_Messiah’s Consummated Triumph._
Here we come to the end of the circle. We began with Virgo, and we end
with Leo. No one who has followed our interpretation can doubt that we
have here the solving of the Riddle of the Sphinx. For its _Head_ is Virgo
and its _Tail_ is Leo!
In Leo we reach the end of the Revelation as inspired in the Word of God;
and it is the end as written in the heavens.
BAILLY (_Astronomy_) says, “the Zodiac must have been first divided when
the sun at the summer solstice was in 1° Virgo, where the woman’s head
joins the Lion’s tail.”
As to its antiquity there can be no doubt. JAMIESON says, “the Lion does
not seem to have been placed among the Zodiacal symbols, because Hercules
was fabled to have slain the Nemean Lion. It would seem, on the contrary,
that Hercules, who represented the Sun, was said to have slain the Nemean
Lion, because _Leo_ was already a Zodiacal sign. Hercules flourished 3,000
years ago, and consequently posterior to the period when the summer
solstice accorded with _Leo_.” (_Celestial Atlas_, p. 40).
There is no confusion about _this_ sign. In the ancient Zodiacs of Egypt
(Denderah, Esneh) and India we find the Lion. The same occurs on the
Mithraic monuments, where Leo is _passant_, as he is in Moor’s Hindu, and
Sir William Jones’s Oriental Zodiacs. In Kircher’s Zodiacs he is
_courrant_; in the Egyptian Zodiacs he is _couchant_.
In the Denderah Zodiac he is treading upon a serpent, as shown in Mr.
Edward Cooper’s _Egyptian Scenery_.
[Illustration]
Plate 39: LEO (the Lion)
Its Egyptian name is _Pi Mentekeon_, which means _the pouring out_. This
is no pouring out or inundation of the Nile, but it is the pouring out of
the cup of Divine wrath on that Old Serpent.
This is the one great truth of the closing chapter of this last Book. It
is
THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH AROUSED FOR THE RENDING OF THE PREY.
His feet are over the head of _Hydra_, the great Serpent, and just about
to descend upon it and crush it.
The three constellations of the Sign complete this final picture:
1. _Hydra_, the old Serpent destroyed.
2. _Crater_, _the Cup_ of Divine wrath poured out upon him.
3. _Corvus_, the Bird of prey devouring him.
The Denderah picture exhibits all four in one. The Lion is presented
treading down the Serpent. The Bird of prey is also perched upon it, while
below is a plumed female figure holding out _two cups_, answering to
_Crater_, the cup of wrath.
The hieroglyphics read _Knem_, and are placed underneath. _Knem_ means
_who conquers_, or _is conquered_, referring to the victory over the
serpent. The woman’s name is _Her‐ua_, _great enemy_, referring to the
great enemy for which her two cups are prepared and intended.
The Hebrew name of the sign is _Arieh_, which means _the Lion_. There are
six Hebrew words for Lion,(75) and this one is used of the Lion _hunting
down his prey_.
The Syriac name is _Aryo_, _the rending Lion_, and the Arabic is _Al
Asad_; both mean _a lion coming vehemently_, _leaping forth as a flame_!
It is a beautiful constellation of 95 stars, two of which are of the 1st
magnitude, two of the 2nd, six of the 3rd, thirteen of the 4th.
The brightest star, α (on the Ecliptic), marks the heart of the Lion
(hence sometimes called by the moderns, _Cor Leonis_, _the heart of the
Lion_). Its ancient name is _Regulus_, which means _treading under foot_.
The next star, β, also of the 1st magnitude (in the tip of the tail), is
named _Denebola_, _the Judge_ or _Lord who cometh_. The star γ (in the
mane) is called _Al Giebha_ (Arabic), _the exaltation_. The star δ (on the
hinder part of the back) is called _Zosma_, _shining forth_.
Other stars, not identified, are named _Sarcam_ (Hebrew), _the joining_;
intimating that here is the point where the two ends of the Zodiacal
circle have their _joining_. Another star has the name of _Minchir al
Asad_ (Arabic), _the punishing_ or _tearing of the Lion_. Another is
_Deneb Aleced_, _the judge cometh who seizes_. And another is _Al Dafera_
(Arabic), _the enemy put down_.
What can be more expressive? What can be more eloquent? All is harmony,
and all the names unite in pointing us to what is written of “the Lion of
the Tribe of Judah.”
And why is Messiah thus called? Because it is applied to Him in Rev. v. 5
in connection with His rising up for judgment: and because the Lion is
known to have been always borne upon the standard of Judah, whether in the
wilderness (Num. ii.) or in aftertimes.
In Israel’s dying blessing the prophetic words foretold of Judah:
“Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; ...
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, thou art gone up.
He stooped down, he couched as a lion,
And as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?”
(Gen. xlix. 8, 9.)
In the prophecy of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 8, 9), we read:
“He shall eat up the nations his enemies,
And shall break their bones,
And pierce them through with his arrows,
He couched, he lay down as a lion,
And as a great lion; who shall stir him up?”
The same testimony is borne by the Prophet Amos:
“Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey?
Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he hath taken nothing?...
The lion hath roared, who will not fear?”
(Amos iii. 4, 8.)
When “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” is roused up for the rending, the
Spirit describes the scene in Isa. xlii. 13:
“The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man,
He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war;
He shall cry, yea, roar;
He shall prevail against His enemies.”
And this is what is meant and included when the Elder says for John’s
comfort, “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah _hath prevailed_,” and hence, is
“worthy ... to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. v.).
Whether we look, therefore, at the primeval Revelation in the heavens, or
at the later Revelation in the Word, the story is one and the same.
And what we see of Leo and his work in both, we find developed and
described in the three constellations of the Sign.
1. HYDRA (The Serpent).
_The Old Serpent Destroyed._
The time has at length come for the fulfilment of the many prophecies
pictured in the heavens: and in its three final constellations we see the
consummation of them all in the complete destruction of the Old Serpent,
and all his seed, and all his works.
[Illustration]
Plate 40: HYDRA (the Serpent), CRATER (the Cup), CORVUS (the Raven)
It is the special work of the Messiah, as “the Lion of the tribe of
Judah,” to trample it under foot.
It is pictured as _the female serpent (Hydra)_, the mother and author of
all evil. _Hydra_ has the significant meaning, _he is abhorred_!
It is an immense constellation extending for above 100 degrees from east
to west, beneath the Virgin, the Lion, and the Crab. It is composed of 60
stars; one of the 2nd magnitude, three of the 3rd, twelve of the 4th, etc.
The brightest star, α (in the heart of the Serpent), is sometimes called
by the moderns _Cor Hydræ_ on that account. Its ancient name is _Al Phard_
(Arabic), which means _the separated_, _put away_. Another is called _Al
Drian_, _the abhorred_. Another star is named _Minchar al Sugia_, _the
piercing of the deceiver_.
There can be no doubt as to what is taught by the constellation of Hydra,
nor is it necessary to quote the Scriptures concerning the destruction of
the Serpent. We pass on to consider the second.
2. CRATER (The Cup).
_The Cup of Divine wrath Poured out upon Him._
“God is the Judge.
He putteth down one, and setteth up another,
FOR IN THE HAND OF THE LORD THERE IS A CUP,
And the wine is red; it is full of mixture,
And He poureth out of the same:
But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring
them out and drink them.”
(Ps. lxxv. 8.)
“Upon the wicked he shall rain snares,
Fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest:
THIS SHALL BE THE PORTION OF THEIR CUP.”
(Ps. xi. 6.)
This is no fabled wine‐cup of Bacchus; but it is “The cup of His
indignation” (Rev. xiv. 10); “The cup of the wine of the fierceness of his
wrath” (Rev. xvi. 19). This is what we see set forth in this
constellation. The Cup is wide and deep, and fastened on by the stars to
the very body of the writhing serpent. The same stars which are in the
foot of the Cup form part of the body of Hydra, and are reckoned as
belonging to both constellations.
This Cup has the significant number of _thirteen_ stars (the number of
Apostacy). The two—_Al Ches_ (α), which means _the Cup_, and (β)—determine
the bottom of the Cup.
3. CORVUS (The Raven).
_The Birds of Prey devouring the Serpent._
Here is the final scene of judgment. We have had _Zeeb_; _the Wolf_; now
we have _Oreb_, _the Raven_. _Her‐na_ is its name in the Denderah Zodiac.
_Her_, means _the enemy_; and _Na_, means _breaking up_ or _failing_. That
is to say, this scene represents _the breaking up_ of the enemy.
There are nine stars (the number of _judgment_) in this constellation. The
bright star α (in the eye) is called _Al Chibar_ (Arabic), _joining
together_, from the Hebrew _Chiba_ (Num. xxiii. 8), which means
_accursed_. This star, then, tells of _the curse inflicted_. The star β
(in the right wing) is called _Al Goreb_ (Arabic), from Hebrew _Oreb_,
_the Raven_. A third star is named _Minchar al Gorab_ (Arabic), and means
_the Raven tearing to pieces_.
This brings us to the end. There is nothing beyond this. Nothing remains
to be told. We know from the Word of God that—
“The eye that mocketh at his father,
And despiseth to obey his mother,
The ravens of the valley shall pick it out.”
(Prov. xxx. 17.)
We remember how David said to the Giant Goliah—a type of this enemy of
God’s people—“I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee; and I will
give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls
of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth” (1 Sam. xvii. 46).
When the great day of this judgment comes, an angel standing in the sun
will cry “to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and
gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may
eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty
men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh
of all men, both free and bond, both small and great” (Rev. xix. 17, 18).
And after these awful words shall be fulfilled, in the closing words of
the prophecy of Isaiah, Jehovah foretells us how—
“They shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that
have transgressed against Me;
For their worm shall not die,
Neither shall their fire be quenched;
And they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”
This is the teaching of the whole Sign of LEO! It is all summed up in Jer.
xxv. 30‐33:—
“Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say unto
them,
The LORD shall roar from on high,
And utter His voice from His holy habitation;
He shall mightily roar upon His habitation;
He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth;
For the LORD hath a controversy with the nations,
He will plead with all flesh;
He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts,
Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation,
And a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the
earth.
And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the
earth
Even to the other end of the earth;
They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried;
They shall be dung upon the ground.”
Here is the conclusion of the whole matter! Here is the final triumph of
the Son of Man in the consummated victory of the Seed of the woman:
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. v. 12).
“O what a bright and blessed world
This groaning earth of ours will be,
When from its throne the tempter hurled,
Shall leave it all, O Lord, to Thee!
But brighter far that world above,
Where we, as we are known, shall know;
And, in the sweet embrace of love,
Reign o’er this ransomed earth below.
O blessed Lord! with longing eyes
That blissful hour we wait to see;
While every worm or leaf that dies
Tells of the curse, and calls for Thee.
Come, Saviour! Then o’er all below
Shine brightly from Thy throne above,
Bid heaven and earth Thy glory know,
And all creation feel Thy love.”
SUMMARY.
Man has ever sought to rob Christ of His glory. He has long since done his
best to obliterate His name and His work from the Revelation which had
been written in the stars of light. When He humbled Himself, and came as
the promised Seed of the woman, men “saw no beauty in Him that they should
desire Him.” And these were _religious_ men. It was religious men, not the
common rabble, whom the Old Serpent made use of to wound Him in the heel.
The Devil could not touch Him himself; he must use them as his
instruments; and it was only _religious_ men that could be so used.
It was the “chief priests and scribes,” men learned in the Scriptures,
whose very knowledge of the Word was used to compass His death amongst the
babes at Bethlehem (Matt. ii. 4‐6).
It was the same priests and scribes who were used to put Him to death, and
give the long‐prophesied wound in the heel.
Religion without Christ is enmity against God! Knowledge of the Scriptures
where the heart is not subject to Christ, and where Christ is not seen in
them, is powerless and lifeless. It is true of the Scriptures, as it will
be of the heavenly Jerusalem—“THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT THEREOF” (Rev. xxi.
23).
The Church of Rome has been used of the great enemy to rob the Lamb of God
of His promised glory. JEROME, in his Latin translation of the Bible (405
A.D.), wrote “_ipse_,” HE, in Gen. iii. 15, as the “bruiser of the
serpent’s head.” And, in spite of the fact that JEROME himself so quotes
it in his commentary, and that it is _masculine_ in all the other ancient
translations of the Bible, Rome has first corrupted JEROME’S Vulgate by
changing the “e” into “a,” and putting “_ipsa_” (she) instead of “_ipse_”
(He); then she has so translated this corruption and perpetuated this
perversion in various languages! So that in all her versions, in her
pictures and statues, in the decree of Pope Pius IX., which promulgated
the dogma of the “_immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary_,” this lie of
the Old Serpent has been foisted on unnumbered thousands of deluded souls,
who have thereby been deceived into putting Mary in the place of Jesus;
the “co‐Redemptress” in the place of the Redeemer; the creature in the
place of the Creator; the woman in the place of the woman’s Seed;—until
the outcome is reached by emblazoning, in huge gilt letters, on the
outside of a large church in Rathmines, Dublin, “MARIÆ PECCATORUM
REFUGIUM,” to Mary the Refuge of Sinners!
So complete has been the success of the subtlety of the Serpent, that he
has beguiled thousands of Protestants to unite in circulating these
_corrupted versions as the Word of God_, thus giving currency to the
Devil’s lie. This is done on the plea of expediency, in order that these
versions might come to many as Protestant truth instead of Popish error;
but thus misleading those who were seeking for light, while confirming
Papists in their darkness.
But through all the “wisdom of the Serpent” we can detect his lie. It is
very thinly veiled, and the Old Serpent has not succeeded in blinding the
eyes which the Spirit of God has opened. True, we see in all Rome’s
pictures and statues the foot of Mary, on the Serpent’s head, but the foot
is not _coming down_, nor is the head _crushed_! Rather is the woman’s
foot resting on its head; and the woman herself supported by the Serpent.
The whole system of Mary‐anity is thus seen to be the outcome of the
Serpent’s wisdom in opposition to the true Christ‐ianity.
How different are the primeval star‐pictures of the heavens. There, the
club is lifted up, the foot is coming down, yea, the foot is actually
planted upon the enemy, treading the Scorpion under foot.
Rome may corrupt the words of the Book, but she cannot touch the stars of
heaven! The Devil himself cannot move them from their places. He may
choose and use his servants and agents for corrupting the Scriptures
written in the Book, but he cannot change the Revelation of the stars.
There,—no woman’s foot is seen upon the Serpent’s head! There,—no woman
usurps the place of the all‐glorious Redeemer!
In _Ophiuchus_ we see HIM in dread conflict with the Serpent, and we see
HIS foot upon the Scorpion’s heart (SCORPIO). We see HIM, the Risen Lamb
(ARIES), binding _Cetus_, the great Monster of the Deep; we see HIM in the
glorious _Orion_, whose foot is coming down on the enemy’s head (_Lepus_);
we see HIM in the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (LEO), about to tread down
that Old Serpent (_Hydra_) the Devil; we see HIM in the mighty _Hercules_,
who has his foot on the head of the _Dragon_ (_Draco_), and his up‐lifted
club about to inflict the long‐threatened blow; we see HIM crowned in
_Cepheus_, with all His enemies subdued, and His right foot planted upon
the Polar Star!
True, we do see a WOMAN in this heavenly and Divine revelation; for there
are four women. Two are connected with the REDEEMER, and two with the
REDEEMED. The Redeemer is seen in the one (VIRGO) as the “promised Seed”;
in the other (_Coma_), He is seen as the child born, the Son given. The
Redeemed are represented in one as a captive _chained_ (_Andromeda_), with
no power to wage conflict with an enemy, but a prey to every foe; in the
other (_Cassiopeia_), she is _enthroned_, with no necessity for conflict.
For with one hand she waves the palm of a victory which another
(_Perseus_) has wrought on her behalf, while with her right hand she is
preparing and making herself ready for “the marriage of the Lamb.”
Thus pure and undefiled is this primeval fountain of Divine truth. Thus
harmonious is it with the written Word of God. And He who gave them both
to enlighten a dark world which lieth in the power of this wicked one, has
filled both with one subject—“The sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow.”
These are set forth by the Holy Spirit in a double sevenfold expansion of
the prophetic promise of Gen. iii. 15, giving seven steps in His
humiliation and seven in His glorification (Phil. ii. 5‐11(76)).
CHRIST JESUS,
1. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery (a thing
to be grasped at and held) to be equal with God;
2. But made Himself of no reputation (Gr. _emptied Himself_),
3. And took upon Him the form of a servant,
4. And was made in the likeness of men:
5. And being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself.
6. And became obedient unto death,
7. Even the death of the cross.
WHEREFORE
1. God also hath highly exalted Him,
2. And given Him a name which is above every name:
3. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
4. Of things in heaven,
5. And things on earth,
6. And things under the earth;
7. And that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
“Come, then, and, added to Thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth,
Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine
By ancient covenant, ere Nature’s birth;
And Thou hast made it Thine by purchase since,
And overpaid its value with Thy blood.
Thy saints proclaim Thee king; and in their hearts
Thy title is engraven with a pen
Dipp’d in the fountain of eternal love.
Thy saints proclaim Thee king; and Thy delay
Gives courage to their foes, who, could they see
The dawn of Thy last advent, long desired,
Would creep into the bowels of the hills,
And flee for safety to the falling rocks.”
“Come, then, and, added to Thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, as radiant as the rest,
Due to Thy last and most effectual work,
Thy Word fulfilled, the conquest of a world.”
(_Cowper._)
“FOR SIGNS AND FOR SEASONS.”
We have seen the great truths which are taught from the position, and
forms, and names of the heavenly bodies. There are also truths to be
learnt from their _motions_.
When God created them and set them in the firmament of heaven, He said, in
Gen. i. 14—
“Let them be for signs and for seasons.”
Here the word “signs” is _othoth_ (אֹתֹת, plural of אוֹת, _oth_, from the
root אֳתֳת, _to come_). Hence, _a sign of something_ or _some One to
come_. In Jer. x. 2 Jehovah says, “And be not dismayed _at the signs_
(וּמֵאתוֹת) of the heavens, for the heathen are dismayed at them.” The
word “seasons” does not denote merely what we call the four seasons of the
year, but _cycles_ of time. It is מוֹעֵד, _appointed time_ (from the verb
יָעַד, _to point out_, _appoint_). It occurs three more times in Genesis,
each time in connection with the promised Seed—
Gen. xvii. 21, “_At_ this _set time_ in the next year”;
Gen. xviii. 14, “_At the time appointed_ I will return”; and
Gen. xxi. 2, “_At the set time_ of which God had spoken.”
Gen. i. 14 is therefore, “They (the sun, moon, and stars) shall be for
signs (things to come) and for cycles (appointed times).”
Here, then, we have a distinct declaration from God, that the heavens
contain not only a Revelation concerning _things to come_ in the “Signs,”
but also concerning _appointed times_ in the wondrous movements of the
sun, and moon, and stars.
The motions of the sun and moon are so arranged that at the end of a given
interval of time they return into almost precisely the same position, with
regard to each other and to the earth, as they held at the beginning of
that interval. “Almost precisely,” but not quite precisely. There will be
a slight outstanding difference, which will gradually increase in
successive intervals, and finally destroy the possibility of the
combination recurring, or else lead to combinations of a different
character.
Thus the daily difference between the movement of the sun and of the stars
leads the sun back very nearly to conjunction with the same star as it was
twelve months earlier, and gives us the cycle of the year. The slight
difference in the sun’s position relative to the stars at the end of the
year, finally leads the sun back to the same star at the same time of the
year, _viz._, at the spring equinox, and gives us the great precessional
cycle of 25,800 years.
So, too, with eclipses. Since the circumstances of any given eclipse are
reproduced almost exactly 18 years and 11 days later, this period is
called an _Eclipse Cycle_, to which the ancient astronomers gave the name
of _Saros_;(77) and eclipses separated from each other by an exact cycle,
and, therefore, corresponding closely in their conditions, are spoken of
as being one and the same eclipse. Each _Saros_ contains, on the average,
about 70 ± eclipses. Of these, on the average, 42 ± are solar and 28 ± are
lunar. Since the _Saros_ is 11 days (or, more correctly, 10.96 days)
longer than 18 years, the successive recurrences of each eclipse fall 11
days later in the year each time, and in 33 _Sari_ will have travelled on
through the year and come round very nearly to the original date.
But as the _Saros_ does not reproduce the conditions of an eclipse with
absolute exactness, and as the difference increases with every successive
return, a time comes when the return of the _Saros_ fails to bring about
an eclipse at all. If the eclipse be a solar one before this takes place,
a new eclipse begins to form a month later in the year than the old one,
and becomes the first eclipse of a new series.
This is the history of one such eclipse: On May 15 (Julian), 850 A.D.,
there was a (new) eclipse of the sun, and it occurred as a _partial_
eclipse. On August 20 (Julian), 1012 A.D., this new eclipse became
_total_. From that time it has been an _annular_ eclipse, the latitude of
the central shadow gradually shifting southward from the north, until on
December 17 (Julian), 1210, it had reached N. Lat. 24°. It turned
northward again after 1210, until March 14 (Julian), 1355, when it fell in
N. Lat. 43°. Then it turned south, and has moved steadily in that
direction, until on March 18 (Greg.), 1950, its last appearance as an
annular eclipse will take place. On May 22 (Greg.), 2058, it will fall so
far from the node that a new eclipse will follow it on June 21. It will
make three more appearances as an ever‐diminishing partial eclipse, and be
last seen on June 24 (Greg.), 2112. Its total life‐history, therefore,
will have been 1,262 years and 36 days, and will have occupied 70 _Sari_.
In the above life‐history of an eclipse(78) there is not the slightest
difficulty as to its identification. The _Saros_ shows no break, and no
interruption; nor does the character of the eclipse suffer any abrupt
change. The district over which it is visible moves in a slow and orderly
fashion from occurrence to occurrence over the earth’s surface.
Now the important point is this, that if we take the prophetic reckoning
of 360 days to the year, we have the following significant Biblical
numbers:—
In the first place, we already have the 70 ± _Sari_ divided into two
portions of 33 + 37.
A perfect cycle is accomplished in 33 _Sari_, or 595 years, when the
eclipse, by a series of unbroken _Sari_, has accomplished a passage
through the year of 360 days; or, if we reckon only the whole numbers,
_i.e._, the 18 completed years, we have for the 33 _Sari_ the period of
594 years, while the remaining portion of 37 _Sari_ makes 666 years (37 x
18) ; and the whole 70 ± _Sari_ makes 1,260 years (594 + 666).(79)
We have then the following figures:—
18 x 33 = 594 years.
18 x 37 = 666 years.
18 x 70 = 1260 years.
Independently of this, we also know that 1,260 years is a soli‐lunar
cycle, so exact that its epact, or difference, is only 6 hours!
There must, therefore, be something significant in these numbers, _e.g._,
70; in the number 1,260, with its divisions, not into two equal parts, but
into 594 and 666; as also in its double, 2,520.
There must be something to be learned in the occurrence and repetition of
these heavenly cycles, which for nearly 6,000 years have been constantly
repeated in the heavens, especially when we find these same numbers very
prominently presented in the Word of God in connection with the fulfilment
of prophecy.
We have the great “seven times” (2,520) connected with the duration of
Israel’s punishment, and of the Gentiles’ power. We have in Daniel and the
Apocalypse the half of this great period presented as “days” (1,260), as
“months” (42), and as “times,” or years (3‐½).
Futurists believe that these “days” and “months,” etc., _interpret for us_
the purposes and counsels of God as connected with “the time of the end,”
and as meaning literal “days” and “months,” etc.
Historicists take these terms and themselves _interpret the numbers_, in
the sense of a “day” being put for a _year_, and they believe that these
“1,260 days” will be fulfilled as 1,260 _years_.
One party boldly and ungraciously charges the other with teaching “_The
Fallacies of Futurism_”; while the other might well retort with a
reference to the _Heresies of Historicism_.
But is there any necessity for the existence of two hostile camps? Is it
not possible that there may be what we may call a _long_ fulfilment in
years? And is it not more than probable that in the time of the end, the
crisis, there will also be a _short_ and literal fulfilment in days?
We firmly believe that there will be this literal and _short_ fulfilment.
We believe that when God says “days,” He means _days_; and that when He
says “42 months,” He means _months_, and not 1,260 years. In all of the
passages referred to by historicists in support of what is called “the
year‐day theory,” the Holy Spirit uses these words “days” and “years” in
the sense of days and years. In the two particular instances of Israel’s
wanderings (Num. xiv. 34), and Ezekiel’s prophesying (Ezek. iv. 6), He
chooses to take the _number_ of days as denoting the _same number_ of
years; but He does not tell us that we are to do the same in other cases!
He only asserts His sovereignty by thus acting, while we only show our
presumption in taking His sovereign act as a general principle.
But while fully believing in the _short_ fulfilment, we are quite prepared
to admit that there may be a _long_ fulfilment _as well_; and that, owing
to the wondrous harmony, and marvellous correspondence, and infinite
wisdom of all the works and ways of God, there may be a fulfilment, or
rather a “filment,” if we may coin the word, in years, which will be only
a foreshadowing of the literal _ful_‐filment afterwards to take place in
_days_.
If historicists will allow us this liberty as to _interpretation_, and
permit us to believe that God means what He says, we will give them some
remarkable evidence in support of their views, by way of _application_. In
other words, if they will allow us to _interpret_ “days” as meaning days,
we will gladly allow them, and be at one with them, in _applying_ them to
years. So that while we believe the _interpretation_ to mean “days,” and
to teach a _short_ fulfilment at the time of the end, we will thankfully
admit an _application_ which shall take these days as foreshowing a _long_
fulfilment in years.
In _applying_, then, these significant numbers (42, 70, 594, 666, 1,260,
and 2,520) to years, from what point or date shall we begin to reckon the
“_times of the Gentiles_” (Luke xxi. 24)? That there are such definite
“times” the words of the Lord Jesus show, when He says, “Jerusalem shall
be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled.” (Luke xxi. 24). That there are “seven times” of Gentile
dominion is more than intimated by the symbolic episode in the life of
Nebuchadnezzar as recorded in Dan. iv.; and that there are “seven times”
of Israel’s punishment is clearly stated in Lev. xxvi. 18. “Seven times,”
according to the Historicist school of interpreters, are equal to 2,520
years.
Instead of asking where they begin, let us first note the fact that it is
_duration_ which is emphasised in the Scriptures rather than _chronology_;
and look at the duration of these years independently of, and before we
attempt to fix, their beginning and ending.
In Daniel ii. and vii. it is shown first to Nebuchadnezzar in a “dream,”
and afterwards to God’s servant the prophet in a “vision,” that Israel was
to be put on one side and become “Lo‐Ammi” (_not My people_), while
government was to be put into the hands of the Gentiles. Jerusalem was the
central point of both these great and solemn facts. That is to say, during
2,520 years, while Jerusalem should remain in the power of the Gentiles,
Israel could be “no more a nation” in possession of their land and city.
We know, as a matter of fact, that to‐day Jerusalem is in the hands of the
Turks, and that it is still “trodden down of the Gentiles.”
If we ask how long it shall continue to be “trodden down”? how long it
will be before Israel shall again possess their city and their land?—the
answer brings us at once to the heart of our subject.
In seeking to determine both duration and chronology, it is necessary to
plant our feet on sure ground. To do this, let us take a point on which
all are agreed.
There is _one_ date which is universally accepted; and concerning which
the evidence is unquestioned.
ABU OBEIDA, the Mahommedan General, laid siege to Jerusalem towards the
close of 636 A.D. The city was then occupied by the Romans, who held out
for four months. When they capitulated, the Patriarch SOPHRONIUS obtained
a clause in the treaty giving security to the inhabitants, and requiring
the ratification of OMAR himself. OMAR, who had therefore to be sent for,
arrived some six months afterwards, and the delay caused the actual
delivering up of the city to take place early in the autumn of A.D.
637.(80)
The year A.D. 636‐7 is therefore the accepted date of the passing over of
Jerusalem from the Romans to the Turks.
OMAR seems to have stayed in the city only about ten days, during which he
must have given his instructions for the erection of the Mosque on the
site of the Temple. This Mosque, therefore, stands as the sign and the
symbol of the treading down of Jerusalem, and while it remains, those
times of treading down cannot be considered as fulfilled.
How steady was Israel’s decadence from Nebuchadnezzar to OMAR! Nothing
would exceed that darkest moment in Israel’s history, when Israel was well
nigh obliterated in the mighty struggles of her enemies who fought over
her inheritance. Thus OMAR becomes the great central point of the 2,520
years, whether reckoned as _Lunar_, _Zodiacal_, or _Solar_, dividing them
equally into two portions of 1,260 years.(81)
Having thus fixed the central date, which already points forward to the
end, let us go back and find the starting point, that we may the better
understand the end.
When Daniel was explaining to Nebuchadnezzar his mysterious dream, he
said, “Thou art this head of gold”! (Dan. ii. 38). This moment is
popularly, but erroneously, supposed to mark the commencement of the
Babylonian kingdom—the first of these four great Gentile powers.
But Daniel spoke of what ALREADY existed, and was _explaining the then_
condition of things. He said, “God _hath_ given thee a kingdom, power, and
strength, and glory” (Dan. ii. 37). The kingdom of Babylon had already
been in existence for more than thirty years, for its king had destroyed
Jerusalem and burnt the Temple with fire, and brought away many captives,
amongst whom was Daniel and his companions. The opening words of the book
make this very clear.
The monumental history of Babylon, as now dug up, shows that before this
it had been sometimes tributary to, and sometimes almost independent of,
Assyria. In A.M. 3352, after a severe struggle with Assurbanipal, the
Assyrian king, Babylon was once more subdued, and its king setting fire to
his palace perished in the flames. After that there was peace for twenty‐
two years, during which time Kandalanu governed Babylon in succession to
Sumas‐sum‐ukin, a son of Assurbanipal.
In A.M. 3375 (_i.e._ B.C. 627),(82) another revolt broke out, and the
Assyrian king sent a general of great ability to quell it. His name was
Nabu‐pal‐user (which means _Nebo protects his son_). He put down the
rebellion with so much skill that Assurbanipal made him governor of
Babylon. He shortly afterwards, in A.M. 3376, himself rebelled, and made
himself King of Babylon. Associating with him his son Nebuchadnezzar, they
commenced a campaign against Assurbanipal, which ended in the fall of
Nineveh and the complete subjugation of Assyria. The kingdom of Babylon,
thus commencing in B.C. 625,(83) became the first great Gentile kingdom as
foretold in Daniel.
There is practically no question, now, as to this date.
The actual _duration_ of the three kingdoms that followed—Babylon, Medo‐
Persia, and Greece, may not perhaps be so accurately determined. Their
total duration is known, because it is fixed by a known date at the other
end, but it might introduce controversial matter if we attempted to assign
to them their exact relative duration. Probably they were,
roughly:—Babylon about 90 years; Medo‐Persia about 200 years; Greece about
304 years.
We believe these to be fairly proportionate,(84) but whether they are or
not, their total amount must have been 594 years, because the undisputed
date of the battle of ACTIUM by which Augustus became the head of the
Roman Empire, was September B.C. 31. From this date Jerusalem passed
permanently under the power of Rome until the Mahommedan conquest in A.D.
636‐7.
We have, therefore, _three fixed dates_, and these decide for us the
_duration_ of the intervening periods; dividing them into the two great
Eclipse Cycles of 594 years and 666 years!
_Jerusalem under the Gentiles._
Babylon (the 1st Kingdom) commenced B.C. 625.
Battle of Actium, ending the possession of the 3rd Kingdom, B.C.
31.
_Duration_ of the three Kingdoms, Babylon, Medo‐Persia, and
Greece, together (1st Eclipse Cycle), 594 years.
Rome (the 4th Kingdom) became the possessor of Jerusalem, B.C. 31.
Mahommedan conquest of Jerusalem, ending the possession of Rome,
A.D. 636.
_Duration_ of Rome’s possession of Jerusalem (2nd Eclipse Cycle),
666(85) years.
FIRST HALF OF “THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES”, 1260 years.
Date of Mahommedan conquest of Jerusalem, A.D. 636‐7.
SECOND HALF OF “THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES” and _Duration_ of
Mahommedan possession of Jerusalem, A.D. 1260, and 1260 years.
End and “fulness” of “the times of the Gentiles”, A.D. 1896‐7, and
2520 years.
From this it appears that 1896‐7 A.D. would mark the fulfilment, and
complete the duration, of “times of the Gentiles.”
The above reckoning has the following advantages over all previous
historicist interpretations:—
1. _Controverted_ dates are excluded.
2. The _whole_ period of 2520 years is dealt with, instead of only the
latter half (1260), as is usually the case.
3. It confines these “times” to the one place where the Lord Himself put
them, _viz._, “JERUSALEM.” He said, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of
the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
These “times,” therefore, are confined to Jerusalem. This “treading down”
is confined to Jerusalem. It is not the city of Rome that is to be trodden
down for 1260 years. Why, then, should these “times” be separated from
what is characteristic of their _duration_, and applied to Rome, papal or
imperial? Why should historicists search for some act of emperors or popes
in the early part of the seventh century in order to add it to 1260, so as
to find some terminal date in or near our own times!(86)
We claim that the Lord Himself has joined these “times of the Gentiles”
with the city of “Jerusalem,” and we say, “What, therefore, God hath
joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matt. xix. 6).
When Jesus spoke of this _treading down_, it looks as though it were then
still future; for He said, “Jerusalem _shall be_ trodden down,” etc., The
occupation of Jerusalem by Babylon, Medo‐Persia, Greece, and Rome, was for
purposes of _government_ rather than for a wanton treading down.
Government on the earth was committed unto them. But when Jerusalem passed
from the government of the Roman Empire into the hands of the Turks, it
could then be said, in a very special sense, to be “trodden down.” For of
any government worthy of the name there has been none; and of desolation
and desecration the city has been full. Under the feeble rule of the
Turks, all the Gentiles seem to have combined in laying waste the holy
city.
Though Jews are returning thither in ever‐increasing numbers, they are
only strangers there. They have as yet no independent position, nor can
they make any treaties. But when these “times” shall end, it means that
they will have a position of sufficient independence to be able to make a
treaty or league with the coming Prince (Dan. ix. 27); and then the course
of events will bring on another treading down of 1260 literal “days” which
will thus have had a fore‐shadowing fulfilment in years! This is written
in Rev. xi. 2. And to save us from any misunderstanding, the time is
given, not in days, but in “_months_.”
The angel, after directing John to measure the Temple of God and the
altar, adds, “but the court which is without the Temple leave out, and
measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall
they tread under foot forty and two months.”
This refers to a future treading down, which will be limited to the brief
period of “forty two” literal “months,” during the time of the coming
Prince; and “in the midst” of the last week, when he shall break His
covenant with the Jews,(87) set up the “abomination of desolation” (Dan
ix. 27; which is still future in Matt. xxiv. 15), and “tread down the holy
city.”
We now desire to specially emphasize the fact that all these dates, and
their termination in a rapidly approaching fulfilment, refer ONLY TO
JERUSALEM, AND THE GENTILES, AND THE JEWS! They refer only to the end of
the Gentile possession of Jerusalem, and to the settlement of the Jews in
their own city and land.
These “times and seasons” have nothing whatever to do with “the Church of
God” (1 Thess. v. 1). The mystical Body of Christ, whenever its members
are complete, “will be taken up to meet the Lord—the Head of the Body—in
the air, so to be ever with the Lord” (1 Thess. iv. 15‐17). This glorious
event has nothing to do with any earthly sign or circumstance, so far as
the members of this mystical Body are concerned.
Therefore we are not dealing here with the coming of the Lord; either for
His saints, or with them. We are not referring to what is commonly and
erroneously called “the end of the world.” We are merely pointing out that
the end of Gentile dominion _over Jerusalem_ is drawing near! And we
cannot close our eyes to the marvellous manner in which the veil is being
removed from Jewish hearts: to the change which has come over the Jewish
nation in its attitude towards Christ and Christianity, chiefly, under
God, through the unparalleled circulation of more than a quarter of a
million copies of a new translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, by
the late Isaac Salkinson, published by the Trinitarian Bible Society, and
freely distributed by the Mildmay Mission to the Jews: to the Palestine
literature which has sprung up amongst the Jews in recent years: to the
persecutions in various countries which are stirring their nest, and
setting the nation in motion: to the organized emigration to Argentina,
which its promoters avowedly speak of as “a nursery ground for Palestine”
(_Daily Graphic_, March 10th, 1892): to the railways completed and in
course of construction in the Holy Land: to the numerous Societies and
their branches which have permeated the whole nation, which, while having
various names, have only one object—“the colonisation of Palestine.”
When we put these events side by side with the teaching of the heavens as
to the “cycles” or appointed times, we are merely showing how wonderfully
they agree with what is written in the Book, and witnessed to by great and
uncontested historic dates.
Nor are we absolutely naming a definite year or day even for these
Palestine events. After all, they can be only approximate, for man has so
misused every gift that God has ever given him, that even with such
wondrous heavenly time‐keepers he cannot really tell you what year it is!
And, besides this loss of reckoning, there is confusion as to the
commencement of the A.D. era, which makes absolute accuracy between the
A.M., B.C., and A.D. dates impossible.
Added to this, there is another point to be borne in mind, _viz._, that
when the “times of the Gentiles” shall end, Jewish independence need _not
be either immediate or complete_!
For when Nebuchadnezzar began his kingdom of Babylon in A.M. 3376 (B.C.
625), the Jews, though in their land and city, were not independent.
Nebuchadnezzar went to and fro to Jerusalem, and put down and set up whom
he would; and it was not till some thirty years afterwards that he
destroyed the City and Temple and made the people captives.
So, likewise, in the time of the end, there may be an _epanodos_. There
may be a similar period of possession without independence, a quasi‐
independence guaranteed by the Great Powers; and, for ought we know, it
may be that, in order to gain _complete_ independence, they may ultimately
make that fatal league with the coming Prince.
So that while we name the dates 1896‐7 as being significant, we are not
“fixing dates” in the ordinary sense of the term, but merely pointing out
some of “the signs of the times,” concerning which we ought not to be
ignorant.
The _true interpretation_ will in any case still remain, and will surely
be literally fulfilled in its own time. The Word of God will be
vindicated; its prophetic truth will be verified; God Himself will be
glorified; and His people saved with an everlasting salvation.
Meanwhile the members of His Body will “wait for His Son from heaven, whom
He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to
come” (1 Thess. i. 10). They will live “looking for that blessed hope, and
the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who
gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify
unto Himself a peculiar people (R.V., a people for His own possession)
zealous of good works” (Titus ii. 13, 14). They will “look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,” from heaven, believing that there is no
hope either for “the Jew, the Gentile, or the Church of God,” or for a
groaning creation, until “the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, whom the heaven must
receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of ALL HIS HOLY PROPHETS SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN” (Acts
iii. 19‐21).
“The world is sick, and yet not unto death;
There is for it a day of health in store;
From lips of love there comes the healing breath,—
The breath of Him who all its sickness bore,
And bids it rise to strength and beauty evermore.
Evil still reigns; and deep within we feel
The fever, and the palsy, and the pain
Of life’s perpetual heartaches, that reveal
The rooted poison, which, from heart and brain,
We labour to extract, but labour all in vain.
Our skill avails not; ages come and go,
Yet bring with them no respite and no cure;
The hidden wound, the sigh of pent‐up woe,
The sting we smother, but must still endure,
The worthless remedies which no relief procure,—
All these cry out for something more divine,
Which the worst woes of earth may not withstand;
Medicine that cannot fail—the oil and wine,
The balm and myrrh, growth of no earthly land,
And the all‐skilful touch of the great Healer’s hand.
Man needs a prophet: Heavenly Prophet, speak,
And teach him what he is too proud to hear.
Man needs a priest: True Priest, Thy silence break,
And speak the words of pardon in his ear.
Man needs a king: O King, at length in peace appear.”
APPENDIX. NOTE ON THE SIGN LIBRA.
On page 47 we called attention to the point that in all probability the
Sign LIBRA was a very ancient corruption.
The ancient Akkadian name for the _seventh_ month, which was the month
when the sun was in the Sign now called LIBRA, was _Tul‐ku_, which means
_the sacred mound_, or _altar_. The Akkadian name for this Sign was _Bir_,
which means _the Light_, hence, the Lamp with its light, or the Altar with
its fire.
[Illustration]
Fig. 1—The Circular Altar, in the Sign now called Libra.
Its most ancient form was a circular altar.(88) In Figure 1 we have
reproduced this,(89) and it will be at once seen that we have the original
of the disc now preserved in the _two circular scales_ which form the Sign
of LIBRA.
The next stage of the corruption is shown in the Akkadian name of
_Scorpio_ (the Scorpion)—the Sign immediately to the left of the Altar. It
was called _Gir‐tab_, which means _the Seizer and Stinger_, and the next
Figure (2), taken from an Euphratean boundary stone,(90) shows the two
Signs combined, for the Scorpion is stretching out its claws in order to
_seize_ the _Lamp_ or _Altar_.
[Illustration]
Fig. 2—The Scorpion and the Lamp. (From a Euphratean Boundary Stone.)
Thus the meaning of its name is exemplified. It is called the _Seizer and
Stinger_. And just as in the constellation above it, the Serpent is
struggling with the man, while at the same time it is stretching out its
neck to seize the crown,(91) so here the Scorpion, while trying to _sting_
the same man in the heel, is stretching out its claws to _seize_ the
altar.
A seal on a contract, nearly 700 B.C., shows this Circular Altar actually
in the grasp of the Scorpion.
[Illustration]
Fig. 3—Scorpion and Lamp. (From an Euphratean Seal.)
Figure 3 is a picture of this Euphratean Seal, preserved on a contract
made on the 8th day of the month _Tisri_, _i.e._, this same _seventh_
month!(92)
This then is the next stage. But Mr. Robert Brown, junr., observes, “The
_Circle_ or other representation of an _Altar_ not unnaturally disappeared
as the use of the Sign advanced westward; whether by sea, or across Asia
Minor, or both, and the _Chelai_ alone remained when the shores of the
Ægean were reached.”(93)
This is quite true, for the Greek name for the Sign was _Chelai_, which
means simply _the Claws_. And thus the Scorpion monopolised two Signs; its
body one, and its claws the other. This led to the mistake of SERVIUS, the
intelligent commentator on VIRGIL,(94) that “the Chaldean Zodiac consisted
of but eleven constellations.” We now know that there were twelve Signs,
and the mistake is thus explained.
[Illustration]
Fig. 4—The Constellation of "the Claws." Formerly the Circular Altar, now
Libra.
Mr. Brown quotes ACHILLES TATIUS, about 475 A.D., in a Fragment on the
_Phainomena_, who says, τὰς χηλὰς τὰς καλόυμένας ὑπ Ἀιγυπτίων Ζυγὸν.(95)
ARATUS says that “some few stars of the _Claws_ are in the (Celestial)
Equator.” And PTOLEMY describes the stars, now reckoned in LIBRA, as being
in what he calls “The Constellation of the Claws.” We have reproduced them
so that his description of them may be readily traced. He speaks of—
“The bright one of those at the end of the southern _Claw_.” (It
is named _Zuben el Genubi_ and now marked α).
“The one more northerly than it, and dimmer” (now marked μ).
“The bright one of those at the end of the northern _Claw_” (named
_Zuben el Chemali_, and now marked β).
“The one in front of it and dim” (δ).
“The one in the middle of the southern _Claw_” (1 i).
“The one in the middle of the northern _Claw_” (now marked γ).
“The one behind it in the same _Claw_” (η).
“The foremost of the three more northerly than the northern
_Claws_” (1 f).
“The southern one of the two hindmost” (ε).
“The hindmost of the three between the _Claws_” (one of the stars
now marked κ or λ).
“The northern of the two remaining and preceding ones” (ζ).
“The southern one of them” (n).
This is how the stars formerly in the Sign of the (Circular) ALTAR, came
to be reckoned in _the Claws_ of the Scorpion; and this is how the
circular scales of LIBRA came to be substituted for the ancient _Circular_
ALTAR.
This corruption of the primitive teaching of the ALTAR, shows how the
enemy attempted to _seize_ on the Atonement, bring in “the way of Cain,”
and substitute _human merit_ for the atoning sacrifice of Christ; thus
perverting the truth at its fountain head. Just as in Gen. iii. we have
the woman’s promised Seed in conflict with the Enemy, so in Gen. iv. we
see the Scorpion’s claws—“the way of Cain” in conflict with “the way of
God.”
There can be but little doubt, therefore, that the first Sign of the
Zodiac was VIRGO, the second was the ALTAR, and the third was the
SCORPION. The lesson which they teach is clear: The Seed of the woman
(VIRGO), who was to come as a child, should be a sacrifice (the ALTAR) for
the sins of His people; endure a great conflict with the enemy (SCORPIO),
in which He should be wounded in the heel; but should in the end crush and
tread the enemy under foot.
FOOTNOTES
1 For what is meant by “Structure,” see _A Key to the Psalms_, by the
late Rev. Thos. Boys, edited by the present author, 7, St. Paul’s
Churchyard. Price Five shillings.
2 _Viz._, in _A_ (verses 7, 8),—
“Converting,” from שׁוּב, _to return_, as the sun in the heavens.
“Testimony,” from עוּד, _to repeat_, hence, _a witness_, spoken of
the sun in Ps. lxxxix. 37.
“Sure,” אָמַן, _faithful_, as the sun. (Ps. lxxxix. 37.)
“Enlightening,” from אוֹר, _to give light_, as the sun. (Gen. i. 15,
17, 18; Isa. lx. 19; Ezek. xxxii. 7.)
In _B_ (verses 11, 12, 13),—
“Warned,” from זָהַר, _to make light_, hence, _to teach_,
_admonish_.
“Keeping,” from שָׁמַר, _to keep_, _observe_, as the heavens. (Ps.
cxxx. 6; Isa. xxi. 11.) Or as the heavenly bodies _observe_ God’s
ordinances.
“Errors,” from שָׁנַה, _to wander_, as the planets.
“Keep back,” חָשַׂךְ, _to hold back_, _restrain_.
“Have dominion over,” from מָשַׁל, _to rule_. Spoken of the sun and
moon in Gen. i. 18. “The sun to rule the day,” &c. (Ps. cxxxvi. 8,
9.)
3 The other half of the Psalm is just as perfectly arranged. For
example, there are six words used (verses 7‐9) to describe the
fulness of the Word of God, and they are thus placed, alternately:—
F | _Two_ feminine singulars. (Law and Testimony.)
G | _One_ masculine plural. (Statutes.)
_F_ | _Two_ feminine singulars. (Commandment and Fear.)
_G_ | _One_ masculine plural. (Judgments.)
4 From סָפֹר, _to cut into_, or _grave_, hence, _to write_. It has the
two senses of our English verb _tell_, which means _to count_, and
also _to narrate_. The first occurrence is Gen. xv. 5, “_Tell_
(סְפֹר) the stars, if thou be able to _number_ (לסֵפֹּר) them.” Gen.
xxiv. 66, “The servant _told_ Isaac all things that he had done.”
Ps. lxxi. 15, “My mouth shall _show forth_ (יְסַפֵּר, _tell of_,
R.V.) thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know
not the _numbers_ (סְפֹרוֹת, _i.e._, _the accounts_) of them,”
_i.e._, all the particulars.
5 From כָּבַד, _to be heavy, weight_, the context determining whether
the weight spoken of is advantageous or not. The first occurrence is
Gen. xii. 10, “The famine was _grievous_ (כָּבֵד) in the land.” The
next, xiii. 2, “Abram was very _rich_ (כָּבֵד).” It is often applied
to persons who are _of weight_ and _importance_, hence, glorious and
honourable. It is used of the _glory_ of the Lord, and of God
Himself, as we use Majesty of a person. See Isa. iii. 8; iv. 2; xi.
10; xliii. 20; Hag. ii. 8; Ex. xvi. 7; xxiv. 17; 1 Sam. iv. 21; Pss.
xxvi. 8 (_honour_); lxiii. 3.
6 From נָגַד, _to set before_, _to set forth_, _to shew_. First
occurrence, Gen. iii. 11, “Who _told_ thee that thou wast naked.”
Ps. xcvii. 6, “The heavens _declare_ His righteousness”; cxi. 6,
“_He hath shewed_ his people the power of his works.”
7 This is the English idiom for the Hebrew “Day to day.” The ל is used
in its sense of _adding_ or superadding to, as in Isa. xxviii. 10,
צַו לָצָו, “precept to precept;” _i.e._, precept after precept, line
after line. Gen. xlvi. 26, “All the souls that came with Jacob”
(לְיַעֲקֹב, to Jacob; _i.e._, in addition to Jacob. So here, “Day to
day;” _i.e._, Day in addition to day, or, as we say, Day after day).
8 From נָבַע, _to tell forth_, akin to נָבַא, _to prophesy_, from root
_to pour forth_. Lit., here, poureth forth discourse. Ps. cxlv. 9,
“abundantly utter.”
9 Their line, קָו, _i.e._, their measuring line. By the figure of
metonymy the _line_ which measures is put for the portion or
heritage which is measured, as in many other places. See Ps. xvi. 6,
“The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a
goodly heritage.” (See also Ps. lxxviii. 55, &c.) Here, it means
that “Their measuring line has gone forth unto all the earth
(אֶרֶץ)”; _i.e._, All the earth inherits this their testimony
(_i.e._, has this testimony for its heritage), and to the ends of
the world (תֵבֵל, _the inhabited world_) their instruction has gone
forth. With this agrees, in sense, the LXX. here, and Rom. x. 16,
which each has φθόγγος, _a sound_, or _voice_; _i.e._, a sound in
relation to the hearer, rather than to that which causes it. The
meaning of the passage is, “All the earth has their _sound_ or
testimony as its heritage, and the ends of the world hear their
words.” Symmachus has ἦχος, _a sound_, or _report_.
10 חֵמָה means _that which is hot_, and is a poetical name of the sun
itself.
11 Job is thought by some to be the Jobab mentioned in Gen. x. 29, the
third in descent from Eber.
12 Note the structure of this verse:—
A | The seven stars,
B | Orion,
_A_ | The twelve signs,
_B_ | Arcturus.
13 General Chesney allowed the late Dean Goode to copy the passage,
among other matters, from his private MS. The Dean quotes it in his
_Warburtonian Lectures_ (2nd Ed., Note I. to Sermon IV., p. 170‐1.)
14 Fragments of these coloured glazed bricks are to be seen in the
British Museum.
15 _Babylonian Life and History_, p. 36.
16 τοῦ γαρ καὶ γένος ἐσμεν.
17 τοῦ γαρ καὶ γένος ἐσμεν.
18 Besides this _monthly_ difference, there is an _annual_ difference;
for at the end of twelve months the sun does not come back to
exactly the same point in the sign which commenced the year, but is
a little behind it. But this difference, though it occurs every
year, is so small that it will take 25,579 years for the sun to
complete this vast cycle, which is called _The precession of the
Equinoxes_; _i.e._, about one degree in every 71 years. If the sun
came back to the precise point at which it began the year, each
_sign_ would correspond, always and regularly, exactly with a
particular _month_; but, owing to this constant regression, the sun
(while it goes through the whole twelve signs every year) commences
the year in one sign for only about 2,131 years. In point of fact,
since the Creation the commencement of the year has changed to the
extent of nearly three of the signs. When Virgil sings—
“_The White Bull with golden horns opens the year_,”
he does not record what took place in his own day. This is another
proof of the antiquity of these signs.
The _Ecliptic_, or path of the sun, if it could be viewed from
immediately beneath the Polar Star, would form a complete and
perfect circle, would be concentric with the _Equator_, and all the
stars and the sun would appear to move in this circle, never rising
or setting. To a person north or south of the Equator the stars
therefore rise and set obliquely; while to a person on the Equator
they rise and set perpendicularly, each star being twelve hours
above and twelve below the horizon.
The points where the two circles (the _Ecliptic_ and the _Equator_)
intersect each other are called the _Equinoctial points_. It is the
movement of these points (which are now moving from Aries to Pisces)
which gives rise to the term, “_the precession of the Equinoxes_.”
19 It is exactly the same with the books of the Bible. Their order and
their names, _as we have them_ in the English Bible, are those which
_man_ has given them, copied from the Septuagint and Vulgate, and in
many cases are not the Divine names according to the Hebrew Canon.
20 Here, the fact of His humiliation, together with this long period of
His rejection, is leaped over, and the prophecy passes on at
once—over at least a period of 1893 years—to this “glory which
should follow.”
21 ε, _Al Mureddin_.
22 β, _Zavijavah_.
23 The star now marked δ.
24 The star ζ.
25 The star α, _Al Zimach_.
26 The stars are known by Greek letters and sometimes by numbers, &c.
Alpha (α) denotes a star of the _first_ magnitude; Beta (β), the
second, and so on. This plan was originated by Bayer in his
_Uranometria_, 1603. The star _Alpha_, as seen in the New Great
Equatorial Telescope recently set up at Greenwich, is now discovered
to be really a _double_ star, though it had hitherto always appeared
to be _one_.
27 Jer. xxxiii. 15 being only a repetition of Jer. xxiii. 5.
28 From כָּמַה which occurs only in Ps. lxiii. 1, “my flesh _longeth_
for thee.” It is akin to חָמַד, _to desire_. Ps. xix. 10; Is. liii.
2; Hag. ii. 7; etc.
29 A Latin translation of his work is in the British Museum Library. He
says the Persians understood these signs, but that the Indians
perverted them with inventions.
30 The constellations are called _Decans_. The word means _a part_, and
is used of the three parts into which each sign is divided, each of
which is occupied by a constellation.
31 It appears that MM. Saulnier, fils, and Lelorrain arrived while
Signor Bossi was engaged in copying it, but concealed their design
to remove it. The King of France paid £6,250 sterling for it. It has
since been copied, and lithographs have been published.
32 Act IV., Scene 3.
33 _I.e._, _come forth_ (as in the R.V.). _At_, as the preposition מ is
rendered in Gen. iii. 24. “There shall come forth a star at or over
the inheritance or possessions of Jacob,” thus indicating the
locality which would be on the _meridian_ of this star.
34 It ought also to be noted that in the preceding year there were
three conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, at the end of
May and October, and at the beginning of December. Kepler
(1571‐1631) was the first to point this out, and his calculations
have been confirmed by the highest authorities. These conjunctions
occurred in the sign of PISCES: and this sign, according to all the
ancient Jewish authorities (Josephus, Abarbanel, Eliezer, and
others), has special reference to _Israel_. The conjunction of
Jupiter and Saturn, they hold, always marked the occurrence of some
event _favourable to Israel_; while Kepler, calculating backwards,
found that this astronomical phenomenon always coincided with some
great historical crisis, _viz._: the Revelation to Adam, the birth
of Enoch, the Revelation to Noah, the birth of Moses, the birth of
Cyrus, the birth of Christ, the birth of Charlemagne, and the birth
of Luther.
35 The ancient name could not have been _Boötes_! though it is derived
from, and may be a reminiscence of the Hebrew.
36 ARATUS calls him _Arctophylax_, _i.e._, the guardian of Arctos, the
flock of the greater fold, called to‐day the Great Bear:—
“Behind, and seeming to urge on the Bear,
Arctophylax, on earth Boötes named,
Sheds o’er the Arctic car his silver light.”
By some moderns he is mistakenly called _The Waggoner_. Hence the
allusion of Thompson:—
“Wide o’er the spacious regions of the North,
Boötes urges on his tardy wain.”
This perversion scarcely does justice even to human common sense, as
waggoners do not use a sickle for a whip!
37 The constellation is a very brilliant one, having 54 stars, _viz._,
one of the 1st magnitude, six of the 3rd, eleven of the 4th, etc.
The constellation of the _Canes Venatici_ (_the Greyhounds_),
_i.e._, the two dogs (Asterion and Chara), which Boötes holds by a
leash, is quite a modern invention, being added by Hevelius
(1611‐1687). The bright star of the 3rd magnitude in the neck of
Chara, was named “_Cor Caroli_” (_the heart of Charles_) by Sir
Charles Scarborough, physician to Charles II., in honour of Charles
I., in 1649. This is a good example of the almost infinite distance
between the ancient and modern names. The former are full of
mysterious significance and grandeur, while the latter are puerile
in the extreme, almost approaching to the comic! _e.g._, the Air
Pump, the Painter’s Easel, the Telescope, the Triangle, the Fly, the
Microscope, the Indian, the Fox and Goose, the Balloon, the Toucan
(or American Goose), the Compasses, Charles’s Oak, the Cat, the
Clock, the Unicorn, &c. The vast difference can be at once seen
between those designed by the ancients and those added by
astronomers in more recent times.
These new constellations were added, 22 by Hevelius (1611‐1687); and
15 by Halley (1656‐1742). They were formed for the purpose of
embracing those stars which were not included in the ancient
constellations. This shows that the old constellations were not
designed, like the modern ones, merely for the sake of enabling
astronomers to identify the positions of particular stars. In this
case _all_ the stars would have been included. _The object was
exactly the opposite_! Instead of the pictures being designed to
serve to identify the stars, only certain stars were used for the
purpose of helping _to identify the pictures_!
This is another important proof of the truth of our whole argument.
38 See quotation from Dr. Budge, on page 12.
39 And certainly the symbol by which it is still known ♎ is more like
the top of an altar (See _Ara_, Plate XIV.) than a pair of balances,
to which we can trace no resemblance whatever. See Note in the
Appendix.
40 _Antares_ seems also to have been known as _Lesath_.
41 Luke xxii. 53: comp. Col. i. 13 and Eph. vi. 12.
42 In 1604 a new star appeared in the eastern foot of Ophiuchus, but
disappeared again in 1605.
43 There is an ancient Greek fable which calls Ophiuchus Æsculapius,
the son of Apollo. Having restored Hippolytus to life, he was
everywhere worshipped as the god of health, and hence the serpent
entwined around him is, to this day, the symbol of the medical art!
This, however, is, doubtless, another perversion of the primitive
truth that the Coming One in overcoming the serpent, should become
the great healer of all the sorrows of the world, and cause all its
groanings to cease.
44 _Cerberus_, or the serpent with three heads, was placed by Hevelius
(1611‐1687) by the side of Hercules. Bayer had previously placed the
apple branch in his hand. This was symbolical of the golden apples
of _Hesperides_, which he obtained by killing the three‐headed
_hydra_, by whom they were guarded. In our picture these are
combined, and a bow and quiver added from other ancient authorities.
45 In our picture we have combined the two great thoughts, taking the
_harp_ from a picture dug up at Herculaneum, and adding an eagle
soaring up with it.
46 This is the first time that the word “Alleluia” occurs in the New
Testament, and it is praise for judgment executed.
Where is its first occurrence in the Old Testament? In Ps. civ. 35,
where we have the very same solemn and significant connection:—
“Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth,
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless thou the LORD, O my soul,
HALLELUJAH (Praise ye the LORD).”
47 There is a fish tail here. The third Decan of CAPRICORNUS is a fish
(_Delphinus_). There is again a fish (_Piscis Australis_) in the
next sign (AQUARIUS), and then the following sign is PISCES, or the
Fishes. So that the Redeemed Multitudes are presented throughout
this Second Book.
48 When we come to the last chapter of this book we shall see that the
Sun was in the sign of the other sacrificial animal, ARIES, at the
very hour of the Crucifixion. And ARIES sets before us the victory
of “the Lamb that was slain.”
49 The eleventh, because everyone begins to reckon from ARIES, and not
as we have done from VIRGO, as shown by the riddle of the Sphinx.
See page 20.
50 And in great contrast with several modern ones near it, _e.g._, the
Balloon, the Sculptor’s Apparatus, the Microscope, Euclid’s Square,
the Telescope, etc., etc.
51 How inconsistent when there were three such conjunctions in one
year, all in the same sign of PISCES, immediately preceding the
birth of the woman’s Seed; and in addition to this the new star
which had been foretold. See under _Coma_, Pages 36, 37, 38.
52 The figure of _Tapeinosis_, which calls our attention to that fact
that He was delighted thus to be called.
53 There are 113 stars in this sign, none of any great importance; only
one of the 3rd magnitude, five of the 4th, etc.
54 “El Nath” is used by Chaucer as the name of a spring star.
55 TAURUS then marked the Spring Equinox.
56 “Thy beauty; for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I put
upon thee (Jerusalem), saith the LORD” (Ezek. xvi. 14).
57 Those who interpret the Queen here of the Church as the Bride,
interpret the “Virgins” in Matt. xxv. of the Bride also. But how
inconsistent! If the “Virgins” be the Church in Matt. xxv., then
where is the Bride? If the Queen is the Bride (the Church) in Ps.
xlv., then who are the “virgins her companions”? Both cannot be the
correct interpretation. In fact, both are wrong, and hence the
_confusion_. The Bride must be interpreted by the Old Testament
scriptures, and the Prophecies which belong to Israel must not be
robbed and given to the Church. They cannot be thus diverted without
bringing confusion into the Scripture, and causing loss to our
souls.
58 See Job xxxix. 14, 15, where it is said, the ostrich “leaveth her
eggs in the dust, forgetting that the foot may crush them, or that
the wild beast may break them.”
59 The others have names, but they were given by the Greeks from the
names of the seven daughters of _Atlas_ and _Pleione_. The Hyades
were their sisters. Together they tell us that the saints will be
secure with this mighty Lord when he comes to rule.
60 The Pleiades and Hyades are sometimes spoken of as constellations,
but this is a mistake; they are integral parts of Taurus.
61 See Jer. xxx. 21; and Matt. xxi. 10.
62 The star ζ (in the belt) is called _Mintaka_, _dividing_, as a
sacrifice. (Lev. viii. 2.)
63 Note, that—
In a and _a_, we have the rising of Israel;
In b and _b_, the light that is come upon her;
In c and _c_, the glory of the LORD; and
In d and _d_, the darkness of the world.
64 It is also reckoned in the horn of Taurus.
65 The same as in 2 Sam. iv. 1.
66 Our English “Sir” is derived from this word.
67 _Euphratean Stellar Researches_.
68 Marg., “_the captives of the just_,” or, as read by _the Vulg._ and
_Syr._, “_the captives of the terrible_.”
69 The Scarabæus, passing its early existence as a worm of the earth,
and thence issuing as a winged denizen of heaven, was held sacred by
the Egyptians as an emblem of the resurrection of the body.
70 The _Ass_ was the emblem of _Typhon_, the king _who smites_ or _is
smitten_.
71 The word is so rendered in Judges v. 16, in A.V.
72 _Euphratean Stellar Researches_, pp. 8, 9.
73 The Græco‐Judean equivalent of Joshua or Jesus.
74 Jamieson’s _Scientific Display_, &c., p. 58.
75 (1) _Gor_, a lion’s whelp. (2) _Ciphir_, a young lion when first
hunting for himself. (3) _Sachal_, a mature lion in full strength.
(4) _Laish_, a fierce lion. (5) _Labia_, a lioness; and (6) _Arieh_,
an adult lion, having paired, in search of his prey (Nah. ii. 12; 2
Sam. xvii. 10; Num. xxiii. 24).
76 The passage consists really of two members, each of which is
arranged as an introversion, where the subject of 1 corresponds to
7; 2 corresponds to 6; etc.
77 General Vallancey spells _Saros_ שׂערוֹץ, which amounts to 666 by
Gematria! _Viz._, ש = 300 + ע = 70 + ר = 200 + ו = 6 + ץ = 90 = 666.
78 These facts are kindly supplied by Mr. E. W. Maunder, of the Royal
Observatory, Greenwich, who gives another example, as follows:—
In A.D. 586 there were two solar eclipses: on June 22 (Julian) the
old and dying eclipse, and on July 22 (Julian) another (the new
one). A _Saros_ (_viz._, 18 years and 11 days) earlier _there was
only one_, _viz._ on June 11 (Julian), A.D. 568, there being no
eclipse on July 11 of that year.
The last appearance of this new eclipse, which first appeared on
July 22, 586, was on August 28 (Greg.), 1848, so that it had a life
history of 70 _Sari_, amounting to 1,262 years 36 days (after the
Julian dates have been corrected to correspond to the Gregorian).
Thus the eclipse that died, so to speak, on August 28 (Greg.), 1848,
first appeared on July 22 (Julian) in A.D. 586. See an important
article on Eclipses by Mr. E. W. Maunder in _Knowledge_, for October
1893, where other _life‐histories_ of eclipses are given, and the
whole subject of eclipses clearly explained.
79 The relations between 595 years and 1,262 years 36 days, are the
same as the relations between 594 years and 1,260 years. The
difference of the 2 years 36 days is due to the excess of 10.96 days
over the 18 completed years in each _Saros._
80 This is the date which concerns only the _City of Jerusalem_. The
Romans were not completely driven out from _the land_ until Cæsarea
had fallen in 638, when the conquest was finally completed. See
Gibbon’s _Decline and Fall_.
81 This date 636‐7 is a great and important central date, whether we
reckon backwards or forwards; whether we reckon them as _Lunar_,
_Zodiacal_ (360 days), or _Solar_ (365 days) years.
(1.) If we take _Lunar years_ (= 1222‐1/2 Solar)—
(a.) reckoning _backward_, we get to 587 B.C., the very date of the
destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar.
(b.) reckoning _forward_, we get to 1860 A.D., the very date of the
European intervention in the Lebanon, which has brought the Eastern
Question into its present prominent position.
(2.) If we take _Zodiacal years_ (= 1242 Solar)—
(a.) reckoning _backward_ we get to 608 B.C., the date of the battle
of Carchemish (2 Chron. xxxv. 20), when Babylon completed the
conquest of Assyria, and became supreme; utterly shattering all the
hope which Israel had in Egypt.
(b.) reckoning _forward_ brings us to 1879 A.D., when, by the Treaty
of Berlin, Ottoman power received a blow from which it has never
recovered, and which has prepared the way for its extinction.
(3.) If we take _Solar years_, then—
(a.) reckoning _backward_, we get to B.C. 624 (A.M. 3376), the
beginning of the Babylonian kingdom, the “head of gold.”
(b.) reckoning _forward_ we get to 1896‐7 A.D., which is yet future.
These reckonings in their _beginnings_ and _endings_ form an
_introversion_, or _Epanodos_, thus:—
587 B.C. ... 606 B.C. ... 624 B.C. ... dates increasing.
1860 A.D. ... 1879 A.D. ... 1896‐7 A.D. ... dates increasing.
The _Solar_ reckonings are the more important dates; the _Lunar_ are
next in significance; while _Zodiacal_ reckonings furnish us with
dates which, to say the least, fit neatly into their places.
82 These dates are those furnished by the Monuments, as given by Dr.
Budge, of the British Museum, in his _Babylonian Life and History_,
R.T.S., 1885. They also agree with the dates dug up by Sir Henry
Rawlinson in 1862, consisting of fragments of seven copies of the
famous “Eponym Canon of Assyria,” by which the Assyrian chronology
has been definitely settled. Before this, historians had to be
content with inferences and conjectures.
83 In adjusting the A.M. and B.C. dates, the latter are always
apparently one year in advance of the former, because B.C. 4000 was
A.M. 1, and B.C. 3999 was A.M. 2. Hence A.M. 3376 is not B.C. 624,
but it is B.C. 625.
84 Cyrus took Babylon, according to the Monuments, in the 17th year of
Nabonidus, B.C. 539. 1 Maccabees i. begins the first of Alexander
from the death of Darius Codomannus in A.M. 3672. This would
slightly vary the above distribution of the years of separate
duration.
85 In passing from B.C. dates to A.D. dates, _one year must always be
deducted_, _e.g._, from B.C. 2 to A.D. 2 is only _three_ years, not
four! Thus—
From Jan. 1 B.C. 2 to Jan. 1 B.C. 1 is one year.
From Jan. 1 B.C. 1 to Jan. 1 A.D. 1 is one year.
From Jan. 1 A.D. 1 to Jan. 1 A.D. 2 is one year.
These make only _three_ years.
Hence, B.C. 31 to A.D. 636 is 666 years, not 667.
86 While the _premisses_ of the Historicist school are thus
strengthened, their _conclusions_ are shown to be erroneous.
87 And cause sacrifice and oblation to cease (Dan. ix. 27). We know
that is referred, by historicists, to the Messiah. But they are not
entitled to so interpret this passage unless they take with it viii.
11, xi. 31, and xii. 11, where the same event is distinctly referred
to, and is spoken, not of Christ, but of Antichrist.
88 See ARATOS, line 440.
89 As proved by Mr. Robt. Brown, junr., in his _Remarks on the
Euphratean Astronomical Names of the Signs of the Zodiac_ (p. 16).
90 By the kind permission of Mr. Robt. Brown, junr., _The Celestial
Equator of Aratos_, p. 466.
91 See this shown on the cover of this book.
92 Menant, _Empreintes de Cachets Assyro‐Chaldéens_, 9. “Sur un contrat
daté du 8 Tisri, de l’année de Bin‐takkil‐ani, 690 ou 645 avant
J.C.”
93 _Researches on the Euphratean Astronomical Names of the Signs of the
Zodiac_, p. 17.
94 In _Georgica_, i. 33.
95 AP PETAVIUS, _Uranologion_, 168, “_The claws, called by the
Egyptians Zugon_,” _i.e._, _the yoke_ that joins any two things
together.