I was curious regarding Pastor Riley's letter of July 7 about the Rapture being looked for by many in 1988 at Rosh Hashanah, and then many walked away in disappointment.I wondered if there was anything significant about the time period of 17 years, and got out my Strongs concordance. One of the very first things I noticed was Gen. 47: 28 "and Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred and forty seven years."
Also in I Kings 14: 21 we are told that Rehoboam, Solomon's son, reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, but the land of Judah was very wicked and returned to idol worship, possibly due to his mother's influence as she was an Ammonite. Under his reign, in the fifth year,Shishak, the king of Egypt came up and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, including the gold shields Solomon had made, so Rehoboam had brass shields made in their stead.
Another tidbit is that the prophet Jeremiah purchased the field of Hanameel for 17 shekels of silver. Jer. 32: 7 says " Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it." Verses 20 and 21 of the same chapter also mention the Israelites being shown signs and wonders in Egypt, as they were brought out and into the land of promise.
Jeremiah was imprisoned inside the palace because King Zedekiah didn't like that Jeremiah had prophesied from the Lord that the Babylonians would defeat him, and he would be delivered into their hands. This all came to pass, as surely as the Lord had said it would, and the nation was carried off into captivity in Babylon.Jeremiah said in Jer. 32: 23 "And they came in, and possessed it; (the promised land) but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandest them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them."
Hmmm.... sounds very much like the Israelis of today, they went in and possessed the land, but have not been obedient, even returned the Temple Mt to the enemy! Egypt always refers to the world, and bondage, or slavery, and each time is mentioned where these verses have the number 17.
It is interesting that the Ark of the Covenant has been presumed by many to have been hidden by the prophet Jeremiah before the Babylonians came in and took the city, and some think that he hid it somewhere in this very field that he paid 17 shekels for. There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about Vendyl Jones and his plan to reveal the Ark next month. He has used the info recorded in the Copper Scroll, which was found buried with the Dead Sea scrolls, and it lists an inventory all the Temple items that were buried by Jeremiah. Get this, from an article atHowever, by 1988, Jones had been able to identify and locate thirty-two of the reference points mentioned in the Copper Scroll.In April of 1988, his patience and fortitude paid off when the VJRI excavation team found a small juglet of thick oil. Intensive testing by the Pharmaceutical Department of Hebrew University concluded that the substance inside the juglet was indeed the HOLY ANOINTING OIL, now believed to be Shemen Mischak (the oil that was used as a fragrance on the oblation for a sweet smelling savor on the sacrifices and which was also used as the Holy Oil for anointing the priests and kings of ancient Israel). This find was crucial since it was the first find of an item mentioned in the Copper Scroll!From Jer. 32: 36 through the end of the chapter the Lord reveals to the prophet that He will return His people to the land one day, despite their disobedience, "And they shall be my people, and I will be their God." verse 38. Jer. 33: 6 says " Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth."
When Jeremiah had Baruch the scribe write down all these words from the Lord he sent him into the city to read the words in the house of the Lord, upon "the day of fasting", Jer. 26: 6. This day could have been the Day of Atonement, the 10th day of the 7th month, referred to in Acts 27:9 as "the Fast".
Hmmmm..... all these things seem to be related, but I'm not sure exactly how, so maybe the spark of inspiration that got me off on this line of detective work can inspire someone else to discover more. I haven't finished this line of study yet, which is why this may be a lot of ramblings, but I want to share what I have found so far.