p. 99 | SEVENTY by John Norton Loughborough

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 18, 1902

SEVENTY

By John Norton Loughborough

ELDER J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. (Healdsburg, Cal.)

In my forty-fifth reading of the Bible by course, lately completed, among other things I noted the use of the word “seventy,” or its equivalent, in the Scriptures. There were seventy of Jacob’s posterity that came with him into Egypt. Gen. 46: 27. At the place of the second encampment of the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea,—Elim,—there were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten (seventy) palm trees. Ex. 15: 27. There were seventy of the elders of Israel that went up to Mount Horeb with Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, who “saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness.” Ex. 24: 1, 10. Then again, there were seventy of the elders of Israel upon whom the Lord put His Spirit, and they prophesied, thus being fitted to share in the burdens borne by Moses in leading Israel. Num. 11: 6. It was probably from this appointment that originated the Sanhedrin, or court of seventy elders, mentioned in later time.

Still further on we read that with seventy pieces of silver Abimelech hired vain persons, who went with him to take part in slaying seventy of his brothers. Judges 9: 4, 5. We read also of seventy of the heads of Ahab’s sons which were demanded by Jehu from the Samaritans. And as these seventy heads were laid in two heaps at the entrance of the city of Jezreel, Jehu said to the people, “Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?” 2 Kings 10: 6-9.

We have the account of the seventy years’ captivity of the Israelites, when their land lay desolate and enjoyed its sabbaths, to compensate for the time in which they had violated the same. Jer. 25: 11, 12; 2 Chron. 36: 20, 21. Then, again, we read of a seventy years, perhaps referring to the seventy years just preceding, or the years of their captivity. Of this time the Lord said: “Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?” Zech. 7: 5, 6. On another occasion we read of the seventy out of the eighty that came to see Gedaliah (as they were told), but instead of seeing Gedaliah they were mercilessly slain by Ishmael, who had already slain Gedaliah. Jer. 41: 5-8.

The period of seventy weeks (Dan. 9: 24), in the fulfillment of its predicted events, fully established the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. The same period is a matter of great interest to us, in that it is the key to the reckoning of the twenty-three hundred days of Dan. 8: 14, showing the time of their beginning, and their termination in the autumn of 1844, the period for the beginning of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary—the opening work of the investigative judgment, which is declared by the First Angel’s Message of Rev. 14: 6, 7.

In noting the space between Old and New Testament times we find, in response to a request from the Greeks, that six men from every tribe of Israel were selected—seventy-two in all—to make a translation of the Old Testament scriptures into the Greek language, to be placed in the library at Alexandria, Egypt. Two of the seventy-two died before the work was accomplished. It was the seventy men that made that Greek translation, which has since been designated as the “Septuagint”—the translation made by the seventy.

As we open the New Testament, we read the words of Christ to Peter, by which He showed the spirit of tender kindness and compassion we should exercise toward a brother, in that we should forgive him not only seven times for his trespasses against us, but “seventy times seven.” Matt. 18: 22. The Saviour, after selecting twelve constantly to accompany Him, that they might after be competent witnesses of His teachings and miracles, selected other seventy, and sent them forth, two and two, into the cities of Israel. He endued them with power to heal the sick, to cast out devils, and to preach, as they went, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Of these we read that they returned with rejoicing that even the devils were subject to them in Christ’s name. The Saviour kindly admonished them rather to rejoice that their names were “written in heaven.” Luke 10: 1, 20.

There is, however, one text in the Old Testament scripture that I passed over that to me is this day especially impressive. It is the one that gives the measure of the ordinary life of man. It is found in Ps. 90: 10, and reads, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten [seventy]; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Often, in times past, have I heard Elder J. N. Andrews, when commenting on the twelfth verse of this psalm,—“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom,”—say, “Now I am nearly fifty years of age. Should I attain to the allotted life of man, five sevenths of my life is already in the past.” In his case, however, at that time more than five sevenths of his life was passed, as he died in his fifty-fifth year.

We often speak of persons who have attained to seventy years as having now entered upon borrowed time. On this twenty-sixth day of January, 1902, I have completed the allotted time of man’s life, being this day seventy years of age. I now enter upon the time covered by the “if”—the “borrowed time.” As I look over the past, I can say, as did Jacob before Pharaoh, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.” Trusting in the mercy of God, and the compassion of my brethren and sisters for forgiveness of past errors, I joy this day in God my Saviour. What strength He still may grant to me I regard as His own, to be used by Him in me, as His instrument, in “holding aloft the banner of Christ.” So may it be.