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Sabbatical and Jubilee Analysis Part 4 Session 4
Old Testament Jubilee Timeline
After the Fall of Jerusalem
Ezekiel Proclaims Jubilee in 574 BCE

Transcribed and edited from video

https://www.answersoflife.com/

The Spirit of YHWH is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of YHWH, and the day of recompence; to comfort all that mourn; (Isa 61:1-2 Brenton)

In this group of sessions we have been going through and building a timeline around the time of 600 BCE. This would include starting with Josiah and going down through the fall of Jerusalem. In this particular session, we are going to address the events that happened after the Fall of Jerusalem in 587. Of course our lead-up is to the scripture in Ezekiel chapter 40 which shows us that there was a Jubilee proclaimed during this time-frame.

It turns out that Jubilee is in 574 and that is why we are building this time-line to show the date of it. The Sabbatical and Jubilee is not a well-studied subject, if you look into it, you don’t find a lot of material from different groups. We have taken the opportunity to keep a Sabbatical year this past year. That has prompted us to look deeper into what the scriptures have to say, not only about the Sabbatical but the Jubilee as well.

We have been going through this multi-part agenda and are now on Part 4 that has four sessions. We have gone through the geo-politics of the area and the region of the Southern Kingdom or the House of Judah, circa 600 BCE through 587 BCE.

In the last session we actually detailed the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 587 BCE. This time we are going to continue on after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the events that led up to the proclamation that Ezekiel makes of a Jubilee year in 574 BCE.

Last session, I introduced a couple of charts that showed 13 scriptures in Ezekiel that have dates associated with them. This dating pattern that Ezekiel uses turns out to be useful and significant. It’s probably the one best dating example of a series of events anywhere in the scriptures.

It turns out that the very first one was the launching pad for this presentation. It says in the 30^th year, in the 4^th month, in the 5^th day of the month, and it goes on to say the same thing again, in the 5^th day of the month, was the 5^th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity. I have detailed what that is about. “Jehoiachin’s captivity” and “our captivity”, starts in 597 BCE.

The next series of Ezekiel timeline dates covered last time, until we get to the bottom of this particular chart, is the highlighted number 7 on this chart is Ezekiel 29, and it’s the 27^th year of some event and we will look at that event today.

We covered the first two scriptures out of the six the last time because they were the “11^th of our captivity”, and that is when Jerusalem fell, and it was the 11^th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity. We will cover the 12^th year events this time, and one that says it is the “25^th year event of our captivity”, which is the capstone of the presentation series.

It is notable that these 13 scriptures begin and end, the first one in Ezekiel 1 and the one in Ezekiel 40 provide the framework for the Jubilee. I think we will see the completion of the Jubilee vision that happened in the 25^th year of our captivity, was indeed a Jubilee event. Ezekiel is talking about the details of what is a very large Temple complex

We will get into a few of the details because we are going to see that Ezekiel’s commentary in this section relates to the set of themes that you find regarding the Jubilee.

• Fall of Jerusalem – 11^th year of Zedekiah, 4^th month, 587 BCE
• Temple and Jerusalem razed – 19^th year of Nebuchadnezzar, 5^th month
• 5^th deportation – Jeremiah exiled and freed

The last time we ended up at a period of time called the 4^th and 5^th month of the destruction of Jerusalem. This was after the 30 month siege of Nebuchadnezzar. We went through the details of how King Zedekiah was taken captive, how General Nebuzaradan came into town and razed the Temple and burned the city. These events happened in the fall of Jerusalem on the 11^th year of Zedekiah in the 4^th month. We have pinpointed that to 587 BCE.

We also looked at one month later, the 5^th month in this small sliver of time, that was when the Temple in Jerusalem was razed and it turns out that it is the 19^th year of Nebuchadnezzar. It should be apparent, if you have watched the rest of this series, and by the way, if you just happened to jump to this video online, there is a series of these presentations that interact with one another. It is intended that you have the foundation of the previous series of presentations to understand what is being said this time. If you are just jumping in, it’s useful to get the context of the previous parts of the presentation because of this timeline that we are building. The timeline is critical and important because of the inter-action and the synchronization of the events. What we are doing is leading up to this scripture in Ezekiel chapter 40 that shows us that it was a Jubilee year. If we are to find out when this Jubilee year really was, we need to understand the events that led up to it. We can see what the dates are. Everything so far has inter-linked and synchronized. That is where we ended up last time. We also talked about Jeremiah being exiled and this deportation that occurred at the downfall and the destruction of Jerusalem. It was a reminder of the scripture in 2 Chronicles 36 that says:

And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of YHWH by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten ^{70 years} years.
(2Ch 36:20-21 KJV)

I want to add to that, we find that the words of Jeremiah were spoken in Jeremiah chapter 25. Here is what this scripture in 2 Chronicles 36 is referring to.

And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith YHWH, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations ^{H8077=devastation, waste}. (Jer 25:11-12 KJV)

• Nebonidus/Belshazzar overthrown by Cyrus in 539 ^{Daniel 5}
• Desolation of Jerusalem – 609 ^{Reign of Nabopolassar} – 70=539 BCE

I want to highlight what I see in this, if you read Jeremiah chapters 23 – 25, you will realize that this isn’t just a desolation of the House of Judah and the Southern Kingdom; this is a desolation of the entire area. All of the nations in this area were affected by this event by King Nebuchadnezzar coming as the despot and tyrant of the known world at that point in time.

Even after Nebuchadnezzar is used as the judgment for all of these other nations, the Chaldean Empire itself is going to be judged. It turns out that was by the Persians, the historical records prove that.

“When seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon”, I want to highlight that as we get started, because the 70 years is really in two periods of time. They don’t start at the same point. The seventy years that are being talked about here, is the seventy year desolation of Jerusalem. It turns out that there is another seventy year period, the desolation of the Temple.

The seventy years that are accomplished here ends when Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian Empire falls. That is exactly what this scripture says, “it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon”, that happened in 539 BCE. This is the event that you find in Daniel chapter 5, the handwriting on the wall which is a very interesting scriptural set of points. The Crown Prince Belshazzar was having a party at the Temple of Bell, and Belshazzar took out some of the spoils of Jerusalem that were being kept from the original Temple of YHWH, and it ends up that the handwriting on the wall said that they were about to be overthrown. The scripture in Daniel 5 says that indeed happened by a guy named Darius the Mede.

As a sideline, Nebonidus is Belshazzar’s father. Nebonidus was really the king of the empire, but he was on a hiatus as he apparently liked to do. He was an easy going king and put his prince Belshazzar in charge. That is how this was overthrown by the government and the armies of Cyrus with Darius in charge in 539 BCE.

We can back up from that date, interestingly enough, if we add 70 years to 539, that would be the desolation period for Jerusalem, and it equals 609 BCE. 609 on this chart was the beginning of the end. If you recall, going back a sessions in this presentation, Josiah was killed by Pharaoh Necho. The desolation that is being talked about would appear to have started at that date. The downfall started with the death of Josiah. Josiah was a reformer, and after he was gone Jehoahaz his son came into place for just a three month period, and then we started the reign of Josiah’s other sons and grandson Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and then Zedekiah. I thought that to be an interesting addition about the 70 years at this point.

We will go on right from the very point we ended up with last time, and start with the next event that we see. It happens to be an event in the group of 13 dated scriptures and prophecy in Ezekiel. I have titled it the “Refugee News”.

Ezekiel is going to receive a report about the downfall of Jerusalem. Keep in mind, Ezekiel is in captivity at the river Chebar, close to the Babylon capital and had been taken some years previous. The dating of Ezekiel’s captivity coincides with Jehoiachin’s captivity which coincides with the start of this scripture.

Jerusalem Struck Down
Ezekiel Unmuted

• Eye witness report to Ezekiel
• Ezekiel muted for 7.5 years

And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten ^{H5221=strike severely, wound}. Now the hand of YHWH was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb…..Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the YHWH Elohim; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence ^{H1698=sense of destroying, plague} . For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. (Eze 33:21-28 KJV)

Ezekiel was muted in Ezekiel chapter 3, and now we are in chapter 33 and it turns out that 7 ½ years later, he is unmuted to speak freely on his own. Keep in mind that he was only speaking YHWH’s word and prophecy during that period of time, but only under the authority of YHWH.

When we read these scriptures both in Ezekiel and in Jeremiah, you have to understand and see that yes, this was about the events going on in this period of time, circa 600 BCE. Also, this is pointing forward. There seems to be some unfulfilled parts of some of these scriptures. This one gives us a little clue to that. The highlight of this is, an eyewitness report has come in the 12^th year, and Ezekiel is unmuted as this point in time. If you compare this particular text to the Septuagint or the Brenton text, you see that the Brenton text has a different chronology.

And it came to pass in the tenth year of our captivity, in the twelfth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is taken (Eze 33:21-28 Brenton)

You’ll see that in the Septuagint Version it’s the 10th year instead of the 12^th year as we see in the Masoretic Text, or what I am using is the King James Version, and sometimes the New King James Version.

There is a discrepancy that I want to address, but the first order of business is that the conflict has to do with the month and the year being flipped. Is it possible that the Septuagint is correct? The answer to that is that it’s easy to find if you look up Jeremiah 39:2 in either the Septuagint or the Masoretic Text Version. They say the same thing, which is

And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. (Jer 39:2 KJV)

The city was broken up in the 11^th year, so it wouldn’t make sense that someone would come in the 10^th year to say the city was broken up, or the city is taken. The end result to this is that the Septuagint Version, as far as the dates concerned, is inaccurate. I’m going to address that deeper because I have seen it just often enough and I started wondering about it.

The first thing I want to talk about is this refugee that escaped and give you a mind’s eye view of what this refugee would have had to do to get from Jerusalem to the River Chebar in Babylon. It doesn’t say how he traveled; there are a couple of possibilities. One is the direct route, a straight line is about 500 miles, but that is across the Arabian Desert. He very likely took the same route the exiles were forced to walk, and it’s about 900 miles around. From Jerusalem, to Aleppo to Babylon and ultimately to the River Chebar, for this refugee a 5 or 6 month journey depending on when he started.

We know that he started when Jerusalem fell, the question would be if it would be the 4^th or 5^th month, or even the month afterwards. It would have been a 4 to 5 month journey occurring somewhere between the 4^th month and the 10^th month of this dating.

We have a good example of the reverse route being taken by Ezra when he went to Babylon. In Ezra 7 it says:

This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which YHWH Elohim of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of YHWH his Elohim upon him. For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.(Ezr 7:6, 9 KJV)

Ezra went with some escorts and didn’t have to worry about traveling in secret or being captured. That was a four month journey. This refugee would have gone incognito; he would not have wanted to be discovered because there were Chaldeans all along this route. Remember this was a huge military machine that was taking over the area of what we would call the Middle East today. The Babylonian army was used as the judgment against all of these countries because of their pagan practices.

We think of it perhaps as only affecting the Southern Kingdom or the House of Judah, but it really affected the entire area when you look at the context of both Ezekiel’s and Jeremiah’s prophecies.

I would like to briefly address the Septuagint numbering scheme and conflicts. I have seen the conflicts before; it’s not that every number, every date in the Septuagint versus the Masoretic Text is different. Many of them are the same, but every once in a while you run into a conflict like this. In Genesis chapter 5, there is a series of conflicts but we’ll just look at a couple of the highlights as an example. In Genesis 5:3, According to the Septuagint Adam was 230 years old when Seth was born. The Masoretic Text says that it 130 years.

You can see the others that are inconsistent with one another.

Jump down to verse 12, the LXX that says Cainan lived 170 years and begot Mahalaleel, but according to the Masoretic Text it says he lived 70 years. There are discrepancies in this group of scriptures but in the slide below you see that Methuselah lived 802 years after Lamech,

According to the LXX, but according to the Masoretic Text Methuselah lived 782. The next scripture in Genesis 5:28 show us that Lamech lived 188 years and begot a son Noah. The Masoretic Text says he lived 182 years. This started to get my attention when I discovered these discrepancies. I want to highlight the next one in order to show you the LXX is incorrect.

The first order of business is that we see in the LXX that Methuselah lived 802 years after Lamech. We also see Lamech lived 188 years and begot Noah. That is a good clue, because what we know from that is that Methuselah lived 614 years after the birth of Noah. It’s easy to see mathematically if Methuselah lived 802 years after Lamech, just subtract when Noah was born and you get how many years Methuselah lived. It was 614 years after the birth of Noah according to the LXX.

According to the Masoretic Text, the numbers we have is that he lived 782 after Lamech, and when Noah was born we subtract those two numbers, so the Masoretic Text shows that Methuselah lived 600 years after the birth of Noah. It gets more interesting.

The next scripture happens to be in agreement. Noah was 600 years old when the waters came upon the earth.

In the same chapter, in verse 13, both the LXX and Masoretic Text agree. It tells us who was on the ark. In the Masoretic Text it says “in the selfsame day”, here is the word “etsem”, meaning that it’s a notable day, “entered Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark”. There were eight people.

The next slide shows what 1 Peter says, and validates that in the New Testament.

It’s noteworthy; Methuselah was not in the Ark. It’s also noteworthy that everyone else that wasn’t on the ark didn’t make it. The only ones that were saved by water were the 8 that were on the ark. The end result of this, I’m sure you see is that Methuselah couldn’t have lived 614 years after the birth of Noah, because as a result, he would have lived 14 years after the flood. The flood came at 600 years.

The result is that the LXX is incorrect. There are many conflicts with the Masoretic Text but not all. Some scriptures are in agreement but I want to bring it to your attention that you can’t depend on the dating or numbering system that the LXX uses. I suspect it had to do with the translation by what were Jewish Rabbi’s at that point in time. They translated it from Hebrew to Greek and probably had some trouble with accent marks.

• Many numerical conflicts with Masoretic Text
• LXX used exclusively for New Testament quotes

The Septuagint was the only text that was available in the first century when Yahushua was on the earth. All of the disciples, Yahushua, Paul and anyone that wrote or quoted any of the New Testament, they quoted the Old Testament, or the Septuagint Version. There are on the order of 300 of the Old Testament quotes in the New Testament. It’s easy to prove by examining it.

As a side discussion to this side discussion, however, I know that sometimes even the Masoretic Text has problems.

One example in 2 Chronicles 36:9 in the Masoretic Text and in the Septuagint say:

Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH.
(2Ch 36:9 KJV)

Obviously that is a question, could he have been? Yes but the problem is that Jehoiachin had wives. In 2 Kings 24 that he was 18 which is more probable to be correct.

We will come back to the Septuagint Version in Ezekiel chapter 40 which is also problematic.

The refugee news happened on the 12^th year in the 10^th month, not the 10^th year and the 12^th month, and he reports the status to Ezekiel. He probably went 900 mile route rather than the direct route. If you are familiar with the Midwest, it would be something like from Denver to St. Louis.

• 12^th year, 10^th month (Dec – Jan)
• Refugee escapes – reports status to Ezekiel
• 900 miles ^{Denver to St.Louis}

During the 12^th year that we are looking at, the 12^th year of our captivity, Ezekiel made several other prophetic statements. The first one to address is the one we are on already.

And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten. (Eze 33:21 KJV)

There is another one in Ezekiel chapter 32:

And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of YHWH came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. (Eze 32:1-2 KJV)

We saw some hints of prophecies against Pharaoh in the last presentation, but here is another one. Not only are the prophecies against Jerusalem, Judah and the Southern Kingdom, but they are also against Pharaoh Apries, king of Egypt. He reigned from 589 to 570 BCE. We talked about Pharaoh Necho in the beginning who reigned and then Pharaoh Psamtik II took over, and then Apries came in at about 589. Just a little before this period, the Pharaoh’s changed in Egypt and they were all unrighteous kings. YHWH was using the Chaldeans and Babylonians as his arm of judgment. Ultimately, he would use the same arm of judgment against Pharaoh himself, and would have a funeral dirge. Ezekiel talks about the death of Pharaoh Apries and he indeed died of his own army mercenaries in 570 BCE.

We have another related event relating to Egypt, this one is in Ezekiel 32.

It came to pass also in the twelfth year ^{12th month assumed in context}, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of YHWH came unto me, saying, Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. 
(Eze 32:17-18 KJV)

There is quite a bit of information against the Egyptians, and Pharaoh Apries who is the same a Hophra. Ezekiel told him he is going to the pit, to the grave, to Sheol ^{the pit}. These people are all going to die.

Going on to the next event in the timeline, this event is inconsequential in the scheme of interacting, but it is something that you see in the scriptures. There is only a sliver of information about it, but we do need to recognize it as it is a deportation that we suspect lines up with the year in the Gregorian calendar 583/582. This deportation has to do with the assassination of Gedaliah.

Gedaliah Assassinated – Deportation 6
After Destruction of Jerusalem

• Context

  Year not mentioned

  Gedaliah installed by Nebuchadnezzar

  Small contingent of Chaldeans left in Judea

  Avenge Chaldean military deaths

  Provoked Nebuchadnezzar to exile more Judeans

  Not likely same year as the destruction of Jerusalem

  7^th month – no year specified

• 23^rd year of Nebuchadnezzar
• 745 additional captives taken
• Likely 583 BCE

Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah. Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war. (Jer 41:1-3 KJV)

We have this account tucked away in Jeremiah, we also have another account in Jeremiah 52 that we suspect links to this because it has to do with a deportation. Jeremiah has 3 deportations listed and all have relevant dates.

In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons ^{from the 3 deportations} were four thousand and six hundred. (Jer 52:30 KJV)

This is the 23^rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, 4 years after the 19^th year when it was previously stated that Nebuchadnezzar had an anniversary at the downfall of Jerusalem. We are 4 years later when we read this, 745 were taken. We wonder why, and I suspect the linkage to this is as follows and this is controversial whether it matches up or not. You certainly don’t see the direct scriptural links to it so it’s circumstantial. The year isn’t mentioned in this first scripture in Jeremiah 41. All it says is that it’s the 7^th month.

Gedaliah was put in place by Nebuchadnezzar; you see that in the context. It also says there was a contingent of Chaldeans in Judea, it would have to have been a small contingent because a ten man force of Ishmael were able to kill all of them. I don’t believe if it would have a large contingent, the ten man force would have taken them. That is what it says, and it’s likely that Nebuchadnezzar’s deportation was likely the result of avenging these Chaldean military deaths, and it provoked Nebuchadnezzar to exile more Judeans. For some reason, in the 23^rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan decided to take 745 more.

I don’t believe this is likely the same year as the destruction of Jerusalem, as some commentaries believe to be so. This would only be a couple of months after the downfall of Jerusalem if it were indeed during the same year as the destruction. It would seem reasonable that if it was the same year, just a couple of months after the destruction there would still be a large contingency of Chaldean soldiers there.

We put all of this together knowing it’s conjecture, it’s the 23^rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, 745 were taken, I would say likely this is 583 but again, it doesn’t change in any way the other interlinking that we have established. I put it on here for information purpose and perhaps it is in the wrong spot but for the reasons that I have told you, but it is at 583/582 on the Gregorian calendar.

The next event is the highlight that we have been working toward, the apex of the previous three sessions during this series. For that matter, the apex of the work so far, we have been talking about Ezekiel chapter 40. We are going to put the rest of our attention on chapter 40 and the captivity in the 25^th year, and how it is a Jubilee year.

Jubilee Year Proclamation
25^th Year of Captivity

• 5^th year of captivity

  Same as Jehoiachin captivity

  594 -593 BCE

  30^th year of Jubilee calendar

• 25^th year of captivity

  Same as Jehoiachin captivity

  14^th year after the destruction of Jerusalem

  20 years after 5^th year of captivity

• 50^th year Jubilee

  20 years after 30^th year of Jubilee calendar = 50^th year (Eze 1:1)

  Only occurrence of Roshe ^HaShanah

  Yom Kippur anniversary event

  10^th day of the 7^th month

  Future Temple vision

We need to back up to put our framework around this. In the beginning of our presentation Ezekiel’s 13 scriptures that we looked at with dates in them have a framework starting with the first one. The last one, Ezekiel chapter 1 and 40 provide the framework to understand why this is a Jubilee event that we are getting ready to discuss. Chapter 1 in Ezekiel starts with:

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of Elohim. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity, The word of YHWH came expressly ^{H1961 H1961=hawyah=to exist, to be, to become (always emphatic)} unto Ezekiel the priest, (Eze 1:1-3 KJV)

One clue is that Ezekiel is a priest and the priests were responsible to keep the calendar. Ezekiel is doing a good job. That is how the chapter starts. It is the 5^th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity, which is the same as our captivity. That year we have established and have seen the inter-linkages to, clearly there isn’t a lot of debate that this happened in 593/593 BCE. The question that we had when we first looked at this was the 30^th year of what? The 30^th year, Ezekiel would have been responsible to keep track of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years as the priest. He is showing us what year this is and we see this in the secular record of what others have understood as well.

We jump forward 20 years so now it’s the 25^th year of our captivity. You see why Ezekiel 1 puts the framework to Ezekiel 40 twenty years later. It doesn’t say so but he says it’s the 25^th year of our captivity. You get that by deduction that 20 years have passed by.

In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning ^{H7218=roshe=the head, literally or figuratively, relative, in many applications of place, time, rank} of the year ^{H8141= shanah=a year as a revolution of time}, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the ^{H2088=zeh=this or that} selfsame ^{H6101=etsem=bone as strong or substance} day ^{H3117=yom=one sunset to the next} the hand of YHWH was ^{H1961=hawyah=to exist, to be, to become (translated as “came expressly” in Eze 1:3)} upon me, and brought me thither. In the visions of Elohim brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south. And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass ^{feet of fine brass – Rev 1:15, 2:18}, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel. (Eze 40:1-4 KJV)

It is critical to understand the beginning of the year that is highlighted, it is Rosh Shanah. It is significant to be the 7^th month, not the 1^st month, the 7^th month on the Hebrew calendar. Again, there is debate and controversy about this, but when you take the body of this scripture; you see it’s clearly pointing at Rosh Shanah because it’s the tenth day of the month. That is significant because it is the Day of Atonement.

A few things about this particular verse, we have mentioned a couple in the past, but let’s examine this in more detail. The “selfsame day”, this etsem Yom, is a clue that is embedded that shows us this is, in fact, the Day of Atonement. That is how you understand this, there are clues that all add together that make this the Day of Atonement and the declaration of a Jubilee year.

The selfsame day comparisons – significant anniversary dates: We find “etsem yom” in some number of places, but one of the significant usages of it comes with the comparisons of the Holy Days. When we look at “etsem yom”, it appears several times in Leviticus 23.

First fruits ^{wave sheaf} – And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the ^{H2088= Zeh} selfsame ^H6106=etsem day ^H3117=yom that ye have brought an offering unto your Elohim: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (Lev 23:14 KJV)

This is a significant date and is framed as selfsame day. Selfsame is the Hebrew word for bone.

Shavuot – And ye shall proclaim on the ^H2088=Zeh selfsame ^H6106=etsem day ^H3117=yom, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. (Lev 23:21 KJV)

Atonement – And ye shall do no work in that ^H2088=zeh same ^H6106=etsem day^H3117=yom: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before YHWH your Elohim. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that ^H2088=Zeh same ^H6106=etsem day ^H3117=yom, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that ^H2088=Zeh same ^H6106=etsem day ^H3117=yom, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. (Lev 23:28-30 KJV)

We see this important day being proclaimed three times in Atonement, Yom Kippur, etsem yom being used as an example and a highlight of how important it is. Look what Ezekiel does; he gives us a clue of the importance again relating to the fact that it is Atonement.

We see in this chapter, the terminology again, “the hand of YHWH was upon me”. The Hawyah, to exist, translated as came expressly to Ezekiel. We see the connection of Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 40 just with that.

A little further down in the scripture in Ezekiel 40:1-4 we see the line of flax and a measuring reed that was used. When you look at the measuring reed, you see that it has a certain dimension to it that is something about 9 feet per reed. The measuring reed that we see in Ezekiel 40 was to measure the Temple and the surrounding with the standardized measure.

We see this also in Revelation and 1 Corinthians.

And there was given me ^John a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of YHWH, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. (Rev 11:1-3 RNKJV)

We could take a diversion about what this is about particularly the two witness’s part.

• Literal of figurative? You have to think in your own mind, some people do think it is literal and there will be a Temple built before the return of Yahushua, and will be standing on the earth when the tribulation starts. Could well be that, I can see that possibility but I can also see it being a figurative possibility. Here is what 1 Corinthians says :
• Know ye not that ye are the temple of YHWH, and that the Spirit of YHWH dwelleth in you? (1Co 3:16 RNKJV)

John is being asked to measure either a physical temple or a spiritual temple of YHWH dwelling within the assemblies, the people, the called ones, and the elect. The same or similar measuring reed is talked about here in Revelation, again it being a golden reed. This is a new heaven and new earth and after the millennium period of time.

And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs ^{1500 miles}. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
(Rev 21:14-16 RNKJV)

It is either a cube, or a pyramid, with everything being equal. When you add up twelve thousand furlongs, it ends up being about 1500 mile cube. This is a large assembly of a building that is being talked about. In any case, it’s being referenced as being measured with a golden reed.

The reed that is mentioned to measure the Temple that Ezekiel is discussing is an interesting comparison. Note in the line “the appearance of a man” was of brass. The man that comes with the appearance of brass with a line of flax and a measuring reed appears to me this is the Old Testament incarnate view that this is Yahushua because of the feet of fine brass mentioned in Revelation 1 and 2. Clearly that is a reference to Yahushua.

The final highlight about this scripture has to do with “Son of man”, And the man said unto me, Son of man, you see this a lot in Ezekiel so I want to highlight it.

It turns out that the “Son of man” has 108 representations in the Old Testament. There are more in the New Testament because the Son of Man is referred to Yahushua. In the Old Testament it’s used 93 times, the vast majority of them are in the Book of Ezekiel.

Moreover the word of YHWH came unto me, saying, Also, thou son of man ^{referring to Ezekiel as a mortal human}, thus saith the YHWH Elohim unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. (Eze 7:1-2 KJV)

An end has come.

Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the YHWH Elohim; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. (Eze 20:27 KJV)

And YHWH said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of YHWH, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. (Eze 44:5 KJV)

Ezekiel was shown this measuring reed to measure the distances, and he also was to mark well the people going to and fro. There is a lot of accounting going on of the size of things and the people. Ezekiel 40 has some side tracks in it that are useful to take a look at on your own; I’ve highlighted a couple that seemed to jump out at me.

Ezekiel 40 is the 25^th year of our captivity; we know this is the same as Jehoiachin’s captivity. We also know that from the scripture that it’s 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. We also know by comparing Ezekiel chapter 1 that it’s 20 years after the 5^th year of captivity. The end result is that this is the 50^th year of the Jubilee cycle. It’s 20 years after the 30^th year in Ezekiel 1, and this is the only occurrence of Roshe ^HaHashana in the Tanakh. This is a Yom Kippur anniversary event. On this selfsame day, the 10^th day of the 7^th month and it’s a future temple vision.

I don’t believe this is a vision of the temple that is to come that John was talking about in Revelation 11. Some people think that but we don’t, but of course everyone has to do their own homework and make their own conclusion. This looks to be a temple to be built after the return of Yahushua during the Millennium and I will show you another reason why that is likely the case when we get to a map of the tribes of Israel and how they will be given their inheritance.

The captivity starting with the 5^th year through the 25^th year can be easily integrated with the Jubilee count years 30 to 50, and you see that the beginning and ending of it.

Jubilee Year Proclamation
25^th Year of Captivity

I also like to give references for people that want to do more homework and maybe don’t know where to turn.

These are actually conflicting references. They don’t agree with one another and that is a good way to learn in my estimation. To find a reference that gives you an opposite understanding from some previous reference point that you have. Sometimes our pre-conditioning isn’t the best because we end up with pre-conceived ideas and we don’t like to look at the alternatives that someone else might present. These references are a good way to do that.

Reference:

• Ezekiel 40:1 As a Corrective for Seven Wrong Ideas in Biblical interpretation by Rodger C. Young
• The Dates in Ezekiel in Relation to Biblical Babylonian and Egyptian Sources by K. S. Freedy and D. B. Redford

You can search on these references on line and you will find the documents. You may have to go to a sign in to a library to get them but they are available.

Jubilee Year Proclamation
25^th Year of Captivity

• LXX comparison

  25^th year of captivity – same as Masoretic Text

• 10^th day of 1^st month ^Abib

  Conflict with Masoretic Text

  Selection of Passover lamb day

• 14^th year after fall of Jerusalem

  Same as the Masoretic Text

  Non-Jubilee event

• Masoretic Text use of 1^st and 7^th month comparisons

  2 before, 2 after Eze 40:1

  Ezekiel knew the difference

  Drawing attention to Jubilee year

• Ezekiel’s Temple vision points to significant future event

  Jubilee announcement

  574/573 BCE

Ezekiel 40 in the Septuagint has a conflicting date:

And it came to pass in the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the first month ^{vs. beginning of the year – Masoretic Text),} on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the taking of the city, in that day the hand of YHWH was upon me, and brought me in a vision of Elohim into the land of Israel, and set me on a very high mountain, and upon it there was as it were the frame of a city before me. (Eze 40:1-2 Brenton)

The scripture fundamentally says the same thing as the Masoretic Text version, but the big difference is that this is the first month, not Rosh Hashana, and Rosh Hashana doesn’t say it’s the 7^th month. That is the implication of what Rosh Hashana is about.

The first month is the conflict and it’s the 10^th day of the month, that turns out to be markedly different than the Masoretic Text. The 25^th year of our captivity is the same in both comparisons, but the 10^th day of the 1^st month being Abib is in conflict with the Masoretic Text. It actually would be the selection of the Passover lamb day if you wanted to build that case.

The selection of the Passover lamb day has nothing to do with the Jubilee events. All of the other interactions and indications that you have that this is in fact, Atonement and a Jubilee event, are invalidated if you try to make the assumption that this is the first month.

It is also in agreement with the Masoretic Text says it’s the 14^th year after the fall of Jerusalem. Obviously if you take it as a Septuagint translation, this would be a non-Jubilee event. What we end up with is the use of the first and seventh months. Ezekiel used the terminology of the months, we now see in 13 separate scriptures and Ezekiel 29 and 30 both use the terminology.

And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of YHWH came unto me, saying, (Eze 29:17 KJV)

And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (Eze 30:20 KJV)

Thus saith YHWH Elohim; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary: (Eze 45:18 KJV)

In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil. (Eze 45:25 KJV)

We know that Ezekiel knew when the first month was. We also see a later scripture in Ezekiel 45 that says “the first month and the first day of the month”, we also see in Ezekiel 45 that he knew when the 7th month and the 15^th day of the month. If this would have been the first month, Ezekiel would have said so. The etsem yom or the selfsame day, the significance of this selfsame day being Atonement, and being a Jubilee year is what this is saying.

Of course, Ezekiel knew the difference in the dating, he was a priest and there wouldn’t have been a mistake and the bottom line is that he is drawing attention to the fact that this is a Jubilee year.

Ezekiel’s Temple vision points to a significant future event, a Jubilee announcement. On the calendar this adds up to 574/573 BCE. We get another red X on the Septuagint for dating this as the first month, it’s probably apparent now why I went to a little bit of trouble to show the other errors in the Septuagint dating.

It’s not surprising that we would find this one. If this would be the only one that we would find, we would have to do more thinking through this. The Septuagint is faulty when it comes to dating, not always, but sometimes.

Jubilee Year Proclamation
25^th Year of Captivity

• Jubilee – From Atonement to Atonement
• 1 full calendar year
• 50^th year Rosh HaShanah points to beginning of full sanctified year

Back to our main chapter in the description of the Sabbatical and Jubilee, Leviticus 25 tells us:

And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year ^{H8141=shanah=a year as a revolution of time}, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile^{H3104=yobel=blast of a horn, rams horn} unto you; (Lev 25:8-10 KJV)

The revolution of the earth around the sun, one complete cycle, not to be confused with the revolution of the moon around the earth, but the revolution of the earth going around the sun. One complete cycle is one compete year, and the 50^th year is a full year.

Rosh Hashana points to the beginning of a full, sanctified year. A holy, special, clean year and it is observed ceremonially and morally, as clean and sanctified.

That gets us through the exegesis of Ezekiel chapter 40, but I want to look beyond to the exposition of what this is about. We will continue our focus as to why this is a Jubilee year. One of the first additions I want to show on this chart is that the scriptures show us that it’s the 25^th year of our captivity when Ezekiel 40 was written. The 25^th year starts in 597 BCE, and it is the first year of captivity, which is the same as Jehoiachin’s captivity.

• Ezekiel vision on Rosh HaShanah
• 574 – 573 BCE = Jubilee
• 25^th year of captivity

  Non-accession Tishri regnal anniversary

• 14^th year after Jerusalem razed

  Historical event 9^th of Av ^5th month anniversary

We have been tracking this all along and you can see that we are now at this date in Ezekiel chapter 40. We are on the 25^th year of our captivity. This interlinks perfectly with the scripture. Our timeline also interlinks with the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BCE.

The fall of Jerusalem is a historical event; it doesn’t have anything to do with a regnal period, or the reign of a king. It’s an event driven calendar position. It starts in the 5^th month when the city was razed, that is when the counting started, the 5^th month in the first year started in the 5^th month and when we get down to the 14^th year effectively, we are counting the 14^th year starting with the 5^th month also. This lines up perfectly. It is synchronized with the 25^th year.

There is one more event that needs to be interjected before we go on because it completes Ezekiel’s 13 chronological scriptures. It has to do with his last prophecy being in the 27^th year. Ezekiel 29 was the last dated timeline in Ezekiel’s 13 scriptures that we have been looking at.

And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of YHWH came unto me, saying, Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: Therefore thus saith the Master YHWH; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. (Eze 29:17-19 KJV)

Keep in mind; we have seen prophecies about Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, now we are seeing that Nebuchadnezzar will try to overtake Tyre. When you read the context of what this is about, you will see that Tyre was the next target that Nebuchadnezzar had after he completed the final downfall of Jerusalem in 587. The Tyre campaign started in 586. Read part of Ezekiel 30 to get an explanation of this.

….For the day is near, even the day of YHWH is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
(Eze 30:3-4 KJV)

Last dated Ezekiel prophesy

Wages paid to Nebuchadnezzar

Unfulfilled future prophesy?

13 year Tyre siege c. 586 BCE

7 month siege by Alexander the Great – 332BCE

Keep in mind what YHWH told Ezekiel to say in chapter 29. He was told to say that Nebuchadnezzar was to get paid by the Egyptians because he didn’t get paid the spoils of war when he was completing his siege against Tyre. If you research this; Tyre was on the coast in the area today that we call Lebanon. They had an excellent navy when Nebuchadnezzar went in to take them over. Tyre was a Phoenician city and its sea going merchants were wealthy. Being a heathen group, they worshipped Baal and had the idolatrous practices of the others in the area. YHWH wanted them removed as well as all of the other heathen nations.

Nebuchadnezzar went in to take them and worked at it for 13 years, but wasn’t successful in the final analysis. What happened was, the people of Tyre lived on the coast but when Nebuchadnezzar came, they moved to an island off-shore about half mile away that they had fortified. This island had walls going down to the sea so it was an impregnable fortress, and difficult to overcome. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t have a way to get to them so he built a causeway out to the small island but never got the job done.

The scripture in Ezekiel 29 says that every head was made bald and every shoulder was peeled means that Nebuchadnezzar had his military forces probably carrying dirt in buckets on their heads and logs on their shoulders. That is why this idiom is here, their heads were bald and shoulders peeled, they had worked hard for 13 years and weren’t able to overtake Tyre.

By the time they got out, the people of Tyre had shipped their wealth offshore and maybe as far as Egypt. That is why Egypt comes into the equation, Ezekiel makes the prophecy that Nebuchadnezzar can now go down to Egypt and collect his spoils of war because he wasn’t able to collect them from Tyre. It’s a fascinating story how geo-politics intermingled, very likely the Egyptians and Tyronians were complicit with one another and had alliances.

The wages that were paid to Nebuchadnezzar were to be gotten from the Egyptians and when you read through this section of Ezekiel, you can’t help but come away that this is unfulfilled future prophecy. Some of it was fulfilled but some is still is yet to be fulfilled as I see it.

As an irony, some 250 years later, Alexander the Great came on the scene and took Tyre in 7 months. Alexander’s war machine was much more formidable than Nebuchadnezzar’s in the day, but perhaps Alexander’s army had better technology. I thought to add it to the timeline because effectively one of the 13 dating points in our list of Ezekiel scriptures.

Validating Ezekiel’s Jubilee Proclamation

Secular Records – Ezekiel’s Temple Vision Decrees

Going to the final section of this presentation is going to be about validating the fact that this is Ezekiel’s Jubilee proclamation. There are two parts to look at; one is the secular records that we originally profiled in Part One of the presentation series. There are some of the secular records that we need to look at again and see if they are correct. Ezekiel’s Temple vision, in the section of Ezekiel 40 through 48 gives us a lot of Jubilee themes. We need to compare the themes of Ezekiel’s last eight chapters of his writing to Leviticus 25 which would be the Jubilee code and legislation that we looked at in Part 2 of this presentation series.

This last section will be about the exposition of these writings.

Jubilee Year Proclamation
Jewish Encyclopedia

• 1^st and 2^nd Temple destroyed on closing of Sabbatical year

  1^st Temple – year after Sabbatical year

  2^nd Temple – end of Sabbatical year

• 16^th Jubilee occurred in the 18^th year of Josiah

  623 – 622 BCE – controversial

• 1^st year of Southern Kingdom exile was 36^th year of Jubilee cycle
• Jubilee year was the 25^th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity
• Jubilee year was 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem

The First and the Second Temple, the Talmud says, was destroyed on the closing of the Sabbatical year. The sixteenth jubilee occurred in the eighteenth year of Josiah, who reigned thirty – one years; the remaining thirteen years of his reign, together with the eleven years of those of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin and the eleven years of that of Zedekiah (II Kings 25), fix the first exilic year as the thirty-sixth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, or fourteen years from the destruction of the Holy City (Ar. And Ab. Zarah I.c.; see Rashi ad loc). The Babylonian captivity lasted seventy years.

(Jewish Encyclopedia, Sabbatical Year and Jubilee – Talmudic and Samaritan Calculation)

• Jubilee – references in b. Talmud

  b. Arakhin 12a, b – Jubilee includes time of Ezekiel

  b. Arakhin 32b – 33a,b – Jubilee includes time of Jeremiah

  b. Megillah 14b – Jubilee in the time of Josiah

The references are quite extensive; I have looked them up myself and found they are useful if you want to do an in-depth study. The b is the Babylonian Talmud, and also the Babylonian Megillah.

This tells us that the First and Second Temples were destroyed on the closing of Sabbatical years. Also this says that the 16^th Jubilee occurred in the 18^th year of Josiah, and I think this is a controversial date that we see. I would say that it was 624/623 and is one year off from the 623/622 date.

The first year of the Southern Kingdom exile was the 36^th year of the Jubilee cycle, we will see that to be the case when we get to a final chart. We will also see that the Jubilee year was the 25^th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity, and also the Jubilee was the 14^th year after the destruction of Jerusalem.

Jubilee Year Proclamation
Seder Olam Rabbah

• Second century CE writing
• 17 complete Jubilees through the 1^st Temple exile
• Ezekiel 40:1 is a Jubilee event
• Occurs 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem
• Jubilee cycles were 50 years

Now Israel stayed 850 years from the time they entered until they left, these are 17 complete Jubilee periods. And so it says (Eze 40:1): In the 25^th year of our exile, on the day of the New Year, on the tenth of the month, 14 years after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem”. When did he (Ezekiel) have this vision? It was at the beginning of a Jubilee period.

(Seder Olam Rabbah 11:48)

This was a second century CE writing, and a common one in Judaism that you will find. It also states that there are 17 Jubilee cycles, and also highlights that Ezekiel 40 is a Jubilee event. It also states that it occurs 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. The original cycles of the Jubilee were 50 years in length.

Jubilee Year Proclamation
Rabbi Moses ben Maimon
Maimonides

• Acronym – Rambam ^{1135 – 1204 CE}
• 17 complete Jubilees through the 1^st Temple exile
• Temple was destroyed year after Sabbatical
• Exile occurred on the 36^th year of the Jubilee cycle
• Jubilee cycles were 50 years
• 50 year Jubilee cycle ended with 1^st Temple
• 70 year Temple desolation period started

  587 – 70 = 517 BCE

  2^nd Temple completed ^{Ezr 6:14}

• Second Entry – 3 phases, under Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah

  Temple, walls, city

• 49 year Jubilee cycle begins

The Jewish people counted 17 Jubilee years from the time they entered (Eretz Yisrael ^{Holy land}) until they departed. The year they departed, when the Temple was destroyed the first time, was the year following the Sabbatical year and the 36^th year in the Jubilee cycle. The first Temple stood for 410 years, ad when it was destroyed, this reckoning ceased. After it ceased, the land remained desolate for seventy years. Then the Second Temple was built and it stood for 420 years. In the seventh year after it was built, Ezra ascended (to Eretz Yisrael). This is referred to as the second entry.

From this year, they began another reckoning. They designated the thirteenth year of the Second Temple as the Sabbatical ^{c. 517 – 13 = 504 BCE} year and counted seven Sabbatical years and sanctified the fiftieth year. Although the Jubilee year was not observed in (the era of) the Second Temple, they would count it ^{not intercalated in order to sanctify} the Sabbatical years.

(MishTor Shmita 10.3)

• 1^st Temple – 50 year Jubilee cycle
• 2^nd Temple – 49 year Jubilee cycle

  50^th year counted as year 1 of subsequent Sabbatical cycle

Rambam gives us a lot of insight, some of it is obviously a repeat of some of the others, but 17 Jubilees through the First Temple exile and the Temple was destroyed the year after a Sabbatical. It’s interesting to look at. The exile occurred on the 36^th year of the Jubilee cycle, we haven’t seen that specially and we will look at that. The Jubilee cycles were 50 years long, and that they ended with the First Temple.

He also notes the other desolation period, the 70 year Temple desolation is not to be confused with the desolation of Jerusalem that we previously talked about, but the 70^th year of the desolation of the Temple period started in 587 BCE. 70 years later takes you to 517 BCE which interestingly enough, if you look in Ezra 6:14 and do the research, you will find that is when the Second Temple was completed. It’s more than an irony that 70 years after the First Temple was destroyed, the Second Temple was completed. The dates line up from the study that we have done.

The second entry into the Promised Land occurred in three phases. The first one was under Zerubbabel, then 40 to 60 years later, Ezra and Nehemiah came, but they weren’t there in the beginning. Zerubbabel was the governor and was the one that initiated the rebuilding of the Temple. The walls and the city came later; Nehemiah came to build the city walls because it wasn’t defensible. All of the local Gentiles were not happy that the Israelites and Jews were back.

We see that in Maimonides that the 49 year cycle begins with the Second Temple period as well as the other records that we have seen.

Jubilee Year Proclamation
Ezekiel Temple Vision Decrees

We will go to what I think is a real interesting part of the analysis of why Ezekiel 40 through 48 is about a Jubilee event. When we examine the scripture 40 through 48 totally, we see the theme of the Jubilee is brought out in a number of areas. The first place we see the theme of the Jubilee happens to be about the Sabbaths decree in Ezekiel 44.

• Sabbaths decree
• Anti-oppression decree ^freedom
• Liberty decree
• Cleansing and healing decree

But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Master YHWH: and they shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths ^{H7676=sahbbat=intermission}.
(Eze 44:15,24 NKJV)

Sabbaths happens to be plural and I think there is a good reason. It’s the Hebrew word Shabbat which means intermission. We know that Shabbat refers not only to the weekly Sabbath, but also refers to the Day of Atonement and the one year Sabbatical itself which is a Sabbath, a Sabbath of Shabbathon.

We see the comparison to this in the Levitical code in Leviticus 25.

but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath ^{H7676=Shabbat=same} of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath ^{H7676=Shabbat=same} to YHWH. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. (Lev 25:4 NKJV)

The first comparison is that the Sabbath decree in Ezekiel’s Jubilee Temple Vision lines up with the instructions that we find about the Sabbath, and land Sabbath in Leviticus 25. The next decree we see in Ezekiel is the freedom decree or the anti-oppression decree.

And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward: and the length shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border. In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes. Thus saith YHWH Elohim; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions ^{H1646=dispossession, from H1644=expatriate, divorce, put away} from my people, saith YHWH Elohim. (Eze 45:7-9 KJV)

You see here that the admonition is that there is no more oppression of YHWH’s people. This right here ought to be a big clue that this can’t be a temple that is being talked about before the Millennium. There will be oppression of the people before the millennium, not after. It looks to me that this is pointing to a time after Yahushua returns, not before. The point of this is that this oppression or lack of oppression is also mentioned in the Sabbatical and Jubilee code in Leviticus 25.

Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy Elohim: for I am YHWH your Elohim. (Lev 25:17 KJV)

The next one has to do with liberty decree, and again, you won’t find this decree being meaningful before the millennium, it’s only after.

But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them. (Eze 46:17 KJV)

The point of the year of liberty is being mentioned and obviously it is about the Jubilee.

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (Lev 25:10 KJV)

I hope you see how these scriptures line up with the Jubilee proclamation. What about cleansing and healing? We see that in Ezekiel 47.

Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
(Eze 47:8-10 KJV)

These are pointing to the Millennium, but we see the comparison to this in Leviticus 25 that is about the Day of Atonement.

Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement ^{H3725=kippur=to cover, cleanse, pardon} shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. (Lev 25:9 KJV)

The word atonement is from the Hebrew word Kippur and it means to cover, cleanse, or pardon, and that is our healing. It is one of the reasons that the Holy Days are important, it’s a day we memorialize and honor YHWH’s cleansing and healing of us, and we are kept clean through the blood of Yahushua.

Jubilee Year Proclamation

Ezekiel Temple Vision Decrees

• Eat volunteers

  Points to Millennium

• Tribal inheritance decree

  Points to the Millennium

• Levitical inheritance decree

  Points to the Millennium

And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
(Eze 47:12 KJV)

This scripture gives us more about the medicine for healing, the trees are not growing because of sowing and reaping, they grow because they are volunteers and it is YHWH’s spirit that keeps them growing. They appear to be trees that grow and produce just according to time. According to Leviticus 25 we are supposed to eat volunteers during the Sabbatical and Jubilee years.

A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
(Lev 25:11-12 KJV)

Ezekiel 47 describes eating right out of the field as the fruit becomes available, just as we see here in Leviticus.

We see inheritance in a couple of cases. The theme of tribal inheritance is mentioned in Ezekiel 47.

Thus saith YHWH Elohim; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
(Eze 47:13-14 KJV)

This inheritance theme goes on in the next chapter.

This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith YHWH Elohim. (Eze 48:29 KJV)

We see in Leviticus 25 that this points to the Millennium in our instruction set.

In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
(Lev 25:13 KJV)

Take a brief look at what the tribes map looks like, I have found this to be interesting and yet another good example of why this can’t be something that happens before the Millennium, but happens after. These tribes are allocated land according to the order that you see on the chart according to Ezekiel 47 and 48. This chart starts with Dan at the top, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah. When we get to Judah you see that there is a special area in white that is allocated and there are associations with it of the inheritance.

One is the Princes section, or the Prince’s portion. I take this to be Yahushua the Prince, some think it is David, and maybe it’s a combination of both, but there is controversy. The Princes part is on either side of a centralized area where the Levites have a portion and where the sanctuary is which is right in the middle.

It turns out that the city of Jerusalem has a very small footprint in this whole section. It is surrounded by the Princes portion, the Levites, and the Zadok Priests that are given the assignment to watch the holy part of the Temple. The Levites are assigned to the outside, by the way, as it says in this section of the scripture.

After that we find that it’s Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulon and then Gad falling to the south of this centralized area. You see the summitry of how this land is laid out, and I believe this layout to be correct. The Author Lambert Dolphin is quite a Bible researcher and historian.

Lambert Dolphin has written a lot about the Temple and is a source if you want to research more about the Temple, the land and history of Israel. He is the one that produced this layout. The inheritance follows a very certain specific pattern that wouldn’t appear to me to be achievable before the Millennium.

A specific decree about the Levitical inheritance or the Zadok Levites is mentioned.

And over against the border of the ^Zadok priests the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. And they shall not sell of it ^{the land}, neither exchange ^{H4171=barter, dispose of (sell)}, nor alienate^{H5674=cross over, convey (change the purpose)} the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto YHWH. (Eze 48:13-14 KJV)

In other words, they can’t convey a deed of trust to anyone else. The Brenton says the same thing fundamentally.

No part of it shall be sold, nor measured as for sale, neither shall the first-fruits of the land be taken away: for they are holy to YHWH. (Eze 48:14 Brenton)

We see the legislation and the code in Leviticus 25 that compares to this.

Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time. And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubile: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession. (Lev 25:32-34 KJV)

This scripture is a good parallel to Ezekiel 48; the Levites can’t sell or exchange it.

Now that we have gotten a lot of the events on this chronology map, we see we have placed the actual Jubilee in 574/573 BCE. It starts in 574 in our Gregorian calendar at Atonement. We know that it is the 50^th year, so we can place the 50^th year and count backwards on the Jubilee calendar.

We know that 50, 49, 48 and 47 are all the years of the 50 year Jubilee cycle. On this chronology that we have been developing way back to 610/609 BCE, we get back in the count as far as the thirteenth year. We would have to go back further to get the first year of the cycle, I’m sure you see and understand it.

We started our chronology effectively on the 13^th year of the Jubilee cycle and ended on the 50^th year. Now it should be easy to see when the Sabbaticals are because they occur on the 7 year boundaries.

This is a chart with the Sabbatical years marked.

There is a Sabbatical on the 14^th year, the 21^st, 28^th, 35^th, 42^nd and then the 49^th year. We can put a couple of other pieces together that line up. The first one is the Sabbatical on the 35^th year of the cycle of the 50 year Jubilee count.

An event happened in Jeremiah chapter 34 that you are probably familiar with if you have studied Jeremiah.

This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from YHWH, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. (Jer 34:8-9 RNKJV)

This account sounds like there were Hebrew servants, maid servants, and man servants that other Israelites and Jews in this particular timeframe were keeping as their servant slaves. In fact, there were and this account shows us that there was a release during this period of time. It doesn’t say exactly when the release is, but if you look at it, this is happening during the 30 month siege of Nebuchadnezzar.

Zedekiah decided to let the servants go, and if you read the fullness of this account you will see it didn’t last long. YHWH was not pleased because they took the servants back in as servants and slaves no sooner did they let them go, they decided to they had to take them back. I would interject that this is the year that it happened. We don’t get a good timing marker on it other than it must have been a Sabbatical event.

While studying the Sabbatical legislation, we saw there were two types of servitude, one that was voluntary and the other that was involuntary. This would have appeared to be an involuntary servitude that would have expired on a Sabbatical year. I would interject that this is likely a Sabbatical that is being talked about in Jeremiah 34.

Also in this period of time, at the end of the 30 month siege of Jerusalem, Rambam says:

The Temple was destroyed the first time following the Sabbatical year and the 36^th year in the Jubilee cycle. Rambam

It turns out that Ram Bam’s documentation lines up with this accounting perfectly. And so it says (Eze 40:1):

“In the 25^th year of our exile, on the day of the New Year, on the tenth of the month, 14 years after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem”. When did he (Ezekiel) have this vision? At the beginning of a Jubilee period – Seder Olam

Again, this lines up, the 25^th year of the captivity of our exile and it was the day of the New Year, the 10^th day of the month, 14 years exactly after the city was fallen according to this accounting.

We see all of the interdependencies and synchronizations that have taken place. Any one of them being incorrect would cause you to wonder if this chronology is correct or not that completes with 574 being the beginning of a Jubilee year. Everything does line up and I would say the proof is strong that this is a Jubilee year that Ezekiel is proclaiming.

Summary

• 50 year Jubilee cycle counted from entry into Promised Land through 1^st Temple
• Jubilee years included

  x24 – x23 BCE

  x74 – x73 BCE

  Sabbaticals extrapolated from Jubilee dates, if you add the century mark where the x is you will know when the Jubilee years were.

• 17 complete Jubilees through 1^st Temple exile – Maimonides and Seder Olam
• Temple destroyed a year after Sabbatical – Maimonides
• Exile occurred on 36^th year of Jubilee cycle – Jewish Encyclopedia, Maimonides
• Jubilee cycles originally were 50 years

  Jubilee year was intercalated

• Eze 40:1 is a Jubilee event

  Occurs 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem – Seder Olam

  Occurs 25^th year of captivity – Seder Olam

  Theme parallels Lev 25 – freedom, liberty, healing, inheritance

• 50 year Jubilee cycle ended and abandoned after 1^st Temple

  Became corrupted during 2^nd Temple

  Jubilee stacked into 49 year cycle

  Fell into disuse

• Original Jubilee derivative

  x27 – x28 CE

  x77 – x78 CE

To summarize this presentation as well as some of the points from the previous sessions, we see the 50 year Jubilee cycle is counted from the entry into the Promised Land through the 1^st Temple period. We would submit that it is still in effect and being counted today although it has fallen into total disuse.

The Jubilee years that you can determine from this fall on years 24/23, and 74/73 in the Old Testament, the BCE period of time if you will, as an example, 624/623, 874/873 and so forth. You can extrapolate the Sabbaticals from that just as I did on the previous chart. With a pen and paper you can make a calendar grid and determine when the Sabbaticals were, counting forward or backward.

There were 17 complete Jubilee cycles through the 1^st Temple according to Maimonides and the Seder Olam. I would say that is correct and also that the Jubilee was an institution that was made at creation and part of the eternal law that YHWH put in place. It started when the Israelites went into the Promised Land as a result of the legislation in Leviticus 25, but it was an institution.

The Temple was destroyed the year after a Sabbatical according to Maimonides, and it certainly looks like the case according to our chart. The exile occurred on the 36^th year of the Sabbatical cycle, we have the Jewish Encyclopedia as well as Maimonides that references that fact. The Jubilee cycles were originally 50 years, not 49, and the Jubilee was an intercalated or interjected additional 50^th year, and Ezekiel 40 is in fact a Jubilee event. We have a lot of evidence that points to it being a Jubilee event and it occurs 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, and that it’s the 25^th year of the captivity; we see these facts not only in the scriptures, but in the Seder Olam.

The interesting exposition that we did on the comparison of the themes in Ezekiel’s last 8 chapters, in comparison to Leviticus 25 has been a stunning revelation to us of how this compares to freedom, liberty, healing, inheritance and so forth that we went through, and how these themes are relevant to the Jubilee legislation given in Leviticus 25.

The 50^th year Jubilee cycle ended and was abandoned after the 1^st Temple, in man’s accounting. We believe it is still to be in effect but became corrupted during the 2^nd Temple period. We will see more evidence of that when we look into Yahushua’s proclamation of Jubilee in the next presentation. The corruption ended up stacking the Jubilee into one of the 49 years of the Sabbatical cycle rather than having it as a standalone. Bottom line is that it has all fallen into disuse.

You can also take this original Jubilee year in 574 BCE in Ezekiel chapter 40, and derive from it by making a calendar going forward to the CE period of our calendar starting in the 1^st century CE forward to today. Those Jubilee years fall on the century mark, years 27/28 or the century mark 77/78. As an example, 1927/28 would, in our relative timeframe would have been a Jubilee year. It certainly wasn’t honored anywhere at that point, but also 2027/28 coming up 7 years from now would be an accounting of a Jubilee period. One cannot help but wonder if the Jubilee coming up has anything to do with the return of Yahushua.

Jubilee Points to Yahushua
Peter’s Decree

Something that you find in Acts chapter 3 and it’s something that Peter said and you have to read this a couple of times to get the fullness of it.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of YHWH; And he shall send Yahushua the Messiah, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution ^{G605=to reconstitute, restore again} of all things, which YHWH hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Act 3:19-21 RNKJV)

The heaven must receive Yahushua until the times of restitution. This sure sounds Jubilee to me. This was a New Testament decree looking forward to the times of restitution of all things. Does the Jubilee portend a master reset for the world? Not a great reset that we are starting to hear about in the world’s economies. That will be a false narrative by comparison to the true Master Reset that Yahushua has talked about for the day and the year of the Jubilee.

Do Your Own Homework

Prove ^{G1381=test, discern, examine} all things; hold fast that which is good. (1Thess 5:21 KJV)

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched ^{G350=scrutinize, examine} the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Act 17:11 KJV)

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Master; walk as children of light: for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth; proving ^{G1381=test, examine} what is acceptable ^{G2101=fully agreeable}, well pleasing unto the Master.
(Eph 5:8-10 KJV)

Study to shew thyself approved unto YHWH, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing ^{G3718=make a straight cut} the word of truth. (2Tim 2:15 KJV)

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