see facsimile of Newton’s Notes
[Proposition] 7 “The difference between the 1290 and 1335 days are [a] part[s] of the seven weeks.”
Theologians of the Historicist School sometimes handle differently these various time periods identified in Daniel’s prophecies. For example, one such interpretation starts the 2,300 year period at the Grecian invasion of Persia by Alexander the Great in 334 BC and ends in 1967. Many believe that the “Six-Day Israeli-Arab Conflict” in 1967 was a startling fulfillment of prophecy which ended this prophetic period. It was then that they believe the “troddening down of Jerusalem” by the Gentiles came to an end. The result of that war was the retaking of Jerusalem by the Jews.
However, that does not work because Jerusalem was not occupied by Gentiles nor trodden down underfoot. It was inhabited and controlled by the Palestinians and Arabs. These people were the descendants of Ishmael, maybe Esau, and through circumcision are children of the Abrahamic Covenant. They are not Gentiles.
Perhaps, a better case can be made for General Allenby’s capture of Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire. The Turks can be classified as Gentiles. But that happened in 1917 at the close of World War I at the 11th month, the 11th day, and the 11th hour. For that date to be prophetically significant, the 2,300 ought to have started in 383 BC.
Newton’s interpretations were not influenced by Zionist aspirations. He lived centuries before that movement.
We have noted that cometary “signs” seem to punctuate this Capricorn (he-goat) period of 2,300 years. Such astrological signs to mark the beginning and end of this period could be possible.
Comet B-B, for example, reaches the apogee of Saturn’s orbit at its closest approach in 2032 AD and will be in the House of Capricorn. It is not expected to be visible to the naked eye from our observations here on Earth, unless it “surprises” us. However, when Saturn returns to this very same spot in its apogee in 2046 AD – a time when we think it might nova from the volatiles brought by the Comet into Saturn’s orbital path – regardless, Saturn, too, will be in the House of Capricorn.
As mentioned before, we think the hard stop to the 1290 day period is 2132 AD (not to be confused with 2032 AD), and possibly 2046. Newton believed the periods were connected and that “the difference” between these periods which run somewhat contemporaneously (as stated in Proposition 7 above), could end some 45 years later in or about 2091 AD. That is a date which has not been discussed and one wonders in its association with the “seven weeks,” if the 1,335 days began with a different event (either historical or cosmological) as discussed in a previous installment. That Newton connects these two time periods to Daniel’s prophecies concerning the “seven weeks” requires that we take a closer look.
If the 2,300 days begin at the rise of the “he-goat” sometime during the Hellenistic period, and if the 1260 days and the 1290 days begin at the “Donation of Pepin” and the rise of “the great horn” during the reign of the Papacy, what other subsequent event could mark the beginning of the 1,335 day prophecy?
It is introduced arbitrarily by Daniel at the very end of his book of prophecies (12:12). He only identifies it as a “blessed” period. 1,335 as a number is no where else to be found in the Bible. It is divisible by 5, 15, 89, and 267. Other than perhaps the number “5,” these numbers have no symbolic significance in the Bible. After consulting E.W. Bullinger’s “Number in Scripture,” neither do these numbers yield a “gematria.”
As to its significance, Daniel does not say. To normal Christian expectations, the events associated with these prophetic periods should result in the Millennial Kingdom as described in the book of Revelation. But that period last 1000 years, not 1,335 years. This period is introduced at the very end of Daniel’s book of prophecies, without commentary, in which he is told to “shut up” or seal the prophecies until “the time of the end.” The end of what?
Newton proposes that it is a part of the “seven weeks.”
The “seven weeks” are yet another part of the “seventy weeks” introduced to us in Daniel Chapter 9. It is divided into three parts: 62 weeks, 7 weeks, and 1 week. If Newton’s 7th Proposition cited above refers to the 1,290 day and 1,335 day prophetic time periods as part or “parts” of the “Seven Week” period or a period of 49 years (7×7), sorting it all out is not so easily done. Bible scholars will recognize 49 years as seven sabbath cycles which end in the 50th Year of Release – or the Jubilee. It doesn’t match the 45-year difference between these two time periods and demands that we look at other factors.
The events of the Seven Weeks would be distinct from the peculiar events of the 62 Weeks and the 1 Week. What peculiar events would be unique to the 1,335 day period?
If the 45 year period constitutes “a part” of the seven weeks, leaving us with 4 years remaining, it can have prophetic significance if we consider that 45 plus 3 and 1/2 years takes us halfway into the 49th year. We pointed this out in an earlier installment. For Preterists and Futurists, 3 and 1/2 years or days constitutes one half of their respective Tribulation periods. But Newton does not so interpret it. He equates it with the “time, times, and half a time” or as another expression for the 1,260 year cycle. Is Newton leading us in circles here?
The Messiah is to be “cut off” in “the midst of the week” (Daniel 9:24-27). Our thoughts can wander between different possibilities. If a man’s lifespan is 70 years, as says the Psalmist, then Christ’s death, which occurred in his 35th year, would constitute the “midst” of His week. Or, perhaps, the “cutting off” in the midst of the final “week” would suggest the ministry of the Two Witnesses (Revelation 11). But Newton does not go there. Instead, he interprets the 3 and 1/2 days (the midst of the week) as yet another expression for the 1260 day (3 and 1/2 years) or 42 months in Revelation. Does 1,335 days appear anywhere in the book of Revelation? If it does, it must be in gematria. But before we can consider that possibility, there are other factors which must be addressed.
We have already noted that Josephus does not record these numbers the same. 1290 for him is 1296. Before we try to formulate some kind of conclusion, we must first look at the possibility that these numerical periods are translated incorrectly, or that there is something wrong with the respective Julian and Gregorian calendars (which Newton did consider), or an “unknown” factor which Newton also considered.
On this point, his assistant, William Whiston, must be consulted, in particular his “Seven Dissertations” (1737) attached as appendices to the back of his edition of The Works of Josephus. I consider these Dissertations, especially Dissertation 4, to be perhaps the most important contribution of scholarship to the Christian religion. He explains how Josephus’ “Antiquities of the Jews,” was based upon the only copy of the archived and uncirculated Temple “Tanakh” which the Roman General Titus personally gave to him at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Josephus did not rely upon an oral tradition, but upon the library of manuscripts which he had in his personal possession and which descended from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. It differs from the texts of the Masoretes, the Septuagint, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, and should have precedence.
to be continued
James Wesley Stivers, 7/23/23
(Author’s Note: There are nine or ten parts planned for this series. After which, a dedicated section to the Navigation Bar for “All things Newton” will be added. For now, use this website’s Search function to find the previous parts to this series, or click on the Archives at the bottom of the page.)
