Tag Archives: Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis

The Anti-Semitic Roots of a Christian Conspiracy Theory

Did the Jewish Rabbis Alter the Bible to Hurt Christianity?

In my last article, we learned there was no smoking gun of Rabbinic manipulation of the Hebrew Old Testament texts. The best “evidence” that those who hold this Christian conspiracy theory could come up with were second hand accounts and the belief that the Jewish rabbis of the 2^nd century had “motive, means, and opportunity” to change the Hebrew Masoretic (MT) text of the Old Testament in order to undermine the Christian belief that the Yeshua of Nazareth was the Old Testament’s promised Messiah.

We also learned in the last article that the Septuagint text of the Old Testament was in fact purposely changed in thousands of places. This manipulation was likely a well-meaning attempt to make it more appealing to the Greek speaking audience of its day. Kind of like a “living translation” scholars compile today in order to make the Bible more understandable to their modern readers. I don’t agree with this mentality, nevertheless, I understand the reasons one might attempt such an effort.

Since there is no hard evidence the Jewish rabbis of the 2^nd century manipulated the text of the Old Testament to undermine early Christian beliefs that Yeshua (Jesus) was the Old Testament’s promised Messiah, shouldn’t we as Christian’s give them the benefit of the doubt? I believe we should

In the interest of thoroughness though, let’s look at some of the Christian conspiratorialist’s circumstantial evidence to see if there is any validity to their claims.

Let’s start with the claim that the Old Testament chronology was shortened so that Yeshua of Nazareth did not arrive at the time expected of the Messiah. Here are a couple of quotes from Mr. Woodward’s – Rebooting the Bible pp. 199-200 that explain his arguments:

Voices Confirming MT Corruption of the Timeline
Debating the nature of the differences between the LXX and the MT isn’t just a recent pastime of interested academics. It has been a hot topic for seventeen centuries! And scholars in the early Church arrived at the same conclusion that our study deduces: The rabbis of the first and second centuries changed the MT text in Messianic passages, but also “deflated” the Genesis 5 and 11 chronologies; Henry B. Smith Jr. informs us:

Ephraem of Syria [306-373 A. D.] is the first known ancient source to explicitly argue that the Jewish rabbis of the second century AD deflated the primeval chronology by ca. 1300 years in their Hebrew MSS for the purpose of discrediting Jesus as the Christ: “The Jews have subtracted 600 years [in Genesis 5] from the generations of Adam, Seth, etc., in order that their own books might not convict them concerning the coming of CHRIST: he having been predicted to appear for the deliverance of mankind after 5500 years.” Ephraem was one of many ancient authors who claimed that the rabbis deliberately reduced the primeval chronology for messianic reasons.²²⁴

Prophecy students are familiar with the notion that there would be a “Sabbath week” of millennia, meaning that biblical history would extend 7,000 years with the final 1,000 years being the reign of Christ –aka the Kingdom of David, or more appropriately, the Kingdom of God. Few know that this belief was widespread in Second Temple Judaism – meaning that the Messiah would appear before six thousand years had transpired. Says Smith, “Messianic chronologies were usually associated with the Days of Creation, with each day representing 1,000 years of history. In some schemes, the Messiah would arrive in the 6^th millennium (5000-5999 AM), and usher in the kingdom in the 7^th millennium (6000 AM).”²²⁵ Smith comments that this was done by the rabbis because “reducing the primeval chronology as presently found in the MT places Jesus’ life outside the time of the coming of the Messiah [This is, Jesus’s coming in 1 B.C., would have been too early for Jesus to qualify as Messiah].²²⁶ But Akiba had altered the dates so that Jesus of Nazareth didn’t come as the Messiah after 5,000 years!

Rebooting Early Christian Anti-Semitism
There are several problems with Mr. Woodward’s and Mr. Smith’s reasoning above. To start with let’s address the origins of the Christian Conspiracy Theory regarding the unproven chronological manipulations of the Hebrew Bible by Jewish Rabbis.

In the quote above it is admitted that the first known ancient source who “explicitly“ argued that Jewish rabbis purposely manipulated the Hebrew text of the Bible was the early church father Ephraem of Syria. (306-373 AD) What Mr. Woodward and Mr. Smith fail to mention is that Ephraem was a rabid anti-Semite who wrote vitriolic rants against the Jewish people in an attempt to convince his Christian followers that the customs of the Jewish people were evil.

You see, the context of Ephraem’s words take place in the fourth century when it was still popular for many Christian believers to keep the Biblical holy day of Passover. Ephraem and other church fathers believed these “Jewish” traditions were evil and the Eucharist was the proper method to remember Yeshua sacrificial atonement on our behalf. Even though the Passover supper was in fact the symbol by which Yeshua taught his own disciples and those disciples taught their early followers to remember Yahweh’s redemptive plan for mankind and Yeshua’s part in that plan, many of the church fathers reject the Passover symbolism because of it’s “Jewishness”.

So you clearly understand the mentality of Ephraem and his unsupported claims that the Jewish rabbis manipulated the Old Testament chronology of the Bible; here are a few quotes reflecting his view of the Jewish people. These quotes come from several of Ephraem’s anti-semitic hymns which can be found here: Ephraem the Syrian

“Blessed is he who rejected the People [the Jewish people] and their matza
Since their hands were defiled with precious blood!

For when the People went forth they bore
leaven of idolatry along with matza.

See how the People refresh their outward appearance
While in their heart dwells deadly poison.

For [the People] resembles the first serpent
Who deceived us by giving us deadly fruit.

Don’t take that matza, brethren,
from the People with blood-spattered hands

How much more unclean is matza,
kneaded by hands that killed the Son!

The People that did not eat pork
is a blood-stained pig.

‘I hate the Jewish dead!
I loathe their bones in Sheol.

‘If only there was a way I could get rid of their bones
from Sheol, for they make the place stink!

‘By the Holy Spirit, I’m astonished at how long I’ve dwelt
among a People who smell as rank as their way of life!

‘Onions and garlic are the heralds of their deeds — (Numeri 11.5)
The mind of that filthy People resembles their food.’

Ephraem’s claims of Jewish manipulation of the text must be seen through his depraved and unscriptural view of the Jewish people as reflected above. Ephraem clearly hated the Jewish people. His anti-semitic conspiracy theory about their manipulations of the Scriptures was likely rooted in this same evil.

Alison Salvesen of Jewish/Non-Jewish Relations explains the context of Ephraem’s Anti-Jewish Hymns this way:

Discussion of the sources
The first three examples of Ephraem’s anti-Jewish works are taken from a series of hymns on the Unleavened Bread, for use in the days before the festival of Easter. It is clear from Ephrem, and from other writers of the period such as St John Chrysostom in Antioch in Syria, that Christians found participation in Jewish festivals attractive, with Pesach being a great favourite. Ephrem uses the strongest possible language to deter his congregants from eating matza with their Jewish neighbours. He also uses Old Testament Scripture very selectively and out of context, to support his argument that God has rejected the Jewish Chosen People, in favour of the ‘People from the Peoples’ (i.e., Gentile Christians). Ephrem’s goal is to get local Christians to accept the superior spiritual significance of Easter over Passover, and of Eucharistic bread (as symbol of the Body of Christ) over Jewish unleavened bread. https://jnjr.div.ed.ac.uk/primary-sources/rabbinic/st-ephrem-ephrem-the-syrian-c-306-373-ce-anti-jewish-hymns/

While not all early church fathers shared the vitriolic hatred expressed by Ephraem of Syria, many did consider the Jewish people (as a race) to be hopelessly flawed, and because of this supposed deficiency God cursed them with Torah observance and suffering. Justin Martyr, one of the earliest proponents of the Christian Conspiracy theory concerning the Rabbinic manipulations of the Hebrew text, had this to say about the Jewish people in his work: Dialogue with Trypho (a Jew). (Circa 155-170 AD)

We too, would observe your circumcision of the flesh, your Sabbath days, and in a word, all you festivals, if we were not aware of the reason why they were imposed upon you, namely, because of your sins and the hardness of heart.

The custom of circumcising the flesh, handed down from Abraham, was given to you as a distinguishing mark, to set you off from other nations and from us Christians. The purpose of this was that you and only you might suffer the afflictions that are now justly yours; that only your land be desolated, and you cities ruined by fire, that the fruits of you land be eaten by strangers before your very eyes; that not one of you be permitted to enter your city of Jerusalem. Your circumcision of the flesh is the only mark by which you can certainly be distinguished from other men…as I stated before it was by reason of your sins and the sins of your fathers that, among other precepts, God imposed upon you the observence of the sabbath as a mark.

What is so disconcerting about the sentiments expressed above is, first of all, their lack of love as exemplified by Yeshua’s death and resurrection for the sins of ALL mankind, not just the Jewish people. We are all flawed sinners in the eyes of Yahweh. Second, the Jewish people were and are special in the eyes of Yahweh because he chose them to fulfill his covenant with Abraham, that promise that through Abraham’s seed ALL nations of the earth would be blessed. Thirdly, the apostle Paul explained that it was Yahweh’s graciousness that used the rejection of Yeshua by some of the Jewish people and their leaders, to bring the good news of the gospel to the Gentiles – in order that BOTH Jews and Gentiles might be added to the family of God.

Romans 11:7-21 ⁷ What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded ⁸ (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. ⁹

And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: ¹⁰ Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

¹¹ I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

¹² Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? ¹³ For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: ¹⁴ If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. ¹⁵ For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

¹⁶ For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷ And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; ¹⁸ Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. ¹⁹ Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. ²⁰ Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

²¹ For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

Grafted into the Olive Tree
As Gentiles grafted into the same source as the Jewish people, we should not get caught up in the reckless accusations of some of the early church fathers who saw the Jewish people as a hopelessly cursed race. Quite the contrary, the Jewish people as a race are indeed special in the eyes of Yahweh and they are and will continue to be a central fixture in Yahweh’s redemptive plan for mankind.

In fact, those of you who like me earnestly look for the return of Yeshua, it would behoove us to remember that Yeshua will not return again until the Jewish People as a nation say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord [Yahweh].”

I ask you then, what part are you playing in Yahweh’s plan to restore the Jewish people to favor in His sight? Are your words and actions helping or hindering the Jewish people in their understanding of the good news of Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah? Making unfounded and slanderous accusations against the Jewish people, certainly does not further their understanding of Yahweh’s redemptive plan for mankind through Yeshua – their JEWISH Messiah.

Luke 13:34-35 ³⁴ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! ³⁵ Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

For those who would like to better understand the anti-Semitism of the early church fathers I encourage you to read Dr. David Reagan’s excellent article entitled: Anti-Semitism: Its Roots and Perseverance.

A Chronological Conspiracy
Okay, so we’ve explored the antisemitic roots of the Christian Conspiracy Theory concerning the supposed Rabbinic manipulations of the Hebrew Bible. While the early church father’s anti-Semitic bias clearly contributed to their view of their unreliability of the Hebrew text of the Scripture, what about the facts of the case? Is their validity to the claims made above by Mr. Woodward and Mr. Smith that the MT Hebrew text of the Scripture was maliciously modified in order to hide the fact that Yeshua was the Bible’s promised Messiah?

Let’s do some chronological forensics to see if this Christian chronological conspiracy theory has any truth to it even though it was originally built upon an evil foundation of anti-Semitism. Might there be some truth to it, nevertheless?

Let’s look once more at Mr. Woodward’s and Mr. Smith’s claims regarding the chronological conspiracy of the Jewish Rabbis:

Misunderstandings and Misrepresentations
There are a couple of problems with Mr. Woodward’s & Mr. Smith’s representation of the early church’s belief in the 6 days (6000 years labor) – 1 day (1000 year rest) symbolism. First of all what we agree upon: Many of the early church fathers did indeed see Biblical history in terms of a 7000 year plan of God. Like Yahweh’s pattern at creation they saw the six days of Yahweh’s labor as 6000 years of mankind’s labor under the curse of sin, followed by a Sabbath rest of 1000 years where Yeshua literally ruled from the throne of David during the millennium. While there is clearly Biblical support for a 1000 year reign of Christ, Yeshua’s coming – during – the 6th millennium is nowhere clearly stated in the Bible.

Pre-Millenniallism and the Church Fathers
For more information on the Pre-Millennialism of the early church I’d encourage you to read Bob DeWaay’s article Pre-Millennialism and the Early Church Fathers. The article shows that Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Papias, Tertullian, Commodianus, Lactantius and Hippolytus of Rome all held some version of (7^th day) millennialism (not 6^th day).

As many before me have said, in many ways, Yeshua’s first coming could be seen as a secret mission. He came at His 1^st coming to restore Israel’s and mankind’s spiritual fortunes and it is at His 2^nd coming that the more physical manifestations of that redemptive plan will be revealed – to include Yeshua physical rule over the nations, a rule in which the nation of Israel will have an honored place.

But let’s get back to the conspiracy theory. To be clear, the invented accusation that because the Jewish Hebrew text of the Scripture placed Yeshua’s first coming in the 4^th millennium instead of the LLX’s version of the chronology which places the first coming of Yeshua in the middle of the 6^th millennium somehow constitutes proof of a Rabbinic manipulation is exaggerating the evidence to say the least.

Here take a look at the chronology of the Septuagint organized within the early church’s view of the 7000 year plan of Yahweh.

Click on image to enlarge

Good and Bad News
First of all the bad news: According to the early church fathers’ view of Biblical history based upon the Septuagint (chart above), you and I have officially missed the millennial reign of Christ. The Good news is that we are now living in the age of the new heaven and earth and the New Jerusalem. Of course you must spiritualize much of what the Bible says about the coming messianic age to claim this age is in any way a fulfillment of what the Bible promises.

Missing the Millennium
The above chart gives one an insight into understanding why from the 4^th century onwards the literalist or chiliast (millennial) view of Biblical history of the early church was rejected in favor of a spiritualized (kingdom now) version of history.

The church based in part upon their rejection of everything Jewish, and their acceptance of the Septuagint’s chronology of Biblical history, saw that the Yeshua had not literally returned to reign from Jerusalem. Those who held to the Septuagint version of chronology and the 6000/1000 view of Biblical history sought an alternative version of history to explain their failed eschatology.

Definition: Chiliasm
The belief that Christ will return to earth in visible form and establish a kingdom to last 1000 years. Also called millenarianism. — chiliast, n. — chiliastic, adj.

In the above chart note especially Ephraem of Syria’s chronological place in all of this. He, the first church father to specifically claim (according to Smith) that the Jewish Rabbis had manipulated the chronology of the Hebrew Bible to hide the messianic nature of Yeshua of Nazareth, himself made these claims when he stood at what his generation considered the very threshold of the millennium. Prejudiced by his hatred of the Jewish people, he might well have assumed that the Jewish version (MT) of the Scriptures was purposely concealing the soon return and reign of Christ.

Spiritualizing the Bible
Looking back we might explain the failed eschatological (chiliast) expectations of the early church fathers and their subsequent shift away from a literalist eschatological interpretation of Scripture to a more spiritualized view in a couple of different ways.

The early church fathers’ chiliast expectations (6000/1000) view of history was flawed since the Messiah didn’t come.
The Septuagint chronology of the Bible was inflated and it was not yet the end of the 6^th millennium from Adam. In other words the early church fathers trust in the LXX was flawed and because of their anti-Semitic bias they were blinded to this possibility that the MT text of the Bible might have been correct.

The Rabbi’s Predicted the Coming of Yeshua
Here is the real irony of this whole convoluted conspiracy theory. If the early church fathers hadn’t summarily rejected everything “Jewish” they might have realized that their conspiracy about the early Jewish manipulations of the Old Testament chronology were simply not accurate.

The fact of the matter is that Yeshua came precisely when the Rabbis believed the messianic age would begin. You see, like the early church fathers, many of the Jewish people believed in a 6 day (6000 yrs.) 1 day (millennial reign) view of Biblical history. The Jewish rabbis divided the 6000 years into three periods of time. The first 2000 years they called the Age of Chaos, the 2^nd 2000 years the Age of Law/Instructions, and the 3^rd 2000 years the Age of / Days of the Messiah.

Compiled in roughly 500 AD the Babylonian Talmud explained the Rabbinic Jewish view of Biblical history in the following way:

There is a Boraitha in accordance with R. Ktina: As in the Sabbatic period, the seventh year is a release, so will it be with the whole world that one thousand years after six will be a release, as above cited verse [Isa. xii. i] and [Ps. xcii. 11]: “A Psalm or song for the Sabbath day,” which means the day which will be all Sabbath. And as [ibid. xc. 4]: “For a thousand years are in thy eyes but as the yesterday when it is passed.”

The disciples of Elijah taught: The world will continue for six thousand years, the first two thousand of which were a chaos (Tahu), the second two thousand were of wisdom, and the third two thousand are the days of the Messiah, and because of our sins many, many years of these have elapsed, and still he has not come.

Elijah said to R. Jehudah, the brother of R. Sala the Pious: The world will continue for no less than eighty-five jubilaic periods, and in the last jubilaic period ben David will come. (anonymous. The Babylonian Talmud (Annotated) (p. 317). Unknown. Kindle Edition.)

Take a look at the following chart. According to the Hebrew MT text of the Bible Yeshua’s first coming took place at precisely the beginning of what the Jewish rabbis believed to be the start of the Messianic age. From a Jewish rabbinic point of view any time during those 2000 years would have been time to expect the Messiah. That Yeshua came at the very beginning of this messianic period and many signs point to Yeshua soon return, the significance of this view should not be ignored.

Click on Image to Enlarge

You might be wondering, by what kind of logic could the early church fathers have claimed this was a manipulation meant to hide the messianic identity of Yeshua?

The only thing that makes sense to me is that Christian Conspiracy Theory of the early church fathers was so firmly rooted in their anti-Semitic view of the Jewish People that they were blinded to the truth and simply believed what seemed (at the time) to confirm their chronological (and eschatological) world view as given in the LXX version of the Bible.

While it is clear that the early church fathers were wrong about their unfounded claims that the Jewish rabbis manipulated the Hebrew MT chronology of the Bible to undermine Yeshua of Nazareth’s credibility as the promise Messiah. What is not so clear is whether the Septuagint version of chronology was inaccurate or the early church fathers’ view of a 7000 year plan of God was in error.

In my final article in this series (Yahweh willing), I will make a case for why I believe the chronology of the MT text of the Scripture is accurate in its projection of Biblical hisotry. I will also provide evidence to show that this version of the Old Testament chronology was known to the early New Testament church. Specifically, I will show that Matthew’s arrangement of Yeshua’s generations only makes sense if seen within the context of the chronology as given in the MT text of the Bible.

The “Dirty” Reason for Believing the Septuagint
Please forgive my pun, but in exploring the modern resurrection of this Christian Conspiracy Theory regarding the Jewish manipulations of the Old Testament chronology, it became apparent to me that unlike the anti-Semitic roots of the past, the modern necessity for believing the LXX chronology had a more “scientific” albeit dirty reason.

I’ll let Mr. Woodward explain:

“Since the chronology also contributes to the case for Jesus Christ (as we will demonstrate later), the timeline was altered too – and dramatically so. The unintended consequences for Jews and Christians were not that significant. But over the last 200 years, during our modern era, this corrupted chronology has become a big problem. It became so since the science of Archeology started unearthing artifacts contradicting the dates supplied by the Masoretic Text.” (Woodward, S. Douglas, Rebooting the Bible – Introduction p. 14)

In our quest to know how God spoke through the Biblical authors, the LXX demands our highest respect and a good portion of our study. To discover the truth about the creation, the birth of humanity, the Great Flood, the Exodus, and so on, we must “reboot the Bible.” Many of the findings of Archeology can now much better be squared with God’s truth.” (Woodward, S. Douglas, Rebooting the Bible – The Creation of the Alexandrian Septuagint p. 63)

If you read the above closely you see the real driving reason behind Rebooting an ancient Christian Conspiracy Theory is to better align Biblical history with the consensus of modern archeology and the resulting history derived from it study.

Based upon the evidence that Mr. Woodward and other well meaning scholars like Mr. Smith have provided, I find little reason to believe in their conspiracy theory regarding the Jewish manipulations of the MT text of the Bible. Even if the facts and evidence are given an equal weighing against assumptions about motive, means, and opportunity, I beleive the scale tips decidedly in favor of the MT and the “Jewish” version of Old Testament history.

Maranatha!

This is a multi part article exploring the Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis
Part I: Rebooting a Christian Conspiracy Theory
Part II: The Anti-Semitic Roots of a Christian Conspiracy Theory

For an expanded version of this subject please see my articles:
Part I: The Septuagint, the Masoretic Text, & Matthew 1
Part II: Matthew 1, the Masoretic Text, & the Bible’s Messianic Symbolism
Part III: The Masoretic Text, Matthew 1, & the Jubilee
Part IV: Sir Isaac Newton, Daniel 9, & the Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis

Sir Isaac Newton, Daniel 9, & the Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis

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Did you know that Sir Isaac Newton wrote more about Biblical history and Bible prophecy then he did science? While he contributed greatly to science, I would argue that one of his greatest contributions to the field of Biblical history and Bible prophecy was his following observation:

” Those Jews who took Herod for the Messiah, and were thence called Herodians, seem to have grounded their opinion upon the seventy weeks of years, which they found between the Reign of Cyrus and that of Herod: but afterwards, in applying the Prophesy to Theudas, and Judas of Galilee, and at length to Barchochab, they seem to have shortened the Reign of the Kingdom of Persia.” (page 357, Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended)

In this article I hope to also show you why this often ignored statement is a key to understanding the chronology of the Persian era as it relates to the Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis. But more importantly this statement provides us a rare insight into the incredible influence Daniel 9 and the Seventy Weeks prophecy has had on Messianic expectancy and Bible chronology of the past and why its unique influence has continued to this very day.

Adding further intrigue to Newton’s statement above is the little known fact that it exposes the root of a chronological error that many of the Jewish messianic expectants of the 1st centuries BC/AD embedded into their interpretation of Daniel 9. Surprisingly, this error has been borrowed by most of today’s Christian eschatological scholars in a well-meaning effort to prove that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah prophesied by the 70 Sevens prophecy of Daniel 9. As you’ll see this error has profound implications for the vast majority of today’s eschatological world views.

Authors Note:
This article is Part III in my exploration of Rabbinic forgery hypothesis. The following links will take you to the previous articles in this series.
Part I: The Septuagint, the Masoretic Text, & Matthew 1
Part II: Matthew 1, the Masoretic Text, & the Bible’s Messianic Symbolism
Part III: The Masoretic Text, Matthew 1, & the Jubilee
Part IV: Sir Isaac Newton, Daniel 9, & the Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis

Eclipsing the Persian Era
So what did Newton mean when he stated that Messianic expectancy based in the Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9 “seem” to have shortened the “Reign of the Kingdom of Persia”?

Unfortunately, Newton didn’t provide any direct evidence to explain why it “seems” to him that the Persian era had been shortened by the Jewish Messianic expectants. What’s implied by Newton’s statement, however, is that he believed the Jewish Messianic expectants used the decree of Cyrus (which allowed the Jewish people to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem) as a basis to claim that Herod was a fulfillment of the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9. When the Messianic kingdom (under Herod) failed to materialize, the Jewish Messianic expectants applied the prophecy to Theudas, then Judas of Galilee, and finally Barchochab. Thus by some unexplained means Newton surmised the Jewish rabbis had shortened the chronology of Persia.

Click on Image to Enlarge or for a high resolution PDF click here: PDF

Though Newton’s intuition was amazingly prescient, he provided no mechanism by which he could show how the Jewish people might have used Cyrus’ decree as a means to shorten the Persian period. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that Davidson and Aldersmith¹ further illuminated Newton’s insights into a workable theory that could be proven with some clever chronological forensics.

What Davidson and Aldersmith found was that no matter what type of year used; lunar, solar, or prophetic (360 day), there was no reasonable way the Herodians could have used the decree of Cyrus to claim that Herod was the messiah of Daniel 9. To confirm Davidson and Aldersmith’s position, in the chart below, I’ve calculated each of the possible “years” the first century’s Jewish Messianic expectants might have used to claim Herod as the messiah. As you can see none of them provide a means to claim Herod as their messiah.

The following chart includes a “prophetic” (360 day) “year”, a solar (365.24 day) year and varying lunar cycle “years”. Keep in mind here that the Biblical year the Jewish people were familiar with was lunar/solar and varied between 12 & 13 lunar cycles. Please note that since there is some disagreement as to the BC date of Cyrus’ reign (some claim 538 BC and others 536 BC) I’ve provided calculations using both.

Click on Image to Enlarge or for a high resolution PDF click here: PDF

As you can see from the above chart, while Newton was on the right trail regarding the shortened Persian period attributed to the messianic expectations of the Jewish people, it was not the decree of Cyrus that was the basis for their messianic expectancy, but rather a decree given in 2nd year of Darius.

Davidson and Aldersmith explained Newton’s error this way:

“Thus Sir Isaac Newton (‘ Chronology of Ancient. Kingdoms Amended,” p. 357) states correctly, regarding the manipulations of the Jews, but incorrectly regarding the 1st year of Cyrus as the basis of these manipulations” (Davidson & Aldersmith, The Great Pyramid: It’s Divine Messiah – Table XXVIII)

What Davidson & Aldersmith discovered was that a decree in the 2nd year of Darius (Hystaspes) also known as Darius ‘the great’ Artaxerxes, did indeed provided a basis for the Herodians to claim that Herod was the expect messiah. Not only did this decree in the 2nd year of Darius provide the Herodians a basis to claim that Herod was the Messiah, but when Herod failed to usher in the messianic kingdom, the Jewish Messianic expectants found in this decree, the means to apply it to the 2nd year of the next Persian king and thus claim a new messianic hero as the expected Messiah. In fact, as the chart above demonstrates the 2nd year of Darius provided a basis for all the Jewish messianic claims of the 1st centuries BC/AD. That basis found its origins in the following statement from the book of Ezra:

If you read the entire context of Ezra chapter 6 you’ll find that verse 14 is a statement which provided the Jewish people with a rock solid starting point from which to build their messianic claims. That starting point originated from Yahweh Himself when He gave a divine decree to restore and build Jerusalem. This decree had further weight because it was given through and confirmed by the – two – prophetic proclamations of Haggai and Zechariah.

Click on Image to Enlarge or for a high resolution PDF click here: PDF
This divine “commandment” (Hebrew dabar) was given by Yahweh through Haggai and Zechariah in the 2nd year of Darius(See Ezra 6, Hag. 1 & Zech. 1). Because this divine command was given in the 2nd year of a Persian king named Darius, the Jewish Messianic expectants of the 1st centuries BC/AD, found in this 2nd year a basis for their calculations to prove their heroes were the expected messiah. As we’ll see this 2nd year of Darius became the origin of all the 2nd temple chronological confusion which has plagued Bible chronologists and eschatologists (both Jewish & Christian) to this very day.

A Divine Word to Restore and Build
Before expanding upon the chronological errors resulting from the Jewish application of the 2nd year of Darius as a basis for their messianic fulfillment attempts, we really need to understand the context of Ezra 6:14 and the “commandment” Ezra describes as given by the “God of Israel”.

Did you know that in Daniel 9:25 the word translated “commandment” is the Hebrew word dabar? Interestingly, dabar simply means – “word”. According to my concordance, dabar is used 1439 times in the Bible. Of those occurrences, the vast majority refer to the “word of Yahweh”. That bears repeating, the vast majority of the time dabar (word) is used in the Bible refers to something spoken by Yahweh, the living God of the Bible.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment [commandment = dabar = word] to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks,… (Daniel 9:25a)

It is only reasonable to consider that to the 1st century Jewish Messianic expectants, it is likely that their first and natural choice would have been to assume that the “word” (dabar) of Daniel 9:25 was the word of Yahweh. What baffles me is that today most Christian scholars go to such great lengths to “prove” a decree of Cyrus, Darius, or Artaxerxes, but you hardly ever hear about the commandment or “word” of Yahweh.

This blindness is even more unexplainable when you consider that in Daniel 9 dabar is used not just once (in Daniel 9:25) but three other times in the preceding verses. Each of those other occurrences refers clearly to the dabar or word of Yahweh. Here take a look for yourself:

Daniel 9:2 – In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word [dabar] of YHWH came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:12 – And he [YHWH] hath confirmed his words [dabar], which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:23 – At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment [word / dabar] came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

Daniel 9:25 – Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment [word / dabar] to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks,

Can you explain to me why nearly all Christian scholars today completely ignore this context when ascertaining who gave the “word” to restore and build Jerusalem? Why is it not even mentioned?

This blindness aside, as you can see from the above verses, there is in fact real hard contextual evidence, to consider that Daniel 9:25 might have been a divine “word” to restore and build Jerusalem. Here are the two contextual examples of Yahweh’s divine word to restore and build Jerusalem as described in Ezra 6:14. Both were given in the 2nd year of Darius:

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word [dabar] of YHWH by Haggai the prophet …

This people say, The time is not come, the time that YHWH’s house should be built. Then came the word [dabar] of YHWH by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?…

Thus saith YHWH of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith YHWH. (Haggai 1:1-8 exerpted)

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word [dabar] of YHWH unto Zechariah….

Then the angel of YHWH answered and said, O YHWH of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?…[70 years from the departure of the shekinah from the 1st temple, i.e. 589 – 520 BC ]

And YHWH answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith YHWH of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

Therefore thus saith YHWH; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith YHWH of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. (Zechariah 1:7-16 exerpted)

So with this in mind, we now have a better understanding of why the Jewish Messianic expectants of the first centuries BC/AD would have seen in Daniel 9:25 a divine decree to restore and build Jerusalem. Further, since both Haggai and Zechariah witnessed this decree as originating in the 2nd year of Darius (‘the great’ Artaxerxes) then naturally the Jewish Messianic expectants would have used this 2nd year of Darius (520 BC) as their basis to calculate the fulfillment of 70 “Weeks” in their messianic heroes. Keep in mind here that this date (520 BC) also marked the end of 70 years of divine anger mentioned in Zechariah 1 as well as the 71st jubilee cycle from Adam as we explored in my last article: The Masoretic Text, Matthew 1, & the Jubilee

Building Jerusalem
I’m sure some of you are thinking, okay I get that, but this still doesn’t really explain the mechanics of how or why the Jewish Messianic expectants justified applying this 2nd year basis to other Persian kings and thus “eclipsing” the Persian period nor does it really explain the resulting chronological confusion which resulted in this shortening of the Persian era. That explanation is found in a further examination of Ezra 6:14 and a related bit of intriguing Hebrew grammar.

You see at the center of the Jewish people’s efforts to “restore” Jerusalem was their effort to rebuild Yahweh’s desolate sanctuary. Building the temple in the eyes of the Jewish people was restoring Jerusalem. Try to put yourself in 2nd temple era context. What made Jerusalem different from any other city in the history of mankind? It was different, because it is the one place where Yahweh choose to meet with mankind.

You know, I find our obtuseness about this mind boggling. When we look for the “commandment to restore and build Jerusalem” of Daniel 9:25 most scholars will tell you it was the walls, the plaza, or even the houses of Jerusalem that signified the building of Jerusalem.

Why?

We don’t get that assumption from Daniel 9:25. So why the insistence upon the walls or plaza of Jerusalem as the starting point of the Jewish people’s efforts to rebuilt Jerusalem. Is Jerusalem as special city because of its impressive walls? Its dwellings?

No, Jerusalem was unique because it was the temporary dwelling place of Yahweh. Even the enemies of the Jewish people understood this.

I encourage you to read Ezra 4 carefully. You’ll find that when the enemies of the Jewish people approached the king of Persia about the Jewish building efforts they claimed it was the walls and fortifications they were concerned about. But notice when they received their cease and desist from the king it was the temple construction which they halted.

Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations. Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings…

Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria,..

Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until another commandment shall be given from me…

Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.

Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:12-24 exerpted)

As you can see from the above account building the temple was in fact building Jerusalem.
Another example comes from the context of Daniel 9. When Daniel poured out his heart to Yahweh in prayer and supplication regarding his people and the city of Jerusalem (Dan. 9:1-22), what was the focus of his pleadings? From Daniel’s point of view what was restoring Jerusalem?

In Daniel’s mind was restoring Jerusalem about the wall? We can’t separate Daniel 9:25 from the context of Daniel’s prayer. And yet, that is what nearly every scholar today must do in order to find a secular decree to restore and build Jerusalem and its walls.

Here are Daniel’s pleadings to Yahweh, notice his focus:

O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. (Daniel 9:16-17)

Darius ~~and~~ even Artaxerxes
This brings us back to Ezra 6:14-15 and the restoration of the temple. It was this “building” effort that was considered by all parties, (the enemies of the Jews, Daniel, Ezra, and Yahweh) the de facto event in restoring or building Jerusalem. As Ezra 6:14-15 summarizes, it was, an order of importance, the “commandment” of Yahweh, Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes that brought to completion the restoration of the temple by the 6th year of Darius. Just as the destruction of Solomon’s temple marked the desolation of Jerusalem so too the rebuilding of the 2nd temple marked Jerusalem’s restoration. The temple of Yahweh was the beating heart of Jerusalem.

I can’t stress enough how important this context is, because this is where most of today’s reasonably minded scholars break nearly all well established rules of exegesis. The most reasonable reading of Ezra chapters 1-6 clearly delineates the chronology of the temple construction as being completed by the 6th year of Darius (‘the great’ Artaxerxes). Here take a look once more:

And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. (Ezra 6:14-15)

Because of the way this verse has been translated, when you and I read the above account in English we assume that there were four individuals who gave a “commandment” to restore and build the temple. But in Hebrew this is just one of two different ways to understand the verse.

A Jewish person, who understood the context of Ezra chapters 1-6 and understood Hebrew grammar would have more than likely (as their historical messianic attempts demonstrate) understood that “Artaxerxes” did not refer to another Persian ruler but rather referred to Darius as an “Artaxerxes”.

Again the context:

A careful reading of Ezra chapters 1-6 makes it clear, that only Yahweh, Cyrus, and Darius gave “commandments” which resulted in the completion of the temple by the 6th year of Darius. The Bible simply does not tell of another “Artaxerxes” responsible for the completion of the temple by the 6th year of Darius. No such person exits!

This is where Hebrew grammar explains the confusion. In Hebrew, the letter “waw’ is normally used as a conjunction. But sometimes, as any Hebrew lexicon will tell you, “waw” is also used as a hendiadys or in other words, instead of connecting two words with two different meanings, it is used to connect two words with the same meaning. The TWOT Hebrew lexicon explains it this way:

519.0 – w (wa) . . . and, so, then, when, now, or, but, that and many others.
(ASV and RSV similar.) The vocalization varies.

This is an inseparable prefix which is used as a conjunction or introductory particle which can usually be translated “and.”

The fundamental use of the prefix is that of a simple conjunction “and,” connecting words (“days and years,” Gen. 1:14), phrases (“and to divide” Gen. 1:18) and complete sentences (connecting Gen. 2:11 with verse 12). However it is used more often and for a greater variety of construction than is the English connector “and.”

It is often used at the beginning of sentences, for which reason the KJV begins many sentences with an unexplained “and.” This use may be explained as a mild introductory particle and is often translated “now” as in Exo 1:1 where it begins the book (KJV, ASV; the RSV ignores it completely; cf. Gen 3:1; Gen 4:1).

The item following the prefix is not always an additional item, different from that which preceded: “Judah and Jerusalem” (Isa. 1:1), pointing out Jerusalem especially as an important and representative part of Judah; “in Ramah, and his own city” (1 Sam 28:3), the two being the same place, hence the translation “even” as explanatory.

When the second word specifies the first the construction is called a “hendiadys,” i.e., two words with one meaning. For example, “a tent and dwelling” in 2 Sam 7:6 means “a dwelling tent.” (TWOT 519.0, emphasis mine)

So in Ezra 6:14 when the passage refers to Darius and Artaxerxes, the only reasonable contextual explanation demands that we translate the passage as “Darius ~~and~~ even Artaxerxes.” In other words Ezra 6:14 was not telling of a fourth Persian king who gave a “commandment” to restore and build Jerusalem, it was simply informing us of the fact that the Persian king named “Darius” was also known by the title “Artaxerxes”. As I explained in my article Context, Chronology, and Daniel 9, this additional title can be explained with reasonable historical facts related to Darius’ rise to power in Persia. This straight forward contextual chronology also explains why Ezra 6 ends in the 6th year of Darius “even” Artaxerxes and Ezra 7 picks the story back up in the 7th year of Artaxerxes (a.k.a Darius)

Necessity – the Mother of Invention
This then brings new light to the chronological confusion of the Persian era and has direct bearing on the Jewish forgeries hypothesis. As stated before, the Jewish Messianic expectants of the first centuries BC/AD were certainly justified in believing that there was a divine “commandment” (word) to restore and build Jerusalem given in the 2nd year of Darius ‘the great’ Artaxerxes. This divine command was further strengthened by the fact that it was given through two different prophets in the same year. (the 2nd year of Darius – see Hag. 1 & Zech. 1)
The statement of Ezra 6:14 that equated Darius with Artaxerxes then became the chronological basis to “eclipse” the Persian era.

As Davidson and Aldersmith showed, (and my chart calculations above reflect) using the 2nd year of Darius as a basis, Jewish Messianic expectants had a mathematical means to claimed the Maccabaes fulfilled the 70 “weeks” of Daniel 9. When Maccabaen fulfillment didn’t usher in the messianic age then the prophecy was recycled and applied to Asmonaeans, then the Herodeans, and on down the line. Each time the prophecy was recycled it still had as its basis the implied “divine commandment” to restore and build Jerusalem in the 2nd year of Darius. (The only real “commandment” choice in the eyes of the Jewish people) But since Ezra 6:14 equated Darius with Artaxerxes this allowed the Messianic expectants to shift the prophecy to successive Darius and Artaxerxes of the Persian era, each time clipping a bit of history from the Persian era. Thus the original divine decree in 520 BC became a divine decree given in 463 BC, then 422 BC, then 403 BC, etc, etc. Messianic necessity became the mother of chronological invention.

Click on image to enlarge or to view a high resolution PDF click here: PDF

Thus the divine “command” in the 2nd year of Darius, and the Biblical statement that Darius was also kwon as Artaxerxes became the vehicle by which the Jewish people gradually erased much of the Persian era. To give you a better sense of this chronology, below is a chart based upon Aldersmith and Davidson’s original. I’ve modified the first chart to include the BC dating and added color for clarification. Davidson and Aldersmith’s dating is based upon what they termed A.K. (anno Kalendri) which began with first year of Adam as described in the Masoretic text.

The second chart I’ve provided shows the same basic chronology only expanded and from a slightly different perspective. The charts are quite large so I recommend you click on the image to get a larger resolution chart or download the PDF. I’ve also provided my Excel workbook with notes and calculations (at the end of this article) for those of you who are really serious about digging into this subject and verifying my work.

As you explore these charts take note of a few things.

• First, notice how profoundly influential Daniel 9 and the 70 “Weeks” have been to the Messianic identity of the Jewish people.
• Second, notice (I will expand on this later) how Daniel 9 and the failed messianic applications of this prophecy provide unique evidence for the existence of the shorter Hebrew chronology based in the Masoretic text.
• Third, notice how each successive Persian Darius or “Artaxerxes” became the catalyst to shorten the Persian period.

Click on image to enlarge or for higher resolution PDF click here: PDF

Unproven Accusations
For those of you who have taken a bit of time to study the charts, you can see in the chronological forensics described above a reasonable explanation of why the Jewish people eclipsed the Persian period. To be sure Rabbinic scholars have had no great motivation to correct their errors, especially in light of the adversarial relationship Jews and Christians have showed towards each other over the centuries, but no longer can we claim with certainty that the rabbis forged Persian history to obfuscate the identity of Yeshua as the promised Messiah. Frankly, it’s much more complicated and likely less nefarious than that.

Further, those well-meaning scholars like Jeremy Sexton and Henry Smith who use evidence of this erroneous Rabbinic chronology of the Persian era as a means to give credence to their Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis of the OT Masoretic text, I’d encourage to take a step back and reevaluate any related assumptions.

An Artaxerxes Assumption
More importantly though, I call out my Christian peers who in self-righteous indignation point to the chronological errors of the Jewish rabbis, claiming they were intentionally used to discredit Yeshua (Jesus) as the promised Messiah, but themselves borrow the very same chronological errors to prove their own Messianic expectations about Yeshua.

Think about the irony of the situation. Most of today’s respected eschatological teachers, historians, and scholars claim that “commandment to restore and build Jerusalem” of Daniel 9:25 was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus in his 7th or 21st year (i.e.. 458 or 445 BC respectively) Yet, as you’ve seen described in this article the very basis for those claims come from the evolution of the Jewish chronology, (which said chronology erroneously manipulated the Biblical statement of Ezra 6:14 that Darius “even” Artaxerxes was the Persian ruler during whose reign when the divine decree was given) so that they (the Jewish people) could claim their own Messianic heroes were the promised Messiah.

Not only do most Christian scholars today follow in the erroneous footsteps of their Jewish predecessors (by claiming that the “Artaxerxes” of Ezra 6 & 7 is Longimanus) but they compound this error by jettisoning the original kernel of truth that provided the basis for the entire complicated mess in the first place. That original kernel of truth being the certain knowledge that Daniel 9 and 70 “weeks” prophecy began with a divine command to restore and build Jerusalem by Yahweh the living God of the Bible.

Why This is Important
If you’ve read this far I hope you don’t think this subject is some trivial exercise irrelevant chronological minutia. If you believe as I do, that many Biblical vectors are pointing towards the soon return of Yeshua then we need to ensure that our eschatological world view is based upon a rock solid foundation. Whether you realize it or not, Daniel 9 and the 70 “Weeks” prophecy is the core of most of your future eschatological framework. This prophecy influences our view of the Anti-Christ and his kingdom, a “seven year” tribulation, the rapture, the restoration of Israel, the end of this age, and many other important eschatological truths.

If you doubt my statement, here is an exercise for you: Try explaining a “seven year” tribulation without the prophetic context of Daniel 9. Try to find a single clear statement in the Bible which mentions a 7 year period of tribulation. Other periods of time are mentioned, 42 months, 1260 days, 1335 days, etc, but not seven years. Without an Artaxerxes Assumption, the seven year tribulation theory loses its chronological anchor point and its credibility.

How many books have you read that lay out their case for the rapture, (pre trib, post trib, mid trib, pre-wrath) using a 7 year tribulation as the framework? Nearly all of them, don’t they? Do you see how deep this root of error has grown into our view of eschatology?

If your view of Daniel 9 and the 70 “Weeks” includes some form of the original Jewish Artaxerxes Assumption then it most likely rests upon a unstable foundation of sand. Any understanding of Bible prophecy that relies in part or whole upon an interpretation Daniel 9 needs to be reconsidered carefully to ascertain how they have been influenced by Daniel 9. We may be soon entering into one of the most challenging and wonderful periods in human history and your view of how the Bible says those events are supposed to play out may be flawed. If you are a pastor or a Bible teacher, you may be giving erroneous information to your followers. Today I plead with you to ensure your interpretations of Bible prophecy are based upon rock solid, contextual Biblical truth. If you sincerely care about truth, then I encourage you to do your Berean duty and carefully consider the chronology of the 2nd temple era. Challenge yourself to apply the golden rule of Biblical interpretation to your assumptions about Artaxerxes and “word” to restore and build Jerusalem.

The Purpose of Prophecy and Chronology
As a final thought, I believe it is important to always remember why Bible chronology and Bible prophecy are important. Revelation 19:10 informs us that the “spirit” of prophecy is the testimony of Yeshua. In other words, the underlying theme of the Bible’s prophetic revelation is the testimony of Yahweh’s salvation for mankind. (Yeshua (Jesus) means Yahweh saves or Yahweh’s salvation).

Prophecy is a prediction of future events. Those events, in order to have relevance to you and I, are related within a framework of time. In my opinion, this is the reason the Bible’s chronological details are so important. They are the context that brings relevance to Yahweh’s redemptive plan for mankind. The main purpose of Bible chronology is not about aligning Biblical history with what modern scholarship says about the geological or archeological record, any more than the main purpose of Bible prophecy is about predicting future events.

The real purpose of prophecy and chronology in the Bible (in my opinion) is to work hand in hand to provide mankind with evidence and assurance that Yahweh is in control, that He has ordered the past, is working in the present, and is in complete control of the future to accomplish His redemptive purpose for mankind through His Yeshua. That is the real importance of the Bible’s chronological and prophetic record. As you explore these issues in the coming days I hope you’ll keep that focus in mind.

Maranatha!

My Excel workbook with calculations and notes: Excel Workbook

¹Author’s Note on the Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis:
For those of you really interested in a further detailed analysis of Josephus’ chronology as it relates to the original Hebrew chronology and the Masoretic text I’ve provided Davidson and Aldersmith’s charts and notes on the subject. The charts and notes come from their book The Great Pyramid: It’s Divine Message (1924). Though I don’t agree with all of Davidson’s and Aldersmith’s theories about the Great Pyramid, in my 30 plus years of interest in Biblical history and Bible prophecy I’ve not found a more comprehensive organization and elucidation of Ancient and Biblical history as found in their 570 page tome.

Those of you interested in the Rabbinic forgeries hypotheses will also find in Davidson’s and Aldersmith’s unique work, evidence to show that 1st and 2nd BC century messianic expectants did indeed use a version of Old Testament chronology which is congruent with the Masoretic text today. Their work disproves the theory that the chronology of the Masoretic text was a 1st or 2nd century AD invention of Jewish rabbis. There Elucidation of the subject can be found here:
Chronological Forensics of the Original Hebrew Chronology

* * *

Book 1

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The 13th Enumeration
"A book that will change how you look at the Bible's Messianic Symbolism."

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Daniel's 70 Weeks -
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Book 3

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The Masoretic Text, Matthew 1, & the Jubilee

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So did the Rabbinic Jewish scholars of the 2^nd century AD forge the Masoretic text to obfuscate the Biblical chronological evidence that proves Yeshua (Jesus) was the Messiah promised in the Scriptures? Remember this is the underlying premise of Rabbinic forgery’s hypothesis that contends the Masoretic text is not a reliable template of Old Testament chronological history.

To ensure we don’t lose sight of the underlying thread of the forgery’s hypothesis, here once again are excerpts from Mr. Sexton and Mr. Smith’s papers on the subject:

The evidence suggests that the chronology in the MT did not exist before the second century of the Christian era. Russell concludes that “in the days of Josephus, as well as in those of the annalists who preceded him as compilers from the Jewish Scriptures, there was no difference in the numerical statements of the Greek version, as compared with the text of the original Hebrew.”¹²⁸ ( Who Was Born When Enosh Was 90

Since Jubilees was immensely popular in Second Temple Judaism, I theorize that the rabbis were aware of this construct in Jubilees and adapted the concept into their Hebrew manuscripts of Genesis 5 to reduce the pre-Flood chronology by 600 years in order to discredit Jesus as the Messiah. (From Adam to Abraham: An Updated on the Genesis 5 and 11 Research Project: Dec. 16, 2017)

Before digging into the Jubilee aspect of this subject, I think it’s important to emphasize how many of the Jews and Christians of the 1^st century understood a past, present, and future panoramic view of Biblical history.

It may surprise some of you to learn that the millennialist view of Biblical history (6000 years of mankind’s labor under the curse of sin with a coming literal 1000 year reign/rest of Yeshua) was the predominant view of the early Christian church up until the time of the church father Origin. But this view wasn’t just limited to the early church of the first few centuries. In fact, Rabbinic traditions complied in the Talmud (100-500 AD) also held the millennialist perspective of Biblical history.

This needs to be repeated – up until the 2^nd century Christian and Jewish traditions shared a common eschatological understanding of the Biblical ages. A majority of both believed the messianic age was a literal and future 1000 year reign of the Messiah upon this earth.

The Septuagint version of the Bible’s chronology placed this future millennial age only 500 years into the future (from the birth of Yeshua). The Masoretic text on the other hand placed the millennial age nearly 2000 years from the birth of Christ.

What’s odd to me about the Rabbinic forgery’s hypothesis is that it seems incongruent with what the Jewish traditions actually taught about the Messianic age. You see, as evidenced by the Talmud, Biblical history was divided into three – 2000 year ages followed by the 1000 year reign of the Messiah. This view was based in the 6 days labor & 1 day rest of creation. The chart below reflects these Talmudic traditions:

As you can see Biblical history of the present age (Olam Hazeh) was divided into three 2000 year periods. Notice the third period from 4000-6000 (from Adam) was considered the age of the Messiah. I quote from the Talmud:

Now think about the challenge this poses to the Rabbinic forgery’s hypothesis. The chronology of the Masoretic text (which was supposedly forged) places the birth of Christ about the year 4000 from Adam right at the start of the “Days of the Messiah”. If the Jewish Rabbinic authority had really forged the chronology of the MT text of the Scriptures to disprove that Yeshua was the Messiah, why then would they have changed the chronology of the Old Testament to show that Yeshua’s birth began those “Days of the Messiah”. Certainly a 5500 year birth date for Yeshua (as described by the LXX), towards the later end of the “Days of the Messiah” would have been less auspicious.

But let’s look back at history. Doesn’t the MT text of the Scripture accurately reflect the Messianic significance of Yeshua’s birth, death, resurrection, and the gospel age as seen through the lens of the Rabbinic tradition and the New Testament accounts?

Wouldn’t the past 2000 years as seen through the lens of the New Testament confirm the Rabbinic traditions concerning the Days of the Messiah? In fact wasn’t that exactly what the apostle Peter was telling his Jewish brethren when he reminded them of Hosea’s prophecy concerning their restoration after “two days”. (For more on this see my article: Did the Apostle Peter Believe in the Eminence of Christ’s Return? )

In a way don’t you and I as Christians consider these (nearly) two thousand years of the gospel age as the Days of the Messiah? It seems to me that the early church and traditional Judaism have a lot in common on this subject.

In any case by the time the Talmud was completed the Rabbinic authority believed that the times appointed for the Messiah had already come and gone. The New Testament confirms this by telling us that the Messiah Yeshua had indeed already come and gone at the start of Judaism’s “Messianic Age”, the only difference is that New Testament tells us that Yeshua, after a period of time would be coming again. For more on this see: After Two Days

As I’ve explained in my previous articles in this series (Part I & Part II), the Messiah is symbolized in the Torah as well as the New Testament by the typology of the numbers 13 & 14. The fact of the matter is that history has demonstrated that the chronology of the Masoretic text of the Scripture more accurately reflects the millennialist views of the early Jewish and Christian messianic expectants. It seems incredibly fantastic to believe that the Rabbis of the 2^nd century would have been so careless as to forge Biblical history so that the birth of Christ began their “Days of the Messiah”. In any case this is just another aspect of this theory that bears further scrutiny.

The Masoretic Text and the Jubilee
Let’s move on now to explore the Jubilee cycles as they related to the Masoretic text and Matthew 1.

My last article Matthew 1, the Masoretic Text, & the Bible’s Messianic Symbolism provided some evidence to show that Yeshua’s lineage in Matthew 1 was indeed synchronized with Masoretic Text chronology from Abraham to Yeshua and the Jubilee cycles spanning that same period of time. This evidence gave reasonable cause to consider that Matthew purposely modified Yeshua’s generations to show Yeshua came in the 41 generation from Abraham which in real chronology was also the 41^st jubilee cycle from Abraham.

I noted that curiously, according to the Masoretic text of the Scriptures, there were also 41 jubilee cycles from Adam to Abraham. In light of the fact that Matthew purposely modified Yeshua’s lineage, it becomes difficult to dismiss this synchronization as a coincidence. Further, this synchronism makes it rather difficult to claim with absolute conviction that Matthew, by the mid to late first century, had no knowledge of the MT text’s shortened chronology as it is presented in most versions of the Bible today.

As I hope to demonstrate in this article, when the Masoretic text of the Bible is considered in light of the Jubilee cycles and Matthew’s fascinating lineage of Yeshua, we find further compelling evidence that supports the New Testament’s claims that Yeshua was the promised Messiah. We also find a compelling order or design, if you prefer, to the chronology of the Bible which I believe demonstrates the hand of Yahweh working out His redemptive plan for mankind.

I can’t stress enough here the significance of Matthew’s lineage of Yeshua as the opening argument in the New Testament’s case for Yeshua as the promised Messiah. I can’t believe it is an accident that Matthew 1, in addition to being a witness to Yeshua’s lineage from Abraham and David, also happens to be the chronological bridge which connects the Old and New Testaments into a synchronized and congruent testimony to Yahweh’s redemptive plan for mankind through Yeshua.

Ezekiel’s Jubilee
In my last article I demonstrated the intriguing fact that the 41 generations of Matthew 1 were equaled to 41 jubilee cycles. I know I did not provide all the calculations or references for that statement. For those who take this subject seriously you can check my work in the following PDF – 6000 Years of Biblical History.

That fact that Matthew represented Yeshua’s generations as actual jubilee cycles is in its own right thrilling. But it is only when you see those Jubilee cycles in the larger context of Biblical history that you get a real glimpse of just how special Matthew’s lineage of Yeshua really is.

Now there is a couple of ways to go about establishing the context of Jubilee cycles relative to the chronology of the MT text and Matthew 1. The first is to simply overlay the Jubilee cycles on top of the Masoretic text’s chronology of the Old Testament. As I’ve stated before, this approach places the birth of Abraham in the 41^st Jubilee cycle from Adam. Continuing with this approach then places the birth of Yeshua in the 82 Jubilee cycle from Adam (41×2). Running these calculations forward from the birth of Yeshua shows that we are now living in the 123^rd Jubilee from Adam (41×3).

The 2^nd way to provide context to the Jubilee cycles and Matthew 1 is to find any Scriptural references to the Jubilee or Shabbat (Shemitah) cycles in the Bible and determine their place relative to dated people or events in the Bible. This then would help us synchronize Biblical and secular history with the Jubilee and Shemitah cycles.

In Chapter 40 of the book of Ezekiel we find one of the most compelling examples of such a synchronism. Here Ezekiel describes the beginning or (rosh = head) of the year in the 10^th day of the month in the 25^th year of Judah’s captivity. This date was so important to Ezekiel that he also synchronized the date with the destruction of Jerusalem. Take a look:

In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of YHWH was upon me, and brought me thither. (Ezekiel 40:1)

What’s fascinating about this statement is that the only “year” which could possibly begin (rosh = head) on the 10^th day of the month is a Jubilee cycle “year”. (see Lev. 25:8-10.) For more details on this please see my free book download The Jubilee Code: Prophetic Milestones in Yahweh’s Redemptive Plan – (Chapters 9 & 10)

With this chronological statement from Ezekiel we are able to double check our chronology from Adam. If Ezekiel 40:1 is indeed referencing a Jubilee year then we should be able to use the 25^th year of the captivity and 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem to triangulate this date relative to the Jubilee and further synchronize this Jubilee with our beginning of these cycles from Adam.

Long story short, a reasonable chronological case can be made that Ezekiel’s “beginning of the year” is in fact the 70^th Jubilee from Adam. This fascinating fact is further confirmed by Ezekiel 1:1 where he mentions the “30^th year” in the 5^th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity. This by reasonable chronological consideration is the 30th year of the 70 Jubilee which Ezekiel later mentions in chapter 40. The following chart reflects the pertinent facts of the chronology:

Consider how important this Jubilee chronology is relative to Old Testament history. This is the only place in the entire Biblical record where we can fix the Bible’s chronology relative to the Jubilee and Sabbath cycles and secular history. And Ezekiel gives us not one but two Jubilee chronological synchronisms. Now take a bird’s eye view of this chronology and you’ll see another reason this Jubilee was special:

In the chart notice that Ezekiel’s Jubilee (based upon a reasonable rendering of the MT) marks the 70^th Jubilee cycle from Adam. Further this Jubilee has the distinction of originating three important 70 year periods of time. In the chronological order they originate they are as follows:

The 70 years of captivity of Judah mentioned by Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11-12)
The 70 years of Divine anger mentioned in Zechariah 1
The 70 years period of desolation between the destruction of Solomon’s temple and the completion and dedication of the 2^nd temple in 6^th/7^th year of Darius ‘the Great’ Artaxerxes

Matthew 1, Zerubbabel, Yahweh’s Divine Anger, and Daniel 9
If you remember I mentioned in my last article (here) that in Matthew’s lineage of Yeshua, only four individuals were synchronized with the 41 Jubilee cycles between Abraham and Yeshua. One of those individuals was Zerubbabel and it was during his governorship of Jerusalem that Yahweh gave His divine command to “to restore and build Jerusalem”.

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of YHWH unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,…

And YHWH answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. ¹⁴ So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith YHWH of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith YHWH; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith YHWH of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. (Zechariah 1:7, 12-16)

And YHWH stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of YHWH of hosts, their God, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. (Haggai 1:14-15)

For those of you not familiar with this divine command to restore and build Jerusalem, here are the words of Ezra who confirms this divine command of Yahweh as given through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. For more on this divine command see my free book: Daniel’s 70 Weeks: The Keystone of Bible Prophecy

And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. (Ezra 6:14-15)

So the 70 years of Divine anger ended in the 2^nd year of Darius, and with the end of this Divine anger Yahweh personally commanded the children of Israel to return (shuwb) and build His house. In Matthew’s lineage Zerubbabel is represented by the 71 Jubilee from Adam. As I’ve showed in my book The Jubilee Code: Prophetic Milestones in Yahweh’s Redemptive Plan, a reasonable case can be made that this 2^nd year of Darius was in fact the end of the 71^st and beginning of the 72^nd Jubilee cycle from Adam.

Another way to look at this chronology is say that there were:

70 jubilees from Adam – which began
70 years of Divine anger – which ended on the 71^st jubilee and began the
70 Sevens countdown to the Messiah of Daniel 9 – which ended with
Coming of the Messiah at the start of the 2000 year “Age of the Messiah”

These synchronizations alone should dispel any notion that the chronology of the Masoretic text was forged. Think about the statistical difficulties of trying to make the case that the Rabbinic authorities, in order to hide the identity of Yeshua as the Biblical Messiah, dropped round numbers from the pre-flood ages of several of the descendants of Adam, and in so doing were lucky enough to still align the Jubilee cycles from Adam so that it perfectly synchronized with the Jubilee and Sabbath cycles of the 2^nd temple period. And still further, that somehow even after forging this chronology, they still managed to synchronize it with the New Testament’s premier chronological account of Yeshua as the promised Messiah found in Matthew 1. If this is forgery then what does an accurate representation look like?

For those interested in further confirmation of Ezekiel’s Jubilee the following comes from the Jewish Encyclopedia and it shows that by the time the Talmud was compiled Rabbinic scholarship understood Ezekiel 40 to be a reference to a Jubilee.

Jewish Encyclopedia
Talmudic and Samaritan Calculation of Jubilees.

“According to Talmudic calculations….

….the last jubilee occurred on the “tenth day of the month [Tishri], in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten” (Ezek. xl. 1), which was the New-Year’s Day of the jubilee (‘Ab. Zarah 9b; ‘Ar. 11b-12b). Joshua celebrated the first jubilee, and died just before the second (Seder ‘Olam R., ed. Ratner, xi. 24b-25b, xxx. 69b, Wilna, 1895).” (excerpted by WS)

To give you yet another perspective on this chronology and how it relates I’ve taken the Rabbinic world view of the three 2000 year Biblical ages as represented in the chart I shared at the start of this article. In the following chart, I’ve overlaid the MT chronology as it relates to the generations of Matthew 1, Jubilee cycles and Daniel 9.

Again, there does not appear to be any conflict between the 1^st century Messianic traditions of the Jewish Talmudists and the New Testament’s representation of Yeshua as the promised Messiah. In fact, quite the contrary; there appears to be a quite startling synchronism between the traditional Rabbinic view of history and the chronological evidence we can ascertain from Masoretic text as it relates to the New Testament’s presentation of Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah found in Matthew 1 and elsewhere in the New Testament.

A Dwelling Place for Yahweh
Now let’s look at the Masoretic text chronology and the Jubilee cycles another way. Keep in mind here, we are looking for evidence which supports the hypothesis that the pre-flood chronology of the Old Testament was manipulated by the Rabbinic scholars of the 2^nd century to hide the fact that Yeshua was the Bible’s promised Messiah.

In Genesis, the Garden of Eden was the location that Yahweh chose to meet with mankind. At that time, before sin entered the picture, there was no barrier between God and man. God walked in the Garden with mankind. After mankind’s sin, that relationship changed. Mankind’s sin created a barrier to our fellowship with our Creator.

Then 2513 years later, according to the MT of the Bible, a pivotal milestone was reached, Yahweh instructed Moses and the Children of Israel to construct a Tabernacle where Yahweh could dwell with mankind. This temporary dwelling place was also the location where Yahweh instituted the bloody sacrificial redemptive rites of the Torah. These sacrificial rites, as we’ve seen in these articles, were rehearsals or shadow pictures of Yeshua, Yahweh’s ultimate sacrifice, the promised “seed” through whom all nations of the earth would be blessed.

This temporary dwelling place and those sacrificial rites were instituted in the 52^nd jubilee from Adam (4×13).

Nearly 500 more years pass before Yahweh gave instructions for a new more permanent dwelling place where He would meet with mankind and where the sacrificial rites of His redemptive plan would be rehearsed. This new dwelling place, constructed by David’s son Solomon, was built in Jerusalem on the same mountain where centuries earlier, Yahweh tested Abraham’s faith and asked him to sacrifice his only son in what would become one of the Bible’s most compelling symbols or allegories of Yahweh’s future redemptive plan.

This new dwelling place built by King Solomon was completed in the 62^nd Jubilee from Adam.

Several more centuries pass and because of Judah’s sins they were carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Shortly thereafter Yahweh’s Shekinah departed the first temple and then a few years after this the temple was destroyed by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. The departure of Yahweh’s Shekinah from the temple began the 70 years of Divine anger mentioned by Zechariah. The following chart provides the pertinent details:

Then in the 2^nd year of Darius ‘the Great’ Artaxerxes, Yahweh Himself, commanded Israel to return and build His house so that he could once again dwell with mankind. This commandment as I’ve shown in multiple articles at this blog and my book, Daniel’s 70 Weeks: The Keystone of Bible Prophecy was the “commandment” or word (dabar) which began the famous prophetic countdown to the Messiah found in Daniel chapter 9.

This new dwelling place was completed in the 6^th year of Darius during the 72nd Jubilee from Adam.

Finally, nearly 500 more years pass and in the 82^nd Jubilee from Adam (41×2) the prophesied Messiah of Daniel 9 comes and once again the terms of Yahweh’s dwelling with mankind change. Human flesh became the new dwelling place for Yahweh. Yahweh tabernacled with mankind becoming our Yeshua (Yahweh’s Salvation).

30 years later Yeshua stood in our place to take upon Himself the righteous penalty for all of our sins.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [tabernacle] among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

These epics are visualized by the following chart:

A Divine Appointment
Multiple times over the years I’ve shared with you all how much I appreciate the story of Yahweh’s test of Abraham’s faith in asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac. That story became one of the Bible’s most illustrious allegories of Yahweh’s future redemptive plan through Yeshua.

That test of faith had divine repercussions which have rippled across the Biblical ages. This story as seen in light of the Masoretic text and the Jubilee cycles has special significance.

This allegory concealed in real Biblical history begins in the 42^nd jubilee from Adam when Abraham and Sarah where told they would have a son in their old age. This message was brought to them by an angel who told them that at the “set time” in the following year a son would be born to them.

But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time [mow’ed] in the next year. (Genesis 17:21)

For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time [mow’ed] of which God had spoken to him. (Genesis 21:2)

The phrase “set time” comes from the Hebrew word mow’ed which means appointed place or appointed time. This is the same word Yahweh uses in Genesis 1:14, when describing the Bible’s calendar, a Biblical reckoning of time, and its related divine appointments.

¹⁴ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons [mow’ed = appointements], and for days, and years: (Genesis 1:14)

In any case, this set time, or divine appointment if you will, was marked for the following year. What is intriguing about His divine appointment is that it fell on the 43^rd Jubilee from Adam. In other words, exactly on the 50^th year of the 43^rd Jubilee cycle (from Adam) Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah.

At some point in that 43^rd Jubilee cycle, while Isaac was still a “lad” (na’ar), Abraham was told to get up to the land of Moriah and offer his son Isaac as an offering. The Bible tells us that Abraham obeyed, but he did so in the knowledge that Isaac was Yahweh’s promised seed and when all was said and done, he and the lad would return again.

And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:5-8)

Indeed Yahweh provided that lamb in place of Isaac. In fact, it was on that very same mountain that nearly 2000 years later that Yahweh provided “Himself” as the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.

Keep in mind here that because of Abraham’s faith, Yahweh swore (shaba) an oath of seven with Abraham that promised in part that through Abraham’s “seed” all nations of the earth would be blessed.

Would it surprise you to learn that according to the Masoretic text of the Bible, that oath

Yahweh swore with Abraham saw its initial fulfillment with the birth of Yeshua in the 39th (13×3) Jubilee cycles from the birth of Isaac, Abraham’s promised “seed”. In other words, the birth of Yeshua took place in the 82 Jubilee (41×2) from Adam. This 82^nd Jubilee was the 39^th (13×3)Jubilee from the birth of Isaac.

What’s more, on the 40^th Jubilee anniversary of Isaac’s birth the last atonement sacrifice was offered in the temple in Jerusalem in 69 AD. The following year in 70 AD the temple was destroyed and now for the past 40 Jubilee cycles Israel has had neither a temple nor a sacrifice.

That chronology is summed up in the following charts:

Again I wonder why, if the rabbis of the 2^nd century were trying to hide the identity of Yeshua as the promised Messiah, did they align the major events in Yeshua’s life with the chronology of the Old Testament and the Jubilee cycles? A simple addition or reduction of the chronology by just a few years would have completely erased all of these synchronized chronological pictures which show Yahweh’s hand working His redemptive plan of Yeshua through the Biblical ages.

The Epics of the Promised Seed
For those familiar with Biblical history, it is evident that the number 40 is often associate with important chronological periods of time in the Bible. There are three 40 years periods which define Moses’ life and his interactions with the children of Israel. We also have the 40 years between Yeshua’s resurrection and the destruction of Jerusalem. Then there are the forty days of Jonah and the 40 days of Yeshua in the wilderness, to name just a few.

But in terms of Bible chronology, the granddaddy of 40 periods of time are the jubilee. One of the most thrilling examples of this relates to what I like to think of as the Epics of the Promised Seed.

As I’ve mentioned before, after mankind’s sin in Eden, Yahweh promised that someday Adam and Eve’s seed would bruise the serpent’s head. This promise became the foundation for the Bible’s Messianic redemptive theme.

After Cain slew Abel that promise appeared to be in jeopardy. Then in the 130th year of Adam, Seth was born and Yahweh gave Adam and Eve a new “seed” through whom that redemptive promise would be carried down through the Biblical ages. Seth’s birth not only came in the 130^th year of Adam but in the 3^rd Jubilee of Adam’s creation.

39 (13×3) Jubilee cycles later in the 99^th year of Abraham’s life (his 2^nd Jubilee) Yahweh confirmed the covenant of the promised “seed” with Abraham by promising him that at the “set time” (mow’ed) in the following year a son would be born unto them.

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (Genesis 17:5-7)

That following year on the 43^rd Jubilee cycle from Adam, Isaac was born. This auspicious date marked the 40^th Jubilee cycle from Seth and a new era in Yahweh’s redemptive plan for mankind.

As stated previously, 39 (13×3) more Jubilee cycles pass and that covenant of the promised seed realizes its fulfillment in Yahweh becoming our Yeshua (Salvation). It was during this 39^th Jubilee cycle from Isaac that an angel appeared to Mary (and later Joseph) telling them of the miraculous conception of Yeshua, the promised seed.

The following Jubilee, in the 40^th Jubilee cycle from the promised seed of Isaac and the 80^th Jubilee cycle from Seth, Yahweh’s promise that Adam and Eve’s “seed” would bruise the serpent’s head, finds partial fulfillment in the death and resurrection of Yeshua. I say partial fulfillment because, with this event Satan did indeed received a mortal wound, but his ultimate destruction has been set for another period of time in the future.

The above chronology leads naturally into our next example.

The Miracle of Israel’s Rebirth
For our next example of the congruency of Masoretic text chronology, the Jubilee cycles, and the Bible’s Messianic message, I’d like to show you where the miraculous rebirth of the nation of Israel fits it.

It’s important to note here that not only did Yahweh swore with Abraham that in his “seed” all nations of the earth would be blessed, but also that Abraham’s “seed” would inherit all the land Yahweh promised to Abraham.

As we saw above Israel was uprooted (for a time) from the land of Israel. With their city in ruins and Yahweh’s house completely demolished, the children of Israel were scattered throughout the nations. This desolation was prophesied by Yeshua himself in Matthew 23.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. ³⁹ For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matthew 23:37 – 24:1)

Did you know that in the 39^th Jubilee cycle (13×3) from Jerusalem’s destruction, the nation of Israel was reborn and the city of Jerusalem once more came under the control of the Jewish people? Yes, both those events (according to the projected chronology of the MT) took place in the 122^nd Jubilee cycle from Adam.

Another way to look at these events is just as the 39^th Jubilee cycle from Abraham saw the birth of the promised Messiah and the following Jubilee, the 40^th saw the end of the sacrificial service, the destruction of Jerusalem, its temple, and the start of the times of the gentiles – the 39^th Jubilee from those terrible events saw the rebirth of nation of Israel in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. And today as we watch events unfold in the 40^th Jubilee from the destruction of Jerusalem we see the times of the gentiles drawing to a close and the Jewish people and the nation of Israel becoming what the book of Zechariah describes in an eschatological Messianic context, as the “burdensome stone” for the nations.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:2-3)

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications:

and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. Zechariah 12:9-11

A Jubilee of Jubilees
For confirmation of the significance of the above chronology related to the Jewish people and their return to the land, let’s take one more step back in history to the destruction of the 1^st temple by Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus’ decree allowing the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and build the house of Yahweh. It’s worth noting that in a Jubilee year the Torah instructs that the land reverts back to its original owners. This we see fulfilled in a unique way by looking at a Jubilee of Jubilees. The following chart provide a panoramic:

As you can see from the above chronology if you count Jubilee cycles from Cyrus’ decree allowing the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem, you’ll find that it was in the 50^th Jubilee cycle from Cyrus’ decree until the Balfour Declaration (1917) and the related British Mandate (starting in 1923) allowed the Jewish people to return to their homeland.

If you also count Jubilee cycles form Yahweh’s divine “word” to restore and build Jerusalem in the 2^nd year of Darius ‘the great’ Artaxerxes, you’ll find that it was during the 50^th Jubilee from this divine word that Israel was reborn as a nation in 1948.

And finally in consideration of the fact that the Bible describes the new Jerusalem (a city 12×12) coming down out of heaven after the 1000 year reign of Yeshua, it is worth noting that if the Jubilee cycles were projected into the future, the 144^th Jubilee cycle begins in the 8^th day or 7008^th year from Adam.

Design or Forgery?
In summary then, I think it is important to consider all of this Masoretic chronology and the related Jubilee cycles in light of Matthew 1. Yeshua’s lineage in this first chapter of the New Testament, as arranged by Matthew, can reasonably be considered the chronological key of the Bible’s redemptive message. This lineage is the focal point of Biblical history. We can look backwards and forwards from this amazing list of names and we find it has astounding relevance and congruency when viewed in light of Yahweh’s redemptive plan for the Jewish people and the gentile nations.

Consider once again that only four men in this lineage lived in the Jubilee cycle represented by their place in the lineage. The events and prophecies associate with each of those men are critical witnesses to the Bible’s body of evidence which proves Yeshua was the Messiah.

Each of those men, when viewed within the larger chronological context of the Bible’s chronology based in the Masoretic text, fit seamlessly into a discernable framework of Jubilee cycles originating with Adam. This in my opinion is beyond human invention.

In consideration of this evidence, it is my belief, that Matthew did indeed have knowledge of a shorter Old Testament chronology based in the Masoretic text of the Bible. It also appears evident that this knowledge also included a view of Biblical history which synchronized important events in Yahweh’s redemptive plan with the Jubilee cycles. Further, that the chronological key to Matthew’s evidence is witness by his synchronization of Yeshua’s 41 generations from Abraham with 41 Jubilee cycles which span that period of time in real Biblical chronology.

This evidence, I believe is fatal to the hypothesis that the Jewish rabbis of the 2^nd century forged the Masoretic text to obfuscate the Biblical evidence that Yeshua was the Bible’s promised Messiah. In fact, I believe the contrary is evident. In light of the evidence explored in these articles, I believe a reasonable case can be made that in fact, the Old Testament chronology of the Masoretic text, was divinely ordered to provide mankind with compelling evidence that Yeshua is mankind’s promised redeemer.

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:…

¹³ I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. (Isaiah 46:9-13)

Maranatha!

Next Time:
Rabbinic Forgery’s Hypothesis in Light of the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9
Yahweh willing, next time we will look at the Rabbinic forgery’s hypothesis in light of the chronology of the 2^nd temple era and the prophecy of Daniel 9. As we’ll see, the indefensible irony of this hypothesis is that many who hold it, unknowingly use the chronological errors arising from it, to try and prove that Yeshua fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel 9. I hope you’ll continue this adventure with me.

Book 1

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The 13th Enumeration
"A book that will change how you look at the Bible's Messianic Symbolism."

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Book 2

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Daniel's 70 Weeks -
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Matthew 1, the Masoretic Text & the Bible’s Messianic Symbolism

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Authors Note:
This article is Part II in my exploration of Rabbinic forgery hypothesis. The following links will take you to the previous articles in this series.
Part I: The Septuagint, the Masoretic Text, & Matthew 1
Part II: Matthew 1, the Masoretic Text, & the Bible’s Messianic Symbolism
Part III: The Masoretic Text, Matthew 1, & the Jubilee
Part IV: Sir Isaac Newton, Daniel 9, & the Rabbinic Forgeries Hypothesis

Matthew 1 and the Bible’s Messianic Symbolism
Now that you better understand some of the background of the Rabbinic forgery’s hypothesis from my last blog post (here), I now want to lay the ground work for why I believe Matthew 1 and its unique synchronization with the MT text chronology and the jubilee cycles disproves the Rabbinic forgery’s hypothesis as it currently stands.

For anyone who has carefully considered the lineage of Yeshua in Matthew 1, it is an enigma. It’s the opening evidence in the New Testament’s case for Yeshua as the promised Messiah, but instead of a true lineage of the Messiah Yeshua, you have a list of names written more like a coded map of messianic symbolism. Throw in an intentional synchronization with the Daniel 9 prophecy- the Bible’s greatest messianic prophecy and the jubilee cycles and you have a symbolic literary device that stands unparalleled in recorded history.

Do you think I overstate my case? Let’s take a look and I’ll let you decide.

Most scholars acknowledge that the gospel of Matthew was written to a Jewish audience with metaphor, symbolism, and type a Jewish reader steeped in the Torah, Psalms, and Prophets would understand. Matthew sets out to make his case (to his Jewish readers) for Yeshua of Nazareth as the prophesied Messiah in what appears to be at first glance merely a generational listing of Yeshua’s ancestors. It’s not until verse 17 that the reader gets an idea that there is more to this lineage than just a list of names.

After providing a list of Yeshua’s ancestors, Matthew summarizes Yeshua’s lineage by arranging it into three 14 generational groupings. This raises Yeshua lineage above a mere list of names to a chronological statement. This fact I believe is often ignored and as you will see underappreciated.

There are several things about this lineage which would have caused many knowledgeable 2^nd temple Jewish readers of the list to take notice.

The list is not just a lineage, but a chronological statement of 3 groups of 14 generations bridging the Biblical ages from Abraham to Yeshua.
In order to make his chronological statement work, Matthew had to leave out four of Yeshua’s ancestors.
Matthew implies 42 generations from Abraham to Yeshua (14+14+14)
As given, Matthew only shows 41 generations from Abraham to Yeshua (14+14+13)
Matthew removes 4 of Yeshua’s lineage from the 2^nd generational grouping, but does so in a peculiar way a Jewish reader steeped in the Torah would have noticed.

The following is a visual representation of Matthew’s list showing some of its peculiarities:

Quite interesting, no?

Messianic Symbolism par Excellence
In the New Testament Yeshua is represented as the atoning sacrifice for mankind’s sins. From John’s declaration that Yeshua was the “lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world” to the Apostle Paul’s statement to the Corinthians that Yeshua was “our Passover sacrificed for us” and the “Firstfruits” of them that slept; there is a clear thread of sacrificial symbolism surrounding Yeshua’s life and ministry.

The sacrificial service typified by Yeshua finds its basis in the Biblical holy days, or as the Bible calls them “Feasts of Yahweh”. At the beginning of every month and during the seven sacred holy festivals throughout the year a certain number of sacrifices where required to be offered.

If you look closely at the charts I’ve provided below you’ll see that those sacrificial rites most often entailed some combination of 13 or 14 sacrifices. As you explore the following charts, keep in mind that Matthew purposely represented Yeshua as the 13^th generation in Matthew 1, and he did so by removing ancestors of the Messiah in locations which also emphasized the numbers 13 & 14. This symbolism would have clearly stood out to the 2^nd temple Jewish reader immersed in the sacrificial service of the Torah. Here, take a glimpse of what they may have seen when Matthew represented Yeshua in a list that highlighted 13 and 14 generations.

The significance of all those blood sacrifices make a bit more sense now, don’t they? Their number and order were prescribed so that mankind could someday look back and see the importance of Yahweh’s sacrifice on our behalf. Indeed when Abraham reassured his son Isaac that Yahweh provided “Himself a lamb”, centuries later the Torah would confirm that ancient promise and conceal within its service future evidence of that redemptive plan.

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. Genesis 22:7-8

The Symbolism of 13 & 14
Now let’s take another look at the names as given by Matthew in Yeshua’s lineage. The first generational grouping begins with Abraham and ends with David for 14 generations. The number 14 is further emphasized by the fact that David’s name has the Hebrew letter numerical value of 14.

The 2^nd generational grouping of Yeshua’s lineage also has 14 generations listed. But curiously when we get to the 3^rd generational grouping there are only 13 generations. In other words, while Matthew implied that Yeshua was the 14^th generation, as given he is the 13^th generation or what I like to call the 13^th Enumeration.

By representing Yeshua as the 13^th generation, but implying the 14^th, Matthew symbolized Yeshua as the atoning sacrifice / suffering servant (13) and upon His death and resurrection He became that 14^th generation and the future king who will someday sit upon the throne of David. Here’s a taste of that principle from the Old & New Testaments.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS [Yeshua]. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: (Luke 1:31-32)

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: [13^th Generation] and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. [14^th Generation] The zeal of YHWH of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Here take another look at Matthew’s intriguing list of Yeshua’s lineage with the above symbolism in mind:

A Biblical Reckoning of Time
As I mentioned before, to emphasize this sacrificial symbolism and further cement the connection between this sacrificial service and the Bible’s calendar, Matthew removed four names from Yeshua’s lineage in two very symbolic places.

For those not familiar with the Biblical calendar, it is important to understand the Bible’s calendar is lunar/solar. In other words, the 7 “Feasts of Yahweh” that Israel was required to celebrate were regulated by the cycles of the sun and moon, or what I like to call Yahweh’s heavenly Rolex.

The solar cycle is 365.24 days in length and in the Bible this solar “year” is organized into 52 weeks of 6 days labor and a 7^th day of rest (also 4 seasons of 13 weeks each). If all you knew about Matthew’s list was that he left out 3 of Yeshua’s ancestors between the 6^th and 7^th generation you might call it a coincidence. That coincidence would be called into question when you realize that he also left out one of Yeshua’s ancestors between the 13^th and 14^th generation. And that can hardly be an accident!

You see, on the lunar side of the Bible’s calendar you have a lunar cycle of 29.53 days. This cycle has its own internal division of 13 or 14 days of waxing light followed by 13 or 14 days of waning light every month throughout the Biblical year. Take any random month and you’ll find some combination of these numbers in the waxing and waning of the visible light of the lunar cycle.

In other words by arranging Yeshua’s lineage in this manner Matthew not only calls the readers’ attention to the sacrificial symbolism of 13 & 14, but also directs their attention towards the internal gears of the Bible’s lunar/solar calendar and their internal cycles by which those sacrificial rites are regulated throughout the year. Pretty clever would be an understatement, wouldn’t it?

Clearly Matthew 1 is not just a list of names that shows Yeshua’s lineage as a son of Abraham and David, but more importantly a symbol or metaphor if you will, that compels the Jewish reader to make a connection between Yeshua the son of David and Abraham and the promised Messiah who the Torah, Psalms, and Prophets prophesied would come as that suffering servant/atoning sacrifice as well as the future king to rule from the throne of David.

Before moving on to the chronological and Jubilee aspects of Matthew 1 consider the meanings of the names of Yeshua’s ancestors who Matthew presented in the 13^th and 14^th generations. Note something special happens when you include Jehoiakim, the missing king between the 13^th and 14^th generation of the 2^nd grouping. (Jehoiakim means = Yahweh raises up)

The gift/I posses, the beloved who Yahweh heals (Yahweh raises up) and establishes His salvation – Yeshua.

Yeshua – the Salvation of Yahweh indeed!

Matthew 1 as a Chronological Template
Now let’s consider Matthew 1 and the lineage of Yeshua in the context of the Old Testament chronology with an eye towards understanding how it fits within the large chronological context of the Bible.

In Matthew 1, Matthew implies that Yeshua is the 42^nd generation (14+14+14), but when the names are counted Matthew only provides 41 names (14+14+13). In other words, Yeshua is given as the 41^st generation from Abraham, but then is represented as the 42^nd.

Another way of looking at this peculiarity is that just as Matthew represented Yeshua as the 13^th and 14^th generation – the suffering servant (sacrifice) and the future king, Matthew also represents Yeshua as both the 41^st and 42^nd generation from Abraham. As you will see this has astounding significance.

Here is where the Masoretic text becomes relevant to this discussion. Keep in mind here that Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience. Based upon the Masoretic text of the Bible, a reasonable rendering of the chronology gives us roughly 2000 years between the birth of Abraham and the birth of Yeshua. My own understanding of the chronology gives 1988 years. This means that Yeshua was born in the 41^st Jubilee cycle from Abraham.

This moves from a mere curiosity to likely intentional symbolism when you realize that based upon the MT text chronology as acknowledged by Mr. Smith, Sexton, and others – from Adam to Abraham there are 2008 years, which then in a similar manner place the birth of Abraham in the 41^st jubilee cycle from Adam. In other words:

Adam to Abraham = 41 jubilee cycles
Abraham to Yeshua = 41 jubilee cycles

It becomes nearly impossible to dismiss this as an accident or coincidence when you realize that just as Matthew represented Yeshua as both the 13^th and 14^th generation (suffering servant and ruling king), he also synchronized the life and ministry of Yeshua with the 41^st and 42^nd generation from Abraham.

Based upon a reasonable rendering of the Masoretic text chronology and Matthew 1, Yeshua became flesh (the 13^th generation) in the 41^st jubilee from Abraham. Yeshua’s death and resurrection (the implied 14^th generation) took place in the (implied) 42^st jubilee from Abraham. Upon his resurrection Yeshua became that future king to rule upon the throne of David.

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS [Yahweh’s Salvation]. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: Luke 1:30-32

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. Revelation 22:16

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. ⁶ And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth….

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. Revelation 5:5-13

Corruption Conundrum
In my opinion the above evidence makes for a compelling case in support of the Masoretic text, at least as far as the chronology from Abraham to Yeshua is concerned. It’s really hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that the Masoretes would have forged the chronology of the Old Testament from Adam to Abraham, but left the chronology from Abraham to Yeshua unmolested, especially in light of Matthew’s arrangement of Yeshua’s lineage.

Keep in mind here that the Sexton and Smiths Rabbinic forgery’s hypothesis postulates that this corruption of the Biblical text was perpetrated sometime after Yeshua’s death and resurrection to hide His identity as the Messiah. If that was in fact the ancient Rabbinic authorities intention, they clearly failed in their efforts.

Even if we argued that the MT text was changed sometime before Christ, why would Matthew have used this corrupted MT chronology as a template to show that Yeshua was the promised Messiah as well as show that He was a synchronized generational descendant of Adam and Abraham?

The Jubilee Generations
But that’s not the only astounding aspect of Matthew’s lineage of Yeshua. If you take those 41 generations given by Matthew and you count each of those generations as one jubilee cycle. There are only four men in those 41 generations for whom the Bible provides enough chronological information to show they actually lived in the Jubilee which represented them.

They are as follows:

Abraham
Isaac
Zerubbabel
Yeshua

Take a look at the following chart. It shows each of the people mentioned above relative to their place in the jubilee cycles from Abraham. In the next section I’ll explain why these men were all pivotal in Yahweh’s redemptive plan for mankind.

The Promised Seed
As regular readers of this blog know, I see the Bible as a testimony of Yeshua, that is, a story of Yahweh’s Salvation (Yeshua means Yahweh’s Salvation). It’s the story of mankind’s sin and our separation from Yahweh because of that sin. Of a loving Creator who loved us enough to become human flesh and stand in our place when the righteous penalty for that sin was carried out. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible tells of Yahweh’s redemptive plan of the promised “seed” which brought His Yeshua (Salvation).

For whatever reason, Yahweh in His divine wisdom chose to use the numbers 13 & 14 as symbolic markers in the Bible to identify His redemptive plan as it works its way through Biblical history. Let me give you a brief sketch of that plan highlighting some of the pivotal events of that plan relative to the Masoretic text’s chronology of the Old Testament.

The Promised Seed in Genesis
After Adam and Eve sinned because of the serpent’s (Satan’s) deception, Yahweh promised mankind that someday Adam and Eve’s “seed” would bruise the serpents “head”. That redemptive plan was called into question when Cain slew Abel.

Then according to the Masoretic (MT) text of the Bible, in the 130 year of Adam a new “seed” was given through whom the Messiah would someday come.

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. (Genesis 4:25)

His Death Brought Rest
Centuries later, again according to the MT text, in the 182^nd (13×14) year of a man named Lamech, a son was born who would keep the promise lineage of the “seed” alive through the midst of a terrible judgment Yahweh sent upon this earth. That man was Noah and during his lifetime a great flood nearly destroyed all mankind, only Noah and seven other members of his family were preserved.

It’s worth commenting here a bit more about Lamech and his father Methuselah and the fascinating meaning of their names. A case can be made that Methuselah’s name means “When He is Dead it Shall Be Sent”. According to the MT text of the Scripture that is in fact what happened because the flood came the year Methuselah died. Lamech’s (Methuselah’s son) name means powerful, lowering, humiliation or sorrow. Noah’s (Lamech’s son) name means Rest.

So if we look at these names (Methuselah, Lamech, Noah) as a prophetic story we have the following:

“When he is dead it shall be sent, a powerful, lowering, humiliation or sorrow.” Fascinating isn’t it that in the 182^nd year (13×14) of Lamech’s life his “humiliation a sorrow” brought forth Noah or “rest”.

Isn’t that the story of Yeshua? His death, humiliation and sorrow was the means by which all of us are granted “rest”. In fact isn’t that what Peter told his Jewish readers in 1 Peter 3?

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 1 Peter 3:18-21

An Oath of Sevens
Several centuries more pass and then according to the MT text (& Acts 7:4), in the 130^th year of Terah his son Abram (Later Abraham) was born. This man whose faith changed the course of history and who has the honor of being the first man in the Bible with whom Yahweh personally swore (shaba) an oath of seven. This oath of seven, in part, promised that through Abraham’s “seed” all nations of the earth would be blessed.

And said, By myself have I sworn [shaba], saith YHWH, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:16-18)

That shaba, that oath of seven, was at its core a promise of the coming “seed”. As I’ve explained in multiple articles and my book Daniel’s 70 Weeks: The Keystone of Bible Prophecy this oath of seven was called to remembrance by Moses, Daniel, Paul, Mary, Zachariah (father of John), and Peter when they spoke about the Messiah. For more on this see my article: Seven, 70, & Sevens: Daniel 9 & the Bible’s Messianic Symbolism

This brings us back full circle to Matthew 1 and the lineage of Yeshua. Matthew began Yeshua’s lineage with Abraham. A man who according to the MT text, was born during the 41^st jubilee cycle from Adam. This man Abraham who also lived through the 42^nd jubilee (6×7) and whose son Isaac was born exactly on the 43^rd Jubilee from Adam. (More on the jubilee significance of Isaac later. And for you mathematicians out there, interestingly, the number 41 is the 13^th sequential prime number.)

In Matthew’s lineage of Yeshua both Abraham and Isaac are represented by the Jubilee during which they lived. It goes without saying that both men were pivotal in Yahweh’s redemptive plan for mankind. It’s not until the 2^nd temple era and the days of Zerubbabel that Matthew’s lineage of Yeshua once again aligns with the jubilee cycles and this is significant for several reasons.

Zerubbabel has the distinction of being, not only the ancestor of Yeshua but also a prophetic messianic type. The following verses demonstrate this wonderful messianic typology:

Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover the word of YHWH came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that YHWH of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of YHWH, which run to and fro through the whole earth. (Zechariah 4:7-10)

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; [headstone] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:20-22)

Now do you see why Zerubbabel is given special significance in the lineage of Yeshua? But that’s only the typological significance of Zerubbabel. In Matthew’s lineage of Yeshua, Zerubbabel also has chronological significance.

You see it was during his lifetime that the divine “commandment (Hebrew dabar = word) to restore and build Jerusalem” was given. That divine word was given by Yahweh through the two prophets Haggai and Zechariah and witnessed by Ezra 6:14-15:

And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. {commandment: Chaldee, decree} ¹⁵ And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. (Ezra 6:14-15)

As I’ve demonstrated in my book and multiple articles, this divine word to restore and build began the famous countdown to the Messiah described in the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9, the Bible’s most important and specific prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah.

For more on this subject please see my free articles or books:

The Fifth Command
70, Sevens, and 70: Daniel 9 and the Bible’s Messianic Symbolism
Daniel’s 70 Weeks: The Keystone of Bible Prophecy

70 Weeks and 13 Jubilees
I would be remiss here if I did not point out that according to Matthew 1 there are 13 Jubilee cycles from this divine command to restore and build Jerusalem until the coming of the Messiah Yeshua when the lineage of Yeshua and the Jubilee cycles once more are synchronize. In other words one might say that the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9 and the 13 jubilee cycles between Zerubbabel and Yeshua are chronological related.

The following chart summarizes the chronology we’ve explored above, but I’ve added an additional layer of information to the chart. That additional layer of information shows Matthew’s lineage of Yeshua relative to the Masoretic text’s version of Old Testament chronology and the jubilee cycles which have been synchronized with the creation of Adam. In my next article I’ll explain in more detail why I believe this chronology is relevant to the Rabbinic forgery’s hypothesis, but more importantly why this information shows the hand of Yahweh working through the Biblical ages to accomplish his redemptive plan for mankind.

I hope you’ll continue this adventure with me, the best is yet to come.

Maranatha!

Book 1

Book I - Description

The 13th Enumeration
"A book that will change how you look at the Bible's Messianic Symbolism."

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Book 2

Book 2 - Description

Daniel's 70 Weeks -
"A book that will forever change how you understand the Bible's greatest Messianic prophecy."

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Book 3

Book 3 - Description

The Jubilee Code -
"A book that will show you real Biblical evidence for Yahweh's guiding in hand history bringing about His redemptive plan for mankind."

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