Ezekiel’s Prophecy of Israel’s 1948 Rebirth
Hidden in the pages of scripture is a precise prophesy about the exact time when the Lord would miraculously restore his chosen people to their ancient land.
Israel’s relationship to the land is a major focus of biblical prophesy. The Egyptian captivity was prophesied to last exactly 430 years
Exodus 12:41 – At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
Jeremiah predicted the exact duration of the captivity of the Jewish exiles in Babylon would be 70 years.
Jeremiah 25:11 – This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Both secular history and the bible reveal that, as predicted, the Babylonian captivity ended exactly 70 years later in the spring of 536 B.C.
Ezekiel, who was alive at this time, was given a new revelation revealing how long it would be until the Jewish people would finally re-establish their nation in the last days.
Ezekiel 4:3 – 6 –And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.
4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.
In the passage, Ezekiel clearly declares that this prophesy would be a “sign to the House of Israel”, and each day represents on “biblical year”.
A biblical year is equal to 360 days.
The prediction revealed that Israel would be punished for a combined total of 430 years.
The starting point is 536 B.C. But only a small remnant of Jews chose to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem. The vast majority were quite happy to remain in the Persian Empire.
God decreed to Ezekiel a period of punishment of 430 years. However they had already had 70 years of punishment during the exile to Babylon.
There still remained 360 years of punishment. (430 – 70 = 360)
Nothing happened after the 360 years!
Both the bible and history reveal that Israel did not repent of its sins at the end of the 70 year captivity, and the scriptures record in the books of Ezra & Nehemiah, the 50,000 who chose to return with little faith. The vast majority who remained in Babylon failed to repent of their disobedience.
The solution of the mystery of the duration of Israel’s worldwide dispersion and return was revealed to Moses in Leviticus 26.
God declares to Israel 4 times in this passage that if, after being punished for their sins, they still did not repent, the punishments previously specified would be multiplied 7 times.
Leviticus 26:18 – And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again seven-fold for your sins,
Leviticus 26:21 – “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, seven-fold for your sins.
Leviticus 26:24 – then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you seven-fold for your sins.
Leviticus 26:28 – then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you seven-fold for your sins
Israel was unrepentant, which was customary and not at all unusual, according to the patterns of the Old Testament.
This meant that Israel would be with out an independent nation for 2520 biblical years. (360 * 7 = 2520). Remember that there are 360 days in a biblical year.
When we multiply 2520 years X 360 days, we get 907,200 days.
To convert that to our modern calendar, we must divide by 365.25 days.
That calculates to 2,483.80 modern calendar years.
2483.8 – 536.4 B.C. = 1947.4
Remember that there is no year zero between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D.
So we add one more year, which brings us to 1948 in May.
This is when Israel was established as a nation again after WW2.
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