Archive for Babylon

Gabriel’s 70 Weeks: Why 70 Weeks? Part 2

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels, Prophecy with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 15, 2020 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city…

God knew from the beginning of Israel being a nation, ultimately they would not let the land rest. Israel was commanded to let the land rest in Leviticus 25:1-5.

God let Israel know. If the land is not allowed to rest from your activity, then God would make sure the land would rest. The consequence of disobedience was prophetic.

Leviticus 26:34-35 Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not receive during the Sabbaths when you lived in it.

Later, the concept is stated again.

Leviticus 26:43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes.

God communicated His Law to Moses around 1446 BC as estimated by Biblical scholars.

By historical accounts, the practice of ignoring the land’s Sabbath rest began around the time of Samuel the prophet and judge around 1100 BC. Israel continued to farm for economic purposes and development. It did not make economic sense to let the land rest.

Fast forward to the prophet Jeremiah circa 627-580 BC.

In Jeremiah 25, the prophet is warning Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Because of your disobedience, 70 years of captivity are coming.

Jeremiah 25:11-12 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste.

Keep in mind, Daniel was already in Babylon in 605 BC under King Nebuchadnezzar’s first captivity of Jerusalem. Daniel was protected by God who knew the future of Jerusalem. Daniel was acutely aware of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

In 586 BC, Jeremiah’s prophetic words would come to pass. Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar would capture and utterly destroy Jerusalem. Historians and commentators indicate the actual date was on the 9th of Av. A day which has become a national day of mourning for Israel.

2 Chronicles 36:20-21 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

Now, there is the matter of Leviticus 26 and God’s consistent statement, I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

70 x 7 = 490

Israel’s punishment is not complete.

To be continued…

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Gabriel Visits Daniel a Second Time

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels with tags , , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2020 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans…

In general, history records Babylon was taken by the Persian Empire in 539 BC. This is the year Daniel is about to be visited again by the angel Gabriel.

The last time Gabriel visited Daniel was 14 years earlier. We know Daniel received understanding of the first vision from Daniel 8:1 in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar to be about 553 BC.

Gabriel’s second visitation would be a reminder of the fulfillment of his first message to Daniel. Babylon was promised to fall to the Medes and Persians and lose its seat of the world’s dominant power. Gabriel appears a second time to Daniel after his initial prophecy from God was reality.

Daniel 9:20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for the holy hill of my God…

Daniel 9:20 is an effective summary of his petition to God in Daniel 9:3-19. Daniel is approaching God in prayer. Daniel is more concerned about God’s name and His reputation. He knows God is forgiving and merciful.

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Daniel 9:21 …while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

…the man Gabriel… God’s messenger Gabriel appears as a man or ish in the Hebrew. Gabriel looks like a man.

In both cases when Gabriel visits Daniel, he appears as a man. The first time in Daniel 8:15 Gabriel was described as a geber. This is the term for a mighty warrior. Gabriel is physically imposing and intimidating.

…came to me in swift flight… Gabriel arrived in a condition of yeaph in the Hebrew. He was tired, weary, or faint. Gabriel appears to be in a hurry to get to Daniel.

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…the time of the evening sacrifice. Gabriel visited Daniel in the mid afternoon. Typically, the evening sacrifice at the Temple took place at the ninth hour. This would translate to 3:00 in the afternoon for us in the western world and culture.

Cornelius also encountered an angel in the ninth hour in the book of Acts.

Acts 10:3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.”

Jesus died on the cross at the ninth hour or 3:00 p.m.

Matthew 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew 27:50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

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Isaiah 6:11-13 The Time is Coming…

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , , , on December 9, 2012 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 6:11-13 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people and the land is utterly desolate, “The LORD has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, and it will again be subject to burning, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”

Isaiah asks a question with a time marker, “how long?” God replies with a set of circumstances. God does not say when. But He does give the end results.

Many people have the same condition today when asking about the Lord’s return. We all want to know when. God does not tell us when. But He does tell us what will happen along with specific events before Christ’s return.

God is very specific. Cities will be ruined and there will be nobody left. Houses will be devastated, abandoned and there will be nobody left. There will be nobody left in the land. People will be moved from the land of Israel. Four times we are told there will be nobody left. Just in case a few are missed and left over, God will make sure that nobody is left. I take it, nobody will be left.

Historically, that is what happened to the Jewish people. This prophecy was written approximately 100 years or more before their deportation. The Jews were completely exiled to Babylon in approximately 587 BC. The process had started roughly 10 years earlier in 597 BC. Jerusalem and the land were absolutely destroyed. Those who did survive were taken into captivity. See specific details in 2 Chronicles 36:15-21.

The destruction was completely to the ground. God did promise to leave the stump. An oak or a terebinth tree can sprout and grow again if the stump is left in the ground. That stump can regenerate from the noted destruction and death. The nation will be back. Any guess who that “holy seed” or stump is?

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