~ 2520 Critiques & Defenses ~

 The words of Leviticus 25 & 26  were spoken by God to Moses.

Exodus  5:2  "And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice ..."

"I AM that I AM" gave us the 2520 with His Voice

While in the Temple on the Sabbath day, Jesus spoke these words to the Jews:

 "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

 But if you believe not his writings, how shall be believe my words?"

John 5:46, 47

1.  If this is to be called a prophecy,

     then what prophet spoke it

1.  God spoke it to Moses (Lev. 26).

2.  What event did he start with?

2.  The removal of  Kings Hoshea (723 B.C.) and Manasseh (677 B.C).

     Dan. 2:21 - " he [God] removeth kings, and setteth up kings: ..."

3.  What event did he say would occur at

      the end?

3.  723 B.C. -1798 -  Is it just an accident the end of the first 2520 coincides with 1798?

     677 B.C. -1844 -  On Oct. 22, 1844 - Anti typical Day of Atonment began.

4.  Is this a prophecy or simply a

     mathematical extrapolation?

4.  The 2520 is a threatened curse for idolatry that would last 2520 yrs.  Matthew

     Henry's Commentary says these are "prophecies", "He that foresaw all their

     rebellions, knew they would prove so."  Lev. 26:19.  E.G. White: YI, 4/23/1903

   "these are some of the prophecies"; Great Controversy, p. 32: "the warning prophecy

     given fourteen centuries before..."   Daniel in Dan. 9:11 speaks of the prophetic

     "curse" of Moses which is not the 70 years curse of Jeremiah (2 Chron. 36:21).

     Galileo: "Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe."

     Plato: "Geometry existed before creation."

5.  The 2520 "chart" is of non-Adventist

     origin and without  Spirit of Prophecy

     approval: The designer was Charles

     Fitch, who never kept the Sabbath and

     is related only by Millerite affiliation.

5.  a.  " ...  the Spirit of God had moved upon Charles Fitch to devise the prophetic

               chart ..." Spirit of Prophecy,  p. 241-242.

     b.  Fitch  laid in his grave before Sabbath truth known, and later seen to be in

          heaven in a vision of  EGW.  

     c.  God & SOP must have approved of Charles Fitch.

"The Lord showed me that the 1843 chart was directed by his hand, and that no part of it should be altered; that the figures were as he wanted them. That his hand was over and hid a [singular] mistake [1843] in some of the figures [several 1843s on the chart], so that none could see it, until his hand was removed." RH, 11/1/1850

6.  E.G. White calls the 2300 DAY

     PROPHECY  of Dan 8:14 the  "longest

     and last" Bible prophecy.  GC 351.

     It undermines the SOP to say the 2520

    is the longest prophecy.

6.   Lets re-read that statement:   "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand,"

      so Miller  and his associates proclaimed that the longest [2520] and last prophetic

      period brought to view  in the Bible was about to expire, that the judgment was at

      hand, and the everlasting kingdom was to be ushered in. The preaching of the

      disciples in regard to time was based on the seventy weeks of Daniel 9. The

      message given by Miller and his associates announced the termination of the 2300

      days of Daniel 8:14, of which the seventy weeks form a part. The preaching

      OF  EACH [the 490 & 2300] was based upon the fulfillment of a different portion

      of  the same great prophetic period [2520]." {GC 351.1}

OF EACH:

The each can pertain to the dates or the children of Israel and the Millerites in respect to the 70 weeks and the 2300 years. Hence the conclusion can only be that it was a different period since the 2300 years cannot be part of itself.  

#7.  She [E.G. White] never endorsed or promoted the 2520 time span in the Spirit of Prophecy writings.

The 2520 was an established truth for her.  ""All the messages given from 1840-1844 [all are included on the 1843 chart, including the 2520] are to be made forcible now, for there are many people who have lost their bearings." 21mr 437; She does indirectly endorse in GC p. 32  when she refers to the recap of the "prophecies" given by Moses (Deut. 28) See  notes below*.  She also wrote  "Not a peg or pin is to be removed" (2SM 104) from the messages of the three angels. The 2520 was included in those messages. 300  Millerite preachers taught the 2520 accompanied by the angel of  Rev. 10   (our Lord and Savior), and the SOP repeatedly endorsed that message.

 The issue against the 2520 boils down to the words of the  prophet.  Is she, or is she not - a prophet?

"... the Lord gave me a vision and showed me that the truth must be made plain upon tables [the new 1850 chart], and it would cause many to decide for the truth by the third angel's message with the two former being made plain upon tables." 5MR 202-203

 QUESTIONS

 8.  Since the organization of the SDA

     church the  "2520" has never been

     part of our theology! 

 ANSWERS

 8.   The words of the Prophet spoken from 1903-7 state clearly that the message given

      from 1840 to 44 is the same message that we are to give today. That includes the

      2520, 1798, 508, 538, the Daily and more.  That choice is yours.

9.  Number 2520 isn't written

     anywhere in the Bible.

9.   Neither is 538, 1798 or 1844 you have to figure it out. Same with the 2520. The 2520

      is written all throughout the Bible but in different illustrations and parallels using the

      term "seven times"  He is the one who put the DETAILED measures in the Temples

      adding up to 2520.  He put the 2520 measures in cubits, inches, feet and sq. feet.

      How about Leviticus 25?  Every 49 years there would be 2520 days the land

      rested, (do the math). Also, if time, times and half a time = 1260, then "seven

      times" = 2520. There is much more, but space is limited.

10.  The first of two 2520 time spans

       begin with 723 B.C.,  but the SDA

       Commentary p. 947 gives 722 B.C.

       as  the appropriate defeat of Israel

       (Sumaria) by the Assyrians. That

      throws off the 2520 time dating to

      722 B.C. - 1799, not 1798.

10.  The 2520 begins and ends with the setting up or putting down of a king (Dan.2:21).

      "The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by

      six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri (in the fall) and that of Israel in Nisan

      (in the spring). Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often

      allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of  a king to within a

      six-month range. In the case of Hoshea, synchronization with the reign of Hezekiah

      of Judah shows that he came to the throne some time between Tishri 1 of 732 B.C.

         and the day before the first of Nisan, 731 B.C. The end of his reign occurred

      between the first of Nisan, 723 B.C., and the day before Tishri 1  of the same year.

      This narrowing of the dates for Hoshea is supplied by later scholars who built on

      Thiele's work, because Thiele did not accept the Hoshea/Hezekiah synchronisms of

      2 Kings 18. That Hoshea died before Tishri 1 in the fall of 723 B.C. is additional

      evidence that it was Shalmaneser V, not Sargon II,  who initially captured Samaria.

      Shalmaneser did not die until December 722 or January 721 B.C."

                   Source is Wikipedia: Hoshea.  PS: Thiele was a well respected SDA.

11.  The second time span depiction of

       the 2520 is  taken from the "fall of

       Judah" (the southern kingdom) &

       presumes that date to be from

       677 B.C. but:

a. The captivity of Judah began 605 B.C.

b.  For 70 years until 536 B.C.

     (Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10) = 70 years

     captivity. Remember: Manasseh

     repented and the Kingdom was

     restored.

11.  The 2520 loss of national sovereignty is defined by the fall of a king in

       677 B.C. (see #2 & #10). Judah became subjects of Assyria (later Babylon) when

       Manasseth was taken  prisoner and released.  He was not the boss anymore!

 From that time forward they were subjects of foreign kings never

 to have their own sovereignty! (as Canada is subject to England).

Judahs' 2520 continued in spite of Manassehs' repentance. (2 Kings 24:3)

TIMELINE:

         a.  677 B.C. - Loss of national sovereignty (to Assyria).

         b.  607 B.C. - Jehoiakim is made 18th ruler of Judah by Pharoah-Necho of Egypt.

              This is the first time a king of Judah has been hand-picked by a foreign king.

               (Read details in 4BC, p. 755.) From autumn of 607 to autumn of 537 is 70 yrs.

               The Jews began their return to their homeland in the Spring of 536 B.C.

         c.  605 B.C. - Daniel & three friends taken prisoner to Babylon. Dan. 1:1-2.

The 70 years literal captivity was a punishment within the 2520 years.  It was to

give the land it's "sabbath rests" which, not by accident, adds up to 10 x 2520 days.

       Lev. 26:35        "As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest

       in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it."  The Jews had never obeyed this

       law.  After their return from captivity, they began to be very legalistic about

       keeping the laws (except the Jubilee part) so much so they eventually crucified Jesus.

12. Regarding the "seven times" of

      Dan.4:15,16. No  contextual

     foundation for going beyond a

      literal seven year span (no day-year).

12.   Consider this: Ezek 4:6 Again, when you have accomplished these, you

        shall lie on your right side, and  shall bear the iniquity of the house of

        Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it to you.  So for

        every "day" that Ezekiel was to lie on his side a full year would pass for

        Israel.  Nebuchadnezzar also "lived out" a prophetic period of "7 times".

        This indicates that the "7 times" might also be calculated at "a day for a

        year" just like the prophecy that Ezekiel "lived out". (Even if this explanation is

        rejected, the 2520 survives without Nebuchadnezzar's 2520.)

QUESTIONS

 13. No proper Bible basis for a 2520

      year "prophecy in  Lev. 26. (refers

      to repeated punishments - not a time

      span). "insubordination" would be

      punished seven-fold more.

 ANSWERS

 13.    A thorough word study of cardinal and ordinal numbers with the root

        words of  "seven times" will support the literal 2520 years following grammatical

        rules. Moses knew what he was doing. Leviticus 25 starts with Moses on Mt. Sinai

        and ends in Lev 26 with Moses on Mt. Sinai. These two chapters are about the

        same topic. This topics focus is the Sabbath and is established in the first 9 verses

        of Lev 25. The Pattern is established based on the day for a year principal and is

        linked directly to the Sabbath Commandment of Exo 20:8-11. The grammatical

        intent and directive is about the Sabbath and the day for a year principle.

        Therefore the 2520 is the cornerstone for the Sabbath rest of the land and the

        curse that accompanies the breaking of the Commandment rest for the Land.

         Num 14:34  After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty

        days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall

        know my breach of promise.

14.  SOP mentions Lev. 26 only four times

       without any prophetic significance

       given to it.

There are six times. Those four times are:

1.  Education, p. 140; 

2.  Patriarchs & Prophets, p. 535;

3.  Prophets and Kings, p. 429; 

4.  Manuscript Releases, Vol. 10, p. 190.

There are also two more references to Lev. 26 not referenced.

5. The Youth's Instructor, April, 23, 1903

6. The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 2, pp. 54-55

The Youth's Instructor, April 23, 1903

GOD'S PURPOSE CONCERNING ISRAEL:

Ellen White wrote two paragraphs in which she  quoted from Deut. 12:28-32; Lev. 20:22-24; Leviticus 26:14-17; 31-33; 38,41,42, 44,45.  Then, in the third paragraph she begins with these words: "These are some of the prophecies concerning Israel."  The  verses with the "seven times" were

sandwiched in between the verses she quoted from Leviticus,

and are "some of the prophecies."

The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 2, p. 54, 55

 The setting of this quote is the time of John the Baptist.

Ellen White quotes from Leviticus 26:14-17 and then writes:

"The Jews were experiencing the fulfillment of the

 threatened curse of God for their departure from him, and for their iniquity; ... John [the Baptist] declared to them that unless they bore fruit, they would be hewn down and cast into the fire." 

John was a contemporary of Christ and this was over

700 years after the literal 70 years captivity.

The 490 year prophecy was not a "curse" it was a

promise.  This could only refer to the 2520. 

Leviticus 26

 PROPHECY AT THE

BEGINNING OF THE EXODUS

Verses 4 - 13:  Emphasizes the blessings of the covenant.

6:14:  But if ye will not hearken unto me, ...

14 - 43:  Moses tells of the curses for disobedience.

Deuteronomy 28

RECAP PROPHECY GIVEN

AT THE END OF THE 40 YEARS

Verses 3 -14:  Emphasizes the blessings of the covenant.

28:15:      But it shall come to pass,  if thou wilt not hearken ...

16-68:  Moses tells of the curses for disobedience.

GREAT CONTROVERSY p. 32

 "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people." Isaiah 49:15; Lamentations 4:10. Again was fulfilled the warning prophecy given fourteen centuries before: "The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, . . . and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates." Deuteronomy 28:56, 57.  {GC 32.1} 

THE WARNING PROPHECY

GIVEN 14 CENTURIES EARLIER

 First mention: LEVITICUS 26: 28-29

28 - Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 

29 - And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.

Second mention: Deut. 28:57

57 -  ... for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, ...