Ezekiel 4 has poor Zeke lying on one side then the other for a total of 430 days. Each day representing a year of punishment due the Hebrews.
70 of those years ticked off during the captivity in Babylon. Leaving 360 years left.
But only a remnant returned from Babylon, so the majority remained in Babylon and therefor in rebellion to God. So, Leviticus 26 kicked in. If they remained in rebellion, the punishment would be multiplied 7 times.
So, 7 x 360 = 2520 years. Using the Hebrew Lunar calendar of 360 day year that Israel used, that is 907,200 days.
Now take that 907,200 and fit it in the Solar calendar of 365.25 days a year, and that comes to 2483.8 years.
The decree from Cyrus allowing the Hebrews to return to Israel was in the late summer / early fall of 537 BC, which would be -536.4 for math purposes. Now, -536.4 + 2483.8 = 1947.4. But we have to add 1 to the calculation since there is no "0" year between BC and AD. So it comes out to 1948.4, or roughly May 1948 when the modern state of Israel became a nation.
So one can claim everyone in it is only Gentile, but that exhibits a historical myopia. There has always been physical Hebrews in the land. Major Hebrew populations have always existed in the land... in Jerusalem, Joppa, Ashkelon, Gaza, Jaffa, Safed, and Caesarea Even during the crusades of the Middle Ages, the crusaders killed thousands of Hebrews in the land. In one instance, 20,000 were rounded up into the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem and burned alive as the Crusaders marched around singing "Christ We Adore Thee". Some Crusaders had contests to see how many Hebrew babies they could get on a sword. Kinda hard to imagine that there was only a minuscule number of Hebrews in the land.
Fast forward. When the modern State of Israel was created in 1948, 80% of the Jewish population were "Sabras".... Hebrews who had generationally lived in the land since the first century. The first major migration of Jews was from Syria and Iraq..... ancient Babylon area. The descendents of the Hebrews who remained in Babylon in 537BC had finally returned. Several hundred thousand of them.
And Israel was never an independent nation from the start of the Babylon captivity till 1948. The land of Israel we see after Babylon was controlled by Persia, Greece, Rome, Muslim Caliphate, the Ottoman Empire, and Great Britain. Only in 1948 did they become a independent nation again. Per the scripture as outlined above.
Now should I believe your assertion, or should I believe Ezekiel, Leviticus, and history? I'll give you credit that you are a thinking person and can determine where I stand.
Thank you. I deem you a thinking person, also, but I think you are allowing your being well-versed in the OT and Judaism to cloud your knowledge. When you made the huge change to Christ, I think you retained your Jewish spectacles and you look through them when you study. I just pray you will see the true nature of Jesus Christ, so your salvation will be assured. Somewhere, there's a verse which says you can't believe that Christ is NOT God. Sort of a double negative. I'll look for it. It's probably in John.
Of course, I believe in the inspired words of the OT just as much as you do. Every prophecy must eventually be fulfilled. What I don't believe is that any prophecy is being fulfilled during this 2000 year all Gentile parenthetical period we're now living in. This 2000 year would have never existed has Israel accepted Christ as their promised Messiah, during Christ's ministry and Acts. During these periods, the ONLY purpose was to convert Israel, so Christ would return and the Kingdom would be brought in. The formation of the all-Israel church, during Acts, was of secondary importance. Besides Christ, the main topic of the Prophets, in the OT, is the restoration of Israel's earthly Kingdom. To attempt to achieve this goal, many things were done (see below). In Mt 23:39, Christ says, essentially, that He won't return until Israel, as a nation, receives Him. There are several other passages that say the same thing - Acts 3:19-21, e.g. For this reason, the idea that Christ can return at any moment is wrong. I don't see this Gentile period being over for another 45 to 52 years, Until then, there is no Israel to convert.
(1) The Gifts of the Spirit were given, at first, to the 120 Israelite believers in the upper room. Eight years later, the first Gentile, Cornelius, was admitted to the church and received the Gifts. He was also the first Gentile to be grated into the good olive tree, which is Israel. The purpose of the Gifts was to better witness to Israel, through tongues and signs and wonders, as Israel required.
(2) Gentiles allowed into the church only for the purpose of provoking Israel to jealousy, so that, maybe, this would help convert Israel.
(3) Everybody went to the Jew first, even Paul, who was THE apostle to the Gentiles. Paul often went to the Pharisees, who were the Spiritual leaders of Israel. Had they converted, the nation would have followed suite.
All 3 of these things, plus Israel, itself, and the Acts church ceased to exist in Acts 28:28 (probably) or 70AD, when the temple was destroyed. 70AD has an appeal though, since that would make exactly 40 years between the beginning of Acts and the destruction of the Temple. A mentor of mine always says that: If Israel had converted during the Gospel period or the Acts period, the New Heavens and New Earth would now be about 1000 years old.
Knowing what I know about the brand new all-Gentile church only found in Paul's last 7 epistles, which include a brand new unique calling of Heaven, all written after Israel was set aside, at the very end of Acts, it is impossible for me to ever conceive of Israel, which I know doesn't exist today, in God's eyes, of fulfilling any prophecy. Wait 50 more years and this will all change.
Look into 2Tim 2:15 and Phil 1:10, seriously. Note that they both occur in Paul's books written AFTER Acts. Check the meanings of the words in Strong's, because they are tricky - the 1st means "correctly cut" and the 2nd means "test the things that differ". The purpose of these 2 verses is to help prevent contradictions that would surely result if you blended Jewish and Gentile things together. Every mainstream denominational preacher, with no exceptions, is guilty of this. This would create confusion, which God is not the author of. To help eliminate this confusion, God has provided us with these 2 guides. Both are found in Paul's 7 post-Acts books. The reason is that these books are all Gentile and all the other 59 books, from Gen 12 though Acts, are Jewish only. Before the end of Acts, these 2 guides were not needed. Therefore, to correctly cut God's Word, we must make a single cut at some point that will result in everything on one side of the cut being all Israel and everything on the other side of the cut being all Gentile. There is only one place in the Bible where that can be achieved, Acts 28:28. Therefore, the only doctrine involving present truth for
OUR hope, calling, rules, and directions, is found in Eph, Phil, Col, 1&2Tim, Titus, and Philemon. Rightly dividing implies that we must do something with these two parts once we cut them. Common sense dictates we must keep one and discard the other, but only as far as what
directly applies TO US.
Please don't dismiss what I'm saying, because you think it's too complicated. It's far simpler than trying to pick the correct doctrine from an unholy blend of Gentile and Israel doctrine. The ONLY way to NT knowledge is by rightly dividing God's Word. There is not one mainstream denominational preacher that
rightly divides - not one. Therefore, once you get saved (most are good at getting people saved), leave, if you really want to know truth. After you are saved, the ONLY benefits derived in a mainstream denominational church are fellowship and cheap pot-luck suppers.
I know that the true meanings of the words Jew and Jewish are more restricted than in the way I am using them. I am using them to designate any member of the 12 tribes of Israel, as I believe some writers in the NT used them.
