Anomalous Events of 30 AD, “…Because Thou Knewest Not The Hour Of Thy Visitation!”

 Luk 19:44, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. 

The statement made above is pointing directly to the Destruction of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem, and Jerusalem itself, in 70 AD. It was stated by Jesus in 30 AD, or somewhat. but not to long before.  For it was during the ministry of the Lord Jesus, that this time of visitation was not recognized by the Jewish leadership.

I would like to quote now the great Prophecy by Jacob upon each of his sons just moments before His death:

 

Genesis 49 King James Version (KJV)

49 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

King James Version (KJV)
by Public Domain

I will make further discussion of this great prophecy by Jacob concerning Judah, Jospeph, David, and Christ Jesus, at the bottom of this document.  I want to emphasize the relevance of vs 10 of this prophecy as it lends itself to this marvelous Article below.  The article written by Mr. William F. Dankenbring speaks of the interesting fact that shortly before the trial of Christ Jesus, Israel’s authority to carry out it’s capital punishment was stripped by the disposition of Rome.  Israel lost it’s suzerainty in 30 AD, just a Coincidence?  I would think Not.

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Enjoy and Study this great piece of research done by Mr. Dankenbring, very insightful.  I will add more at His conclusion.

 

 

THE MYSTERIOUS EVENTS OF THE YEAR 30 A.D.!

By

William F. Dankenbring

On April 5, 30 A.D., Jesus Christ was crucified on the 14th of Nisan, the day of the Passover sacrifice. But several other events happened that year, recorded in history, which were strange and foreboding of the future. A remarkable year indeed…

IN the gospel accounts dealing with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we find that strange events occurred, surrounding the event of the crucifixion, stamping it in the memory of man and God. Such a significant year in the history of all mankind would hardly seem to be allowed to pass without some “sign” or “wonders”. Indeed, although unbelievers continue to deny the facts, 30 A.D. was a strange, anomalous year.

In the book of Matthew we read:

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour…. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the spirit. And, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks were split; and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints that slept were raised, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now, when the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God” – (Matthew 27:45-54).

Writes Alfred Edersheim in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah:

“And now a shudder ran through Nature, as its Sun had set. We dare not do more than follow the rapid outlines of the Evangelistic narrative. As the first token, it records the rending of the Temple-Veil in two from the top downward to the bottom; as the second, the quaking of the earth, the rending of the rocks and the opening of the graves.., while the rending of the Veil is recorded first, as being the most significant token to Israel, it may have been connected with the earthquake, although this alone might scarcely account for the tearing of so heavy a Veil from the top to the bottom. Even the latter circumstance has its significance. That some great catastrophe, betokening the impending destruction of the Temple, had occurred in the Sanctuary about this very time, is confirmed by not less than four mutually independent testimonies: those of Tacitus, of Josephus, of the Talmud, and of earliest Christian tradition. The most important of these are, of course, the Talmud and Josephus. The latter speaks of the mysterious extinction of the middle and chief light in the Golden Candlestick, forty years before the destruction of the Temple; and both he and the Talmud refer to a supernatural opening by themselves of the great Temple-gates that had been previously closed, which was regarded as a portent of the coming destruction of the Temple”(p.610).

The Temple was destroyed by Titus in 70 A.D. Forty years before that date would be 30 A.D. – the year of the crucifixion!

Says Josephus, in his Wars of the Jews:

“Thus also, before the Jewish rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day-time; which light lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was being led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner, [court of the temple,] which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now, those that kept watch in the temple came thereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared, that this signal foreshewed the DESOLATION that was coming upon them” – (IV,5,3).

In early writings of the church fathers, Jerome in a Letter to Hedibia relates that the huge lintel of the Temple was broken and splintered and fell. He connects this with the rending of the Veil. Says Edersheim, “it would seem an obvious inference to connect again this breaking of the lintel with an earthquake” (p. 610, op. cit.). The lintel was an enormous stone, being at least 30 feet long and weighing some 30 tons!

The Temple Veils were 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and the thickness of the palm of a man’s hand, wrought in 72 squares. They were so heavy that we are told 300 priests were needed to manipulate each one. The Veil being rent from top to bottom was such a terrible portent because it indicated that God’s Own Hand had torn it in two, His Presence thus deserting and leaving that Holy Place.

Says the Jewish Talmud in Yoma 39b of the events which occurred in 30 A.D.:

“Forty years before the Temple was destroyed [i.e., 40 years before 70 A.D., or in 30 A.D.] . . .the gates of the Hekel [Holy Place] opened by themselves, until Rabbi Yohanan B. Zakkai rebuked them [the gates] saying, Hekel, Hekel, why alarmist thou us? We know that thou art destined to be destroyed…”

For the huge doors of the Temple behind the Veil to open, of their own accord, or in association with the great earthquake, would cause them to pull powerfully against the Veil, and with the lintel falling, at the same time, could have torn it in two from top to bottom.

This same year, 30A.D., the Sanhedrin had to abandon the Chamber of Hewn Stones, near the Holy Place in the Temple, which was its official seat or location. This was about 40 yards southeast of the entrance to the Holy Place. In 30 A.D. the Sanhedrin had to move to another location, called “The Trading Place,” farther to the east and a much less significant spot. To be forced to move from a beautiful, gorgeous, awesome location in the Temple to a spot much less beautiful, esteemed, and reverential, must have seemed a terrible “put down.” Says the Talmud:

“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the Sanhedrin was BANISHED (from the Chamber of Hewn Stone) and sat in the trading station (on the Temple Mount)”– (Shabbat 15a).

Forty years before the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. is 30 A.D. – the very year of the crucifixion of the Messiah! Why was the Sanhedrin moved in the very year Jesus was crucified? Could it also have been forced to do so because of damage due to the earthquake associated with the crucifixion of Jesus – and be direct punishment for their complicity in handing Jesus over to the Romans? Was this evidence of God’s official displeasure with their actions?

Prior to the War with Rome, Josephus tells us that the Sanhedrin had to move once again. This time they moved to an area outside the Temple complex, in an ordinary part of Jerusalem – actually a place west of the Temple near a building called the Xystus (see Josephus’ Wars of the Jews, V,4, 2). What a come-down! Says Ernest Martin in his book Secrets of Golgatha:

“If an earthquake of the magnitude capable of breaking the stone lintel at the top of the entrance to the Holy Place was occurring at the exact time of Christ’s death, then what would such an earthquake have done to the Chamber of Hewn Stones (a vaulted and columned structure) no more than 40 yards away from where the stone lintel fell and the curtain was torn in two?”

“There is every reason to believe, though the evidence is circumstantial, that the Chamber of Hewn Stones was so damaged in the same earthquake that it became structurally unsafe from that time forward. Something like this had to have happened because the Sanhedrin would not have left this majestic chamber (to take up residence in the insignificant ‘Trading Place’) unless something approaching this explanation took place” – (p.230-231).

Martin is right! They would not have made such a humiliating move – voluntarily! It had to be forced upon them by circumstance. There is no record of the Roman government compelling such a move – they stayed out of Jewish religious life. Nor would Herod the king have been responsible – to offend the entire Sanhedrin would have been a disastrous political mistake. Only a “natural cause” which men could not remedy would seem plausible for causing such a move. Martin goes on:

“If this is actually what happened (and I have no doubt that it did), we then have a most remarkable witness that God the Father engineered every action happening on the day of Christ’s trial and crucifixion. It means that the judgment made by the official Sanhedrin against Jesus within the Chamber of Hewn Stones, was THE LAST JUDGMENT ever given by the official Sanhedrin in their majestic chambers within the Temple! It would show that God the Father demonstrated by the earthquake at Christ’s death that the sentence of the Sanhedrin against Jesus would be the last judgment it would ever make in that authorized place!” – (p.231).

But this is not all. The events of the year 30 A.D. are amazing, when viewed from the perspective of almost 2,000 years later. Why did so many anomalous events occur during that one single year? Why did so many “curses” begin that very year? Why was the Sanhedrin so obviously rebuked by God that year, by being forced to “relocate”to a much lesser station than that which they previously held? Writes Rabbi Leibel Reznick in The Holy Temple Revisited:

“Although this was the largest structure on top of the entire Temple Mount, the purpose and function of the Basilica is not recorded anywhere. The TALMUD tells us that when the Sanhedrin (Supreme Court) CEASED TO JUDGE CAPITAL OFFENCES, they MOVED from the Supreme Court chambers to the ‘shopping mall’ (Rosh HaShana 31a). This shopping mall was located on the Temple Mount (Rashi) … Perhaps this shopping mall was located within the Royal Basilica. Because this area was built on Herod’s extension, it did not have the sanctity of the Temple itself, and commerce would have been permitted” (Jason Aronson, Inc., Northvale, New Jersey, 1993, p.69).

Notice! The year the Sanhedrin was moved was 30 A.D., the year Christ was crucified. This was also the year they CEASED to judge capital offences! This “authority” was thenceforth removed from their purview, denied to them – another withering rebuke to the sages of the Court which so injudiciously and intemperately MISJUDGED the Messiah Himself! Writes Craig Blomberg of this event:

“…the claim that the Romans retained the sole right of capital punishment (John 18:31) has often been termed a Johanine error, especially in view of the counter-example in the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58). But this right is strikingly confirmed by a passage in the Talmud, which says that capital punishment had been taken from the Jews FORTY YEARS before the destruction of the temple in A.D.70 (pSanh. 1:1,7:2). Stephen’s stoning reads more like mob action which defied technical legalities” – (The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, by Craig Blomberg, Inter-Varsity Press, 1987, p. 179).

It was the very year of the crucifixion that the Jews were denied the right to perform capital punishment by the Romans. When the members of the Jewish Supreme Court brought Jesus to Pilate, he told then “Take him and judge him according to your law.” But they replied, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death” – (John 18:31). Yet they connived and pressured Pilate and stirred up the crowd to demand the crucifixion of Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One of God (John 18:32-40; 19:1-16).

Great trouble and trial has come upon the Jewish nation ever since this moment frozen in time in 30 A.D. As He was led away to be crucified, Jesus warned the women of Jerusalem,

“Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep foryourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” – (Luke 23:28-31).

Truly, that was a memorable year of infamy!

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Further Discussion of the Prophecy of Jacob by Michael Seymour continued:

When we read vs 10 of the 49th Chapter of Genesis, there are some important issues that should be pointed out.

¹⁰ The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah…..until SHILOH come!  Or, the Rod of Authority shall not depart from Judah until…

Nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until SHILOH come!  Or, the Kingship or Governance, from his progeny….until…

Until Shiloh Come.  Or  until Messiah Come.

King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin, in his disobdience was mortally wounded in battle, then finally killed at his request by one of his own troops before the enemy could have their way.  Jonathan his son was also killed and would not be king of Israel.  But God told Samuel to anoint David a Shepherd boy from the tribe of Judah, for God said that David was after His own heart, and would perform all His Will.  The Kings of Judah were from the stock of Judah until Shiloh Came.

The most Literal, and narrow meaning of Shiloh is REST.  In this case however it seems there is a nuance present that suggests a person, not just rest.

There are a few different renderings of this statement, and they all really say the same things, here are two of them:

First, or Until he comes to Shiloh.  Second, or until it (the rod of authority, and government enforcing the law) comes To Whom It Belongs!

Shiloh (Messiah, and Rest) came in the person of Christ Jesus of Nazareth!  Thus the Sceptre came to the Messiah, and to the greatest Lawgiver of all, who also was from between Jacob’s feet!  Jesus!  The Lion Of The Tribe Of Judah!

So the Sceptre was passed to Yeshua the rightful authority, and was lost to the people of Judah no doubt for complicity in the false trial with false witnesses, and in the execution of Shiloh in 30 AD.  All of the events listed above by Mr. Dankenbring can hardly just have been coincidental with the Crucifixion of Jesus.  God was moving in Judgement for their tremendous error.  By the end of the Generation that Jesus spoke to saying:  “some of you standing here shall not taste death until all these things have been fulfilled,” in 70 AD, saw the end of the Jewish age come to pass with the destruction of Jerusalem, and it’s temple religion.  All that was left was the Oral tradition and religion of the Pharisee’s.

There is much more that could be discussed about the prophecy of Jacob concerning his sons, and as well for Yoma 39 b.  I will make that another article of it’s own, but in short, the workings of the Urim and the Thummim became inconsistent.  This object or objects, were little flat pieces of wood or bone that were tossed by the priest.  How they landed determined innocence or guilt.  The two goats that were brought to the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement, one to be sacrificed, while the other being driven out into the wilderness and off a cliff.  Depending on how the lot fell, depended on which goat was marked to be driven out.  The marking was performed by tying a crimson cord around the horns of the one that would be driven out.  The lot up until 30 AD always fell to the right side. So the goat to the left was marked and driven out by being beaten.  The cord always turned in color from crimson to white up until 30 AD. After that, sometimes it did, and sometimes it did not. Everything began to be inconsistent. The Menorah failed to light consistently as mentioned above.  Why?  When Jesus shed His blood and died, the New Covenant that was promised by God through the Prophets, was initiated and confirmed.  So once and for all the sacrifice for sin was made and complete.  About 47 days later and after the Ascension, on the 50th day from Pass Over, when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, the day of anniversary for Moses giving the first covenant, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to the believers in the upper room.  This consummated the New Covenant. Therefore there was no need for further sacrifice.