Seventy Years

(again and again)
Zechariah 1:12
Post 180


The point of this 1st chapter of Zechariah is centered on the question of “How long”.
That question is a significant focus of my entire blog and our present study of the last Global Dominate Empires (GDE) to affect Israel and the rest of the world.
This and at least the next post are dedicated not to the answer, but to the question, with the answer following after.

* * *

In our last study we saw the wandering horse scouts proclaim; “We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” Zechariah 1:11
“Then (as a result of what they said) the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?” Zechariah 1:12
“and the LORD answered the angel…” v.13a

So now we have the focus of the next narration answering the question; “When will the lack of mercy on Israel end?” *1 as God proceeds to give the answer.

But before we just go on to learn the answer, we need to understand the tri- *2 layers of this narration.
The historical layer receives understanding from the ancient layer, which in turn explains the prophetic layer. The prophetic layer then gives meaning to the historic layers.
But because the historic study gets very complex quickly, I will save that for the book, and here just take a very short look at only some of the elements in both the historical layers that are key to explaining the prophetic layer as it applies to world events we see happening today:

* * *

History:
All reasonable scholars, at least superficially recognize the historical context of this passage relating to when it was written. So lets take a moment to understand this lack of mercy that had already lasted 70 years; (a score is 20, so three 20s= 60. 60+10 is 70.) *3

The Israel of the released Babylonian captivity, and the ministering angel speaking with Zechariah, were not confused as to the length of their captivity. It was the calculated sentence by God their judge, to pay for crimes against Him as clearly shown in their subsequent history of II Chronicles 36:11-23.
With all the recognized valid accusations against them listed there, verse 21 identifies that the historian recognized the specific crime that demanded a specific payment;
“(The preceding events of captivity happened) To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.” II Chronicles 36:21

That historical record written after the fact, refers to the specific duration foretold in prophecy by Jeremiah before the captivity began;
“And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Jeremiah 25:11
So now we have the pre-event prophecy and the post-event historic record showing that they knew the specific length of the captivity, and the just cause.
Ezekiel too, had full understanding that this 70 year punishment was a matter of fact ordained by God, and for this understanding Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel could boldly declare to the king; it was God’s will that they submit to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and take their captivity as punishment from God.

But even before God sent them into “prison” he, through Jeremiah the prophet, encouraged them that a promise would follow the sentence of exactly 70 years;
“For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” Jeremiah 29:10

And just as prophesied, at the end of 70 years *4 the Jews were released in 536 BC by Cyrus king of Persia the new GDE, for the goal of returning to Israel and begin rebuilding their temple. (Ezra 1:1-4, Daniel 6:28)….

* * *
Historical events:
Through the first year the people, recently freed, went to work with great joy and enthusiasm;
They built an alter to God, they kept the obligatory feasts, they held daily burnt offerings, and gave freewill offerings to the LORD. (Ezra 3:1-7)
And after the proper preparation they broke ground and began to build the foundation for the temple in the second year. (Ezra 3:8-13) There was great joy even though they were troubled by “the people of those countries”. (Ezra 3:3)

Imagine, after 70 years of captivity they were finally home and supposed in God’s favor just as God through Jeremiah had promised!
But in their self-absorbed enthusiasm they missed what the prophecy actually said;
His good word toward them was for the purpose of their return. What comes after that was up to them, good or bad.

And soon they ran into increasing opposition by the people who had squatted on their land while they were away in “prison” *5. (Ezra 4:1-6) The general opposition and lawsuits lasted for about 71 years until king Artaxerxes Longimanus became the king of Persia in 465 BC. (Ezra 4:4-6) *6
Then the adversarial squatters (Ezra 4:10) stepped up the opposition and hired lawyers who wrote a letter (Ezra 4:11-16) full of specially crafted misleading truth to the new king, convincing him to put a “stop work order” on the temple of the people he governed but never actually knew,*7 and “Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius (II) king of Persia.” (423-404 BC) Ezra 4:24 *8
This cessation from temple construction lasted about 44 years, (The rise of one king to the second year of the other: 421 BC Ezra 4:24) and in that time the people turned to occupying their private lives, fulfilling their own desires, and basically forgot the temple since they were forbidden to build it. They were just happy to be home building a new life!... but for 114 years? (70+44) *6

* * *

Now lets think about this:
In the first 70 years the people obeyed the law as they were focused on building the temple. But because their efforts were based only on gratitude and not on love, they did not respond well to discouragement. Because they saw less to be grateful for over time, the efforts and enthusiasm waned.
And don't forget the discouragement of opposition began back at the beginning when they arrived home. (Ezra 3:3)
So at the decree to stop construction about 71 years into it, the discouragement was already well mature, and they gave up easily. And with the failed hopes of faith, came a failure to obey the law of the God who seemed to fail them.
Sabbaths were a part of those laws, so we can be confident they stopped giving the land her required Sabbaths upon receiving the decree; perhaps much as America began in the 70s to keep her stores open on Sundays in violation of her long traditions honoring Sundays. Without the cause of faith, it just makes good economic sense.

Now I don’t have the year the decree to stop work was made, and so for validation provide the earliest date possible as the first year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, making it 44 years without providing a Sabbath for the land. (465-421 BC)

So after only one generation they were already on their way to another captivity!
What happens if the trend was allowed to continue? The obligatory payment of the forgotten Sabbaths comes due again!
And since learned sins are very difficult to break, if this guaranteed problem was to be cut off, NOW was the time to deal with it in the bud while it was still new. “…Behold now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation.” II Corinthians 6:2

It was here, in the second generation, born and raised in the sins of their fathers whose faith had grown weak in the captivity, that God sent Haggai and Zechariah to prophesy to their children before this trend became entrenched and the captivity doomed to repeat.

“Then the prophets, Haggai… and Zechariah, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.” (Era 5:1)

“Be ye not as your (grand*9) fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.
Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever?
But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? (for 70 years of captivity)
And they returned (to the homeland afterwards) and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.” Zechariah 1:4-6
In otherwords their historians who recognized they were the cause of the captivity, recorded it all in their Chronicles of history declaring that God did to them just as he had warned.
But in spite of all the documented proofs of history that God will do as he has said;
“…This people say, (because of the troubles and the stop work order;) The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built…
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways…because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.” Haggai 1:2,5,7,9b

And now we know when the Book of Zechariah and our chapter of discussion was written, and the circumstances that brought it on! And it brings new seriousness to the words we read.

It was AFTER the 70-year “incarceration” was over, and their fathers had returned home in praise to their God, finally free of oppression, but they were weak in faith and heartsick to find they still faced struggle and opposition!
And it went on year after year for 70 years until their struggle became a deeply entrenched way of life.
Now the new generation, only one generation removed from captivity, had been doing the very same offenses as those who went into captivity. And the date the debt comes due again was doggedly on its way!
What a wakeup call they got from Haggai and Zechariah!

And it worked! The people woke up!
They realized suddenly that the problem was not God's failure to help them, but that they had failed God!
And so they began in earnest to again obey their God, and started fresh in building the temple so that they could again in obedience sacrifice according to God’s law. (Ezra 5:2)
And so they altered their learned course, finally becoming Jews - the children of God, no longer Jews - the servants of nations!

* * *

So why did they struggle for so long before figuring it out?
The problem was directly related to their perception of what God intended to do for them.
They believed that after the incarceration was paid, God would bring them home as promised. But they assumed that meant God was going to pamper them as well.
They perhaps unconsciously, felt that God owed them comfortable times after experiencing such oppression (as if it was undeserved), and were therefore frustrated by God’s “lack of mercy” on their troubles upon coming home, much as a convict might feel as he steps through the prison gate onto the streets of civilian life; penniless, jobless and friendless. And angry that no one would give him work.
Not joyful to finally be paid up and released from the incarceration he brought upon himself, but grumbling that “the man” had dumped him on his own.

But God’s perspective was significantly different;
“If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: THEN will I remember…” Leviticus 26:40-41 (capitalized emphasis added)

This entire disparity between views is an issue of perspective.
Their perspective was the same “government owes me a living” mentality of America today.
In one perspective it is all about me, in the other it is all about God.
Which one is the perspective in your own life as you deal with your struggles?

Notice in the perspective God desired them to have, there is a needed recognition of:
• Their own guilt,
• The related guilt of their fathers which they have emulated,
• Their specific offenses against God,
• Their general contrary life toward God,
• And the recognition that God was therefore contrary to them and was the actual source of the problems they faced. (James 4:6)

We, like they, tend to view all this through a narrow contextual lens of religion, carefully segregating it from science.
But God is very clearly showing them, and us, that this IS science!
This is a calculable, repeatable, tangible cause and effect applied in our reality.
And even more amazing is that God does the work of doing the calculating, and writing the findings in His Book for us so that we can figure it out sooner!

Only in this specific and true awareness that the problem is both scientific and religious, can the actual solution be found.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14

Notice the specific order of the healing process;
• Become a child of God through repentance to the receiving of forgiveness (my people)
• Deliberately turn your attention from self-centered, to God-centered.
• Begin a serious and intentional communication with God, with expectation.
• Then earnestly seek the God who does not yet respond to your prayers.
• Thus, discover your sins that hinder his response, and turn from them.

Without this specific and earnest approach, there is an incredible natural ability to block out the true cause and resort to enduring the consequences as unknowable and therefore unavoidable.
This is the all too common trend I see in struggling Christians today,
And the deeply seated trend I see in the Jews as a people.
It is just the nature of sinful man… whatever he chooses to call himself.

But while a pagan might seriously evaluate all possible causes in searching for the answer, the Christian and the Jew is sure he has the religious cause covered already, and so will not explore that possibility. (Revelation 13:15-16, Matthew 9:12-13)
In this way, the seeking Pagan has better chances of success than the Christian or the Jew! (Matthew 22:3-10 but don't ignore 11-14 lest you become a Universalist.)

It was while the Jews were stuck in this blind religious mind frame of failed faith, that Zechariah had his vision of the word of the LORD as God pled with them like he had with their fathers;
“Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, Saith the LORD of hosts.” Zechariah 1:3
This is the scientific key to stopping the continuation of the consequences, not eradicating a punishment already deserved.
They had recently paid the debt and were freed, but had not yet altered the mindframe from what got them into trouble in the first place.
God's answer to this problem is the simple recognition of just whose reality this is!

When you play Monopoly, the game only works as it was intended when you play by the rules of the Maker. That simple acceptance eliminates the plethora of complex and confusing variations that spring up by ignoring such a foundational truth. "Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes." Deuteronomy 12:8 (verse 9 is a powerfully important key to finding God's rest! Hebrews 4:1-3)

Now to really understand God’s heart in this matter, you should read the short book of Haggai for some very personal evaluation for your own faith as well as learning God’s argument with the not-so-newly-anymore returned people.
If you have the right heart you may learn the reason and source of your own similar troubles and those of your nation! But remember as you read it; it may look like a rules issue but it is actually a perspective issue. (See also II Chronicles 15:1-7,12-15)
One additional aid: if you read the book and recognize yourself in the events of the text, but cannot resolve the cause in your mind, it is because you have not yet allowed the truth to break down your wrong pre-assumption that you are right with God.
Like the Jews who believed they were right with God because their father was Abraham (Matthew 3:9), it is your wrong doctrine of salvation that blinds you to the evidential facts of reality! (Proverbs 6:23, 10:17, 29:1)

Have you ever heard someone after many years of a specific character flaw, continue to dwell on an old memory of better days; “I'm not like this… This is just a temporary phase… Years ago God did such and such for me.”
These are ways of perpetually denying a real problem that exists now, by living in the past, be it real or imagined.
I believe at the time of the wakeup call, these Jews were still thinking of themselves as poor captives who deserved a break, even after 115 years! (536-421 BC) The complexity is that the original thought was based on a wrong premise of captivity. The rules of God's reality says they deserved their punishment.

The discouraged Jews in their self-absorbed perspective might have argued with God; “Hey, We were born in captivity because of the sins of our fathers. Our fathers came home in faith eager to build your temple, but were constantly opposed on every side. And now the king has commanded us to stop work. Why are you mad at us? Go make the king let us build.”

That sounds like a reasonable argument doesn’t it?

But from God’s perspective; “The 70-year incarceration was indeed due to your forefather’s sins. But that is over and your fathers are now dead. I kept my promise and brought you home. The sins that are happening now are yours; though they be the same sins your fathers sinned. My argument is your self-absorbed heart. If you really wanted to build the temple you would find a way to let me help you get it done. But you let yourself be so easily discouraged because it is still all about you.
And so as I described in Haggai, I have made your self-absorption a heavy burden in the desire to encourage you to turn to me. (Haggai, paraphrased)
"If you turn to me, I will turn to you, I am the LORD.” (Zechariah 1:3, paraphrased)

It is here in this situation that Zechariah gives his prophecy, and between the two prophets the people were suddenly awakened to their real situation, and began again to earnestly build the temple, which was THEIR rightful application to a corrected heart. (Ezra 5:2)

This time when their adversaries opposed them, they had the determination to face it down in the confidence God would prevail through them, and so it happened with them, (Ezra 5:3-6:15) just as it did once before, many years earlier. (II Chronicles 15)

Does that then fulfill the purpose for the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah?
HARDLY!

* * *
Transition:
Yes, Historically it was at a time long after the 70 years incarceration was history, when the temple lay still unfinished and the people were discouraged from the constant opposition, that the wandering scout angels found the world to finally be at rest. (Zechariah 1:1-11)

And so with the proclamation of rest, the angel of Zechariah cried out to God in essence; “If the world is at rest, and the 70 year punishment is over, why do you yet hold back your mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah?” Zechariah 1:12 paraphrased
But such a paraphrase looses a layer! The angel intentionally worded it “threescore and ten” years. (We will soon learn why in later posts)

Now a curious thing happens in God’s reply to the angel’s threescore and ten;
We will eventually see that his answer is clearly more than their 70 year situation fits.
Did the application work for them? Yes, though I have no idea their interpreted representation of horses as it applied to the powers of their day. *10

And now approximately 2432 years later, we see that the two examples of history were shadows of the prophetic situation today.
Because there is more to this prophecy than fit their situations, we will see that this prophecy was written in their day, reflecting on the shadow of their past, but even intended for full application in a much later time now upon us. *11

* * *

Déjà vu all over again: *12
In 33AD, Israel had again completed in a grand way, an established history of committed crimes against their Creator, but this time the Crimes were different and far greater, and so the justified incarceration was greater as well. (Matthew 23:37-39 and compound punishments of Leviticus 26)
And so after years of Haggai style troubles with their Roman oppressors, they failed to hear God’s message and were again uprooted from their homeland, this time by the Roman GDE, and sent into all the world as vagabonds for what turned out to be 1878 years, (70AD to 1948AD) Far longer than the 70 years because this time their sins were far greater than neglecting the Sabbaths for the land. But the cause-and-effect of judgment remained scientifically consistent.
Then when paid, as promised, God again called them to return to their homeland, and so they returned to the land of their fathers, creating the nation again on May 14, 1948;
“That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.” Deuteronomy 30:3-5
So far, the historical account of God’s track record of prophecy is flawless.

And just as before, they are overjoyed with their long awaited freedom, rejoicing in their God who miraculously brought them home!...
But they are so self-absorbed they don’t read the prophecy right and fail to understand the point of what it said;
“And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, And shall return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
That then the LORD…" (and a promise follows.) Deuteronomy 30:1-2
Is this the heart of Israel today?
Clearly not. I am appalled at their hopeless paganism even after their miraculous return!
So do we now see the results of the promise that follows?;
…“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live”… Deuteronomy 30:6
Why has God not fulfilled verse 6?
Because they have not fulfilled verses 1-2.

So can the blessings of Deuteronomy and the promise of 30:3-5 apply to them now without them applying 1-2?
I don’t think so. Though symbolically fulfilled in 1948 as a shadow of things to come, that promise is actually for yet another time when they will fulfill the required heart of verses 1-2!
Then Hosea 5:15 will be fulfilled, and Zechariah 12.
But not until.
For Israel today there are other prophecies that apply (Ezekiel 37:1-22);

"When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria:...and they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face."
"They return, but not to the most High:..." Hosea 7:1-2,16

But perhaps. Just perhaps, in the symbolic 37 years left before the wandering horse angels stand among the myrtle trees in the bottom, to declare world rest, maybe the Jews will recognize their crimes against God and repent.
Otherwise the consequences of their own sins will come due again as a repeat of the last Diaspora we read in Jeremiah 16! which was to last so long that declaring to them an expected end of it would have been pointless;
"Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed?
wilt thou (God) be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?" Jeremiah 15:18

"Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." Jeremiah 18:11
So is it Islam and the Imperial forces that are the source of Israel's troubles, or God himself in response to their own sins?

But because they now have a long documented history of how God responds to sin, and is proven faithful to his promises both favorable and unfavorable; if they continue to ignore God’s desire for them the payment due is a compound debt of Leviticus 26 for stubbornness, added to their punishment for worshiping other gods.

Now don’t miss that the cause of the recently ended global incarceration they call an exile, was different than the Sabbaths neglect, and so the payment required was different too;

“Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger?
Then men (such as me) shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: (the covenant found in the Torah specifically the Chumash. [1st 5 books of the Christian bible])
For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.” Deuteronomy 29:25-28

Like Zechariah pointing out they were about to repeat the sins of their fathers that sent them into 70 years of captivity,
I am now pointing out that they are repeating the sins of their fathers that sent them into 1,878 years of Exile!
But remember this Exile was not primarily because of breaching the Sabbath of the land.
This was for worshiping other gods.
Take another look at the strange wording of the last line in verse 26; “For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he (God) “had not given unto them.”

Why would the Holy Spirit cause this to be written this way?
The translators of the Septuagint have wrongly included ‘them’, a word not in the original; “26 and they went and served other gods, which they knew not, neither did he assign them to them.” - http://www.ecmarsh.com/lxx/Deuteronomy/index.htm (sic.) the italics indicating inclusion for clarification.

God would never assign other gods to his people, but he would and did through scripture, assign to them THE prophesied Messiah who was his Son, part of the single triune God, to be worshiped.
But they rejected Jesus as their corner stone and set up their own Christ-less religion, void of any blood sacrifice, which was the very foundation of their original faith!
The amazing events that “just happened”, resulted in this “unexplainable” predicament of having no sacrifice for sins, because Jesus is God’s only provision, and came as the fulfillment of, and therefore no longer applicable, animal sacrifices!
“…Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?” Matthew 21:42
God promised the Messiah, he sent the Messiah, They rejected the Messiah, and are now left without any scriptural salvation… But its God’s failure to provide? (Zechariah 13:6-7) Reject his Messiah and he takes away your animal sacrifice crutch.

This historical blindness and resulting crime against God, is a clue to the cause of the next holocaust; (Zechariah 13:8-9)
It is my belief that the Jews will receive the Antichrist as their messiah, which we are now learning will be the Islamic Mahdi. So the previous holocaust was because they rejected God's provided Messiah, the next will be for worshiping one that God did not send to them!
"I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." John 5:43

Now notice; there was not provided a revealed specific duration for this crime as there was for the Sabbaths, but rather, Daniel discovered in prophecy past a set of 70 periods of 7, called weeks *13, which remained secret with God until it was prophesied by Daniel and revealed by history.
“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29
Now what the Jews do after returning from the Diaspora is a revealed responsibility because it has now been revealed.

All this was the part they overlooked in their excitement to experience Gods promised return to the land in 1948, just as those of long ago overlooked the important part.

And like before, their homeland is now possessed by squatters, who simply moved in while they were away in “prison” and now are not happy to see them return.
But this time, not learning from the past, since it was so long ago, they were deceived in the telling that their adversaries just wanted to live in peace alongside them;
“If you would only give us a bit of land to call our own.”
And so they gave it. But it wasn’t enough.
Their adversaries wanted more, and so turned to lawyers who by foreign authority (though strangely not a GDE), took from them the temple mount by persuasion, disallowing them to develop it.
And so discouraged by the perpetual opposition and attacks, they turned to their self-absorbed lives of struggling to survive as a way of life. And in their failed faith to build the temple, they by force abandon the actual law (Torah), replacing it with interpreted law (Talmud) to fit there new circumstances. But in this fabricated faith they were not able to retain the power of God, and returned to the paganism of the nations from which they recently came.
And the struggle became a lifestyle, even embraced, until other than a strictly held ceremonial religion, they forgot the God who called them home though they daily talk of him philosophically. Frankly, they now worship a dead god of their own making, not the living God whom they rejected.
Their radio talk-shows break my heart as they speak of deep faith but with a hopeless heart, perpetually blaming the Romans for their original troubles, and now America, Imperialism, and Palestine for their present troubles, all the while they continue to ignore their own responsible sins which caused God himself to send the Romans in the first place, and now sends the pagan nations of the world to trouble them. Israel National Radio - (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/radio/)

And now America follows close behind in the type and shadow abandonment of her God to her own destruction, long allowing her elected presidents and congress to willfully violate and ignore her very foundational laws which were established from the Holy Bible; largely from the 5 books of Moses as viewed through the New Testament of the Messiah.
So who is causing the troubles we now see in America?
God himself!
And for the same purpose; “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.” Zechariah 1:3

So again the prophecy of Haggai is very applicable for their nation, and now our own, as we wait for the time of Zechariah 1 to come to pass, resulting in the cry; “How long?”

According to my calculations of the myrtle tree, we still have between 37 to 87 years before the wandering horse scouts will find the world at rest. (Zechariah 1:8-11) because of other factors we will eventually explore, I believe it is closer to the 37.
But while we wait, there are big things the scripture says will take place… and precious little of it is pleasant!

I pray that this refresher of these prophecies used the last time for the very same situation, might stimulate the same response as before!
But prophecy suggests otherwise.

* * *

The Jews today in their self-absorbed perspective seem to argue with God; “Hey, We were born in exile because of the sins of our forefathers. We come home in faith, eager to build your temple, but we are opposed on every side, and the UN has commanded us to stop work on the temple mount, and now wants to divide our holy city.
Why are you mad at us? Go make the UN let us build.”

That sounds like a reasonable argument doesn’t it?

But from God’s perspective; “The 70-weeks" of exile was indeed due to your forefather’s sins. But that is over and your forefathers are now dead. The sins that are happening now are yours; though they be the same sins your fathers sinned. My argument is your self-absorbed heart. If you really wanted to build the temple you would find a way to let me help you get it done. But you let yourself be discouraged because it’s still all about you.
And so as I described in Haggai, I have made your self-absorption a heavy burden in the desire to encourage you to turn to me. (Haggai, paraphrased)
If you turn to me, I will turn to you, I am the LORD. (Zechariah 1:3, paraphrased)

And now in a more complete fulfillment than before, the message of the wandering horse angels applies today because the prophecy was actually made primarily for these last days as I have suggested in the past several posts, and will clearly show in those that follow.

* * *

Modern Times:
At this point it would be speculation for me to more precisely identify the specific modern date of the angel’s declared world rest. But we now have the information necessary to more closely discover that specific time;

Babylon (red horses), the rising Caliphate (speckled), and Greece (white) all need to be involved in the time of this declared rest, AND Persia (black) needs to be missing as a player.(Zechariah 1:8)
Therefore this event of rest cannot have already taken place, nor declared so by the wandering scout angels, because the second Caliphate has not yet come, and Persia is not powerless.
We must investigate how that rest will come and what it will look like when it does come, before we can interpret the time more accurately.
But while we watch the violence of the Caliphate rising today we rightly fear what that means, yet here in Zechariah 1 we are shown a time of genuine global rest not long after its rise, (since its rise is only a very short event on its nonstop way into perdition. Daniel 12:7, Revelation 12:14, Revelation 17:11)

So how does Zechariah 6:8 fit into the picture of chapter 1?
Chapter 6 is an explanation of the last four GDEs on the planet directly related to the chronological great diverse beasts of Daniel 7, while Zechariah 1 is a specific point in time which identifies the active elements of that moment.

So where is Persia (now generally Iran) in this last days declaration of rest?
Clearly Iran is a heavy player as we observe today… but times change quickly! God has plans for Iran.
Yet notice; Iran is fully Islamic today, and not at all the Persia it once was.
The intent and desire of the Iron spirit (beast) is to overpower and consume all others; conformity by devouring power and fear. (Daniel 7:7,19)
This description does not fit the kingdom of Persia; though they were mighty in conquest they were not merciless and destructive to nations, as shown by their returning Israel to her lands and faith.
Iran has now been consumed by Islam’s Iron Empire spirit; to the extent it now has a self-sacrificing desire to destroy Israel at any cost.
So the silver spirit of ancient Persia is no longer a player, though the geography once called Persia and now called Iran, is still in play…(for a time).
Call it new management, but the black horse of the north country shown in Zechariah 6:6 is the key we need to interpret other last days prophecies regarding "the north country". (Jeremiah 6:22, 10:22, 23:8 ect. ect.)
Today, Iran is now under the influence of the spirit of Iron and striving with God’s opposing speckled horse spirit. Watch how this plays out in modern history.

Then we also know the speckled spirit opposing the iron spirit is, among others, under the influence of God’s higher commanding red spirit that opposes hell’s higher commanding spirit of Babylon.
And the battle of the spirits is getting ugly as men submit to the spirit of evil while God’s called are taking up spiritual defense against it. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
But this is no Hollywood movie, this is reality!

Regardless;
Following the historic pattern, Israel has paid her debt and is now back home as God promised. What happens now is a result of her own relationship with God.
And true to the pattern, because of her understandably confused faithlessness, she is struggling with growing opposition, and yet we see by historical application of prophecy the world can be declared at rest even while Israel continues to struggle, just as before. The representing scout angels of Zechariah 1, in keeping with the four spirits of the winds in Zechariah 6, are representing regions of global power, not the odd independent peoples that have a local aggressive bone. This interpretation is proven by the history of the times in which Zechariah gave the prophecy and how it applied to their events.

So after Babylon and the new Caliphate rise, and Persia is diminished, the world is found to be at rest while Israel continues to struggle, the angel of Zechariah 1:12 can then ask; “how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou has had indignation these threescore and ten years?” *13

That is the question!

* * * * * * *

*1 All About Israel:
If the whole topic and point of this chapter directly relates to Israel’s troubles, why should I take my time to learn about it if I am not a Jew?
The rest of the chapter will explain that in the next posts. But in short, according to God’s perspective, the entire temporal world revolves around Israel as the planets revolve around the sun.
We now see as foolish the scientists who once thought something other than the sun was the center of the solar system. So we will one day have the knowledge to understand that Israel is the center of all that happens on the earth.
If the sun has troubles, you can bet the earth and the other planets will face repercussions, and so it is with Israel. (Zechariah 13:1-3 , 14:2)
As long as we thought the solar system revolved around the earth, we were unable to rightly interact with the science of it. And so it goes with Israel in every way; scripturally and temporally. When Israel is in trouble, so are all the nations and families of the world.
“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:3, (also; 18:18, 22:18, 26:4)

*2 Tri-: A combining form meaning: 1. Characterized by, or having, three, or three parts;
as in tricycle. 2. Three times or in three ways; also, into three, as in trisect.
- Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 5th edition 1948
[note: this does not suggest three of something, but a combining of three to make one.]

*3 Counting:
When Jeremiah prophesied the Babylonian captivity, he did not use this “threescore and ten” terminology, but simply said seventy years.
That is because the entire 70 years was a mathematical calculated unbroken sentence for the crime of failed Sabbaths that must be paid consecutively.
Yet here in the angel’s query, he was also speaking of the same 70 years, but in a more romantic way… for a cryptic reason.
This “threescore and ten” is not supposed to be romantic, it’s just the way they talked. No different than when we put groups of numbers together like; Twenty-three. We say it like this because we count in “groups” of 10s; so we have 20 and a fraction of another 10 to total 23.
Their counting includes a numeric group called a score, which simply means 20, like a dozen means 12 for us; so they add 3 score and a fraction of another score (10), to total 70.
Three score and ten, is similar to saying three dozen and five.
It’s just a way of speech.

But God does not waste words or ways of speech.
There is hidden within this normal accounting method, an actual cryptic message of yet another time than that of the simple 70 years of Babylonian captivity of the angels query, just as the use of representing horses allowed Zechariah’s prophecy to accurately apply it to two different events thousands of years apart.
And like the interconnected analogy of the horses to explain multiple related parts of reality, so the use of ‘threescore and ten’ can be accurately applied to more than one interconnected event.
This romantic accounting of 70 is what allows for a strange insertion of time between groups, we call the 70 weeks of Daniel 9. (much more in following posts)

*4 Was it exactly 70 years?
I have often wondered why the scriptures remain silent with information that would make my historical search easier, and as I try to include into a writing all that I learn in the search, I discover the original thought disappears in the volume.
With a learned trust that the scriptures always prove true when researched, we can avoid the confusing and distracting volume and maintain the thought it is conveying. But if the scriptures are not trusted, it takes a lot of heavy research to find it true.
Many before me have gone to great lengths to do the research, and I have studied them, as well as done my own investigation.
It is a shame that the entire world of thought cannot be written in a single book, but we will have to leave such things to another day or another work.

Historically it is difficult to show in few words the proof that the captivity lasted exactly 70 years, due to a number of variable angles, perspectives, events, and records:

“Exile 597-538
The Chaldeans, following standard Mesopotamian practice, deported the Jews after they had conquered Jerusalem in 597 BC. The deportations were large, but certainly didn't involve the entire nation. Somewhere around 10,000 people were forced to relocate to the city of Babylon, the capital of the Chaldean empire. In 586 BC, Judah itself ceased to be an independent kingdom, and the earlier deportees found themselves without a homeland, without a state, and without a nation. This period, which actually begins in 597 but is traditionally dated at 586, is called the Exile in Jewish history; it ends with an accident in 538 when the Persians overthrow the Chaldeans.” - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Exile.html

There are many such legitimate and illegitimate arguments in determining the actual start date of the captivity, let alone the start date of God’s indignation that Daniel used as his baseline to begin calculating.
Now although we don’t have in concrete the actual date the indignation began, we do have the exact year they were released; 536 BC. So we are able to start with the release and count backwards 70 years to the beginning. 536+70 = 606 BC. And we find that indeed the first siege of Israel which made them subservient to Babylon happened in 606 BC. The common 597 BC date is the third siege when Jerusalem was destroyed and the nation dispersed. But by the math we understand that God’s indignation began in 606 when Israel’s independence was lost.
While Sir Robert Anderson’s “The coming prince” has done a marvelous job showing the understanding and math that Daniel used, I marvel that the prophets never showed their work, they simply told the sum, and the sum is true.
So according to common recorded history, the captivity lasted less than 70 years.
Yet as a man living the experience of the captivity and doing the research, Daniel understood the 70 years was near completion. (Daniel 9:2) and it proved out that his calculations were correct.

*5 Type and Shadows:
For our prophetic study it will be important to note the various ways in which the squatters opposed them, in order to recognize the same methods used today:
• Through fear of conflict, (Ezra 3:3)
• Through deceitful “requests to help” because of false claims of historic worship of the same God. (Ezra 4:1-2)
• Through heavy discouragement and construction complications (Ezra 4:4)
• Through lawsuits and legal battles (Ezra 4:5)

*6 Relevant Persian timeline:
606 BC - 1st siege; Babylon conquers Israel and some takes captives; “70 years of Servitude” begins.
586 BC - 3rd siege; Temple and City destroyed and “70 years of Desolation” begins.
550 - 530 BC: Cyrus king of Persia Not yet the GDE.
536 BC - Darius takes Babylon for king Cyrus making this the first year Cyrus is the GDE and king of the Jews.
536 Cyrus releases Jews to Israel to build temple in the first year of his control. (Ezra 1:1) 70 years fulfilled for the people.
534 BC - Temple foundation begins (Ezra 3:8) and is completed (3:10-12)
522 - 486 BC: Darius becomes king of Persia
485 - 465 BC: Xerxes king of Persia
465 - 424 BC: Artaxerxes Longimanus king of Persia
??? Artaxerxes’ decree to stop work on the temple (Ezra 4:17-24)
445 March 14 - Decree of Longimanus to rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra 2:1,6-7)
none the less, lawsuits continue unstopped to frustrate the construction (Ezra 4:5)
423 - 404 BC: Darius II king of Persia
Temple construction continuously frustrated from Cyrus to Darius (Ezra 4:5)
421 BC - Zechariah and Haggai prophesy (Ezra 5:1,Haggai 1:1, Zechariah 1:1)
Temple construction resumes unauthorized (Ezra 5:3)
421 - Darius II allows rebuilding the temple and decrees to stop the hindrances. (Ezra 6:6-12) and so the hindrances finally stopped (Ezra 6:13)
417 BC Temple is completed! (Ezra 6:15) (had to be Darius II because Artaxerxes followed (Ezra 7:1)
This makes Zerubbabel 137 years old at completion! (Zech 4:9, Ezra 3:8)
404 - 358 BC - Artaxerxes II king of Persia
???-7 Decree of Artaxerxes II for Ezra to go help Nehemiah with the city construction still in progress (Ezra 7)
358 - 336 BC Artaxerxes III and IV kings of Persia
336 - 330 BC : Rule of Darius III last king of Persia GDE
Persian Timeline was an aid to this outline.


*7 Guided research:
Truly there is nothing new under the sun.
We see in Ezra 4:11-16 a carefully crafted letter of truths which the king would be able to research and verify but still effectively guiding the ruler to the ends the writers desired.
And so we see in Ezra 4:18 the king did his own research of what he was told to look for, thereby thinking his conclusion was flawless, and he found it to be just as he was told. Ezra 4:19-20 And so the king commanded to do with great diligence, just what these guiding men wanted him to do. Ezra 4:21-22
But the king never found in his research the decree of Cyrus the king to let them return and that the kingdom would pay the bills!
That information had to be searched by the guidance of others. Ezra 5:17
Upon such a search that information was also found true, and a completely different decree made to result in the opposite ends from the first. Ezra 6:6-12
It has been rightly said; “The power of influence is always greater than the position of power.”

*8 Darius II:
We know it was not Darius III (336-330) because the decree from Darius to resume the work was sent still in the life of Zerubbabel. (Ezra 5:2)
Therefore the stop work order lasted 14 years

*9 Grand fathers:
Scripture uses the term fathers to mean previous generations much as our founding fathers wrote about our forefathers. Fathers simply means earlier generations.
Fathers 1 ab; a primary word; father in a literal, and immediate, or figurative and remote application.

*10 Multiple application:
And now we understand the use of “horses” in the message; so that it could accurately apply to the powers then, and now again with different powers thousands of years later!
This is not Nostradamical, this has a specific purpose.
And so does the wording of threescore and ten.


*11 Context:
It is most always rightly cried error when someone uses half a scripture to validate a point. We strongly demand that context must be maintained when interpreting scripture. And so this is usually true as we judge the validity of an interpretation.
But Jesus himself showed a trend of using only half a scripture, apparently out of context, to make his point. (Luke 4:16-21 vs. Isaiah 61:1-3)
I hesitate to make this point because this passage was not provided in Matthew, showing us that this concept was not intended for the Jews. It is a truly complex and dangerous thing to rightly validate one thought with only half a verse because the other half does not seem to apply!
Yet we can analyze Jesus’ use and recognize that the other half DOES apply, just not at that moment. Jesus was using a passage written for a later date, to apply part of it to a shadow of an earlier time. This is the same application of Zechariah 1.
But I am not using half a concept to validate my interpretation… They were!
The entire prophecy is applicable this time, just as that one Jesus used partly then, is fully fulfilled at his return.

*12 Déjà vu:
(French pronunciation: [deʒa vy] , meaning "already seen") is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the previous encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined. - déjà vu

* 13 Threescore and ten, called the Seventy Weeks:
This has evolved into an entire post all its own coming next.
*