Sabbath years during a jubilee year.
This would not be so if the regular seven-year Sabbath cycles did not stay
in synchronization with the jubilee cycles of 49 years. The 49th year
would not always be a Sabbath year in that case, only the 50th year would
then be a Sabbath during a jubilee cycle. But God promised to bless the
"sixth year" with enough of a harvest to last "three
years" so that there would be no need to reap in the "seventh
year" (that is the regular Sabbath year of the ongoing seven-year
Sabbaths), and in the "eight year" too. But in the "ninth
year" they would reap again as normal. Thus it is crystal clear that
a jubilees are in 49-year cycles in synchronization with the regular
Sabbath years. On a practical note, God is not the author of confusion,
and if jubilee cycles and regular Sabbath-year cycles were
kept out of synchronization then the whole system would be confusing for
common farmers to keep track of.
Lev. 25:3-4 Six years thou
shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and
gather in the fruits thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a
sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah:
thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
Lev. 25:8 And thou shalt
number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven
years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years,
even forty and nine years.
Lev. 25:20-22 And if ye shall
say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor
gather in our increase; then I will
command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it
shall bring forth fruit for the three years. And ye shall
sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until
the ninth year, until its fruits come in, ye shall eat the old
store.
The 490-Years of Daniel's Prophecy
The number 490 found in Daniel 9:24-27 is a key number, for in it are found all other bible prophecy numbers. It's breakdown is as follows:
"70 x 7" = 490 days/years, which is further broken down as:
-
(7 x 7 = 49)
-
+ (62 x 7 = 434)
-
+ (3½ + 3½ = 7) = 490 days/ years.
The 490 years (or days) of the prophecy in Daniel 9
is broken down as units of "seven-times-seven" days or years
(49) x ten (= 490), and is also made up of seven and seventy-year units.
The last seven years of the 490 years is also highlighted by the prophecy
as 483 years plus seven. (Recall the 483 years from Jacob to
the exodus.) These are the same kind of time frames to do with the jubilee
cycles given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai (Lev. 25). Thus, the prophecy
of Daniel's "seventy weeks" is borrowing from the language of
the jubilee system as explained in Lev. 25. The context of the prophecy in
Daniel 9 itself makes this connection certain, for the prophecy came to
Daniel upon completion of the 70 missing Sabbath years as earlier prophesied
by the prophet Jeremiah. The prophecy of Daniel 9, therefore, simply
reveals further numeric details concerning Jeremiahs prophecy about these
missing Sabbaths.
Dan 9:2 in the first year
of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years
whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the
accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.
Dan 9:24 Seventy
weeks (of years) are
apportioned out upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to close the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make expiation for
iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal the
vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies.
Dan 9:25 Know therefore
and understand: From the going forth of the word to restore and to build
Jerusalem unto Messiah, the Prince, are seven weeks, and
sixty-two weeks. The street and the moat shall be built again, even in
troublous times.
Dan 9:26 And after the
sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing; and
the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with an overflow, and unto the
end, war, --the desolations determined.
Dan 9:27 And he shall
confirm a covenant with the many for
one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and because of the protection of
abominations there shall be a
desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall
be poured out upon the desolate.
=======
The whole subject is so vast that I do not think it profitable in this format to explain it all. It's so much easier to explain it all in front of a blackboard.
The remaining jubilees till Christ is all accounted for. The prophets said that the land would lie fallow for 70 years so that it could catch up on all its missing Sabbath-years. (Every 7th year the land was to be left fallow, but Israel did not obey God
in this so that they went into exile so that the land could catch up on these missing years.) Over a space of 490 years, exactly 70 years would have been (intended) fallow since one in every 7 years is fallow. (Seven divided into 490 is 70. See all of Daniel 9 again. The
context agrees. Daniel had just finished praying about the 70 years captivity when he received the revelation of the "70 x 7.")
The years and dates are arranged to agree with this "catch-up-of-missing-sabbaths" pattern. It also takes into consideration the missing 50th year of the Jubilee cycle. (That is, every 490 or 500 years there would be 10 accumulated missing un-kept
jubilee years, plus the 70 regular missing Sabbath years---80 every 490 or 500 years.
Here is the basic pattern:
1446/ 1445 BC (Exodus/Tabernacle) (The first jubilee was intended to be in the fall of 1445 BC, but was delayed till 1406 BC).
1446/1445 BC plus 1000 years equals 445 BC. The last (substantial) date in the bible, and the last of four decrees to "restore and rebuild Jerusalem" as per the prophecy of Daniel 9. God required the missing Sabbaths over this 1000 years. (It
starts at the exodus and not the entry into Canaan 40 years later because the 1000 years traces a history of their failure to keep God’s commandments---a failure that began right from the exodus. However, the official jubilee system that Israel was to keep began at the
entry to Canaan 40 years later, in 1406 BC. This agrees with the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70---40 years after AD 30 when Christ died, and thus this 40 years parallels the 40 years wondering in the wilderness 490 x 3 (49 x 30) years earlier as discussed elsewhere. Hence, the
prophecy of 30 jubilees actually ended at Christ and at the fall of Jerusalem---both. The first was the ideal of God’s first intentions, the second (from 1406 BC) of God’s extended grace. God kept watch over both of them, though men only over the second line of
jubilees. You may wish to know that the year 2025 AD will therefore be 70 Jubilees from 1406 BC, which means that 490 Sabbaths of years would have passed. (Seven divided into 490 [times 7] = 490. AD 2025 less 1260 x 2 years = 495 BC ---i.e., 490 years till the birth of
Christ, etc. Will AD 2025/6 to 2032/33 [also, 2000 years after the ministry of Christ and 70 jubilees from the 7-year conquest of Canaan] be the 7-year tribulation period of Daniel 9? I really don’t know!)
Anyway, the 1406 BC thing is a just side note, but an important side note!
Back to the 1445/6 to 445 BC, and 1000 years (a type of the coming millennium).
The first thing to notice is the basic 70,s pattern---two of which are spoken of directly in the bible (Daniel 9, and Zech. 1-2). (For now we use approximate figures. Note that scholars except the 70 years of Daniel 9 as based on Jeremiah as just a round
number, the actual being 66 years. Our pattern will be well within this allowance.
606/605 BC (first exile) plus 70 years "captivity" (Daniel 9) = 536 BC (return from Babylon and rebuilding of temple---539 to 536 BC). (First decree of Daniel 9 prophecy in 538 BC.)
586 BC (last exile and fall of Jerusalem) plus 70 years to 516 BC (completion of rebuilding of the temple). (519 BC was the second of four decrees that pertain to the prophecy of Daniel 9.)
Note that the above two figures are 20 years apart. As we shall see, this 20 years represents the missing jubilees over a 1000-year period. The same 20 years of rebuilding the temple parallels the 20 years of Solomon’s building of the temple and palace
in 966-946 BC, exactly to the very month 430 years each. See Ezekiel 4.)
The above 516 BC (or 515 BC by some scholars), plus anther 70 years equals 446 or 445 BC, (the decree of Artaxeres to Nehemiah to rebuild walls, which was 1000 years after the exodus/tabernacle.)
Notice the midpoint of the 1000 years is 946 BC, when Solomon completed his 20-year building program. Hence, midway is the middle of the 490 x 2 years, and of the jubilee cycles under study. The theme is consistent. The tabernacle of the exodus, to the
temple of Solomon, to the temple of Zerubbabel and of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, to the birth and death of Christ which Jesus said was His temple: "Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days…but Jesus spoke (not of the nature temple, but) of His
body." Hence, the royal jubilee cycles of 490 years fall upon the theme of building/destroying and rebuilding of the temple or Jerusalem---all are a type of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. ("Jesus tabernacled among us." John 1.)
We have yet to put all this together, but first the third decree to rebuild Jerusalem given by Artaxeres in 458 BC, allowing Ezra to return and beautify the newly rebuilt temple with gold and strengthen Jerusalem. Thirteen years later was the decree to
Nehemiah in 445 BC. These 13 years purposeful lacks 7 years to make the 20 years. (See also the book of Ester, 466 BC to …).
Here is the pattern:
(605 BC exile/plunder of temple) + 20 years (586 BC exile/destruction of Jerusalem and temple) + 70 (Zerubabbel's temple) + 70 (Nehemiah, 445 BC); or, (605 BC) + 70 (leave Babylon and begin to rebuild temple) + 70 (Ezra’s return to beautify temple) + 20
years (Nehemiah). A Total of 160 years, or 4 generations of 40 years.
Total missing Sabbaths for the land over 1000 years = 70 x 2.
Total missing Jubilees for the land over 1000 years = 10 x 2.
Total missing Sabbaths and Jubilees over 1000 years = 80 x 2 = 160.
Hence, the breakdown of all the missing jubilees over the millennium of Old Testament history from the exodus to Nehemiah (the end of the Old Testament Bible) is broken-down so as to touch upon every significant event at the beginning, middle, and ending
of this period, all along the theme of Jerusalem and the temple. (Or more broadly, of exile and recovery.) (The 40 years wondering in the wilderness is a part of that breakdown.)
Yet there is more!
Israel (and Samaria) to the north (as distinct to Judah and Jerusalem of the south) went into exile 70 x 2 years before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC! Moreover, Israel, like Judah, fell in three stages. Assyria first began to conquer Israel in 738 BC,
which was 70 x 2 to the exile of 597 BC (with Ezekiel), and is 70 x 4 years till when Ezra returned to beautify the temple after it was denuded in 597 BC.
Hence the pattern of 70’s continues. As per the prophecy of Daniel 9, "70 x 7 years are decreed…"
But why another 70 x 7 plus 20 years back to the fall of Israel?
It is because, whereas Judah likely kept the weekly Sabbaths of the Lord (but not faithfully the yearly Sabbaths for the land), Israel to the north, which was more apostate, never kept the weeks Sabbaths or festival days either. (Israel served Baal, and
put up their own temple to Baal in Samaria.) This means that Israel to the north not only failed to keep the seven-year Sabbaths for the land, but also the seven-day Sabbaths as well. Hence, over a 1000-year period, they failed to keep 70 x 2 Sabbath years, and 70 x 2
Sabbath days amounting to another 70 x 2 years, for a total of 70 x 4 years, or 280 years, which is 7 generations, (40 x 7 = 280). Thus, over the 1000-year period Israel failed to keep 280 years of Sabbaths, so that only 720 years was she allowed to remain n the land
because of her unfaithfulness. (The 720 is divided in half as 360 x 2 years---a day for each year---just as the 280 is divided into 140 x 2.) Israel was besieged by Assyrian and fell between 725-722 BC.
The remaining missing 20 years (or 700 years from the exodus, plus 20 + 280) to when Israel first began to fall to Assyria in 738 BC is accounted for by the fact that in every year there were about another 7 days of mandatory special Sabbath days (such as
the day of Atonement) that Israel was to do no work, which accounts for the 20 years. (Hence, the full parameter of the 1000 years spans 700 + 300 years = 1000. They were in Egypt a round "400 years," 10 generations of 40 years, or 4 generations of 100 years as it
says in Genesis, "You shall be in a strange land 400 years---in the 4th generation I will come to you." Hence, 700 + 300 = 1000 equals 3 generations + 7 generations = 10 generations. It happens that 3, 7 and 10 all signify a period of completion or perfection. The
1000 plus the 400 years in Egypt add up to 1400 years, or 10 times the 140---the key number used in our calculations. Hence, the above patters repeat themselves except on a 10 times basis, even as 490 is ten times that of 49. And this 1400-year pattern is indeed there---a
wheel within a wheel of 7000-year within 700 within 70 with 7-years cycles. (I.e., 445 BC less 4900 = AD 4455, ten times AD 445, the mirror of 445 BC, etc. For just as there were 70 x 2 years between the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC and 445 BC, plus its 490 years, so there
are now 700 x 2 years from 445 BC (from 1846 BC entry into Egypt for "400 years"), plus its 4900 years (from 445 BC). Note that the total time between the entry into Egypt in 1846 BC and the return to Egypt and Babylon in 586 BC are 1260 years, or 1290 years if
one takes the literal 430 years in Egypt rather than the said 400 round number of Genesis. Amazingly, 1290 is found in Daniel 12, and 1260 in Revelation 11 and Revelation 12. Both 1260 and 1290 signify half a seven-year period. (This is the beginning of a 7-x-2
years-of-years pattern in parallel with the 70 x 2-year pattern, which begins at the 7 x 2 years of Joseph's plenty and of famine at the said entry into Egypt in 1876/1846 BC) (See www.360calendar.com for details on the 30-day
difference between 1260 and 1290 days/years.)
Thus, the theme of exiled and recovery remains intact throughout.
Thus, God kept perfect record of all Israel’s and Judah’s missing Sabbaths, and required them at their hand for their land. The message is plain: The nation under the Mount Sinai covenant failed to keep and will never keep the covenant to the
satisfaction of God, thus the New Covenant in Christ’s blood is needed. As believers in Jesus, we are under another covenant based on a promise by faith in God who keeps His word. One day we will be taken out (exodus) from this world to be with Christ. I believe, too,
that Israel will remain on earth as head of the nations for 1000 years----the 7th 1000 years from the creation, of which 1445 to 445 BC was a type.
All this is just the tip of the iceberg of the working of the jubilees and of the 490 of Daniel 9. For example, the average date of all the 4 decrees of Daniel 9 works out to 490 BC!
538 BC + 519 BC + 458 BC + 445 BC = ‘1960’, divided by four = 490 BC. (See Revelation 12 with Daniel 9 and 12.)
The reason this does this is that all dates in the bible are reflecting to one another as in a
mirror. 490 BC reflects AD 490. For example, 445 BC plus 490 x 2 years = AD 536, which is the
mirror of 536 BC. Or another example, the fall of Babylon in 539
BC, to the fall of Samaria in 722 BC, as AD 722, are 1260 years. ---- And so work all biblical dates in like fashion. I know of no exception. But that is another vast topic!
Moreover, all dates are intersecting literal days with years of equal value. For instance, 490 days after Israel arrived at Mount Sinai was the Day of Atonement in 1445 BC, which is also called the day of Jubilee, (Lev. 13). Thus, 490 days ("seventy
weeks") after the Mount Sinai covenant was given is when the Jubilee cycles were intended to begin, (in 1445 BC). 30 Jubilees later was AD 26, the day of Atonement, when Jesus was "about 30 years old" the very day He began His half-seven-year ministry. The
numbers are exact to the day, not merely approximate as I first said for the sake of argument. But to explain all of that would require several books worth of information. But herein is the awesome glory of God especially revealed, for none could do this great numeric feat
even if only on pen and paper, and not upon the hearts and minds of men and nations in real life experience.
One final note: The great complexity of the breakdown of the 1000 years warrants us to humbly except the fact that to try to guess the date of our Lord’s return is impossible. Its’ simply too complex. We are simply to rest in the fact that God
has everything under control and on His calendar.
(The 490-year cycles also continue perfectly into "the mirror"!)