Daniel’s Time, Times and a Half Time
By: Kevin Heckle
There is but one place in the Bible in which the question is asked and answered, “How long shall it be until the end of these wonders?” The question occurs in one of Daniel’s visions, asked by an unnamed character by the river and answered by the extraordinary person ‘clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz.’ He stands upon the waters of a river in Daniel’s vision, between two other unnamed individuals on each opposing shore. The word used for ‘wonders’ is H6382 and it refers to something extraordinarily hard to understand. Daniel understood the thing and that the time appointed was long (10:1). Daniel was commanded by the person upon the waters to ‘shut up the words, and seal the book, even until the time of the end’ (12:4). I believe we are at the “end” and that knowledge has increased to the point that this prophecy can be understood through this new knowledge.
Daniel gives the specific date at the outset of the vision (10:1-4), a date we can count from and that is Hebrew date Nisan 24, 3225. This is a date that I have confirmed by extra-biblical sources dating Cyrus, his successors and also by a particular eclipse recorded on a tablet (see “Dating Daniel’s Visions” here http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2011/kevinh425.htm). To make any calculations from the date easier, I use the Julian day serial number which is 1525759.
Unarguably, the Hebrew calendar as its basis is the lunar cycle. While it may periodically be adjusted to stay in synchronization with the solar cycle (Metonic), its basis is the lunar year, which is exactly 354.3670662 days long. The sum of the two given values in Daniel 12 (1290 + 1335) is 2,625. While it may be coincidental, 2625 lunar years (2625 x 354.3670662) totals 930,213 days, which when added to Nisan 24, 3225 yields a Gregorian date of February 14, 2012 (which is Julian day serial number 2455972). Amazingly, this number yielding this date is also exactly 1000 times the human gestation period times 3.5!
· 29.530588853 x 9 months x 1000 = 265,775.3 days or a TIME.
· A ‘time, times and a half’ = 1 + 2 + ½ = 3.5
· 3.5 x 265,775.3 days = 930,213.5 days
· Another confirmation of this value is the fact that the ratio of 1260 (biblical days) to 2625 given in Daniel is so that:
o 1 lunar year plus one lunar LEAP year (25 months) times 1260 = 930,213 days!
However, I believe the vision of Daniel tells us to look for an AVERAGE. In his vision, he describes the exquisite person’s location upon the waters of the river (representative of time) between two others on opposing shores (standing on solid ground). Each character on each shore represents a value far and a value close from Daniel’s perspective. The character adorned in linen and gold placing him in the middle, upon the waters of the river, represents the median value. I’ve understood and used this in my computations. For instance, sometimes a month from conjunction to conjunction can be more or less than the AVERAGE 29.530588853 days. In the case of calculating astronomical events, the average is the more precise and preferred method of prediction.
For those who do not have the patience to read this article through to the end, the other value based on my understanding of Daniel’s vision and numbers (which I will explain) is 930,321 days.
The median value of 930,213 and 930,321 is 930,267 days. Amazingly, the median date this yields is EASTER 2012!!!
930,267 (median value) + 1525759 = Julian day serial number 2456026 or Gregorian date April 8, 2012. This is also the day after PASSOVER, which is the first day of counting down the 7 weeks to Shavuot or PENTECOST.
Amazingly, this date
matches the description in Revelation 12 as the virgin
(Virgo) is clothed with the sunlight (hidden by the
day) and has the FULL PASSOVER MOON at her feet!
I am typically not fond of date-setting, but clearly Easter 2012 will have some significance in end-time events!!!
The Numbers of Daniel
If you are interested in how I arrived at the 930,321 day value based on Daniel’s numbers, it is most amazing design of God as it is reconciled by the sun, moon and stars or more specifically Venus. The three brightest objects which the Lord gave us to tell time (Gen 1) are specifically described by the numbers of Daniel and John the Revelator.
In the book of Revelation chapter 12, John equates the ambiguous ‘time, times and a half’ with 1260 days. In the broader sense then, Daniel’s Vision describing a ‘time, times and a half’ would also equate to 1260 of some timeframe. As I described before the sum of one lunar year plus one lunar leap year time 1260 yields the 930,213 days also. Interestingly though, from Daniel’s date 1525759 (Julian s#) plus 1260 lunar years pinpoints EXACTLY the erection of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in October of 687 AD, which is also 1290 lunar years after the Babylonian king caused the sacrifices to cease in all of Egypt and beyond. The total of Daniel’s three values of 1260 (implied and confirmed), 1290 and 1335 then is 3885. Although 1260 isn’t stated, it is confirmed by those things cited. The difference between 3885 and 1260 doubled is 1365. 1365 lunar years from the erection of the Dome of the Rock in 687 again comes to 2/14/2012!!!
Venus’ Star Cycle and the Moon
Venus has a known from antiquity, a precessional cycle. To explain, the ratio of the solar period of our earth to that of Venus causes the two heavenly bodies to align with the sun every 583.92 days on average. The location of each conjunction is almost 216 degrees or 218.67 days solar distance from the previous conjunction. On the fifth such conjunction or 2919.6 days, the location is almost back to where the first occurred. IF you could look down from above the sun, the completed cycle would form a pentagonal star. However, because it isn’t exactly 216 degrees, the conjunction comes 2.3365 tropical days before a full 8 tropical years. Consequently, a precessional cycle occurs that takes 1199 sidereal years to complete or 1255 tropical years mathematically. The first conjunction then would be 1 FULL sidereal or tropical year ahead of the first solar event. To the ancients though, regarding a precessional cycle, they were concerned with the lunar year. By God’s providence the smaller 8 year cycle of approximately 2920 days is also a multiple of the lunar month. Ninety-nine months of 29.53 days is 2923 days. So, if on a certain solar date (sun) you see the moon (lunar) in a certain constellation (stars) by the planet Venus (star), you will see it in the same place in the sky approximately 8 years (2921 days) later. For the larger precessional cycle of Venus pertaining to the moon’s cycle, it lasts 1215 years or 355 days ahead of the first solar event. In other words, if you can see the moon and Venus in a particular place in the sky on a certain solar date, 1215 years later it will occur (approximately) again. Now you might think that these values have nothing to do with the Bible or Daniel’s numbers, but I discovered these things by an analysis of Daniel’s numbers 1260, 1290 and 1335. Consider this: the difference between 3885 (total) and 2 times the greatest value (1335) is 1215. -1215 is also the negative difference subtracting in reverse order of Biblical appearance in Daniel 1335-1290-1260 equals -1215, an interesting number considering the precessional motion is in the negative direction of orbital rotation and takes 1215 years to precess one full lunar year ahead of the starting point. If you are not convinced Daniel’s numbers pertain to this Venusian cycle, now divide 3885 by 1215 and the answer is 3.1975. This value is two times the ratio of earth’s orbital period (365.2421896) to the conjunction period with Venus (583.9202).
Raised Hands
In the vision (Dan. 12:7) the character ‘upon the waters’ is specifically described as raising each individual hand towards the heaven, his right and left. According to the Blue Letter Bible and Gesenius’ Lexicon, the two Hebrew words in this passage delineate NORTH (left) and SOUTH (right). As the character raises his hands as if to measure the heavens, he proclaims a ‘times, times and a half time’. The word for time here is H4150 which means APPOINTED PLACE and is sometimes interpreted as ‘seasons’. In the most general sense, this season would refer to the time between solstices, being the northernmost and southernmost rising places of the sun measured by the tropics, which is 182.621 days. Of course the ‘end of these wonders’ did not come 639.17 days or years later (3.5 times 182) so some other ‘season’ or time must have been intended. Again dividing: 3885/1215 = 3.1975. However, to be more specific, the actual 760th conjunction occurs at 1215.02762 years. Substituting the specific value of 1215.02762 into the equation yields 3.197458 as a value. Multiplying the 182.6211 days by this value yields EXACTLY 583.92 days which is the conjunction period of Venus, morning star to morning star!!
To further prove Daniel’s Prophecy pertains to the Venusian cycle, consider this: The ratio of 1260 (the unsaid value) to 2625 (the stated values of 1290+1335) is 48/100’s or .48. If you could stand on Venus’s surface, the day would take 116.75 of our earth days from sun rise to sun rise. However, because Venus rotates in the opposite direction of Earth, we observe it taking 243 sidereal days. This ratio is 48/100, something it would be impossible for Daniel to know as relatively few people know it now. Also (388.5/583.92) x 365.2421896 = 243 days.
2300 Mornings and Evenings reconcile the Precession of the Equinox
In the book of Daniel chapter 8 is a reference to 2300 mornings and evenings. The KJV simply interprets this as ‘days’, however the two Hebrew words for mornings and evenings are the original text. Knowing that Venus is both a morning and an evening event separately in its cycle, I wondered what the underlying meaning was referring to. 2300 mornings and evenings the ‘sanctuary’ would be cleansed or reconciled according to the Scripture. The Bible states explicitly that the Temple is supposed to be cleansed on the 1st day of Nisan. Nisan, even to the earlier Babylonians was the month of the sanctuary. The 1st day of Nisan is supposed to coincide with the spring equinox, the place where the sun crosses the celestial equator and equal daylight and night. However, the ancients noticed that the Equinox would move over time, about 1 degree every 70 years (another value in Daniel). Consequently, the 1st of Nisan would become un-reconciled with the Equinox.
From morning star rising to morning star rising or evening to evening of Venus is very nearly 584 days. An ideal conjunction period with Venus, based on the solar year and the 8:13 ratio, would be 584.38 days. 2300 x 584.3875 equals 3680 years. If the total ‘precession of the equinox’ cycle is a ‘great week’, then 3680 years would be one ‘great day’ of the week or heptad as the precession of the equinoxes takes 25,760 years or so to complete. The actual value is an estimate on the part of NASA and other astronomers and fluctuates over time. This value reconciling the precession of the equinox and the 1st of Nisan is reckoned by 2300 days from the Bible and is within .037% of the 25,769.54 year current estimate!
More on 2300!
Knowing 2300 morning star periods can reconcile or calculate the rate of lunar-solar precession, I wondered how it fit into the Daniel 12 calculation. Remember that 1215.0276 years, the precessional rate of Venus took it one lunar year ahead. For the calculation to account for the 5 conjunctions over each 8 year period, the total conjunctions have to be divisible by 5 and the total years PLUS one year have to be divisible by 8 as precession is measured by preceding the same position in the zodiac (where the sun is). For instance, if you calculated the precessional period of Venus by the sidereal year, mathematically it would take 750 conjunction periods (divisible by 5) or 1199 years (1199 plus one ahead is 1200) which is divisible by 8. Mathematically, using the tropical calculation, the precessional period should take 1255 years (plus 1 is 1256 divisible by 8) or 785 conjunction cycles. By the way, I discovered something amazing about the 1255 year reckoning. Where you find a conjunction of Venus occurring on the equinox, 1255 years later it will occur on the equinox exactly at 1255 year intervals. 1255 is also the average of 1295 (1260, 1290 &1335) and 1215. Looking at the period by which the precessional cycle of Venus is one lunar year ahead, or 1215.0276 and averaging it with 1216 (one solar year ahead), the average is 1215.51381. Plugging that value into the equation (1215.51381 ÷ 3885) x 2300, the product is 719.6092066.
While that number may seem insignificant, it is EXACTLY the SUM of the TROPICAL YEAR AND THE LUNAR YEAR!!!! 719.6092066 – 365.2421896 = 354.367017. Dividing this lunar value by 12 yields a month of 29.53058475 which is .0000041 DAYS difference than today’s calculated MONTH!!!! Folks, that is only a .35438 second difference from our calculated MONTH’s time. I also find that God must have a sense of humor: If you multiply .35438 times 1000 it is the numerical value of the LUNAR year in days. Only God’s design could yield that value!!!!
Appointed Meeting Place (Strong’s H4150)
As I described earlier, the meetings of Venus and the sun occur at about 216 degrees apart. To be more precise, subtract from the conjunction period of 583.9202 days the tropical year of 365.2421896 and the result is 218.67801 days. While the sun will appear to travel 583.9202 days in the sky, the conjunction will occur 218.67801 solar days distance from where the meeting originally occurred. In other words, if the sun is located at a particular place in the zodiac/Mazzaroth, where the sun would be 218.67 days from now will be the meeting place, but it will occur 583.92 days from now. Converting those days distance to degrees (.985647 x 218.67801) yields a 215.539401 degrees average between meetings. Again referring to a ‘time, times and a half,’ when interpreted by the ancient Hebrew 3.5 times the ‘appointed meeting place’ begins to apply to the meeting place of the 3 brightest objects in the sky: the sun, moon and Venus. Remember that the completion of the 8 year pentagonal cycle is equivalent to 99 months. The ancients called this period the Octaeteris. Taking this appointed meeting place (at 583.92 days) which is 215.539401 degrees or 218.67801 days distance apart, times 3.5 is 765.37303 days distance total, meeting place to meeting place. Dividing this by the tropical year of 365.2421896 days yields the total CIRCUITS that 3.5 ‘meeting place’ distances incurs. The total CIRCUITS of the greater value (Daniel understood the time was long) is then 2.09552195. So then the greater 1215+ year precessional cycle of Venus times the 2.09552195 complete circuits will yield the timeframe given in the prophecy. Understanding that the 1215.51381 year Venusian precessional timeframe yielded such a precise value of the sun plus the moon as reconciled by 2300, that is the value I used in the calculation. The sun, moon and stars (including Venus and the Mazzaroth) are all included in the clock. Remember, the precessional period of Venus is the greater period of the same meeting cycle of Venus and the Sun.
1215.51381 x 2.09552195 = 2547.1359 tropical years OR 930,321 days.
The elegance of God’s mathematical and astronomical design as expressed Biblically in these numbers cannot be understated.
Some other esoteric things about Daniel’s numbers
· 1290 is 2.5 times 360 plus 390 whereas 1335 is the inverse -> 2.5 times 390 plus 360.
· 750 is the sum of 360+390.
o 750 x 3.5 x 29.530588853 * 12 is 2625 lunar years (1290+1335). In general, a ‘time’ is 750 lunar years.
o There are 750 meetings of Venus and the Sun in one complete sidereal precessional period of Venus.
· 3885 is 5 x 777 and inversely 7 x 555.
· The square root of each of Daniel’s numbers when multiplied by 10 yield very close values to the periods of the sun, moon and Venus.
o (SQRT 1260) x 10 = 354.96 à actual is 354.367
o (SQRT 1290) x 10 = 359.167 à average lunar-solar year actual 359.804 OR the difference between the meeting period of 583.9202 days and the orbital period of Venus (224.6952622 days) = 359.23
o (SQRT 1335) x 10 = 365.3765 à actual tropical year is 365.2421896 days