QUESTION CORNER

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 38.

[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]

1168. Biblical Chronology.

Is the chronology in the margin of our Bibles correct? X.

In some cases, yes. In many cases, no. Archbishop Usher did the best he could; but from the creation to about the seventh century before Christ, it is very difficult to construct an exact chronological system. There is a little work published at this office entitled, “Sacred Chronology,” by S. Bliss, revised and edited by A. T. Jones, which every Bible student should possess. Price, cloth, $1.00; sheep, $1.50.

1169. To Restore and Build Jerusalem.

1. In your answer to question No. 1167, in Signs issued August 14, you say, “This decree was issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, which was B.C. 457.” Please give us the day or month of the year B.C. 457, when this decree to restore and build Jerusalem was issued to Ezra. (2) What year was it that Ezra began “to go up from Babylon,” on “the first day of the first month”? Ezra 7:9. (3) Where in the Bible do we find that the prophecy points to the autumn of 1844, instead of the spring, as the time for the 2300 days (years) to end? T.J.L.

1. We do not know the day of the month when Artaxerxes placed his decree in Ezra’s hand. Presumably it was immediately preceding Ezra’s journey to Jerusalem. It may have been that “first day of the first month;” “for upon the first day of the first month was the foundation of the going up.” Ezra 7:9, marginal Hebrew. Young translates: “On the first of the first month [‘day’ is a supplied word] he hath founded the ascent from Babylon.” Certainly it is not a far-fetched conclusion to believe that the foundation of Ezra’s expedition was the decree of the king which the Lord moved him to make. This was the fifth month of the Jewish year. The first month nearly corresponded with our April. The fifth month corresponded with our August. How long after Ezra arrived there before the decree went forth, or was formally promulgated, we do not know. It may have been a month or more.

2. The year that Ezra came to Jerusalem was the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus. Ezra 7:7, 8. This king began his reign in B.C. 464. The seventh year was therefore B.C. 457.

3. Ezra’s arrival was certainly in the last of our summer months, and before the decree was delivered into the hands of the king’s commissioners and properly published the autumn was at hand. Here began the 2300 days of Dan. 8:14; 9:23–27, which was to reach to the cleansing of the antitypical sanctuary, or the day of atonement, or the judgment. The type in this fell on the tenth day of the seventh month. Lev. 23:27–32. On that day the 2300 years naturally closed. On that day they naturally began, and while we have no specific declaration to this effect, the evident conclusion is that such was the case.

1170. 1 Cor. 15:32. Beginning; Prayer.

Will you please answer the following: 1. How are we to interpret Paul’s language in 1 Cor. 15:32? 2. Was Moses fixing a time for the creation of the earth, when he states that it was “in the beginning”? 3. To whom are we to pray—to the Father, pleading the merits of His Son?

SUBSCRIBER.

1. The apostle is stating in the strongest terms that it is useless to undergo sufferings here,—sufferings which by policy or self-seeking might be avoided if there were no future life. If the power and love of God do not reach beyond present trials and seeming disasters, why serve Him? It would be no advantage to risk life for the sake of one who is dead. It were better to take life easy, eat and drink, and selfishly enjoy the present. But Paul knew that Christ was risen, and that He was Lord of the life that now is and that which is beyond.

2. Moses was fixing no date that we can comprehend. See John 1:1. When God brought the material heavens into existence, we know not. He did this as a whole “in the beginning.” The formation and making of the earth in the six days seems subsequent from the language of Gen. 1:1, 2. The six days began with the speaking of light upon the dark waste.

3. Yes, to the Father in Jesus’ name (John 16:23; Acts 4:24–30); to the Son (Luke 23:42; Acts 7:59; John 14:14). Our great argument with God is His all-sufficiency given to us in Christ Jesus and our utter need. Coming with a sense of our need is coming in self-emptiness, is coming in Jesus’ name. He said, “I can of Mine own self do nothing.” So we will come to God as He came. And so coming, “my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19. Ask, “that your joy may be full.”