[500] Ezra 7&8: The Return From Babylon the Great to Heavenly Jerusalem

INCORRECT AND OUT OF DATE!!!

As a brother once said, interpreting the bible is like finding a key and going into a new room wherein one finds another key which gets one into another room wherein one finds another key etc. etc. Now that we have this new key of 'lets try a day for a year in a few of the daily timetables in the bible', and now that we have some knowledge of divine chronology which extends beyond: It's 1914! We are able to play this game a bit more effectively. Although of course it's not really a new key at all, because the 'Live forever book' (available from the Jehovah’s witnesses) defines 'a day for a year' as 'a bible rule'.

These two chapters cover the return from Babylon of the Jews to build the second temple. But this is not a dead history account, it is a living history account, for if the bible is alive and exerts power then it is prophetic, all of it is prophetic. And this account prophetically refers to the return from Babylon the great of the greater Zerubbabelians if you will admit the expression, of the 20th century heavenly brothers. In fact the Society already knows this to be the case and has deduced the existence of modern day Nethinim from it. (See the article in Watchtower 1992April15p13-17).

Chapter 7 starts with Ezra showing us his descendence from Aaron. In verses 7 - 10, we read that a group of Israelites led by Ezra, left Babylon on Nisan 1, in the 7th year of Artaxerxes, which was 468BCE and reached Jerusalem on Ab 1. We are just going to look at the people in this account and the timetable of their actions. In chapter 8 verses 1 - 20 we find a long list of names. This list is actually the cornerstone of the prophecy. Please consider the following list of returning exiles:

Whilst it is not immediately apparent that Iddo himself came along, verse 17 says:

Then I gave command concerning Iddo, the head one in the place Casiphia, and I put in their mouth words to speak to Iddo (and) his brothers the Nethinim in the place Casiphia to bring to us ministers for the house of our God (Ezra 8:17).

And we see in verse 20 that 220 Nethinim turned up. Presumably since there is no group in this chapter which does not have a 'head one', and since Iddo is the only candidate for this position as regards the Nethinim, he must have come along. Further still, there is no group which is numbered in such a way as to include the 'head one', so we must assume that the 220 Nethinim of verse 20 excludes Iddo, and that he came along in addition to them, as their head one. It is also easily forgotten that Ezra must be included!

The key verse for our purposes in this chapter is verse 15, the true meaning of which is amazing. The verse reads:

And I proceeded to collect them at the river that comes to Ahava; and we kept encamped there three days, that I might scrutinize the people, but none of the sons of Levi did I find there (Ezra 8:15).

What this verse actually means in part is: Please will the reader scrutinize all of these people whom Ezra collected, because their number will tell him something. This is not so much a reader question as a reader prompter. Also collecting people physically is a bible euphemism for counting them up. We read in verse 31, that the exiles pulled away from the river Ahava on the twelfth day. Now rivers in the bible are often used for baptisms, and able-bodied men often stand for years, and timetables such as the one in this chapter from Nisan 1 to Ab 1 and thereafter, should often be taken 'a day for a year' for the greater meaning. Remembering that the first baptism ended in 95Tishri, when the Intermission Times started, this would mean that sons of Levi, who are standing for spiritual Israel, the king priests to be, were absent starting then. So the first named exile in the list, Gershom (a funny name for a man who was not a Levite - Levi’s sons were Kohath Gershom and Merari - this is not a coincidence it is a cryptic clue), stands for the next Hebrew year, namely the one starting in 96Nisan. Combining all of this we arrive at the following timetable:

The river Ahava is symbolising the second baptism which starts when the river is crossed. The 3 days waiting by the river Ahava, is symbolising the job that they are getting baptised to do which is to build the temple (Luke 2:46, Matthew 26:61). The crossing of the river represents baptism by holy spirit for the second temple brothers. The collecting of them by Ezra is symbolising the waiting for the collection of the 1788 years to pass. This period starts with the end of the baptism of the greater sons of Levi, the remnant in 95 AD. But the list of exiles actually contains 53 Levites: Ezra and the 9 instructors Eliezer to Meshullam and Joiarib & Elnathan, instructors Sherebiah plus 18 sons & brothers and Hashabiah and Jeshiah plus 20 sons & brothers were Levites, a total of 53. This does not mean that there was a 53 year period in the 1788 years when there was a remnant baptism. None of these 53 who were sons of Levi are said explicitly to be "sons of Levi" in the account so we are free to ignore their parenthood in the count. In any event the river is reached after 1788 men have assembled i.e. in 1884, not before.

Now this is so incredibly important, because it shows that the last year of the period of no sons of Levi, or no remnant baptism was 1883Nisan - 1884Adar. So a remnant brother was baptised in 1884. He was Charles Taze Russell. This was his Elijah 3 water baptism as well of course, so he was clean to baptise people in the flesh after his baptism. So the 1788 men leaving Babylon and waiting by the river Ahava, each stand for a year of men waiting to leave Babylon the great to enter God’s true people which was possible in 1884. The whole point of this account is that no man could leave Babylon the great for 1788 regnal years after the end of the first baptism. But in the Hebrew year starting in 1884Nisan, which is here symbolised by the date of Nisan1, men were able for the first time to leave Babylon, which is what Ezra's real life journey is representing. What this does is prophesy the very year that the true religion for the brothers of the second temple would come into existence! And as every good bible student will tell you, the religion that was started in the Hebrew year starting in 1884Nisan was: The Watchtower Society

It was founded in 1884December. The bible contains other witnesses to this start date (Ezra 10, Daniel 6, not covered in this book/website at present). And now Anthony and my brothers, Ray, Roger, Isaac, Howard, Tony and John, please do scrutinize this account, in accord with the direction from the holy spirit. This is meat from God, it is quails, we are not talking honey flavoured cakes here!

Ezra did not find any priests on that side of the river (initially) because the second baptism did not start until they crossed the river on Nisan12 which represents 1895Nisan - 1896Adar, during which time the first brothers of the second temple became anointed to be priests and to rule as kings (Rev 20:6). And whereas in the case of the physical second temple we read in Zechariah 4:

Not by a military force, nor by power, but by my spirit, Jehovah of armies has said (Zechariah 4:6).

In the case of the second spiritual temple, Ezra has said in chapter 8 verse 22:

For I felt ashamed to ask a military force and horsemen from the king to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had said to the king: The hand of our God is over all those seeking him for good, but his strength and his anger are against all those leaving him (Ezra 8:22).

We now have a further proof that the one and only group of true servants of God are/were Jehovah's witnesses. The incorporation of the Watchtower Society, was the greater fulfillment of Ezra 7:9, and the start of the greater exodus from the greater Babylon, and the 1788 brothers who waited by the Ahava, represent the wait before this exodus, a 1788 year wait.

Continuing with the timetable, the exiles arrive in Jerusalem on Ab 1, which being 120 days after Nisan 1, corresponds to the year beginning in 2004Nisan. Which we know is the year of the last resurrection of the anointed (Dan 12:7 see later). The fourth day of dwelling in Jerusalem, is the fourth day after Ab1, i.e. Ab5 (this is because on the Hebrew day of arrival, the exiles would have slept outside Jerusalem, and then arrived during daylight, therefore since the three days of dwelling in Jerusalem means three days of sleeping there, i.e. Ab2,3,4 - verses 32,33). Ab5 corresponds to the Hebrew year beginning 2008Nisan, which is when these anointed ones begin ruling in the kingdom of their father, which corresponds to the weighing out of the 'silver and the gold and the utensils', (verse 33). So this is a further witness to Armageddon occurring in 2008.

As a final point, the 220 Nethinim, in this account, who are appointed to help the Levites are 'named'. This means that they have a name inscribed in the book of life, i.e. they are sanctified in holy spirit, judicially living. In Watchtower parlance they are anointed. I am anointed in this baptism.

Corrections to the translation: a hundred silver utensils worth [two] talents (Ezra 8:26)
Should read: Silver utensils worth a hundred talents.
The Hebrew word: ~yrkkl, is not in the dual number and so does not mean to ‘two talents’, it is plural absolute, (Benjamin Davidson, analytic Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon) and so means ‘to talents', the prefix l is ‘to’, Hebrew is read backwards.
Two utensils of good copper gleaming red as desirable as gold (Ezra 8:27)
Should read: Two utensils of fine brass, shining gold coloured, as desirable as gold (See Leviticus 13:30,32 NIVHEOT)

And from the Nethinim, whom David and the princes gave to the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim, all of whom had been designated by names (Ezra 8:20)

55 years 200 days, of non demonised food from Cedar point convention start on 5^th September 1922, or 1922Elul12 until Freddie became a Nightmare on 1978Iyyar2. 6000 days of demonisation later (Legion, the demon with 6,000 men) is ?? 

12 separated chiefs who are told:

I now separated from the chiefs of the priests, 12, namely Sherebiah, Hashabiah and with them 10 of their brothers (Ezra 8:24)
Keep awake and be on guard until you weigh [them] out before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and the princes of the fathers of Israel in Jerusalem, in the dining halls of the house of Jehovah (Ezra 8:29).

This account is the history of the Watchtower Society, written in advance.

That the society should be so close to the mark, with its understanding of the Nethinim, without having any 'post unsealing' or 'time of the end' understanding is inspiring. What is apparent from this account, is that there is no other anointed candidate for headship of the society. What would put the icing on the cake here is the figures for the appointments to the governing body during the presidencies of Judge Rutherford, and then of the two greater sons of Merari (brothers Knorr and Franz), the writer expects that there were 18 appointments during the former presidency (Sherebiah's 18 sons and brothers), and 20 appointments during the latter two presidencies (Hashabiah's and Jeshiah's 20 sons and brothers).

It is now apparent that having one's name in verses 16-20 of Ezra 8, means that one is on the governing body of the Watchtower Society, in which case the fact that the 220 Nethinim were named, means that there will be 220 members of the Great Crowd who sit on this body in some capacity or other, before this system is ended. Truly it is being said to you today that not only was Sherebiah a man of Discretion (verse 18), he was also a man of Faith! He was faithful and discreet, in fact.

Russell died in 1916, so he himself did not appoint Sherebiah, Judge Rutherford. Rutherford was the first president of the FDS after it was appointed over all belongings in 1918Nisan16. Russell’s head ones, his ‘governing body members’ were mentioned in his will:

A. N. Pierson, A. I. Ritchie, W. E Van Amburgh, H. C. Rockwell, J. D. Wright, I. F. Hoskins, J. F. Rutherford, William E. Page, E.W Brenneisin, F. H. Robison, A. E. Burgess, Robert Hirsch, G. H. Fisher, John Edgar.

A Total of 14, but two resigned: Page & Brenneisen. And Burgess, Fisher and Edgar were named as reserves and I do not know whether they were used. So we have 9 heads here. Whether these were the ones appointed by Jesus I do not know:

N. Pierson, A. I. Ritchie, W. E Van Amburgh, H. C. Rockwell, J. D. Wright, I. F. Hoskins, J. F. Rutherford, F. H. Robison, Robert Hirsch.

The two instructors may have been from the 3 reserves: Burgess, Fisher & Edgar. Russell entered heaven on 1918Iyyar25, so he was able to continue his work from there, from then onwards.