News Letter 5848-043
8th day of the 10th month?5848 years after the creation of Adam
The 10th Month in the Third year of the third Sabbatical Cycle
The Third Sabbatical Cycle of the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Earthquakes Famines, and Pestilences
This is also the end of the Thirty-Ninth week of this the Third Tithe Year for the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow?Deuteronomy 26:12
We are now just 4 years & 2 months from the Sabbatical year in 2016

December 21, 2012

Shabbat Shalom Brethren,

I am sending this News Letter out a day early in case we are all not here on Shabbat due to the Mayan Calendar actually coming true. But rest assured as you read this it is already December 21 in Australia and they are still here.

Before we get to this, I have received an email from Boaz and Rinah in Israel.

Shalom Joe

Sitting here overlooking the vineyards as they sleep peacefully waiting to bring forth the promises of Hashem next spring. We need volunteers badly. A couple or two buddies would be perfect. If you could add this need to your next newsletter it would be great. Our need is immediate and ongoing. The job entails the pulling of weeds from around the grape vines and the installation of the trellis’s so the vines can grow up on them.

Blessings my brother
Boaz.

Any that at interested are to contact Boaz directly at http://www.shefaisrael.com
Instead of going to the hot tropics this winter, go to the Israeli desert and live and work in the land.

If you would like to work in Israel and be right where Isaac and Jacob and Moses and Aaron and Milkah all had wells in this area. Below is list of scriptures to tell you who Milkah was. She was the grandmother of rebeccah and the sister-in-law to Abraham. Also the wilderness of Paran is just a couple miles away and the Sinai desert of Egypt is right there as well.

Genesis 11:29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai ; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.

Genisis 22:20 Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor :
23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah ; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

Genisis 24:15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.
24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”
47 “Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her wrists.

Also last week I had posted the News Letter Thursday evening in order for it to go out Friday about 1 PM. The slaughter Friday took place and I learned of it while at work. I had guessed about the moon being sighted Thursday and once I heard it was sighted, Friday evening I went back into the News Letter to add this and some comments about the horrific events of Connecticut. I did not change the rest of the Newsletter as it had already been read by many. Those who read it after I had made the changes may have been offended by my seemingly callous attitude; mourning the murder of kindergarten children and their teachers and then going on to call Americans stupid. I had called Americans stupid for the absurdity of sending top of the line military hardware to the Muslim Brotherhood now in control of Egypt who would then use these tanks and Jets on Israel and possibly the USA.

In any event that is how last weeks Newsletter came about and how it then looked like I was kicking American while they were mourning the loss of the lives of so many little ones. I apologize if this did offend you. It was not meant to be that way.

Now getting back to the Mayan calendar that has the world ending tomorrow.

This past week I watched a CBC documentary about the end in 2012. I would urge you to watch it before reading the rest of this News letter to see the extremes people are going to. You can do so at http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/video.html?ID=1678468442

Here is the headline news of Londons Telegraph. It reflects what many people are thinking about.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/serbia/9735045/Mayan-apocalypse-Serbias-mystic-mountain-targeted-by-believers.html

Mayan apocalypse: Serbia’s mystic mountain targeted by believers

Hotels at the base of a supposedly mystical mountain in Serbia are being inundated with booking requests from people who are convinced that the end of a Mayan calendar heralds the destruction of the world on Dec 21.

Hotel owners around the pyramid-shaped Mount Rtanj, in the east of the Balkan country, say that bookings are flooding in, with believers in the prophecy hoping that its purported mysterious powers will save them from the apocalypse.

Adherents of the end-of-the-world scenario think the 5,100ft-high mountain, part of the Carpathian range, conceals a pyramidal building inside, left behind by alien visitors thousands of years ago.

Arthur C Clarke, the British science fiction writer, reportedly identified the peak as a place of “special energy” and called it “the navel of the world”.

Doomsday cultists believe that it emits special energy that could be channeled to protect them from the end of life as we know it.

“In one day we had 500 people trying to book rooms. People want to bring their whole families,” said Obrad Blecic, a hotel manager.

Predictions of an apocalypse are linked to the fact that the 5,125-year-old calendar of the ancient Mayans, who dominated large stretches of southern Mexico and Central America centuries ago, comes to an end on Dec 21.

The doomsday scenario has inspired hundreds of books, websites and television programs but scholars of the Mayan civilization, and Mayans themselves, say people have wrongly interpreted the meaning of the calendar and that it will not herald the world’s obliteration.

But that has not stopped fears that the end of the world from spreading panic among the credulous across the world.

Panic-buying of candles and essentials has been reported in China and Russia, and in the United States the sale of survival shelters is booming.

A mountain in the French Pyrenees that cultists claim will be the only place still standing is to be closed to visitors to avoid chaos and overcrowding on its peak.

New Agers and UFO watchers will be barred access to the flat-topped mountain outside the tiny village of Bugarach, in the Pyrenees.

There have also been many phone calls to NASA about this end of the world.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration warns that 2012 Mayan apocalypse rumors pose a real-life threat to frightened children and depressive teenagers

Some say they can’t eat, or are too worried to sleep, while others say that they are suicidal, according to NASA astrobiologist David Morrison

The apocalypse rumors began with claims that Nibiru, a rogue planet discovered by the Sumerians, will crash into Earth on December 21, killing everyone. This Rumor originated with Zecharia Sitchin who wrote in 1976 that he had found and translated Sumerian documents identifying a rogue planet that will destroy Earth.

By DAMIAN GHIGLIOTTY
30 November 2012

While some are throwing fantastical Doomsday countdown parties, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is issuing grave warnings that 2012 Mayan apocalypse rumors pose a real-life threat to frightened children and depressive teenagers.

David Morrison, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, said on Wednesday that he receives a large number of emails and letters from worried citizens, most often from young people.

Some say they can’t eat, or are too worried to sleep, while others say they are suicidal, Morrison said.

Doomsday fears: Fantastical rumors of the world’s end are causing real-life concerns among frightened children and depressive teenagers, NASA scientists says.

He made that announcement during an online video ‘hangout’ event hosted by NASA on Google+, calling the propagation of rumors on the Internet to frighten children ‘evil.’

‘While this is a joke to some people and a mystery to others, there is a core of people who are truly concerned,’ Morrison said.

NASA, a United States government agency, recently set up an information page on its website explaining why the world is not going to end on December 21, 2012.

The apocalypse rumors and fears are based on misinterpretations of the Mayan calendar, as SPACE.com reported.

The rumors began with claims that Nibiru, a rogue planet discovered by the Sumerians, will crash into Earth on December 21, killing everyone, according to NASA’s website.

The origins of those rumors have been linked to the works of the late Azerbaijani-born author Zecharia Sitchin, who wrote in 1976 that he had found and translated Sumerian documents identifying the rogue planet. Sitchin died in 2010 at the age of 90.

There is no such planet, scientists say.
‘If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye,’ NASA states on its apocalypse fear debunking page.

Other rumors — including claims that the Earth’s magnetic field will suddenly reverse and claims that the planet is heading towards a black hole at the center of the Milky Way — were also dismissed on Wednesday.

Concerns about the planet’s demise would be better directed on more substantiated problems such as climate change, Andrew Fraknoi, an astronomer at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California, said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240718/2012-Mayan-apocalypse-rumors-pose-threat-frightened-children-suicidal-teenagers-says-NASA.html#ixzz2F4ymLK6C

Brethren I cannot tell you how many conspiracy emails I get telling me all about planet Nibiru and planet X and how these “serious” bible students are convinced beyond all doubts that these planets are true. They no doubt will write me to tell me that I have been hoodwinked by the USA GOV misinformation coming out of NASA and that they alone have it right. Need I even tell you about the absurdity of those who believe in the chem trail lies? God-fearing, Torah observant believers, who like the general public, have been swept up in the gossip and evil lies that confuse the truth with untruths. And where are Nibiru and Planet X now. They never existed to begin with and yet many are still convinced they do exist and are about to hit the earth. I have emails from brethren telling me that Planet X was to crash into the Atlantic on Dec 11, 2012. Again nothing happened.
We then have many others who say that the temperature change or global warming is a reality and others who say that it is nothing. Yet world weather patterns are becoming more severe. These same bible believing Torah observant brethren are convinced that some men in some office are using HAARP to cause the weather and the earth quakes. There is no way you can convince them otherwise.

Then this week before they have even buried the first child from the horrific slaughter last Friday, the Alex Jones, and Jesse Venturas of the world were spinning that slaughter into another conspiracy to take away the guns of the US citizens in violation of the 2nd amendment. There were two shooters, or even three. WHO CARES? For far too many of you, why does this take up so much of your time. I have been flooded with the comments of conspiracy crap again this week. And it comes from the brethren. I should not call them brethren as they are so deceived they can no longer tell the difference from truth and lies. You run from one rumor to another and are thrilled to think you have this special first hand knowledge.

I saw one post that caused me to roar with laughter. Don’t try to win over delusional people; you are not the jackass whisperer.

These people have been given over to the delusions and believe them more than the truth of Torah. But what is worst they mix the truth of Torah with these out and out lies and half truths. Read what Paul says on the subject.

HAARP this and HAARP that, multiple shooters and now big banks are behind it all and putting people up to this and the fathers of the shooters are speaking before the libor scandal. Open up your bibles and start to read them. Stop reading and stop listening to the crap from the spin-doctors. STOP IT. Get back into your bibles. All this gossip will not save you.

The only question you should be asking is “Why did Yehovah allow this?” If you were to read Job then you would know Satan is not allowed to do anything unless he gets permission from Yehovah. If you knew that then this is a judgment from Him. This is the question you need to ask. Not asking about how many gunmen there were, and who is covering up what. Read Romans 1.

Others are talking about the weather. Christians are wondering what is going on with the weather. The weather on the nightly news is the main news many nights and it is causing people to think. Read what reuters has to say about this.

There are so many out there that need the truth taught to them, and yet those of you who are suppose to have the truth are caught up in the rumor mill along with the other false teachers.

Many Blame Weather on ‘end times’
REUtERS | December 13
Nearly four in 10 U.S. residents say the severity of recent natural disasters such as Superstorm Sandy is evidence the world is coming to an end, as predicted by the Bible, while more than six in 10 blame it on climate change, according to a poll released on Thursday.
The survey by the Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with the Religion News Service found po- litical and religious disagreement on what is behind severe weather, which this year has included extreme heat and drought.

Most Catholics (60 percent) and white non-evangelical Protestants (65 percent) say they believe disasters like hurricanes and floods are the result of climate change.

But nearly two thirds (65 percent) of white evangelical Protestants say they think the storms are evidence of the “end times” as predicted by the Bible. Overall, 36 percent point to end times and 63 percent to climate change. prri research director Daniel Cox said that some respondents—including 75 percent of non-white Protestants—believe extreme weather is both evidence of end times and the result of climate change.

The prri survey … also found that?15 percent of Americans believe that the end of the world, as predicted by the New Testament’s book of Revelation, will occur in their lifetime. Some 2 percent believe that the end of the world, as predicted by the ancient Mayans, will occur by the end of this year. …

Everyone has the end time jitters, but just how many are reading and doing what the bible says. Do you all remember the rapture last year? Again this is caused because people are not reading their bibles. They are listening to others and to gossip and such.

The 2011 end times prediction made by American Christian radio host Harold Camping stated that the Rapture and Judgment Day would take place on May 21, 2011,[1][2] and that the end of the world would take place five months later on October 21, 2011.[3] The Rapture, in a specific tradition of pre-millennial theology, is the taking up into heaven of God’s elect people.

Camping, who was then president of the Family Radio Christian network, claimed the Bible as his source and said May 21 would be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment “beyond the shadow of a doubt”.[4] Camping suggested that it would occur at 6 pm local time, with the rapture sweeping the globe time zone by time zone,[5][6] while some of his supporters claimed that around 200 million people (approximately 3% of the world’s population) would be ‘raptured’.[7] Camping had previously claimed that the Rapture would occur in September 1994.

The vast majority of Christian groups, including most Protestant and Catholic believers, did not accept Camping’s predictions;[8] some explicitly rejected them,[9][10][11][12] citing Bible passages including those stating “about that day or hour no one knows”(Matthew 24:36). An interview with a group of church leaders noted that all of them had scheduled church services as usual for Sunday, May 22.[13]

Following the failure of the prediction, media attention shifted to the response from Camping and his followers. On May 23, Camping stated that May 21 had been a “spiritual” day of judgment, and that the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the universe by God.[14][15] However, on October 16, Camping admitted to an interviewer that he did not know when the end would come,[16] and made no public comment after October 21 passed without his predicted apocalypse.[17]

In March 2012 Camping “humbly acknowledged” that he had been mistaken, that his attempt to predict a date was “sinful,” and that his critics had been right in pointing to the scriptural text “of that day and hour knoweth no man”. He said he is now searching the Bible “even more fervently… not to find dates, but to be more faithful in our understanding.”[18]

In 1970, Camping dated the Great Flood to 4990 BC.[27] Using this date, taking the statement in Genesis 7:4 (“Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth”) to be a prediction of the end of the world, and combining it with 2 Peter 3:8 (“With the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as a day”), Camping concluded that the end of the world would occur in 2011, 7000 years from 4990 BC.[7] Camping takes the 17th day of the second month mentioned in Genesis 7:11 to be May 21, and hence predicts the rapture to occur on this date.[7]

In 2010, Marie Exley of Colorado Springs made news by purchasing advertising space in her locality, promoting the alleged Rapture date on a number of park benches.[42] After that, more than 3,000[43] “Judgment Day” billboards were erected in locations across the world, including the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, Lesotho, the Philippines, Tanzania and the United States.[44][45] Some people adorned their vehicles with the information.[46] Many who believed in the prediction took time off work to prepare for the rapture.[47] Others spent their life savings on advertising material to publicize the prophecy.[47] One retired transportation agency worker from New York spent $140,000 on advertising.[47]

Family Radio spent over US$100 million on the information campaign, financed by sales and swap of broadcast outlets.[48] On October 27, 2010, they launched “Project Caravan”. Five recreational vehicles announcing on their sides that Judgment Day was to begin on May 21, 2011 were sent out from their headquarters in Oakland, California, to Seattle, Washington. Upon arrival, teams were sent out to distribute tracts.[49] The caravan subsequently made stops in many states in the U.S.[50][51] and Canada.[52][53]

All of these things are weighing on the public; they know something is coming and they are sick of religious nut cases and yet they do not know what to do. And those of you who know the Torah and spread the conspiracy lies and teach about the aliens and anti government things you do, give all of us who are trying to study and share those things from the bible, you give us all a bad rap, a very bad rap. Brethren we now have another one to add to this list; But you must be aware of this warning first.

Mathew 24: 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Paul then writes;
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, NKJV).

Have you seen this great falling away yet? This is why I am writing this article to you. The things that people are about to believe and already do believe will result in a great falling away. Why? Because at the end of the next 3 ½ years; when 2017 does come around; there will not be a Messiah as they expect and this will disillusion thousands if not millions at this time. If anything there might be a false Messiah. It will be like December 22 2012, when you wake up and the Mayan predictions did not come true.

Paul continues:
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, NKJV).

OK so some are now under the strong delusional part. They are going to these places to hide from the return of the Messiah and the end of the Mayan calendar. Others are watching the chem trails and every movement of the illuminatti and masons and Jesuits and they are also listening to the false prophets like Alex Jones and Jesse Ventura those who promote the conspiracy garbage. They have their strong delusion. And they call it biblical and send it to you and to me.

If by chance I am stepping on your toes, then excellent, maybe I might wake you up in time before you lead any others astray with your wild delusions. Stop reading that crap and listening to it. Just go cold turkey and stop it all and just read your bible. You do not realize how deep into this stuff you are until you wake up and look back. It is then that you will see the shameful conduct you took part in.

So how is it possible for the elect to be deceived? You who are reading this are supposed to be the elect or at least you think you are. But then so does every group out there, so you are not alone.

But lets just say for the sake of arguing, assume you really are part of the elect; how could you be deceived.

It is amazing to me how Harold Camping arrived at October 21, 2011. Even though he used faulty calculations he did land close to the actual date; a date that many messianics will believe in.

Most Christians do not understand the Holy Days, so the fact that they arrived at October 21 which was the Feast of Tabernacles in 2011 is amazing.

Now, the Churches of God and Messianic Assemblies and the Jewish Messianics all keep the Holy Days and understand their significance more or less. These are those of whom it could be said are called “The Elect”. They keep the weekly Sabbath and the Holy Days of Lev 23.

It is these that are about to be fooled. We do not have to worry about the Christians. Satan has already fooled them. Actually we do worry about them.

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Satan who deceives the whole world is about to deceive the elect; How. And if you know how then you can defend against it. And let me tell you brethren, even though you may know how he will do this, the evidence that is about to begin to show up will be so overwhelming that you will even doubt yourself.

Now let us look at how Satan has primed those who keep the Torah for the coming deception.

http://biblefocus.net/consider/v15FigTree/Fig_Tree_and_Israel.html

The Fig Tree and Israel

In the natural world, the fig tree should bear fruit before the leaves. If the tree has leaves but no fruit, the tree is barren. This fig tree as a symbol of Israel, represents the barren and empty spiritual state of Israel. Here was a fig tree, resplendent in its abundance of rich, green foliage. In spite of its lofty pretensions, this tree would bear no fruit. It was barren. It had a look of respectability. It looked good but it was all show.

This was a perceptive and penetrating view of the spiritual state of Israel at that time. In the Temple, the priests were also resplendent in their ornate robes. There was all the appearance of religious devotion, but all this external splendour would soon perish, before the onslaught of the Roman armies in AD 70. Spiritually, like that withered fig tree, Israel was barren despite their show of religion, their traditions and their outward form of worship. The Messiah frequently reproved the religious leaders. In Matthew 15: 7-9 he speaks of them as hypocrites and quotes from Isaiah.
“This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

He also accuses them of being “blind leaders of the blind.” (Matthew 15:14)
In AD 70 the symbolic fig tree was cut down and the remnant that survived from that generation of the people of Israel were scattered to the four corners of the earth.

This analogy presents an interesting relationship to the cultivation of the fig tree. In the world of nature, growers produce new fig trees from branches cut from other fig trees. In most cases the new trees will bear fruit about three to four years later. Fig trees are prolific and will bear two crops of fruit each year. The first crop appears in spring before the leaves. The fruit is green and is inconspicuous among the leaves as they unfold, until the time of ripening which is from about May in Israel. The young fruit appears on the branches of the last year’s growth. The next crop, the late figs, grow on the new wood and ripen into late summer, in Israel to about August and September. At this time of rapid growth the fig tree has gained more leaves.

An amazing analogy!

If we go back in time to the end of WW2 and about 1945, the Jews under great difficulty and opposition began to filter back into Palestine. In symbol we could liken this to the planting of the branch. Three years later, in a similar way to the tree, the first buds appeared. In 1948 the time when the first young fruits would appear on a literal tree planted three years earlier, the state of Israel was proclaimed by the United Nations. And not only that, it was in May 1948, which would have been the time of the appearance of the young fruit on the natural fruit trees.

There is a most significant prophecy for us today related to the fig tree. It comes from the Messiah’s prophecy on the Mt of Olives. It is recorded in both the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke. It is only a short prophecy, like a hidden gem, but it is most significant for we who are living in the last days. It relates to the coming Kingdom.

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things , know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass , till all these things be fulfilled.”Matthew 24: 32-34

This is Yahshua’s analogy. He says to look at the fig tree as a ‘type’, or an example to learn from. The fig tree was familiar to his listeners and also the information is available to us. We know the fig tree fruits before the growth of the leaves. Therefore, when Yahshua says to notice when the branch is ‘tender and puts forth leaves’, he is pointing to a specific time in the cycle of growth of the fig tree and related to the coming of summer. It is then that the time of his coming is near. The fig tree is the nation of Israel, where its first ‘fruit’ is the first stage of growth, or re-establishment, and the growth of ‘leaves’ is its coming of age.

He says also that the generation that sees this growth of leaves on the ‘tender branch’ will not pass. The point to note is that this sprouting of leaves co-incides with the second or last fruit crop.

In both Luke 21 and Matthew 24, the same event is recorded. The disciples wanted to know when the Kingdom would be established. Many things had to happen beginning with the scattering of the Jews. The contemporary world was not going to see all the things described, as we know that almost two thousand years would elapse before the establishment of the Kingdom. Yet there is a generation spoken of that would see the blossoming of the fig tree. For that generation the Kingdom would be “even at the doors.” If we go back in time there are interesting parallels that appear in the history of the restoration of the Jews in the promised land, to the natural growth patterns of the fig tree.

It is this understanding that most end time teachers begin their interpretation of prophecy with. That Israel is the fig tree and it was planted in 1948 and given permission to form a state in 1947 with the UN Charter.

Using this as a base some then go on to what is known as the Daniel timeline.

It is based on the Balfour Declaration of 1917 when Lord Balfour said in his letter “His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

Those who support the Daniel Timeline then add on to this 50 years and arrive in 1967 when the six day war took place and Israel won back the Temple Mount.

They then speculate another 50 years and claim that in 2017 the last Jubilee year takes place, based on these two previous 50 year jubilees.

We have shown you many times that a Jubilee cycle is 49 years with the 50th year being the 1st year in the next cycle. So we know that by using the 50 years from one event to another is wrong methodology. We also know that 1917 was not a Jubilee year nor was 1967. Therefore 2017 will not be a Jubilee year and it will not be the year the Messiah comes back on as many think he must come in a Jubilee year. To know when the Jubilee years were we have to know when 2 King 19:29 took place and that was as we have proven many times over, in 701 and 700 B.C. 701 being the 49th year and 700 being the Jubilee year and also the 1st year in the next count.

With these two theories in place; The one on the fig tree and the other one with 2017 being the next Jubilee year, people continue to conjecture other theories.

Here is another one.

Taking into consideration Daniels 70 weeks, some have speculated that what was being talked about here was not 70 weeks in which you then multiply 70 X 7 to get 490 years which many use to arrive at the time of Messiahs crucifixion. (I will show how this is a false teaching in the upcoming book about Daniels 70 weeks being written right now).

No they speculate the 70 weeks was 70 Shavuot’s. That is 70 years with one Shavuot in each year. It is with this understanding that they then add 70 years on to the year Israel was founded in 1947.

But they do so according to Daniel 9:24-27. Well, not exactly according to Daniel 9:24-27. Here is what it says.

25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall

So what they are now doing is adding 62 years or 62 Shavuots, (one per year) to 1947. This then adds up to 2009. Yet the prophecy says the 7 weeks comes first. But they do not let this small detail stop them.

OK then after the 62 weeks, which brings them to 2009, they now add on the 7 weeks or 7 Shavuots or 7 years, which now brings you to 2016, which is the end of the last seven years.

Now they then go backwards from 2016 to arrive at the spring of 2013 and some to Purim 2013. And from this date begins the 3 ½ years of tribulation. The first 3 ½ years of this 7-year block of time is said to be one of peaceful times. Now Harold Camping was not too far off in his calculations from this one.

The 70th week would then bring them to 2017, which then matches the Daniel, timeline theory. The 1260 day and the 1290 day and the 1335 day prophecies of Daniel 12 all must fit into this last 3 ½ year time slot, they say.

Now the kicker is that the Temple sacrifices must begin and be shut down in the middle of this seven year period. The 7 years between 2010 and 2016. That is in March April 2013, they are saying the Sacrifices will be set up and then stopped. It will only take one day to set the Altar up.

Interesting….very interesting. Now let us look at world news in the past few weeks. And all of this becomes very exciting and concerning.

On November 29th, 2012 The UN General Assembly votes in favor of Palestinian statehood
Published November 29, 2012
FoxNews.com

JERUSALEM – The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday in favor of Palestinian statehood, after the Palestinians asked it to recognize a non-member state of Palestine in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The resolution upgrading the Palestinians’ status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by a more than two-thirds majority of the 193-member world body — a vote of 138 to 9, with the U.S. and Israel among those who opposed. There were 41 abstentions.

Real independence, however, remains an elusive dream until the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal with the Israelis, who warned that the General Assembly action will only delay a lasting solution. Israel still controls the West Bank, east Jerusalem and access to Gaza, and it accused the Palestinians of bypassing negotiations with the campaign to upgrade their U.N. status.

The United States immediately criticized the historic vote. “Today’s unfortunate and counterproductive resolution places further obstacles in the path peace,” U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said.

And U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the vote “unfortunate” and “counterproductive.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the General Assembly shortly before the vote “defamatory and venomous,” saying it was “full of mendacious propaganda” against Israel.

Abbas had told the General Assembly that it was “being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine.” Abbas said the vote is the last chance to save the two-state solution.

After the vote, Netanyahu said the UN move violated past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and that Israel would act accordingly, without elaborating what steps it might take.

Just before the vote, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Ron Prosor, warned the General Assembly that “the Palestinians are turning their backs on peace” and that the U.N. can’t break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.

The vote had been certain to succeed, with most of the member states sympathetic to the Palestinians. Several key countries, including France, this week announced they would support the move to elevate the Palestinians from the status of U.N. observer to nonmember observer state.

Thursday’s vote came on the same day, Nov. 29, that the U.N. General Assembly in 1947 voted to recognize a state in Palestine, with the jubilant revelers then Jews. The Palestinians rejected that partition plan, and decades of tension and violence have followed.

The vote grants Abbas an overwhelming international endorsement for his key position: establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. With Netanyahu opposed to a pullback to the 1967 lines, this should strengthen Abbas’ hand if peace talks resume.

The overwhelming vote also could help Abbas restore some of his standing, which has been eroded by years of standstill in peace efforts. His rival, Hamas, deeply entrenched in Gaza, has seen its popularity rise after an Israeli offensive on targets linked to the Islamic militant group there earlier this month.

Israel has stepped back from initial threats of harsh retaliation for the Palestinians seeking U.N. recognition, but government officials warned that Israel would respond to any Palestinian attempts to use the upgraded status to confront Israel in international bodies.

The Palestinians now can gain access to U.N. agencies and international bodies, most significantly the International Criminal Court, which could become a springboard for going after Israel for alleged war crimes or its ongoing settlement building on war-won land.

However, in the run-up to the U.N. vote, Abbas signaled that he wants recognition to give him leverage in future talks with Israel, and not as a tool for confronting or delegitimizing Israel, as Israeli leaders have alleged.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/11/29/israeli-official-downplays-palestinian-statehood-bid-ahead-un-vote/#ixzz2F5SnMlww

After the UN voted in favor of the PA, Netanyahu says he is now going to build houses in East Jerusalem and the west bank. He says this because now that the PA have gone to the UN they have broken the Oslo accord and now that this accord is broken then Israel is free to do as it pleases.

One of the things speculated that they could do is take back the Temple Mount. A steady stream of support for a renewed Jewish presence on the Temple Mount has grown since the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem by Israeli paratroopers in the 1967 Six Day War. Advocates for Jewish rights on the site range from those in favor of allowing more Jewish inclusion at the site to those who want to begin work on a third Temple. They say that the site was always meant to serve as a place of Jewish communion with God, with or without a Temple, and that responsibility for rekindling Jewish prayer on that auspicious site – culminating with the erection of a third and final Temple – is the responsibility of the Jewish people today.

Here is an article that I found about the Knesset building a Temple that was written just before the UN vote.

http://vineoflife.net/2012/11/28/muslims-claim-netanyahu-plans-to-build-false-holy-temple/
NOVEMBER 28, 2012

Muslims Claim Netanyahu Plans to build Holy Temple
Netanyahu’s latest building plan for Jerusalem is none other than for the Third Temple, claims Al Aqsa Foundation.
ARUTZ SHEVA 7
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First Publish: 11/28/2012, 11:05 AM
Al Aqsa officials warn that the “new Likud” is planning to build a “false” Third Holy Temple and divide the Muslim compound.

Muslim paranoia of Jews on the Temple Mount had reached panic stages even before this week’s Likud primaries that placed Jewish Leadership faction leader Moshe Feiglin in a ranking that assures his election to the Knesset in January.

Arab world media constantly report of Jewish “invasions” of the Temple Mount every time Jews try to ascend the holy site. Israeli authorities enforce the Muslim Waqf policy that forbids Jews to pray there or carry prayer books or other holy articles with them.

The Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Movement’s branch in the Galilee frequently claim that Israel is digging underneath the Temple Mount to cause its collapse.

Now, the Al Aqsa Foundation has pointed to the popular support for Feiglin and other strong nationalists of the Likud as proof that Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount will be “contaminated” by Jews.

Worst of all, the Foundation claims that the election results show that Prime Minister Netanyahu soon will announce plans for building the Third Temple, which it describes as “false,” in line with increasingly popular Muslim ideology that the First and Second Temples never existed.
All of the “evidence” is “undeniable proof that the Al Aqsa mosque is in danger and that the Muslim
world must shoulder the responsibility to save it,” according to Al Aqsa.

Feiglin is known for his desire to pray on the Temple Mount, and after the Pillar of Defense counter terrorist operation, he wrote, “We must expel the Muslim Waqf from the Temple Mount and restore exclusive Israeli sovereignty over the Mount – Judaism’s most holy site. We must encourage Jews to ascend the Temple Mount after the proper halakhic preparations and to actualize their sovereignty over the beating heart of the Jewish Nation.”

Now that the UN vote went in favour of the PA it is now potentially a real possibility that the Temple Mount might be taken over by the Likud party after the elections in January 2012. And also take note that Feiglin has now gone up on the Temple Mount and prayed with a group of Jewish men in defiance of the WAqf.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/likud-hopeful-prays-on-temple-mount-breaking-taboo/

Likud hopeful prays on Temple Mount, breaking taboo
Nationalist politician Moshe Feiglin ignores unwritten rule prohibiting Jews from worshiping at the site

By AARON KALMAN December 4, 2012, 5:05 am
Likud politician Moshe Feiglin on Monday violated the unwritten rule that prohibits Jews from practicing religion on the Temple Mount, as he prayed at the holy site.
Feiglin, a political hard-liner, is No. 15 on the Likud list for the upcoming elections and head of the Jewish Leadership faction within the right-wing party, a nationalist group defined by many as extreme.

Footage obtained by Channel 10 showed a group of Jews, including the likely future MK, as they prayed on the Temple Mount.

Feiglin recently wrote his political vision on Facebook, remarking that the mission would be over when “we build the [Jewish] Temple on top of the Temple Mount and fulfill our purpose in the land.”
Though there is no law against Jews praying on the Temple Mount, for years both Israeli officials and the Islamic Wakf — the religious group in charge of managing the site — have told Jews not to carry out religious ceremonies or prayers at the site, for fear of violence and a potential outbreak of riots.

The site is considered the holiest in Judaism as the site of the First and Second Temples. The esplanade is also revered by Muslims as the place where Mohammed ascended to heaven.

Here we are then in December 2012. The Oslo accord is dead and Israel is free to do as it sees fit. Moshe Feiglin praying on the Temple mount. The Waqf saying that Likud is planning to take over the Mount in order to begin the Temple sacrifices.

Satan has the Christian world believing that the end is near. But they do not know when so they continue to guess. Harold Campings October 21, 2011 was a close guess. So they are watching for something to happen, something that is going to happen to the Jews for 3 ½ years while they wait to be raptured out before the tribulation, as they understand it.

Those who are not of any religious background looking to things like the Mayan calendar and expecting something to happen, but then again not knowing exactly what. They also see the severity of the weather and wonder if this is the end of the world. They also have many movies from Hollywood depicting the end of the world scenarios so that this thought is being drilled into their subconscious.

We have a growing number of Messianic and Jewish assemblies and synagogues expecting this to be the last 3 ½ years based on the Daniel timeline and Daniel’s 70 Shavuots. Whole theologies have been built around this one premise and Churches splitting over it.

You have the whole world being deceived and as Yehshua said even the elect being deceived if that was possible. Yes it is possible and it is already happening.

Consider what would happen if the Jews take the Temple mount and begin to do sacrifices. The world would be screaming for them to stop. The East Jerusalem Palestinians would be rioting and soon at war with the Jews. This then would bring in other muslim nations to fight against Israel.

Zechariah 14:2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

Zechariah 13:8 In the whole land,” declares the LORD, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it.

You will see the State of Israel in a severe fight and Jerusalem as well. One third of the people will survive this war.

Syria is in disarray and may not be able to attack Israel. Then again it could unite them against Israel. Egypt on the other hand has now elected the Muslim Brotherhood which has vowed to destroy Israel and has sided in the most recent war with Gaza against Israel. And it is through Egypt that the armaments for Gaza are shipped from Sudan.

The Prophecies of Abraham has shown you very clearly that Egypt will be at war with Israel and in 2013 the UN will come down and destroy Egypt and have Libya and Sudan in submission as well. And that the same UN forces will then come into the Land of Israel in the name of peace.

When we also add into this equation the news this month from the Vatican, one must shake their head in disbelief. The shear magnitude of this deception will seem like we are in the end of days.

Vatican calls for world government and a New World Order
December 9, 2012
Source: Andrew Puhanic, Globalist Report

The leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, has called for the establishment of World Government and a New World Order.
In a speech made at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on Monday December 3 2012, the Pope called for the “construction of a world community, with a corresponding authority,” to serve the “common good of the human family”.
As a means of defending global peace and justice, the pope’s vision for the establishment of World Government and a New World Order is supposedly not to create a new superpower, but a new governing body that offers to those (politicians) who are responsible for making decisions, criteria for judgment and practical guidelines.

The pope was quoted as saying:
The proposed body (World Government) would not be a superpower, concentrated in the hands of a few, which would dominate all peoples, exploiting the weakest.

THE pope also described his vision as a “moral force” or moral authority that has the “power to influence in accordance with reason, that is, a participatory authority, limited by law in its jurisdiction.”

These latest remarks made by the Pope and the Catholic Church come as no surprise considering that in 2010 the Catholic Church sought the establishment of a new Central World Bank that would be responsible for regulating the global financial industry and the international money supply.

It was reported that the Vatican sought “a supranational authority” which would have worldwide scope and “universal jurisdiction” to guide and control global economic policies and decisions.

China’s new push for closer ties with Russia, the growing intrusions from the United Nations with regards to control of the internet and the latest remarks made by the catholic church all point to a new world order that will set in stone a path the world may not be able to recover from.

With all of this going on and looking like it is the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation, do not fall for the great deception that Satan is working out here. The fourth curse of the sword that the Sabbatical cycles show you begins in 2017. It is not the Jubilee year when the Messiah comes. No, it is the start of the war years with the USA and UK being destroyed in 2020. These are then followed by 7 years of captivity starting in 2024. It is during this captivity that the two witnesses begin their work. And here is a question for you. Where are the two witnesses today? They are killed and then the tribulation begins. So where are they? If this is the beginning of the 3 ½ years of tribulation as some are teaching then where are the two witnesses? They should have already been at work.

In 2017 when the Messiah does not come and not all of the prophecies are fulfilled then there will be many who will stop believing. Many at this time will fall away from the Torah. Will you be one of them?

Events could very well look like this is the last 3 ½ years. But they are not. It is time to get very serious with your study of the word of Yehovah. The deception is going to look so real and so true and be so strong that if possible even the elect will be deceived. How will you know unless you study? The study of Torah and not conspiracy teachings. Study the Torah.

Triennial Torah Cycle

We continue this weekend with our regular Triennial Torah Reading

Num 33      Ezra 1-2       1 Cor. 15

Israel’s Journeys; Instructions for the Conquest of the Land (Numbers 33)

This chapter contains a listing of the travels of the children of Israel, covering their 40 years in the wilderness, starting with the Exodus from Egypt. Some of the sites mentioned here, such as many of those in verses 5-18, are mentioned in Exodus and elsewhere in Numbers. Some are only given here, such as most of those mentioned in verses 19-29. But the list is not meant to be comprehensive, as there were other encampments that are not recorded here that are mentioned in Exodus and elsewhere in Numbers. God commanded Moses to draw up this account (verse 2). Since these were only temporary encampments for a traveling people, archaeologists have identified only a few of the actual locations with a reasonable degree of success.

After covering their journeys, God tells Moses to say to the children of Israel, “When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines” (verses 51-52, New Living Translation). The reason is to cleanse the land for the inheritance of the tribes of Israel so that they can worship the true God without interference from pagan influences and practices. God warns them: “If you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides.

They will harass you in the land where you live” (verse 55, NLT). God knows the land of Canaan is full of the symbols and representations of idolatrous worship—pictures, graven images, standing images, stone images, carved images, molten images—and false religious worship practices carried out on altars in groves or high places. These things will pollute those who come into contact with them. Jeremiah will later put it this way: “Learn not the way of the heathen” (Jeremiah 10:2, King James Version). If the children of Israel pollute themselves with the trappings of false worship, God warns that they, too, will be driven out of the Promised Land (Numbers 33:56).

As subsequent events will play out, however, Israel will not completely eradicate the pagan inhabitants of Canaan—and, sadly, will ultimately embrace idolatry, be overthrown, and be removed from the Promised Land just as God now warns them.

Ezra 1-2

Resolving the Differences in the Return Lists (Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7:5-72)

Ezra 2 lists those Jews enrolled in the return to the Promised Land under the Davidic prince Zerubbabel (apparently the Persian-appointed governor referred to in Ezra 1 as Sheshbazzar) and Jeshua or Joshua, the high priest (see Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 3:1). Nearly a century later, Nehemiah finds a register of those in the first return. While the lists are nearly the same, they are not exactly the same. How do we account for the discrepancies?

The Nelson Study Bible comments: “The people of the province [Ezra 2:1] refers to the Jewish people of Judah (see 5:8; Neh. 1:2, 3; 11:3). The use of this phrase probably indicates that the register of ch[apter] 2 was compiled in Babylon. Nehemiah’s list in Neh. 7:4-73 would have been compiled after he arrived in Jerusalem, which could account for some of the differences between the two registers.”

Ezra’s list gives the number of the family of Arah as 775 (2:5). The list in Nehemiah says the number was 652. Jamiesson, Fausset & Brown’s Commentary states in its note on Ezra 2:5: “It is probable that all mentioned as belonging to this family repaired to the general place of rendezvous, or had enrolled their names at first as intending to go; but in the interval of preparation, some died, others were prevented by some sickness or insurmountable obstacles, so that ultimately no more than 652 came to Jerusalem.”

The same commentary later notes on the variations in general: “The discrepancy is sufficiently accounted for from the different circumstances in which the two registers were taken: that of Ezra having been made up at Babylon, while that of Nehemiah was drawn out in Judea, after the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. The lapse of so many years might well be expected to make a difference appear in the catalogue, through death or other causes” (note on Nehemiah 7:5).

“To be sure,” says Gleason Archer in his New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, “regardless of the date when Nehemiah recorded this list (ca. 445 B.C.), his express purpose was to give the exact number of those who actually arrived at Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Jeshua back in 537 or 536 (Neh. 7:7). So also Ezra (in the 450s, apparently) recorded their numbers (2:1-2). But it may well be that Ezra used the earlier list of those who originally announced their intention to join the caravan of returning colonists back in Babylonia, whereas Nehemiah’s list reproduces the tally of those who actually arrived in Judea at the end of the long trek from Mesopotamia.

“In some cases there may well have been some individual families who at first determined to go with the rest and actually left their marshaling field (at Tel Abib, or wherever it may have been in Babylonia) under Zerubbabel and proceeded to the outskirts of that province before new factors arose to change their mind. They may have fallen into disagreement as to the advisability of all of them going at once with the initial group; others may have discovered business reasons to delay their departure until later. In some cases there may have been illness or death….

“In other cases there may have been some last-minute recruits from those who at first decided to remain in Babylonia. Perhaps they were caught up in the excitement of the return movement and joined the company of emigrants after the official tally had been taken at the marshaling grounds. Nevertheless, they made it safely back to Jerusalem, or wherever their ancestral town in Judea was, and were counted in the final list made up at the completion of the journey.

“Only four clans or city-groups came in with shrunken numbers (Arah, Zattu, the men of Bethel and Ai, and the men of Lod, Hadid, and Ono). All the rest picked up last minute recruits, varying from 1 (in the case of Azgad). It would be fascinating to know what special, emotional, or economic factors led to these last-minute decisions. At any rate, the differences in totals that do appear in these two tallies should occasion no surprise whatever. The same sort of augmentation and attrition has featured in every large migration in human history” (1982, pp. 229-230).

Archer also offers the possibility of copyist errors, but that consideration is unnecessary—and in fact unlikely given the number of variations. Indeed, one would think that scribes would have been scrupulous to check these figures given that there are two separate listings. It is more likely that there were legitimate differences in the original documents. Consider that Ezra is probably the one who compiled the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as one book. Why would he not have corrected any obvious errors? Ironically, the fact that there are differences in the lists is actually a proof of authenticity. No one fabricating the lists would have introduced such apparent discrepancies. These, then, obviously represent genuine historical documentation.

Details of the Returning Captives (Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7:5-72)

Looking at some of the details of the lists, it should be noted that the Nehemiah of Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7 is not the same as the Nehemiah after whom the book of Nehemiah is named. Mordecai in the same verses was not the later Mordecai of the book of Esther. Nehemiah 7:7 lists an extra leader named Nahamani. Some maintain that the description “people of Israel” in these verses means all 12 tribes are indicated. Yet we have already seen that those returning were of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi (Ezra 1:5). Among the small remnant that returned to Judea from Babylon in this and subsequent returns, there were a few people whose ancestors had migrated to Judah from the northern 10 tribes. Yet the vast majority of the people of the northern tribes remained scattered throughout this period—and they have not returned to the Promised Land to this day. The Jews, as the remnant of Israel, were appropriately designated as people of Israel. All Jews are Israelites. Yet, as has been amply demonstrated in past readings and comments, not all Israelites are Jews.

The total number of returning priests was 4,289 (see 2:36-39; Nehemiah 7:39-42). This was around 10 percent of the total of those returning (see Ezra 2:64; Nehemiah 7:66). “The relatively high proportion of priests amongst those who returned was doubtless due to the prospect of a new Temple, with its opportunities of service” (New Bible Commentary: Revised, 1970, note on Ezra 2:36-39). On the other hand, the total number of returning Levites is surprisingly listed as just 341 or 380 (see Ezra 2:40-42; Nehemiah 7:43-45)—much less than the 24,000 Levites involved in the worship of God in David’s time (see 1 Chronicles 23:4). Why did so few come, particularly as compared with the priests? We don’t know, but perhaps it is significant that priests had leadership positions with a certain glory, whereas the temple duties of the other Levites may have been viewed with comparatively little excitement or prestige.

We then see a listing of the Nethinim and the sons of Solomon’s servants (Ezra 2:43-58; Nehemiah 7:46-60). “Nethinim means ‘Given Ones’ or ‘Dedicated Ones.’ In 1 Chr. 9:2, the Nethinim are distinguished from the priests and the Levites. Jewish tradition identifies the Nethinim with the Gibeonites who had been assigned by Joshua to assist the Levites in more menial tasks (see Josh. 9:27)…. The sons of Solomon’s servants are linked with the Nethinim ([Ezra 2] v. 43). The numbers of the two groups are totaled together (see v. 58; Neh. 7:60)” (Nelson Study Bible, notes on Ezra 2:43-50, 55). The latter, according to The Expositor’s Bible Commentary’s note on Ezra 2:55, “may be the descendants of the Canaanites whom Solomon enslaved (1 Kings 9:20-21). But [another commentator]… argues that they were instead the descendants of the royal officers who were merchants in the service of Solomon (1 Kings 9:22, 27).”

It is interesting to observe the care with which the priesthood was guarded. People had to prove their genealogy to serve in it. Even those reckoned as priests yet without the documentary evidence were excluded from priestly service and entitlement until the Urim and Thummim could be consulted (see Ezra 2:59-63; Nehemiah 7:61-65). However, “the rabbis held that ‘since the destruction of the first temple the Urim and the Thummim ceased’ (Tosefta Sota 13.1). They held that Ezra 2:63 expressed, not a historical possibility, but an eschatological [end-time] hope (b. Sotah 48a-b). Elsewhere in the Talmud (b. Shebuoth 16a), we read that Ezra had to reconsecrate the temple without benefit of the Urim and Thummim” (Expositor’s, note on verse 63).

The word translated “governor” in verse 63 is transliterated as Tirshatha in the King James Version. This is “a Persian title, ‘the One to Be Feared,’ which approximates to ‘His Excellency'” (New Bible Commentary, note on verse 63).

The whole assembly totaled 42,360 (Ezra 2:64; Nehemiah 7:66). Yet the individual numbers listed in Ezra 2 add up to just 29,818. In Nehemiah 7 they add up to 31,089. “It is possible that the larger total [42,360] includes women, who are not named in the lists” (Nelson, note on verse 64). “Some believe the [unaccounted-for] 12,000 were women and/or children. If so, this may account for the many marriages to pagan women which [later] took place (cf. Ezra 8-10)” (Bible Reader’s Companion, note on Ezra 2:64).

Accompanying the 42,360 Jews were 7,337 slaves (verse 64; Nehemiah 7:67). “The ratio of slaves—one to six—is relatively high; that so many would return with their masters speaks highly of the relatively benevolent treatment of slaves by the Jews” (Expositor’s, note on verse 65). “The singers listed here were not the temple choir of [Ezra 2] v. 41. These were professional singers employed for banquets, feasts, and funerals (see 2 Chr. 35:25; Eccl. 2:7, 8). Their presence could be an indication of luxury (see 2 Sam. 19:35). It appears that many of the Jewish people had achieved some prosperity while living in Babylon…. The large number of horses listed here also suggests affluence among those who returned to Jerusalem. Prior to this time, horses in Israel had been used only for war and ceremonies. Only the very rich and well-armed owned horses. The rich also rode mules, for they were scarce in Israel…. The beasts of burden were camels and donkeys. Camels were expensive; the poorer classes rode donkeys” (Nelson, notes on Ezra 2:65, 66, 67).

On arriving in Judea, the people contribute gold, silver and garments for the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 2:68-69; Nehemiah 7:70-72). Yet the figures given in Ezra and Nehemiah don’t match. “Apparently Ezra’s list rounds off the figures, while Nehemiah’s list presents them in more precise detail. It is also possible that the two lists give totals from different times of collection—perhaps in Babylon and then later in Jerusalem” (Nelson, note on Ezra 2:69). Or perhaps Ezra’s list, having larger numbers, presents the total from both times.

As before, an apparent discrepancy is a mark not of made-up storytelling by a forger of later centuries who would make sure to iron out such problems. Rather, this again is a mark of genuineness.

Finally, we should notice the money described here. As Expositor’s explains in its note on Ezra 2:69: “‘Drachmas’ translates the Hebrew darkemonim (cf. Neh 7:70-72). Another Hebrew word— adarkonim—is used for coins in Ezra 8:27 and 1 Chronicles 29:7. The ‘drachma’ was the Greek silver coin worth a day’s wage in the late fifth century B.C. More probably the coin intended here was the Persian daric, which was a gold coin, named either after Darius I, who began minting it, or after the Old Persian word for gold, dari. The coin was famed for its purity, which was guaranteed by the king. It was 98 percent gold with a 2 percent alloy for hardness. It was 3/4 of an inch in diameter and weighed 8.42 grams, or a little less than 1/3 of an ounce. Its value equaled the price of an ox or a month’s wages for a soldier. Since the coin was not in use until the time of Darius I (522-486 B.C.), its occurrence here in 537 B.C. has been labeled anachronistic. Its use is better viewed as a modernization by terms current at the time of the book’s composition of earlier values, perhaps the Median shekel. The total of 61,000 darics equals some 1,133 pounds of gold (about the same if the term represented the Greek drachma).”

Archaeology has recently lent support to the Jewish return from Babylon in the 6th centuries B.C. On February 20, 2004, an Associated Press article titled “Archaeologists find 2,500-year-old jewelry collection, makeup kit,” reported: “Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea have discovered a rare find—a woman’s 2,500-year-old fashion accessories. The hoard of jewelry, a makeup kit and a small mirror apparently belonged to Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon in the 6th century B.C., said Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. ‘This find is very rare. Both for the richness of the find and for that period, it is almost unheard of,’ Tsuk said on Friday. Hidden under a stone-like accumulation of sediment thrown up by a nearby spring, archaeologists using metal detectors found a necklace made of 130 beads of semiprecious stones and gold, a scarab, an agate medallion of Babylonian origin and a silver pendant with an engraved crescent moon and pomegranates. They also found what appears to be a makeup kit containing an alabaster bowl for powders, a stick to apply the makeup and a bronze mirror. Tsuk said they also discovered a pagan stamp showing a Babylonian priest bowing to the moon. ‘These finds confirm the (biblical) accounts of Jews returning from exile in Babylon,’ Tsuk said…. Tsuk said the find shows that there was a wealthy and flourishing community of returnees living in the area at the time. ‘These are not the belongings of a simple person,’ he said.”

1 Corinthians 15

The apostle proves the resurrection of Christ from the dead. (1-11) Those answered who deny the resurrection of the body. (12-19) The resurrection of believers to eternal life. (20-34) Objections against it answered. (35-50) The mystery of the change that will be made on those living at Christ’s second coming. (51-54) The believer’s triumph over death and the grave, An exhortation to diligence. (55-58)

The word resurrection, usually points out our existence beyond the grave. Of the apostle’s doctrine not a trace can be found in all the teaching of philosophers. The doctrine of Christ’s death and resurrection, is the foundation of hope. Remove this, and all our hopes for eternity sink at once. And it is by holding this truth firm, that believers stand in the day of trial, and are kept faithful to God. We believe in vain, unless we keep in the faith of the gospel. This truth is confirmed by Old Testament prophecies; and many saw Christ after he was risen. This apostle was highly favoured, but he always had a low opinion of himself, and expressed it. When sinners are, by Divine grace, turned into saints, God causes the remembrance of former sins to make them humble, diligent, and faithful. He ascribes to Divine grace all that was valuable in him. True believers, though not ignorant of what the Lord has done for, in, and by them, yet when they look at their whole conduct and their obligations, they are led to feel that none are so worthless as they are. All true believers believe that Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and then risen from the dead, is the substance of their Faith. All the apostles agreed in this testimony; by this faith they lived, and in this faith they died.

Having shown that Christ was risen, the apostle answers those who said there would be no resurrection. There had been no justification, or salvation, if Christ had not risen. And must not faith in Christ be vain, and of no use, if he is still among the dead? The proof of the resurrection of the body is the resurrection of our Lord. Even those who died in the faith, had perished in their sins, if Christ had not risen. All who believe in Christ, have hope in him, as a Redeemer; hope for redemption and salvation by him; but if there is no resurrection, or future recompence, their hope in him can only be as to this life. And they must be in a worse condition than the rest of mankind, especially at the time, and under the circumstances, in which the apostles wrote; for then believers were hated and persecuted by all men. But it is not so; they, of all men, enjoy solid comforts amidst all their difficulties and trials, even in the times of the sharpest persecution.

All that are by faith united to Christ, are by his resurrection assured of their own. As through the sin of the first Adam, all men became mortal, because all had from him the same sinful nature, so, through the resurrection of Christ, shall all who are made to partake of the Spirit, and the spiritual nature, revive, and live for ever. There will be an order in the resurrection. Christ himself has been the first-fruits; at his coming, his redeemed people will be raised before others; at the last the wicked will rise also.

Then will be the end of this present state of things. Would we triumph in that solemn and important season, we must now submit to his rule, accept his salvation, and live to his glory. Then shall we rejoice in the completion of his undertaking, that God may receive the whole glory of our salvation, that we may for ever serve him, and enjoy his favour. What shall those do, who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Perhaps baptism is used here in a figure, for afflictions, sufferings, and martyrdom, as Matthew 20:22,23. What is, or will become of those who have suffered many and great injuries, and have even lost their lives, for this doctrine of the resurrection, if the dead rise not at all? Whatever the meaning may be, doubtless the apostle’s argument was understood by the Corinthians. And it is as plain to us that Christianity would be a foolish profession, if it proposed advantage to themselves by their faithfulness to God; and to have our fruit to holiness, that our end may be everlasting life. But we must not live like beasts, as we do not die like them. It must be ignorance of God that leads any to disbelieve the resurrection and future life. Those who own a God and a providence, and observe how unequal things are in the present life, how frequently the best men fare worst, cannot doubt as to an after-state, where every thing will be set to rights. Let us not be joined with ungodly men; but warn all around us, especially children and young persons, to shun them as a pestilence. Let us awake to righteousness, and not sin.

How are the dead raised up? that is, by what means? How can they be raised? 2. As to the bodies which shall rise. Will it be with the like shape, and form, and stature, and members, and qualities? The former objection is that of those who opposed the doctrine, the latter of curious doubters. To the first the answer is, This was to be brought about by Divine power; that power which all may see does somewhat like it, year after year, in the death and revival of the corn. It is foolish to question the Almighty power of God to raise the dead, when we see it every day quickening and reviving things that are dead.

To the second inquiry; The grain undergoes a great change; and so will the dead, when they rise and live again. The seed dies, though a part of it springs into new life, though how it is we cannot fully understand. The works of creation and providence daily teach us to be humble, as well as to admire the Creator’s wisdom and goodness. There is a great variety among other bodies, as there is among plants. There is a variety of glory among heavenly bodies. The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly bodies. The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly state; and there will be a variety of glories among them. Burying the dead, is like committing seed to the earth, that it may spring out of it again.

Nothing is more loathsome than a dead body. But believers shall at the resurrection have bodies, made fit to be for ever united with spirits made perfect. To God all things are possible. He is the Author and Source of spiritual life and holiness, unto all his people, by the supply of his Holy Spirit to the soul; and he will also quicken and change the body by his Spirit. The dead in Christ shall not only rise, but shall rise thus gloriously changed. The bodies of the saints, when they rise again, will be changed. They will be then glorious and spiritual bodies, fitted to the heavenly world and state, where they are ever afterwards to dwell. The human body in its present form, and with its wants and weaknesses, cannot enter or enjoy the kingdom of God. Then let us not sow to the flesh, of which we can only reap corruption. And the body follows the state of the soul. He, therefore, who neglects the life of the soul, casts away his present good; he who refuses to live to God, squanders all he has.

All the saints should not die, but all would be changed. In the gospel, many truths, before hidden in mystery, are made known. Death never shall appear in the regions to which our Lord will bear his risen saints. Therefore let us seek the full assurance of faith and hope, that in the midst of pain, and in the prospect of death, we may think calmly on the horrors of the tomb; assured that our bodies will there sleep, and in the mean time our souls will be present with the Redeemer. Sin gives death all its hurtful power. The sting of death is sin; but Christ, by dying, has taken out this sting; he has made atonement for sin, he has obtained remission of it. The strength of sin is the law. None can answer its demands, endure its curse, or do away his own transgressions.

Hence terror and anguish. And hence death is terrible to the unbelieving and the impenitent. Death may seize a believer, but it cannot hold him in its power. How many springs of joy to the saints, and of thanksgiving to God, are opened by the death and resurrection, the sufferings and conquests of the Redeemer! In verse 58, we have an exhortation, that believers should be stedfast, firm in the faith of that gospel which the apostle preached, and they received. Also, to be unmovable in their hope and expectation of this great privilege, of being raised incorruptible and immortal. And to abound in the work of the Lord, always doing the Lord’s service, and obeying the Lord’s commands. May Christ give us faith, and increase our faith, that we may not only be safe, but joyful and triumphant.