Hellrider....The 1,260 days of Revelation 12:6 is a manifest allusion to the time periods of Daniel, particularly the 1,290 days of Daniel 12:11 which is a month longer than 3 1/2 years according to the solar calendar used by the Zadokite priests (and the Sadducees and Essenes towards the first century), and the 3 1/2-year period was mentioned earlier in Daniel 7:25, 9:27. In the Jewish solar calendar, the year was comprised of four seasons of three months of equal length (each month containing 30 days), with each season starting with an equinox or solstice which did not count as a day within a month, tho there was a dispute within Judaism of whether these intercalary days figure into the reckoning of the total days of the year (i.e. whether the year consisted of 360 or 364 days). Thus, if one is counting the months, 1,260 days is 3 1/2 years without counting the solstices and equinoxes towards the year. Daniel uses a solar calendar that adopted this approach, while other Jewish works of the period had a 360+4 reckoning. The Society knows nothing of ancient Jewish solar calendars and thus refers to a non-existent "prophetic calendar" which is really the Jewish solar calendar attested in Daniel and which was used to schedule the festivals and holy days (because 364 days produces 52 weeks evenly, the festivals and the sabbaths would fall on the same day of the week every year, once a "leap week" is reckoned every 7 years). Revelation simply copies the calendar of Daniel, tho the solar calendar likely died with the demise of the Essenes and the Sadducees (the latter after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70). Note especially that the 1,260 days are equated with 42 months in Revelation 11:2-3, which clearly attests the solar reckoning that omitted the equinoxes and solstices from the monthly reckoning. As for what the author of Revelation intended the 3 1/2 year period to refer to in his own book, this has to be judged on the book's own terms, tho 11:1-3 is clearly dependent on Daniel and the period of time that Antiochus Epiphanes (as the "little horn") "trampled" the city and the Temple cult. It is possible that Revelation has adopted the first-century Jewish interpretation of the "seventy weeks" of Daniel 9 (hinted at in Josephus and explicit to some extent in the synoptic gospels) that construes the final week as starting from the assassination of the high priest Ananus in AD 62-63 and the final half-week with the war against the Romans in 66-70 AD, culminating in the destruction of the Temple. However, there is no clear allusion to the events of AD 70 in the text (the Beast does attack the "witnesses" in Jerusalem, but the city itself is felled by an earthquake), so this might belong to a pre-AD 70 interpretation of Daniel that imposed the schematic 7-year period onto earlier events or expected future events. I will have to check my commentaries when I get back home (which won't be for at least a week).
Revelation 20 questions
by IsaacHorwitz 15 Replies latest watchtower bible
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myelaine
dear Leolaia,
" when I get back home (which won't be for at least a week"
will that be" weeks of years" or "seven days" is a week or ummm.......lol
michelle
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Hellrider
Leo:
As for what the author of Revelation intended the 3 1/2 year period to refer to in his own book, this has to be judged on the book's own terms, tho 11:1-3 is clearly dependent on Daniel and the period of time that Antiochus Epiphanes (as the "little horn") "trampled" the city and the Temple cult.
I suspected that, thanks for confirming it.
I will have to check my commentaries when I get back home (which won't be for at least a week).
No worries, I think I got it now. Thanks, and...
Merry christmas!
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Leolaia
myelaine....That was funny! :)
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Hellrider
A couple more Revelation-questions:
A) In 19,12 it says, about Jesus: "He has a name written that no one knows except himself. "
?? Anyone knows what this means?
B) Why do JWs believe that the ressurection will take place right after Armageddon, and that everyone will live in the 1000-year reign? Chapter 20 says that only the ones that died for being martyred for Christ, is to be ressurected after Jesus second coming, and that all the rest will have to wait a thousand years:
20,4,5: "I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. These had not worshiped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their forehead or hand. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 20:5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished.)"
C) Is the "lake of fire" equvalent to hell? 20;10: "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever."
But the "lake of fire" is also referred to as "the second death" in 21,8. What is the relation/difference between hell, the lake of fire, and the "second death"?
D) Who speaks in chapter 22? First, it is the angel, in verse 7-8, or is it? In verse 12, this angel (??) says Suddenly, in 22:12 "Look! I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to pay each one according to what he has done!" ...and this is Jesus, isn`t it? He is the one who executes judgement?! Then, in verse 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end"
Is this still Jesus speaking?
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amommy
Could someone tell me who Abadon or Apollyon of Revelation 9:11 is? Because I have been a JW all my life and have now stepped back to really examine the bible on my on and it does'nt appear that he is Jesus Christ as the WT says he is (WT of 12/1/65) He looks to be the Devil to me. Am I stupid here? I know that Moses preformed a miracle using this name. What is the association? Please help!