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Torah-Dating the Events of the Famine Week

By Bob Schlenker (Prints about 6 pages)

In our pursuit of knowledge about the Lord's appointment book, we have learned when the Famine week began through various means, not the least of which was the testimony of the signs in the heavens. According to the time disclosed by the interpretation of the sign for the latter day Magi (Genesis 49:10), the seven year advance warning about the Famine week found confirmation right on schedule through a sign in the earth when Bill Clinton was involved in the Wye Plantation agreement that confirmed the Oslo accord. The dating of the week's events had thus far been established in a manner relative to that week (for example, after 2 1/2 years have passed, or by comparison with the time of the flood, etc.). Though not anchored directly to the calendar, this relative placement and sequencing of events allowed us to determine date for the events because the dating of the Famine week is known. Now, we are going to see how some of those events are themselves anchored directly to the calendar by means of the scriptural timepieces. By means of the thoroughly authenticated function of Psalms and Deuteronomy as timepieces (see Scriptural and Celestial Timepieces), we will find that the testimony of these witnesses agrees with the others.

This particular article is concerned with the Deuteronomy timepiece. The Psalms will be addressed in an article entitled "Psalm-Dating the Events of the Famine Week" linked at the close of this article.

Deuteronomy 32:5-12 The Watches of the Night 1998 - 2005
Night Watch	Year	NIV	Septuagint (Brenton)
	(97-98) 5758	5 They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation.	5 They have sinned, not pleasing him; spotted children, a froward and perverse generation.
1	(98-99) 5759	6 Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?	6 Do ye thus recompense the Lord? is the people thus foolish and unwise? did not he himself thy father purchase thee? and make thee, and form thee?
2	(99-00) 5760	7 Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.	7 Remember the days of old, consider the years (Brenton's note: in ages of ages) for past ages: ask thy father, and he shall relate to thee, thine elders, and they shall tell thee.
3	(00-01) 5761	8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.	8 When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.
4	(01-02) 5762	9 For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.	9 And his people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel was the line of his inheritance.
5	(02-03) 5763	10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye,	10 He maintained him in the wilderness in burning thirst and a dry land: he led him about and instructed him, and kept him as the apple of an eye.
6	(03-04) 5764	11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.	11 As an eagle would watch over his brood, and yearns over his young, receives them having spread his wings, and takes them up on his back:
7	(04-05) 5765	12 The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him.	12 the Lord alone led them, there was no strange god with them.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's Commentary on verse 11. As an eagle . . . . fluttereth over her young--This beautiful and expressive metaphor is founded on the extraordinary care and attachment which the female eagle cherishes for her young. When her newly fledged progeny are sufficiently advanced to soar in their native element, she, in their first attempts at flying, supports them on the tip of her wing, encouraging, directing, and aiding their feeble efforts to longer and sublimer flights. So did God take the most tender and powerful care of His chosen people; He carried them out of Egypt and led them through all the horrors of the wilderness to the promised inheritance.

As well as the above table, you may find it helpful to refer to the chart of the Night Watches or the table of documentation from time to time as I describe the events, their sequencing and their dating.

In verses 5 and 6, there is an expression of the Lord's judicial decision. Even after having brought them back into the promised land and given them a Jubilee by grace in 1948-49, they failed to observe his commands to honor the seventh years and the next Jubilee. This is a big deal, and I believe the Lord demanded their acknowledgment of his favor in bestowing the previous Jubilee by grace. Concluding the Jubilee cycle with the Abundance week, the people of the land failed to observe the Jubilee when the appointed time arrived on Yom Kippur in 1998, so judgment began. (Of course, there's really more to it than that, going all the way back to the fall of man.) The seventieth seven began with the Wye Plantation confirmation, Netanyahu meeting with Arafat in an attempt to appease the onlooking world powers and to meet Israel's need for security with the arm of the flesh. He should rather have trusted in the Lord. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob announced his decision at the conclusion of the Abundance Week of this Jubilee by grace: They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. Deuteronomy 32:5

Thus, the Lord opens the Famine week with the following inquiry, characterizing the first year.

Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you? Deuteronomy 32:6

Yes, the Lord had high expectations and was disappointed with the ingratitude of his foolish and unwise people.

In the next year, the second Watch of the Night, mention is made of the years in "ages of ages," appropriate enough a marking for this verse associated with the year of the transition into the seventh millennium. Reference is also made to the days before the flood.

Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. Deuteronomy 32:7

Ask your fathers, and their fathers, and theirs, all the way back to mankind's most recent common father - Noah. What could Noah tell us about that time in the days of old? He could tell us that the world was wicked and ripe for judgment, which it most assuredly is today! You may recall the oft quoted comparison from Matthew 24:37, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." Yes, wickedness reaps judgment.

The judgment by flood of Noah's day that occurred in the second millennial day teaches the wise about an event appointed to occur in this second Watch of the Night, known by reason of the overlay of the great sevens. Is this verse's allusion to the flood merely a coincidence? No! It is the verse for the year 5760 (99-00) and there must come an event corresponding to the time and purpose of the Flood.

In the third Watch of the Night, the major events corresponding to the third millennium are scheduled - and we must note the eminent miracles of the crossing of the Red Sea and crossing of the Jordan. In this verse, we see the Bride theft as she receives her inheritance and is separated from the rest of humanity.

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. Deuteronomy 32:8

There are also boundaries established according to the Most High's perfect ordination. People appear to be grouped and categorized, like for instance, the 144k - "according to the number of the sons of Israel."

Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. 5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, 6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, 7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000. Revelation 7:4-8

I believe the numbered sons of Israel, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes, were foreshadowed at the crossing of the Jordan by the 12 stones of testimony, one taken for each tribe out of the river bottom from where the priests (angels) stood at the Jordan's flood stage crossing (see Joshua 4).

It is not a chance occurrence that Deuteronomy 32:8 is the 5761st verse in the Masoretic Hebrew texts and that the Jewish year 5761 (00-01) happens to be 2 1/2 years after the seven began in the fall of 1998 - the very year we should expect these events. You should have already familiarized yourself with some of the articles detailing the events expected in 2001, as they have been well documented through their various cryptic scenarios in the scripture. (Some of these I've posted online but others have yet to be posted). Here's a brief summary for a reminder.

The sign for the church that is the revealing of the lawless one begins a cascading series of events. Following that event by a brief but intense period of 8 days, 144,000 Jews acknowledge Y'shua as their Messiah. This initial occurrence of what Romans 11:15 calls "their acceptance" immediately triggers a resurrection, in this instance, the Bride theft. An period of 1260 days begins at that time, appointed for what is called great tribulation or distress, a time ordained for mankind's ultimate trial. It should go without saying, but this period of 42 months or 3 1/2 years is neither the first half nor the second of the Famine week. It spans the interval between 2 1/2 and 6 years, concluding at the beginning of the Shabbat Watch. Speaking plainly in calendar terms, the lawless one will apparently be revealed on Friday, April 6 (Nisan 13) in our year 2001. The sealing of the 144,000 Jews and the Bride theft occur on the same day that marks the beginning of the 1260 days. This period extends from Saturday, April 14 (Nisan 21), 2001 to Saturday, September 25 (Tishri 10), 2004. Note that these dates are both high Sabbaths, concurrent holy day and weekly Sabbaths.

Preceding those verses we just read about the sealing of the 144k in Revelation 7, Let's go back all the way to verse 1 to introduce the next few verses for the years from Deuteronomy 32. Let's focus on what is happening before the 144k are sealed.

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. Revelation 7:1-4

Notice that the the land, sea and trees are spared from being harmed by any "wind" until after the 144k are sealed. (Wind is often associated with spirit.) We can infer that once the servants are sealed the four angels cease holding back the four winds of the earth and many harsh judgments begin to be unleashed upon the earth and its inhabitants.

Just eight days prior to the sealing of the 144,000, the lawless one would have been revealed. Revelation 12 gives us numerous views of that revealing and what follows that event. The one that is most relevant is as follows.

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. Revelation 12:13-14

After the lawless one is revealed (pictured here as the dragon's being hurled to the earth), the focus is upon the flight of the woman into the desert. Since the judgments are unleashed at that time, she flies to the desert to be taken care of out of the serpent's reach, out of harm's way in the Lord's special provision. The woman represents a particular faction of Israel. What we will find in the appropriate verses of the Deuteronomy timepiece is the conveyance by means of the two wings of a great eagle and the special protection and provision for the woman!

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. 9 For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. 10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. 12 The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him. Deuteronomy 32:8-12

These awesome verses seem to represent a departure from the way each verse has been associated with a single year. These combine to corporately represent the period. These verses also seem to conclude this portion of the year-for-a-verse program we've been so blessed to enjoy from the remarkable Torah. By the way, it is a fact that E.W. Bullinger had noted the link between Revelation 12:14 and Deuteronomy 32:11 in his Companion Bible notes. What remarkable insight that dear brother had!

May I say that it is an amazing coincidence that we should find such a series of correlations with these verses and the foretellings of the years that bear their number? Or, could it actually be that the Lord God has chosen to reveal the details of his plan to his servants at this present time? Oh, really. Let's wake up! We live in a very special time!

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Luke 8:17

Our Lord Y'shua had just prior to that statement declared the nature of the subject matter to be disclosed and how it would be understood only by some.

And He said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, in order that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND.Luke 8:10

Consider what was told to the prophet Daniel about the understanding of the specific period of time under study.

One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?" 7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, "It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed." 8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?" 9 He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. Daniel 12:6-10

Are you wicked, or are you being purified made spotless and refined, hopeful candidates for the Bride???

Before I wrap up this exposition of the Deuteronomy verses, let's look at another spectacular view of the woman's flight into the desert for supernatural protection and provision. I find it interesting that Rashi (Targum Yonathan), respected rabbinic commentator, writes about Deuteronomy 32:8 that the number referred to relates to the Seventy nations (note on Genesis 10:32) and that it parallels the seventy who went with Jacob to Egypt (Genesis 46:27). Good insight into the meaning of the passage!

I have known for some time about the awesome prophetic scenario hidden in Genesis chapter 45. The account of Joseph revealing his identity to his brothers is a detailed view of the sealing and commissioning of the 144,000 Jews. They recognize their Messiah at long last! This passage was my first clue to learning when the time of the Bride theft was to occur relative to the Famine week, back in 1991 or early 1992. Joseph is a type of our Lord Y'shua, and Benjamin, the Bride. The brothers all together represent the 144,000. Jacob and his family represent the particular group of Jews who compare to the woman of Revelation 12. The conveyance by means of the two wings of a great eagle given to her compare to the Egyptian carts sent along with the brothers as they went back to Canaan to fetch their father, and which conveyed Jacob and his family back to Egypt. Egyptian carts are quite special, for you see, Egypt was a type of heaven.

Here is the commission given the 144k in type.

Now hurry back to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don't delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me--you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.' 12 "You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly." Genesis 45:9-13

See, Jacob needed to be brought from Canaan to the region of Goshen for Joseph's special provision. The means of transportation was provided -carts. Strongs # 5699. 'agalah, ag-aw-law'; from the same as H5696; something revolving, i.e. a wheeled vehicle:--cart, chariot, wagon.

God speaks to Y'shua and directs him about this very important commission.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, 18 and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.' 19 "You are also directed to tell them, 'Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. 20 Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.'" 21 So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. Genesis 45:17-21

Upon their arrival in Canaan, testimony is given about the status of the one whom they had pierced, Y'shua. He is alive and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God - ruler of all heaven! Notice now the role the carts play in convincing Jacob.

They told him, "Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt." Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, "I'm convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die." Genesis 45:26-28

Hallelujah! The spirit of their father Jacob revived! And Israel said, "I'm convinced! My son Y'shua is still alive. I will go and see him before I die! Without dying (so this is not a resurrection), Jacob rides the Egyptian cart to a special place called Goshen, which means "drawing near," a place which is in Egypt near to Y'shua. This place represents the best of the land of Egypt where they can enjoy the fat of the land. This is no earthly place but a special place of sanctuary in the heavenly realm, a place where these people are out of Satan's reach until the appointed time, as we learn in Revelation 12.

The sum total of what we have learned about the special revelations about the times and seasons is very, very convincing evidence. This kind of evidence is of such a nature that those of us who are awake and watching should be encouraged to apply ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord's service with praise and great joy in hope. However, what remains to be seen is the true sign for the church. Until such time as the lawless one is revealed, we are yet without that one event that is declared to be THE sign. May I encourage you to minister before the Lord with your best gifts. He is worthy. Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Y'shua!

When you are ready you may proceed to the article: Psalm-Dating the Events of the Famine Week