The period cannot be indefinite. That would make no sense. Then why use 1000 years? Why not 100 years? If no specific value is attached to the literal, then how can we attach value to the figurative?
Nowhere in scriptures are numbers thrown about without meaning. Even prophetic timing doesn't suspend logic and reasoning.
In God's prophecy to Ezekiel concerning the siege of Jerusalem. Numbers weren't thrown about without sense! God assigned 430 years to mark the point of Jerusalem's destruction, instructing Ezekiel to lie on his sides a period of 430 days; a day to a year. 390 days for Israel, meaning 390 years for its sins and a corresponding 40 days for Judah to mark 40 years for its sins.
So you can't just wake up one morning and say 1000 years is figurative for an indefinite period. That's another hit and miss! It either means a definite literal value or a definite figurative value.
Face it, your view is faulty. And you can't attach an actual value because you don't know how to make it fit.
Literal. With a definite value.
Allow me explain:
The time frame between every generation is roughly a year. God's covenant to Abraham was climaxed in fulfillment at the death and resurrection of Jesus. Chronologically, the covenant in itself was established in God's statutes to Moses about 800 years after Abraham.
In summary, from the establishment of the covenant in Moses' time, to the death and resurrection of Jesus is roughly a thousand years; making for a thousand generations.
The statement was repeated in multiple passages for a reason.
Again, literal. With a definite value.
Why would it have to be figurative? It's not impossible. In fact, God specifies what makes it possible. He says such is possible only if He is fighting for you.
Joshua 23:10,
One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. (KJV)
Deuteronomy 32:30,
Can one person chase away 1000 men? Can two men cause 10,000 men to run away?
It will happen only if the Lord gives them to their enemy...(ERV)
Then Samson proved it:
Judges 15:16,
Then Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men. (NIV)
Again not impossible, so there is no need for it to be figurative.
Again, yes, literal.
But more of a statement to depict rarity besides exact figures.
One in a thousand - scarce.
One in a million - a thousand times more scarce
Ecclesiastes 7:28,
while I was still searching but not finding—I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. (NIV)
Yes, again, literal.
The ERV makes it even more self explanatory:
Job 9:2-3,
But how can a human being win an argument with God? Anyone who chose to argue with him could not answer one question in a thousand! (ERV)
Job is saying anyone who chose to argue with God couldn't even answer one question in a literal thousand questions God asked them.
Why should that be figurative?
Not just the new earth; in relation to Zion.
Zion comes before the new earth.
Being in the likeness of angels while in Zion, the scripture above says a child will be as strong as a thousand men. And a small (statured) person as strong as a whole nation.
Again in alignment with Zechariah's prophecy concerning Zion,
Zechariah 12:8,
In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David.
Why David? Because at his inception David had accomplished this:
1 Samuel 18:7,
...Saul has killed thousands, but David tens of thousands.
So, yes, literal values.
Need I go on?
A thousand and ten thousand are used together in Psalm 91, where they are undoubtedly intended as
non-specific numbers used to describe God’s protection, saying,
“Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee” (vv 5-7).
Both numbers are here used to signify the matchless safety that is found in Almighty God. These figures are deliberately employed to represent the tremendous protection that God bestows upon His children when faced with great adversity and unfair odds. Similarly, David declared in Psalm 3:6,
“I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.”
Interestingly, in 1 Samuel 18:6-8, we learn,
“And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth.”
The cry of the people essentially revolved around the fact that whilst Saul as a great man of war had laudably slain many of the enemy in his days, David had vastly surpassed this in his amazing slaughter of the Philistines. Consequently, the usage of the terms thousands and ten thousands in this song sang by the handmaids of Israel was for the sole purpose of demonstrating the superior success and standing of one great soldier (David) over another (Saul). It is fair then to say that this is poetic symbolism, although it was undoubtedly fulfilled in an absolutely literal sense.
A similar contrast between these two numbers or ideas is seen in Deuteronomy 32:30, where a rhetorical question is asked,
“How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?”
In this case, the Holy Spirit employs the numbers a thousand and ten thousand to impress upon the reader the enormity of God’s might and power. Whilst the numbers are clearly arbitrary, the principle is paramount. It is another example of indeterminacy. These numbers are simple illustrations that depict the Sovereign nature of God and the power he imputes on those that fear Him. The correlation between one and a thousand (and two and ten thousand) is done here,
not to indicate precise numerical amounts, but to contrast the idea of ‘little’ arrayed against ‘much’. It demonstrates the strength and power that the most insignificant trusting believer can find in God. Notably, the word rendered
chase here in the AV is the Hebrew word yirªdop meaning to pursue, to put to flight and/or to run after. This passage graphically shows us the power that agreement carries among the people of God.
God similarly said, in symbolic language, to the children of Israel in Leviticus 26:7-8,
“And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”
The same Hebrew word translated
chase in Deuteronomy 32:30 is also used here to represent the exact same idea. Therefore, what we learn is that God not only defends and protects His covenant people, but that He also fights on their behalf. The story of biblical and Church history is a perpetual account of triumph over adversity – victory against amazing odds. Joshua affirms, on the same vein, in chapter 23,
“One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you” (v 10).
The contrast between these two numbers, as distinctive as they are, is normally advanced to reveal, in some way, the matchlessness and greatness of Almighty God compared to the normal. It is also intended to represent the absolute power and many blessings that are found in God. This victory over the odds has been the gracious testimony of many godly saints throughout the years. Whilst Joshua no doubt seen the reality and literal fulfilment of this principle, the text was not intended to be limited to “a thousand” opponents. Those who fled from the advancing Israelites as they took the Promised Land were countless.
Isaiah the prophet similarly declares in Isaiah 30:17,
“one thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one.” This is the only passage in Scripture that makes mention of the actual number “one thousand,” albeit, the term is used to impress a spiritual truth.
These two comparable readings reveal the power of God manifested through weak earthen vessels when operating under the anointing, and in the will, of God. Such texts in some way express the heavenly authority that God bestows upon His children and describes how they can overcome ‘untold’ foes through Christ who saves them. One thousand here therefore indicates ‘many’.
One and a thousand are also brought together in a metaphorical sense in Psalm 84:9-10 to represent a similar illustrative thought as that of Deuteronomy 32:30. Using a comparable idea, although applying it to a specific measure of time, we learn,
“Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
Comparing ‘one’ to ‘a thousand’ is common in Scripture; however, it is
not simply a concept that is narrowly restricted to the subject of time, or exact time at that. This figurative statement in essence asserts that a day in the Lord’s presence is more blessed than untold ordinary ones outside of such. It in no way indicates that one (twenty-four hour) day in God’s presence exactly represents one thousand days elsewhere, such a limit would be an unfair restriction upon the meaning intended. Such a literal interpretation is at clear variance with the undoubted general usage of the phrase in Scripture and the specific import of the reading under analysis.
The figure a thousand is also employed in Psalm 50:10-11 to denote the greatness of God’s providence, saying,
“For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.”
Does Christ only own the cattle on one thousand hills or does he own them all? Of course there is no way that this passage suggests that Christ only owns the cattle on one thousand hills. Rather, He owns every beast on every hill, thus revealing His omnipotence. The statement reference the “thousand hills” is preceded y the introductory comment: “For every beast of the forest is mine.” This is simply presented in such a way as to express the unfathomable authority and power of the living God. It beautifully correlates with the truth expressed in 1 Corinthians 10:28, which states,
“the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.”
The term “a thousand” is thus used to in some way express the nature and awesome power of Almighty God. The phrase is used to portray the Sovereignty of God and His supreme kingship over all creation. We must clearly acknowledge that the figure ‘a thousand’ is consistently and symbolically employed, throughout the Word of God, to denote an unfathomable amount or a vast period.
Even the figurative every-day statement ‘one in a thousand’ has emanated from the fountainhead of Scripture. It is found in Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 where Solomon laments,
“one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”
Solomon laments over the fact that he barely found any upright man in his travels. They were the exception rather than the rule. The thought here intended is that the man under consideration is of a particular choice character, being, as it where, the pick-of-the-bunch. The usage of the numbers one and a thousand is thus employed to represent a particular truth rather than specifically describing an accurate numerical equation.
In the same vein, Job 33:23 declares,
“If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness.” The same two common numbers are used here in the form of a contrast to simply portray the picture of a special vessel. Again, it is not the numbers that are important but the idea they represent.
As we have already discovered in our studies, the same kind of function is repeatedly afforded to the use of the term ‘ten thousand’ as is ‘a thousand’ in Scripture. It is often used in the same context and in the same way as a symbol to represent an immense figure. Thus, the Song of Solomon 5:10 declares,
“My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.”
Ten thousand is here used to, in some way, portray the deep-rooted emotions that a man feels towards his sweetheart. The usage of the number ‘ten thousand’ thus indicates the idea of the deep affection of the man rather than specifically describing an exact numerical computation.
The same idea is presented in 2 Samuel 18:2-3 where David is seen preparing for battle. He tells the people,
“I will surely go forth with you myself also.” To which the people responded, “Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city.”
Jesus employs the number ten thousand as a general figure in Luke 14:31 to relate the necessity of wisdom, asking,
“what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with TWENTY THOUSAND?”
The distinct contrast between one and a thousand is again found in Job 9:2-3, where Job declares,
“I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.”
This passage is contrasting the infinite knowledge of God to the finite knowledge of God. This language is stating the enormous depth of God's understanding rather than limiting God to the capacity to only answer a thousand questions.
