by Al Sutton
Jubilee Hypothesis
I started to develop a spreadsheet that would shed some light on The Jubilee Hypothesis. What I ended up concluding is that the author rather arbitrarily picked the 405 BCE date to calibrate the "62 weeks of years" prediction given to Daniel, then used the 405 BCE date to determine where the 7 weeks of Jubilees would occur. However, it's not quite that simple. He also has to assume a Jubilee alignment, either based on calendar dates or the supposed re-start of the Jubilee observances with Joshua in the Land of Israel. That's two very large assumptions, especially when the 405 BCE date is at odds with the usual interpretation that the time period is supposed to start when Cyrus issues the decree to rebuild Jerusalem in 538 BCE, a well-known historical date. I'm not sure I can even agree with the author's conclusions if all his assumptions turn out to be acceptable, and two assumptions in a 3-variable equation is a little worrisome to me.
I really like the essay by Mikhael Bauer at which I have attached. I think he does an excellent job of explaining what most authors either fluff or otherwise fail to document. I think I "finally" understand the workings of Enoch's calendar and can align it to within a few days of the Gregorian or the modern Hebrew calendar. What I can't do is to get the alignments for commonly accepted dates to generate any of the dates other authors have published as prophetic. If there is a problem, it comes from the lack of agreement on the date of the first Passover, a date that we should be able to derive with some accuracy, I would think. I lack the tools to propose and argue for an alignment with that event, and inasmuch as other authors do, but disagree, I think I'll have to allow events of the near future speak for themselves, at least for now.
I included the spreadsheet as I promised. It's odd working with calendars that some of them have KNOWN and DEMONSTRABLE flaws at various points, and many authors just skip the issues as if unimportant. One thing is clear, I think. Whoever "wrote the Bible Codes" must have had a clear vision of our time to get dates that seem to match the current Hebrew calendar when we now know it just has to be wrong when anchored to a few ancient historical dates that we know well. An ancient prophet could not simply have calculated a date. He/she would have had to be given the date.
Respectfully,
Al Sutton
