The Acceptable Year of YHVH
From the Book Reckoning of Time
Since one of Yeshua’s purposes was to proclaim release to the captives, Yeshua’s ministry might have begun on Yom Kippur with His baptism and the haftarah reading in Nazareth sometime before that. If this is correct, the haftarah of Isaiah 61 would have been read with the weekly parsha Nitzavim of Deu 29:10-30:20 which according to the rabbinical tradition is always read before Yom Teruah.
That might have been the time when the release of the captives was to be declared (Isa_61:1-2). If Yeshua was born either on Yom Teruah or the first day of Sukkot (as this author believes) and began His ministry on Yom Kippur (which is five days before the first day of Sukkot), then Yeshua would have been about thirty years of age as stated in Luk_3:21-23. The following year was Sabbatical provided by His Father for Yeshua’s ministry. (See Jubilees Table)
Yeshua came to Natsareth and according to His practice, He went into the congregation on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read from the scroll of the prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah):
“The Spirit of Yehovah is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring the Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away crushed ones with a release, to proclaim the acceptable year of Yehovah.” (Luk 4:16-19)
So, when He made the proclamation in Luk_4:16-19, did He mean that sabbatical year of 3985 or He meant the sabbatical year at His return, the year before the last 120th Jubilee? Time will tell!
Let us return to King Artahshashta’s decree for the restoration of the Jewish government and Torah as the law of the land in 3506 (460 BC). Yirmeyahu’s the 70-year prophecy was extended sevenfold (490 years) due to a continual rebellion of Yehudah until 3996 (31 AD) when Daniel’s 490 years end. The last week of seven years of these 490 years, therefore, will be from 3990 (25 AD) until 3996 (31 AD) and the middle of the week will be the fifteenth day of the first month: the Passover of 3993 (28 AD).
Since we have already concluded that the crucifixion day of Messiah, when He was cut off not for Himself on Passover of 28 AD corresponding to WEDNESDAY, April 28, and SATURDAY, May 1, 28 AD as the day of His resurrection, and since the Passover of 28 AD was the middle of the prophetic week of seven years, we may also draw the conclusion that the beginning and the end of this week were on Sukkots, the fifteenth days of the seventh months of 3990 (25 AD) and 3996 (31 AD), respectively, because, Passover is exactly six months away from Sukkot. Therefore, we may also conclude that King Artahshashta made his decree on Sukkot, the fifteenth day of the seventh month of year 3506 (460 BC) when the prophetic 490 years started.
As stated in chapter The Countdown Begins … it is unclear as to what event triggered the commencement of the 434 years after which the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing. Yet, Isaac Newton in his Part I, Chapter X Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (source: Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John, London: 1733) says that Nehemiah the governor of Yehudah finished the city wall the 25th day of the month Elul, (Neh_6:15), in the 28th year of the King, that is, in September in the year of the Julian Period 4278. He goes on to say that, if counted from this year 434 years, the reckoning will end in September in the year of the Julian Period 4712 which is the year in which Christ was born, according also to Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenæus, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Orosius, Cassiodorus, and other ancients.
Now, how Newton came to the conclusion that the city walls were finished in the 28th year of King Artahshashta is really unknown since the Biblical records do not show any evidence of that. If this is correct, then indeed 434 years later was the Messiah’s birth. However, Daniel’s prophecy clearly says that after the threescore and two sevens shall the anointed one be cut off and shall have nothing referring to Yeshua’s death, not birth. Also, the present author differs from Isaac Newton’s understanding of the year of Yeshua’s birth who puts it in 34 AD but agrees with him that the one who shall confirm the covenant with many for one week is none other than the Messiah.
Thus, in this short prophecy of Daniel we have a prediction of all the main periods relating to the coming of the Messiah; the time of his birth, that of his death, that of the rejection of the Judeans, the destruction of Yerushalayim in the Jewish revolt when He caused the oblations to cease, and the time of His second coming and so the interpretation here given is more full and complete.
So far, in the previous chapters, we have established a unbreakable chain of events from the entering the land until the first coming of the Messiah and fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy.
Therefore, the reckoning of time from the Creation to the coming of the Messiah is this:
1. It was 1,948 years from Adam to Avraham.
2. It was 75 years from Avraham’s birth to the Covenant.
3. It was 430 years from the Covenant to the Exodus.
4. It was 40 years from the Exodus to the crossing of the Yarden River.
5. It was 7 years from the entry to the conquest of the land.
6. It was 7 years from the conquest of the land to the division of the land.
7. It was 850 years from the division of the land to the construction of the Temple.
8. It was 70 years of Babylonian exile and King’s Koresh’s decree for Yehudah’s return.
9. It was 79 years from the end of the exile to the decree to rebuild Yerushalayim.
10. It was 490 years from the decree to rebuild Yerushalayim to the Messiah.
Total: 3,996 years.