BibleProject - Seventy Times Seven - Prophetic Math - 7th Day Rest E10

Episode Date: December 9, 2019

QUOTE“Welcome to a fascinating industry in biblical scholarship. What we know is that every Jewish group that left a literary record, whether it’s the Qumran community, the Pharisees, the Zealots, and the early Christians—everyone is is talking about Daniel 9. And you can see why. It sets the clock."KEY TAKEAWAYSDaniel 9 and the passage commonly known as "The Seventy Sevens" is one of the most symbolically complex passages in the Bible and also has a wide range of scholarly interpretations surrounding it.Daniel 9 is directly related to Jeremiah 25.The Hebrew prophets like Isaiah in Isaiah 61 began to see the announcement of a jubilee not only as a practice but also as an announcement for a future time when all of humanity would get a restart.SHOW NOTESIn part 1 (0:00–8:20), Jon briefly recaps the conversation so far. Tim shares a verse from Isaiah, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15). This verse, Tim says, is at the core of the theological claims behind the theme of seventh-day rest in the Bible.In part 2 (8:20–27:30), Tim turns to the book of 2 Chronicles.2 Chronicles 36:20-21“He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.”Tim says that the author of this passage would have had two prophecies from Jeremiah in mind when writing this. Jeremiah 25:11-14“This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will make it desolate forever. I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.’”Jeremiah 29:10-14“This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.’”Tim notes that this is a very famous verse in the Bible, but many people aren’t aware of its original context—a promise from God that Israel will return from exile.In part 3 (27:30–46:45), Tim dives into Daniel 9:20, a passage commonly known as “the seventy sevens.”Daniel 9:20-27“While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill—while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, ‘Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision: Seventy “sevens” are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.’“‘Know and understand this: from the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven sevens, and sixty-two sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two sevens, the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: war will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.’”This passage, Tim says, maps directly onto the two Jeremiah prophecies.Tim notes that Daniel would have been heartbroken because he was hoping that this would have been a proclamation of good news that Israel would return from exile. Instead, the message is that Israel has a long way to go in its exile.There are many ways to read and interpret the 490 years (seventy sevens) in Daniel 9. Tim shares about a study from scholar Roger Beckwith, who has done an enormous study on the various interpretations of Daniel 9 in his paper, “Daniel 9 and the Date of Messiah’s Coming in Essene, Hellenistic, Pharisaic, Zealot and Early Christian Computation” (see show resources for link).In part 4 (46:45–end), Tim and Jon cover an important prophecy in Isaiah about a coming jubilee.Isaiah 61:1-3“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,because the Lord has anointed meto proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim freedom for the captivesand release from darkness for the prisoners,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favorand the day of vengeance of our God,to comfort all who mourn,and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beautyinstead of ashes,the oil of joyinstead of mourning,and a garment of praiseinstead of a spirit of despair.They will be called oaks of righteousness,a planting of the Lordfor the display of his splendor.”Tim shares a quote from scholar Bradley Gregory in his essay on Isaiah 61, called “The Post Exilic Exile in Isaiah.”“In Isaiah 40-55, the Babylonian exile is understood as an image of the Egyptian captivity. In the last ten chapters of Isaiah (56-66), the oppressive situation in Jerusalem after the exile has become another symbol. One gets the impression that the author doesn’t see the situation after the exile as any better than the situation in Babylon or enslaved in ancient Egypt. In all cases Israel is shackled because of sin, awaiting deliverance by Yahweh. The prescriptions for the jubilee have been eschatologized—the jubilee is now a metaphor and an image for a future hope. Isaiah has moved the concept for jubilee from a law to a concept of future deliverance.” Show Resources:Roger T. Beckwith, “Daniel 9 and the Date of Messiah’s Coming in Essene, Hellenistic, Pharisaic, Zealot and Early Christian Computation” Bradley C. Gregory, “The Postexilic Exile in Third Isaiah: Isaiah 61:1-3 in Light of Second Temple Hermeneutics” Show Music:Mind your Time by Me.SoExcellent by Beautiful EulogyGood Grief by Beautiful Eulogy Produced by Dan Gummel. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode. Hey, this is Tim at the Bible project.

And today is episode we're gonna be carrying forward a conversation between John and myself about the seventh day rest. We're multiple episodes in. We've been tracing these patterns of the number seven in the storyline of the Bible. We camped out for quite a while on page one in Genesis. And we saw there the number seven, there's seven days of creation in the Genesis 1 account,

and we go from a place of darkness and disorder, and God creates a world of complete order and beauty in a pattern of seven. And then we just started tracing that through, so many stories of the Bible are riffing off of that basic theme. In fact, the whole story of the Bible in a way is working out this gigantic storyline of from darkness and disorder to the seventh day rest. So at this point in the story of the Bible, we've tracked through up to Israel's exile.

How God brought them into the Promised Land, they blew it and they are exiled in what Leviticus presented as like this inverted pattern of 7. So in this episode, it's our last stop in the Hebrew Scriptures. We're going to focus in on a puzzling and fascinating story in the book of the Prophet Daniel. And lo and behold, it all revolves around the number seven. This is in Daniel chapter 9, Daniel is praying for the restoration of Jerusalem and his people from exile and the answer that he gets is not what he expected and it all revolves around the meaning and symbolism of the number seven. This story may be

familiar with it, maybe you're not. It has been controversial in interpretation, in Jewish communities, in all strands of the Christian tradition. People have really wondered what is going on in this chapter of the Hebrew prophets. And it turns out that Daniel himself is riffing off of a theme in the book of Jeremiah, the prophet before him, and that chapter of these riffing off of itself, built off of patterns of symbolism in the number of Jeremiah, the prophet before him, and that chapter, these riffing off of it, it's itself built off of patterns of symbolism in the number seven, too. So this is, I think, a really fascinating and exciting chapter in the Old Testament.

Jesus was really into this chapter because he mentioned it himself. So let's dive in. Here we go. Five minute overview. Do you want to time me? Yes. Okay. Here. Hold on. Getting out my time right. Go. God created the world in six days on the seventh day He stopped and he settled into creation, and he appointed humans to rest with him and to rule with him. This was the human ideal and abundance and it's lost. Humans are exiled, and instead of abundance,

we're ground back down to the dust, but there's still this desire for rest for this final state of completeness. Shabbat, what God did on the seventh day, it means to stop in order to rest, and it's connected to the seven, the cycle of sevens, and seven has the same kind of, what's the word? Yeah, it's the same. Basically the same word as complete. The letters, same letters.

It's idea of completeness. And so seven becomes super important. And as we continue the narrative, Basically the same word as complete. Letters. Same letters. Yeah. It's idea of completeness. And so seven becomes super important. And as we continue the narrative, God chooses Abraham and he says, I'm going to give you that kind of rest, that eat and blessing, your family. Well, the problem is, is Abraham's family is actually enslaved to a violent kingdom, Egypt. And so God has to rescue them from Egypt, and that, rescuing

from Egypt mirrors the same kind of, like, pattern of God, liberating creation out of chaos and disorder. And so you've got this connection between God creating earth or creation so that we can rest in it, is connected to this idea of humans being liberated from death and slavery and violence and and the powers and as he liberates his people he gives them blueprints for a temple and part of the blueprints of the temple is also this Sabbath cycle of rest and how the temple is even dedicated and built and they're told in the commandments and the covenant commandments of what it means to be God's

people that one of them is on on the seventh day stop working. That's right. And so the question is like why is this so important seventh day. And it's all pointing towards this hope that creation will be fulfilled again and complete. And actually, we shouldn't just wait for it. We should practice it now. Yeah, yeah. Practice it on the 7th day where you stop from your work. But then there's all these festivals.

There's seven types of holy days or appointed times. And they're all built around sevens and this anticipation for the renewal of creation. Not only that, but on the seventh year, it's the year of release, like debt's sufforgiven. It's like, we just want creation just be renewed. It's like, let's make it happen. And not only that, but then on the seventh cycle

of the seventh year, everything is reset. It's the year's make it happen and not only that, but then on the seventh cycle of the seventh year Like everything is reset. Yeah, it's the year of Jubilee Yeah, and Israel is wandering in the wilderness. It's a new type of slavery. It's a slavery not to Some other powers, but it's a slavery to their own disobedience It's and and and wilderness is also connected to like testing. And like, are we gonna get this right? Are we gonna choose faithfulness and trust? And they go into the land, they celebrate Passover, the land is abundance, and we see that this theme

of trusting is all connected to this idea of stopping and resting. It's how this was to take down Jericho. Yeah, Jericho is taking down in the Sabbath cycle. In the Sabbath cycle. March for six days, on the seventh day, don't battle. Yeah, stop. Just, yeah.

And shout. Yes. And God will do it. And what was that, verse and Isaiah that you ended up with? Isaiah 30 verse 15, in repentance and rest is your salvation in quietness and trust is your power. Hmm, quietness and trust is your power. That is the theological core of the meaning of the seventh day.

In quietness and trust. Sabbath is power. The foretaste of salvation, therefore your rest is your power. Your trust, faith is your power. How do we get back to this completeness? Do we work for it? Do we fight for it? Or do we stop? Yeah, and trust the God. We'll give it to us. Israel doesn't fulfill the covenant. They're exiled from the land. It's a mirror of Adam and Eve being exiled from the garden. And so now the question remains. Yep.

How will we get to the state of completeness? Yeah, now that we've been exiled from the land. That was five minutes and four seconds. All right. That might be as long as the video is going to be. Yeah. Hopefully the video will be. But we still got some ground to cover. We do. Oh yeah. And the video is going to be. Yeah. Hopefully the video will be. But we still got some ground to cover.

Oh, we do. Oh, yeah. And the video. Yeah, the lots of ground. Yeah, totally. Yeah. That's good. All right.

Yeah, awesome. Good job. That was good. That was end of entertaining. For this part of the conversation, which is going to be how Israel's prophets, the books of the prophets, process the Sabbath, Eden, rest, seventh day, hope for the restoration of Eden and the ultimate seventh day. Let's turn to the last page of the Jewish ordering of the Hebrew scriptures,

which is the last chapter of Second Chronicles. So, in the most ancient form of the organization of the Hebrew Scriptures is the organization and the Jesus called the Torah, the prophets, and then the Psalms, which names the book that heads the third collection, which is also called the writings. And the writings is the diverse collection. It appears that Chronicles was composed as a kind of conclusion to the whole Hebrew Bible. The last chapter is second Chronicles 36 and it retells the story of the last king of Israel. Excuse me, the last king of Judah, who Nebuchadnezzar takes out, and it's the story of the sacking of Jerusalem. This is the story of going in the Dexas.

Yeah, totally. So, starting in verse 11 of 2 Chronicles 36, we're introduced to Zedekaya, who's installed as the puppet king by Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 13, he too rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. That didn't work out. So verse 15, Yahweh was sending again and again his messengers, the prophets. What verses is this? Verse 15.

Yahweh was sending again and again his messengers because he loves his people. And he had compassion on his dwelling place. He loves his people. And he loves his land. He loves that land. But they Israel continually mocked the messengers of God, despised the prophets. And so the anger of Yahweh rose against his people. There was no turning back. He brought against them the king of the Caldeans, and Caldeans is another synonym for the Babylonians.

The Babylonians killed their young men with the sword in the temple. They had no compassion on young men, young women, old men, or the sick. All were given into the Babylonians' hands. All the articles of the temple, great and small, treasures of the temple, and the treasures of the king were all brought to Babylon. They burned the house of God, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, burned its buildings, just bad news. Verse 20, those who escaped from the sword, basically the people

that survived the onslaught were carried away to Babylon, and they were slaves to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia. Remember Chronicles is written towards way late. The restoration of Jerusalem has already happened. The return from exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem has already happened from this author's point of view. Yeah, it's crushing through a lot of history real fast. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, but notice what he says here.

He says, so think the authors already back in Jerusalem. So, yeah, Babylonian exile is over. Second Temple's rebuilt. It's not working out according to head guy, Ze, that guy Malachi, it's not awesome. And this author ends the story here saying, so remember he carried those away to Babylon Verse 21, in order to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, the prophet, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation, the land kept the Sabbath until the 70 years were complete.

Yeah, that's back in Deuteronomy, right? Yeah, Leviticus 26. Leviticus 26. Yeah, we're building up this rest that's needed. The land needs to rest. Yeah, so make sure you let the land, you release it every seventh year and then every Jubilee cycle. Remember so the land will have its rest along with you. The author of Chronicles in Hebrew Bible terminology,

Hebrew Bible scholarship is called the Chronicleer, which I like that a lot. You're the Chronicleer. Chronicleer. It're the chronicler. The chronicler? It's chronicling. It concludes the story by saying that the exile fulfilled the 70 years of Jeremiah, we'll talk about that. Jeremiah said exile would last 70 years.

But when the chronicler read the book of Jeremiah and took a long walk with a cup of tea, he saw, oh, 70. That's about the Sabbath. And do you remember the upside down Sabbath of Leviticus 26? Yeah, it's compounding of like, yeah. Yeah, if you don't obey exile, you continue to not obey, it's going to be seven times an exile. Correct. Yeah. Yep. It's like the anti-release, anti-Jubilee. Yeah, so he sees the exile as the chance for the land to finally get the Sabbath that his relights did not give it.

So why does he think that? Like what led him to that conclusion? Leviticus 26. A bunch of things did. Leviticus 26, this for sure on his brain, he's quoting from it, or does he doesn't say it out? The only text he says he's quoting from is Jeremiah. Yep.

So let's pause and go back to Jeremiah, because how Jeremiah thinks about, and talks about the exile will help us understand. Both the meaning of the exile and the prophets, but also the hope for what lies on the other side of exile. So Jeremiah 25, ah, this is the chapter where Jeremiah says, all the nations are corrupt and violent,

I'm gonna make them all drink a cup of foaming wine. We've talked about this. Foaming wine. Reason past, it's the cup. The cup of God's wrath. The wrath. Anger, God's wrath. Yep.

And the cup is Babylon. To drink the cup means... Babylon's coming. Uh, becoming, yeah, subject Babylon. So, he says to the kings of Israel, Jeremiah 25 verse 11, this whole land will be a desolation and a horrorer. All these nations around, not just Israel, all their neighbors, will serve the king of Babylon 70 years.

Then it will take place when the 70 years are filled full, completed. Then I'll punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the Clare's Yahweh, for their iniquity, and the land of the Caldience, Babylonians, all make an everlasting devastation. So in other words, he's going to use Babylon to be an instrument of justice on the nations, but then Babylon itself, like, is gonna overstep its bounds, and then God's gonna reduce it to nothing. This is what the book of Hebacchic is about. Hebacchic, his first complaint is like,

look how horrible Israel is, and so God says, yes, I'm gonna raise up to Babylonians. And then, I'm gonna say, wait, no, they're even worse. You're gonna wait, you're gonna use. And then, it becomes this cycle that God will even use nasty empires of the world as instruments of his judgment, not to endorse them, but because they're on the scene and he'll work with what he finds.

He works with humans as he finds them. So this 70 year theme gets repeated in Jeremiah 29, where Jeremiah says, When 70 years are completed for Babylon, those are the 70 years again, I'm going to visit you and fulfill my good word to you and bring you back to this place. So Babylon will get what's coming to them and you'll get back to the land. For I know the plans I have for you plans for good plans for a welfare not for calamity to give you a future I don't hope I think that's a famous Bible verse that is a famous Bible verse some people yeah, yeah

Yeah, you know what I can think of a family member who has it on their wall. Oh, that's taking a lot of walls Yeah, it's a classic good calendar verse. Yeah, it's beautiful. You, that's, that's hanging a lot of walls. Yeah. It's a classic one. Good calendar verse. Yeah. It's, it's beautiful. Hear that word from God. I know the plans I have for you. Yeah. It's a good summary of the not optimistic but hopeful art of the biblical story, although optimistic depends on your definition, but uh, let's call back. Yeah. But here it's specifically about your sitting in Babylon. Yeah. And that's the context. Okay, I know the plans I have for you, verse 12, then you will call upon me and pray to me,

and I'll listen to you. So this is an explicit thing of, remember this was in Leviticus, when you're sitting there in exile. Oh, right, yeah. And you're gonna to repent and... Yeah, circumcised heart, heart change. Call out to the Lord.

Yeah, and then God says, then I'll remember my covenant with my people and I'll remember the land. So same thing here, when 70 years are complete, I've got good plans for you. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So just ask me, just ask me for them

when the 70 years are up. Then you'll seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found. That's another classic version. Yeah, yeah, totally. Jeremiah 29, it's coming out. Yeah, bringing the hits.

Oh. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations where I've driven you. I'll bring you back to this place where, okay, you get the idea. So Jeremiah is pretty 70 years. Yeah, put a stake in the ground. 70 years. So the whole question is, what did Jeremiah have in mind? Not necessarily the author of Jeremiah

or of Chronicles as he thought about, but what did Jeremiah, when he like, the prophet, when he's on the street corner, what does 70 mean? People ponder these things. Is 70 just a symbolic round number? Seven is definitely a number full of symbolism. Totally. But at the same time, it's a symbolic round number. Seven is definitely a number full of symbolism. Totally.

But at the same time, it's a very concrete number on the seventh day. Yeah. Stop. Not like some symbolic seventh day. Yeah, that's right. On the seventh day. Yeah, on the seventh year.

Yep, that's right. It also could be very little. Yeah, yeah, a literal day can have symbolic meaning. What else is the meaning of the seventh? All right, it's an actual day. 70 is seven times 10 and 10 has also been a repeated symbolic number in the creation story. Yep, in Genesis 1, in Exodus, in the day of Atonement, which on the 10th day. On the 10th day, so there's a lot of seven and tens in the Sabbath motif design pattern in the biblical story.

So let's put them together. It's a power symbol. Yeah. It is also in average lifetime. For the biblical authors, yeah, Psalm 90. All our days pass away under your anger. 70 years or 80. The first strength indoors.

We read Psalm 90 earlier in this conversation. He's reflecting on Genesis three, returning to the dust. So he sees that our mortality is a sign of being exiled. Yeah. And so what do you get here? He's 70. Maybe about 70 years. Yeah. And so what do you get here? 70, maybe about 70 years. Yeah. What is the average life expectancy nowadays?

I don't know the answer. In the US, it's 78 years. 70.6 years. Wow. That's, yeah, okay. Man. In the world. It's coming.

It's coming. It's around the corner. Worldwide, it's 71. Wow. Okay. You know, as the highest Japan Fascinating since what's really Singapore Australia Spain, Iceland Italy. Are they up in the 80s or high 70s? 80s low 80s. Wow Fascinating. You don't break out of the 80s until Costa Rica 79.6. Wow. Man, you live longer in Costa Rica than you do in the US.

I love Costa Rica. You've got some positive associations. Oh, man. Yeah. You have some good memories there. Mm-hmm. Being exiled to Costa Rica wouldn't be all bad. Maybe, I don't know, I've never been.

That sounds like a Jubilee. If you were going to think of a number that is the upside down version of the genesis one and two Eden ideal, 70 would be a good candidate. The upside down? Yeah. 10 acts of speech. Oh, yeah. Seven days to generate this ideal Eden ideal of the seventh day. Yeah. A 70 as a period of exile as an anti-seventh day ideal.

That's 70. 70, yeah. There's a logic. Great candidate for a symbolic number of an inverted Genesis one. But that's all I can leave it at. You know, I can't prove it. What's also interesting is it's a bat on target for how long

Israel was actually exiled. Hmm, interesting. Hmm. So if the fall of Jerusalem, remember the city was destroyed in 586. And then Babylon was overturned by Cyrus in 539. This is Persia. Yep. So that gets you 50 something years. But remember Jerusalem was actually the sacking and destruction of Jerusalem was the third visit of Nebuchadnezzar. He had been there two times in the decade before.

And he put the public king. So he died. Correct. So if you go from the first time, Nebuchadnezzar Vitted, Jerusalem, you're up into 67, something years. I mean, you're close to 80. And then, Close to 70.

Excuse me, close to 70. Gosh. It's good. I'm brain. Sorry. And then it was a couple, a year or two, for the Israelites to put together the operation to go back. Sure.

That's pretty remarkable. Like, you're right on the ballpark of 70 years from people first getting exiled from Jerusalem to the exiles coming back. So all of that comes together, you know, where the 70 years became extremely meaningful. Yeah. Yeah. As the people came back in Jerusalem, they're studying their scriptures,

prophets and priests are in Jerusalem now really intensely studying their scriptures, forming them into the shape of the text that we are familiar with. And you can see why Jeremiah 70 years would be a big deal. Yeah. So we come back to Chronicles and we can understand why the author of Chronicles

would represent the exile of 70 years as Jeremiah's 70 years as a kind of inverted Sabbath. Yeah, the um, and what the, and the amount of time that's compounded. Yeah. That needs the land needs to rest. That's right. Yep. For Leviticus 26. Correct. So here's something really interesting. A little kick us into another important work, the book of Daniel. This is a comment by Hugh Williamson, his commentary on Chronicles.

He's commenting on the last paragraph of Chronicles here. He says the phrase about the land keeping the Sabbath for 70 years has clearly been given a reference backwards by its association with the land enjoying its Sabbaths. Remember in Leviticus 26, the land will get the Sabbaths that you didn't give it. And then Chronicle says, yeah, 70 years of Jeremiah were all the Sabbaths. The land got its Sabbaths. Okay. So this suggests that the chronicler has a period of not just 70 but 490 years in mind. Because there was seven seven, sorry, when does the land get 70 seven year cycles? Yes, when does the land get a year of rest on the Jubilee? Yeah, on the Jubilee. Oh, no

Oh, on the Jubilee? Mm-hmm. Well, it gets to every seven and then it gets the supersize yeah Rest on the Sabbath. Yeah, excuse me. You're Jubilee. You're Jubilee. Yeah So so do the math here if the 70 here. If the 70 years of jambai, if they needed 70 years of rest, that means they've missed seven time 70. Correct. So for the chronicler,

the 70 years of Jeremiah is connected to the number of miss jubilee years that the land did not get. Yeah. So there's a 490 years of history. Yeah, yes. So here's a 490 years of history. Yeah, yes. So here's what Williamson notes. He says, on the basis of the lengths of the reign,

which the chronicler himself gives for kings of Judah, it seems clear he intends this as a reference to cover the whole period of the monarchy, which is more or less coextensive with the years from Saul. The chronicler begins his story after the genealogies. He has nine chapters of genealogies. Starting with thrilling stuff. The first king that he starts with is Saul.

His narrative from Saul all the way up to Zedekai, we just read about, Williamson says, just pay attention to the chronology gives. Yeah, that's it. 490 years. So he framed the history of Israel on the land as 7 times 70, and then making 70 misjubilee years as brilliant. Yeah. I think.

In terms of theological symbolism, theological chronology, it's a powerful theological statement about the whole history of Israel. Yeah. It's a powerful theological statement about the whole history of Israel. Yeah, it's not a modern way to do history. No. It's till like, we make years into symbolic... Oh, we do this all the time. Do we? We talk about time in round numbers.

Oh, sure. For symbolic purposes? Okay. Help me think of something. Sure. We talk about decades, like, that's a thing. Okay, yeah, sure of something. Sure. Talk about decades, like that's a thing. Okay, yeah, sure.

Yeah, we'll isolate the 80s. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, okay. Something happened in 1980. Yeah, totally. Yeah, ended in 1989. Right. That made the 80s, the 80s.

But there really was a thing that you can call the 80s. Yeah, there is. Yeah. Technically and symbolically. Yeah, there is. Yeah. Technically and symbolically. Yeah. Yeah, this is totally normal. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. We're importing our culture's concept of numbers and history and chronology. We're imposing it on the biblical authors when we expect that they would do it the way we would do it. So, I think this is brilliant on the chronicler's part. He's framed the whole history of the monarchy, Jerusalem. As 70 missed. 70 missed.

70 examples of seven years that didn't get observed or flip it over. Seven Jubilee. Oh, right. Cycle is that, oh, no, that's not right, because that would be every 50th year. Yeah, that's right. So 77s.

Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Okay, so do we see this anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible? And we do. In Daniel chapter 9, and Daniel chapter 9, in fact, takes it a step further. So fascinating. Daniel is in Babylon.

It's still exile. So this 70 years of exile is still happening right now. Yeah. We're somewhere in the thick of that. That's right. They'll look at the first sentence of Daniel 9, in the first year of Darius, son of a Hossueras from the Meads, who was made king over the kingdom of the Caldians. So in other words, Darius was not a Babylonian.

He's a mead and he just took over the Babylonian kingdom. But Jeremiah said, I'm 70 years, you'll serve Babylon and then I'm taking Babylon down. So this is a little hyperlink to say, dear reader. It's happened. It's the 70th year. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Wasn't it a Persian that was supposed to take?

Ah, yes. Meads in the Persians were cooperative, a cooperative kingdom. Okay. At first. So, Darius was the first, then Cyrus comes right after. Okay. Yep. So, yeah, the first sentence of Daniel 9 tells you-

You're in the 70th year. It's the 70th year. Yeah. It's the 70th year. Yeah, it's cool. Which makes sense of what follows next. Okay. I Daniel was observing in the books, in the scriptures. Yeah.

The number of the years revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet, to complete the desolations of Jerusalem, namely. 70 years, 70 years. Here we are. So I mean, it's Christmas morning. Yeah, totally. Yeah, yeah.

What's the, yeah, this Christmas morning. Yeah. You've been waiting for it? You've been waiting for it. You knew it was coming. Yeah, you knew it was coming. You've been counting down. Yep.

So all of a sudden, on the 70th year, Daniels had a little Bible study of Jeremiah. Yeah. So you remember what Jeremiah said? He said, He's like, why 2K? Everyone's waiting. What's going to happen? Yeah, totally. Yeah. Do you remember Jeremiah said, when the 70 years are up, if my people call out to me, remember if they

call to me, and seek me with all their hearts, so I, Daniel, gave my attention to Yahweh God to seek him by prayer and supplication. Thanks. What follows, verses 4 through 20, is one of the most beautiful prayers of confession in the Hebrew Bible. And remember Daniel, remember Daniel's character in the book of Daniel. He passes every test. Yeah, he's, he's, he's, he like stands out in the story. Yes, every test. Yeah, he's, he's, he's, he like stands out in the story. But you read Daniel 9 and you would think he's like the worst sinner in Israel's history.

Oh, it's really fascinating. He personally owns the sins of his ancestors. Wow, it's like humility. Yeah, yeah. And it's, yeah, it's a beautiful prayer. I didn't include it here because it would derail us It's an amazing prayer. So while I was still praying a man Gov. Riel came to me a spiritual being who looks like a human

And he gave me some instruction. He spoke to me and said Daniel I've come to give you some insight. Yeah. A message. Yeah. So, and what he says is, 70 sevens have been determined concerning your people and concerning your holy city. Let's pause there. The first 70, 70 just passed.

Yeah. And he thought, oh, by Jeremiah's count, that's the end. Yeah. But what if those 70 years of Jeremiah were just the first of 70? Of seven. Of, right? That's the idea.

Yeah, seven seventies. And when you sit with Leviticus 26th, that said, I'll visit seven times, punishment of exile, or seven time, yeah, compounding. And so Gabriel shows up and says, sorry, I did, we're just getting started. That's a rough message. Yeah, yeah. So it's not that the 70 years is being like reinterpreted here.

It's rather that the 70 years is just beginning a much longer cycle of 70. But then you just say 70 times seven. But Israel got to go back after 70 years. Ah, that's interesting. Yeah, what's that about? So, some Israelites returned and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. Mm-hmm. So...

The second temple. The second temple. Yeah, yeah. Zerubbable, Ezra and Yamaian. So in theory, that was when... Should be the end of the exile. Should be the end of the exile. That's when the prophets, the hopes of the restored Eden

would happen, yeah? Yeah. And it didn't happen. And then Daniel, is as if Daniel's being given insight here, dear reader, the return from exile was not the real ultimate return from exile. This is what our exile is about. I just want to, there's just one of seven.

Yeah, the ultimate restoration says if the return from exile to actual Jerusalem becomes just itself another symbol in the pattern, pointing to the ultimate restoration from exile. Just keeps getting pushed back. Keeps getting pushed back and it keeps getting bigger. Yeah. Cause all of a sudden like, oh, Jerusalem's not the thing.

I thought Jerusalem was the thing. The temple and Jerusalem. Yeah. And then, yeah, so we're gonna see, it's the temple and the land in Isaiah and Ezekiel, get a cosmic upgrade, to what their ultimate symbolism was always about, which is the whole of creation, that the temple is a microcosm of the whole world, and the land is a symbol of the temple,

which is the symbol of all creation. So the return under Ezra Niyamaya is here being portrayed as not the ultimate. It's been downplayed. Yeah, but it says significant as was the Exodus from Egypt. That wasn't the ultimate liberation, but it was a foretaste of it. Okay. So Daniels told 490 more,

right? Which is symbolically it maps. 420 more. 470 sevens. Ah, well, hold on. So 490 was the years the kings were Oh, yeah, I was 10th I'm 70. I was 10th I'm 70.

Now it's 490 on the other side. So you have 490 that they were on the land not giving the land its habits. Sorry, yeah, not 10 times 70. They just went through a 70. Okay. And then here he is now at that point and then he's learning 77s even more on top of that are appointed. Yep. Oh, so this isn't like you you did the first cycle of What's gonna be even six more correct? Yeah, so there's there's a whole new Yep, there's another 70 times seven ahead. Oh my goodness. Here's what's gonna happen in those 77s Finishing the rebellion actually. Oh, that's bad. That doesn't help.

In English, that doesn't help you get the idea because finish means to put it into to for the rebellion to come to its completion. It's a complete. So Israel's rebellion is not over. Like you're praying to me, Daniel, but the rest of your people are like, I mean, you got Shadrach, me Shadrach, and Betniko, they're praying to me, Daniel, but the rest of your people are like, I mean, you got Shadrach, Meshach, and Betniko, they're cool. But the point is, you know, Israel as a whole is still in a state of rebellion. Here's the second thing that needs to happen

that's not finished yet. Stealing up sins, Israel's sins have not been brought to an end. They're still continuing. Atonement for evil. Israel's evil has still yet to be fully dealt with. Here's another thing that needs to take place within the 77s, bringing eternal righteousness

to seal up vision and prophecy. So if you thought Daniel that the 70th year was gonna be heaven and earth becoming one, I'm sorry, I mean, you get the idea. Yeah. Yeah. Look around. Yeah. There's still some work to do. Yep. He gets sick and he can't sleep after. After this. I mean, just imagine. Yeah. I mean, he's been waiting. He's been counting down. Yes. Just like you would count. Just like you would wait for the year of Jubilee. Yeah. He's been waiting for. Yeah. This. You imagine coming like your kid on Chris's morning

Oh, he's ready to go and you're like sorry buddy. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna wait till you're 14 Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Then we'll do Christmas. That's right So Daniel, let me tell you this for these 77s when these 77s will, let me tell you when they're gonna start, the new seven times 70. From the issuing of the declaration to return and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, which is the Hebrew word, masjihah, there will be seven, sevens, and 62, sevens.

That's 69. 69, sevens and 62 sevens. That's 69 sevens. So, uh, and then I have dot, dot, dot, the passage goes on and becomes extremely complex. Hebrew and in a diversity of interpretations. But from the declaration to return and rebuild Jerusalem. So when does that happen? The King of Persia lets them go do that, right? Yeah, totally.

Yeah. In fact, that's the last sentences of second Chronicles. And they shall go up. Yeah, exactly. It's the King saying, return to Jerusalem and rebuild Jerusalem, whoever God is with him and let him go up and it ends with an incomplete sentence. So it seems like the chronicler wants to coordinate the ending of his book with counting down of this clock.

Oh, interesting. In other words, the book of Chronicles ends by beacuse that in a timer. With the moment that God said, or no, well, Gabriel is talking it, right? Gabriel, yeah, that's right. You always messenger says that the next set of 77s begins with this declaration to return revealed to scriptures ends with that declaration. Correct. Intelligent life in the shaping of these books. I mean, it actually is a perfect metaphor to say the Hebrew Bible concludes by setting a timer

that starts ticking the moment you close the book. What are we supposed to be thinking about this type of timer at this point? Oh, in terms of what you mean? Well, I mean, because all these are symbolic numbers, actual number? Daniel waited to the 70th year. Yeah, right. That's right. And to him, it was not just, I mean, it was a year Yeah, that was soaked with symbolism, but it was a really year. Correct. It was a real year. Yeah. So welcome to a fascinating

Little industry and biblical scholarship because here's what we know is that almost every Jewish group that left a literary record in history, whether it's the Kumran crew, Greek speaking droos, Pharisees, the zealots who launched multiple waves of rebellion against Rome, and the early Christians, everybody's talking about Daniel Nine and you can see why. Yeah. It sets the clock. Yeah. It sets the clock. So what you have in second-temple literature is all this interest in the meaning of the 490 years. Yeah. And what you find is that diversity of interpretations. So what

you can just say first there's diversity and when exactly did the clock start? Okay, some started with King Cyrus giving his declaration which would be in 539 BC. Okay, so 490 I always forget this on my calculator. 539 minus 490. Yeah, I think it gets you to 63. BC? BC. Here, I'm doing that for memory.

Here, I got it. What was the number again? 539 minus. 539 minus 490. Oh, 49. 49 BC. What happened in 49 BC? Nothing that seems to fit.

Ha, ha, ha. The circumstances, there are some people who thought what was going on with the Maccabee and Revolt against Antiochus in the 160s BC. There were people that pulled Daniel Nine's fulfillment in towards that. In that case, it's a symbolic reading of the numbers. Sure, because it's not exactly there, but it's close. It's within a century. Early Christians were really keen on aligning Jesus' birth with this, or his execution. You just got to get about 40 years. You got to push. Yeah, totally. Yeah. So if anyone's interested, there's a scholar Roger Beckwith has done like the study here. Daniel 9 and the date of the Messiah is coming in Essene, Hellenistic,

Fersek, Zealot, and Early Christian computation. It's exhaustive. But it's helpful to just see the early Christians weren't the only ones interested. Everybody was interested in Daniel 9 because everybody understood it was setting some kind of clock for the ultimate restoration for Magsile, which depending on your view of what happened, which Jesus did or did not happen. Right? Yeah, what were those things again?

The rebellion coming to completion, sins being sealed up, atomit for evil, bringing eternal righteousness. And finishing, bringing to fulfillment vision and prophecy. Yeah. The full package deal is anticipated at the end of this 490 and what is the 490? It's the inverted Jubilee. It's the anti Jubilee that is exile. But it's also according to the chronicler a very exact number of how many Sabbath cycles are released here as remixed.

Well, it's an exact number that has immense symbolic significance. 77. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, usually it's people's approaches that they already have coming to the Bible

that will determine the outcome here. For somebody who's really sees that numbers can be symbolic, even literal numbers can be symbolic, will create more comfort with ambiguity in actual, what we would call actual chronology. And to say, you can have symbolic periods of time. So I'm cool with Jesus' birth in 4 BC, being 45 years off of that, like actual chronology. So that's where some people land. Other people will not be comfortable with that. And so they'll find, well, maybe there was a later declaration

to rebuild Jerusalem. Maybe there was something else that actually starts the clock and some different people line up. And the church I grew up in, there was a season of obsession with Daniel and Revelation. And I never was involved in any of those. They got really geeky. And I think they must have had some different issues. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, in the heyday of the popularity of American dispensationalism, which still a very influential

popular Christian movement, but it does seem to have had a peak of influence in the 80s. These dates become really important. Then they get coordinated with patterns of seven, then the book of Revelation, and then people were looking at different wars in Iraq and George Bush, and all this kind of, it all got brought together. And then people start predicting the dates of, yeah, the return of Christ or the war of Armageddon and so on. And then you have other Christians who just think all of that is fundamentally misguided. And everybody is appealing to the Bible.

Yeah. Yeah, that begins to make you think, oh, this is really a debate about our preloaded assumptions that we bring to the Bible, because the Bible can apparently be made to say many things, depending on the assumptions that you come to it with. That's a really important conversation. I meant to lead us right to the brink of it, but not to actually have it. Yeah, I don't think we can.

We can't do justice right now. That's right. Joyce Baldwin has written a commentary on Daniel in the Tindale Old Testament Commentary series that's so helpful. It's very accessible. You don't have to know Greek or Hebrew or anything. She does probably the best place that I've seen in laying out the different views,

how different groups in our day approach these dates in Daniel 9. Reasons for holding different views and problems with each view. And she has her own view, but she puts it on a list of a number of others. It's just a helpful survey. It just helps you respect why people hold the different views that they do. Yeah, how do modern-day Jewish communities think about this?

Oh, there's as much diversity as there is in the Christian tradition. Yeah. Yeah. That's something happened. It depends on your group. There's some that, yeah, see the Messianic era as a symbolic hope. There are others that have done a more secular job on all of this, maybe on analogy to some of the modern mainline denominations in America.

That turned it into a symbol of when humans get their act together and God graces us with the ability to love each other. So let's do that now. To other group, other Jewish groups that are very much still waiting for a coming Messiah. Four 90s become a very long period of time. Yeah, that's, yeah, thousands of years now. That's right. Yep.

The different ways of accounting for that. Personally, I'm comfortable with it being a round symbolic number. One, because of the way that sevens and tens have already accumulated, a symbolic significance in the story. Another one is the next passage to talk about, which is Isaiah 61, which is doing similar symbolic theology of the Jubilee year, but doesn't attach it to a number as such, but attaches it to a future hope independent of number calendar schemes. And so even within the Hebrew Bible, sometimes numbers can be a way of anticipating this

hope. Other times, it's the hope itself and not the numbers. And me, that's at least made me chill out about trying to figure out what the number is actually work out. The Bechwiss article is a great place to start if you want to nerd out in the prophets. Yeah, this was supposed to be the whirlwind tour. We got a little bit. Yeah, it's okay.

It's alright. We got a little bit. With Danieline. With Danieline. Stuck there and Danieline. Yeah, everybody gets trapped in Danieline. Danieline for text. For text.

Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Should I say Lord or the eyeway? Sometimes you say it. Yeah, your choice. Yeah. Okay. The spirit of Yahweh God is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me Isaiah

to bring good news to the afflicted. Is that, no, is it a Isaiah? We'll talk about the me. The me. The me is unidentified explicitly. Okay. Yeah. The Lord has sent, has anointed me, someone,

to bring good news, gospel, to the afflicted, and he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim, release, to captives, and freedom to prisoners. To proclaim the year of the favor of Yahweh and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes. The oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting,

so they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Okay, so we've got a me. We've got a me. A me. The spirits of Yahweh God as appointed. Yeah, me. One who's empowered by the spirit and anointed. Amin Mashaach. Which means a Messiah, that anointed one.

Yep, and two figures are anointed in the Hebrew Bible, Amian Mashaach, which means Messiah, the knight of one. Yep, and two figures are anointed in the Hebrew Bible, priests and kings. And the person who anoints priests and kings are prophets. Who does the anointing? So this is big thing. Section of Isaiah 49, up through into the 60s, there's been a persona developing in the drama of the poetry and it's a me. A me. The me is introduced in Isaiah 48 and 49, and the me is somebody whom God calls Israel.

He calls the me his real. He calls the me, yeah, at least the me tells us that God called me Israel and then gave me a mission to go restore Israel to himself. So it's an individual who is being given the mantle of the whole nation to go on a mission to his nation and restore them back to covenant loyalty. So it's a some kind of representative. The only other spirit empowered person in Isaiah, we met back in chapter 11.

It's the little sprout that comes up from the stump of Jesse. We have a sevenfold. The new David. Yes, and he's given you a sevenfold spirit. So the book of Isaiah is forming a mosaic portrait of the coming deliverer. Yeah. He's a king from the line of David. He's a new prophet. He's a new Moses.

New David. Isaiah 53, he plays a priestly role, but gives giving himself to die for the sins of his people. So Isaiah 61, this me speaks up. He's an anointed one. And he's announcing Doror, which is- The release. The release, that's the word from Leviticus 25, the Jubilee year.

So announcing the Jubilee year, yep, the seventh, seventh. Which me, and look at the images, good news for the suffering. The brokenhearted people grieved are having their hearts like bandaged. Good metaphor. Prisoners, captives. This is liberation. Yeah.

Which is the Sabbath, seventh day image. That's what the Jubilee is about. Yeah. Remember debts are canceled, slaves are freed, land is restored. So it's eaten like condition Notice also in verse three you notice something about the trees the people are gonna be these pretty mighty trees Yes, people planted people are trees people are trees. That's metaphor in the Bible. Yeah, people of people are yep as trees Yeah, and that sounds like Psalm one. Yeah, yeah, the person who meditates on Torah. Where did we see this before though too in the Torah somewhere that?

Yes, yes, they were planted. Yeah. Yeah, in the Promised Land. Yeah, was it the word used? The first worship song, okay, after the rescue from in Exodus 15. Yeah, the rescue through the waters. God says he's gonna plant the people in the mountain of his inheritance, where he will reign forever and ever as king. Yeah. Same thing. Yeah. Same thing. So the people will become righteous oak trees that are planted in the new Eden. Here Isaiah is prophesying about this Jubilee release into back into the Eden ideal. Correct. And the Jubilee happens every 50 years, but this one seems really special. That not only is it doing what the Jubilee is supposed to do, it's anticipating

yeah, new creation. It seems to actually be bringing new creation. Here's a question for you. So the Jubilee is seven times seven years. And Daniel, it's 70 times seven years. Correct. And that's another kind of Jubilee, right? Yes. After seven times seven years is like a type of liberation out of exile. Yes, that's right. Yeah. So we've got two separate sets of numbers. Correct.

Representing both representing the same. The same idea. The hope for return from eggs on. Yeah. This is what I meant when I said, Isaiah 61 is using the 50th year, Jubilee concept. Yeah. Jeremiah, Daniel, nine chronicles is working with the seven seventies. Yeah. Uh, or 77, 70, 70. They're really overlapping symbols.

Correct. Again, this is why I have become more comfortable with the numbers being symbols that point to the same, different numbers can point to the same reality. Yeah. Because here it's the 50th year of release. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. And so in, we have a messianic figure, literally, in Hebrew, the word is masach.

We have a messiah announcing gospel to the suffering who are still awaiting the ultimate restoration from exile. Yeah. And what does that mean to be? Like, in one level, we want to go back, there was this awesome temple, and we were our own people. Yeah. So that, that on one level. But you read the Hebrew scriptures,

and at what point was that actually eaten, right? Like, with the temple and the land. Oh yeah, yeah, totally. There was like, maybe little tastes of it, but in general, it wasn't working. No, it was ambiguous. Yeah, just like Solomon, you know, he's presented as a new Adam who asked for God's wisdom,

but he ends up making some bad choices. And so what are we really hoping for? It's, well, everyone who mourn is comforted and it's looking to something even bigger. Correct. In other words, these texts after the exile are looking back and rereading their whole history in the land as a shadow and a pointer forward to an ultimate reality. In fact, here, this is good.

This is an essay by Bradley Gregory. It's an essay on this passage in Isaiah. It's called the post-exilic exile in Isaiah. In other words, after the first return from the exile, the Hebrew Bibles being shaped to tell you, we're still waiting after the first return from the exile, the Hebrew Bible is being shaped to tell you we're still waiting for an ultimate return from exile. Even though they're geographically back in the land. So this is a helpful distinction. Some have returned to the land and found that the restoration hasn't happened. The Hebrew Bible makes a distinction between the

return to the land in Ezra Nehemiah and the ultimate restoration promised by the prophets. So here's how Bradley puts it. He says, in Isaiah 40 to 55, the Babylonian exile is understood as an image of the Egyptian captivity. The Babylonian slaves in Egypt and being in exile. So there's all these hyperlinks in these chapters of Isaiah to the slavery in Egypt and liberation from Egypt as

the image for now we're in Babylon waiting a new Exodus. In the last 10 chapters of Isaiah, the oppressive situation in Jerusalem after the exile has become another symbol. In other words, Isaiah 56-66 imagines that we're back in the land and things are horrible here. So we're back in Jerusalem awaiting another restoration. One gets the impression that the author doesn't see the situation after the exile as any better than the situation in Babylon or enslaved in ancient Egypt. In all cases, Israel is shackled because of sin

awaiting deliverance by Yahweh. The prescriptions for the Jubilee year have been... Escatalagized. Escatalagized. In other words, the Jubilee year... It's pushing to a future hope. ...is being read by biblical authors after the exile as a map for future hope.

Yeah. Not just like, oh, here's something our ancestors did that was interesting. Or here's something we need to do every 50 years. Yeah. It's like here's something that's pointing towards this ultimate race. That's right. So by seeing a typological portrayal of the enslaved Israelites in Leviticus 25. And the Jubilee year slaves are released. So the biblical authors are going back to their ancient texts and being like, whoa, the slaves that get released in the Jubilee year, that's a way to imagine our whole history

and a way to imagine exile. It's a way to imagine us right now sitting in Jerusalem, and we're still just as bad as we were before the exile. We're still enslaved awaiting the Jubilee. That's what he's saying. Biblical authors reading early biblical texts. Yeah, there you go. I'm still slaves.

Yeah. So Isaiah has moved the concept of Jubilee from a law to an image of future deliverance. And this is the same move we find in all other second temple Jewish texts that talk about the Jubilee. So the Jubilee becomes an image of future hope because that's how the biblical authors themselves are presenting it. The Hebrew Bible, man, what an amazing document.

You can see why precisely around the time of Jesus, there was this fever pitch of anticipation of the coming kingdom of God. He got Rome, the new Babylon, and you're just waiting for some kind of renewal, restoration movement, and Jesus comes on to the scene, activating all of this. I mean, intentionally activating all of this. Yeah.

I mean, intentionally activating all this stuff. Yeah, it's not like you can maybe like try to read it into what he's doing. It's literally what he's doing. Mm-hmm. He's literally activating the metaphorical symbols. Yes. He's saying this is happening.

Yeah. The year of Jubilee is happening. It's here. The humble will inherit the land. Think of the Beatitudes. Those who mourn will. Yes. The real winners who will inherit the land

are the people getting stomped on right now. And who follow me. And the people who will really get planted in the real renewed creation, the new Eden, are those who follow me. And don't go the way of the zealots or the Pharisees. Yeah. So Jesus was announcing the arrival of this ultimate seventh day, which is why he quoted from all these texts. Yeah. We just spent so much time surveying. And for me, this just so much payoff to come back to the gospels then and to see he thought about Jesus grew up on all these texts that we just...

Yeah. And he thought and prayed and sang all these texts. They filled his mind and heart and, you know, for him to stand up and Nazareth, this will read and say like today. Starts today. Just imagine that. I'm excited. Thank you guys for listening to this episode of the Bible Project Podcast. Real time, this episode is coming out in December 2019. And for this whole month at the Bible Project,

we have been saying thank you to all of you who are getting behind what we're doing and supporting what we're doing. And specifically we want to share right now a cool story about what one family has been doing with the podcast. You should hear the story from the Peterson. I'm Josh Peterson. I'm Nelson Peterson. Josh's dad and he's got three brothers.

Ben is the oldest then Josh and Zach and Thomas. With the boys all living in different areas of the West Coast. I'm not seeing each other often. I wanted a way to stay connected, have commonality, and I thought what better way to have good discussion than with the podcast. So I proposed the idea of listening to an episode a week and having text discussion. So we start listening to the Bible project as a group about a year and a half ago. Yeah, it's been fun to have it become more than what I was hoping it would be. I was hoping just to maintain relationship and commonality that when we do get together, it's not good to see you.

You know, it's the last six months, Ben. Right. Right, but there's actually more depth. Yeah. And I think that's been totally true. I've seen that, especially just when we do get together, we have a lot more to talk about. Yeah, we haven't necessarily had anything like that, I don't think.

It's sort of dirt biking. Right, right. I think, well, at least in our adult lives as a family, we haven't had anything where it's like, yeah, this is something that we is, like the boys, the Peters and Boys get to do. It's like just our thing. Yeah.

So, a couple of my sons that weren't able to be here with Josh and I wrote a couple of thoughts that they wanted to share. This is what Ben says. Listening and discussing the Bible project with my brothers and dad has helped solidify some of my beliefs and stretched others. It has also helped me grow closer to my family as we discuss the truths that we have discovered. And Thomas doesn't always engage, but I know he's listening. When he does or something, it's like, oh, you were paying attention. You were paying attention. All right. Thomas's thoughts.

My thoughts in the Bible Project podcast. It's been a great tool for a guided open discussion between us as a family on the more grand story of the Bible. I've found them incredibly approachable and the vernacular they use very applicable to us by creating a bridge between old Hebrew meanings in today's world. Doing them together has also given me a chance to know my brothers better

because of the perspectives they bring. There's a deepened sense of togetherness and new appreciations for how the story of the Bible affects us all differently in our own journeys. Totally free to include or not including any of this, just my immediate thoughts. Okay, Thomas, that's a little deep for immediate thoughts. Thank you, Thomas.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'd encourage people with doing something like this, people that you don't come in contact often, but they're close. Today's world, today's digital world, brings everybody so much closer than ever before and taking advantage of the tools like texting to do a

podcast together or talk about it. It just makes sense to me. It's just a texting discussion, but it's still diving into the scripture and learning from each other. It's really amazing to hear stories like that. I have my head and a pile of books through a lot of the week and then John come up and have these conversations. And it's so amazing to hear how these conversations can be helpful for other people and people like the Peter Sands to help their families connect in kind of new and creative ways. So thank you all for supporting the Bible project and being excited about what we're doing so that we can share. If you want to find out more about what we're up to at the Bible project or some kind of like big picture dreams that we have for the project as a whole

Check out our website at thebibelproject.com or the Bible project.com slash vision This episode of the Bible project podcast was produced by Dan Gummel the theme music is from the band tense We as always are collecting your listener questions about this series we've been in on the seventh day rest. So, if you have questions about this series, feel free to email them to info at jointhebibletproject.com. You can do audio or video recording, keep it around 20 or 30 seconds, and we look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, you guys.

Then we'll see you next week.