Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 23, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 12.

Question Corner

By Editor

1482.—Prophetic Time.

Why, in applying a day for a year in prophecy, do you give the Jewish year as 360 days? F. L. C.

(1) The application of a day for a year in prophecy is authorized by Num. 14:34, and Eze. 4:4-6. (2) A Bible month is shown to be thirty days by Gen. 7:11; 8:4, in comparison with Gen. 7:24. The first passage places the beginning of the Deluge on the second month and 17th day; the second passage tells us the ark rested on the seventh month the 17th day; and the third passage shows this period to be just 150 days, a period of five months at thirty days to the months. Twelve of such months would constitute a year of 360 days. The twelve-month year is indicated in 1 Kings 4:7; 1 Chron. 27:1-15. (3) There is one prophetic period mentioned seven times in the Bible, as follows: "time and times and half a time" (Dan. 7:25); "a time, times, and a half" (Dan. 12:7); "forty and two months" (Rev. 11:2; 13:5); "a thousand two hundred and threescore days" (Rev. 11:3; 12:6); "a time, and times, and half a time" (12:14). If forty-two months are identical with 1,260 days, there are thirty days to the month; and if the forty-two months constitute three and one-half times, or years, there are twelve months to the year, of thirty days each. This is conclusive as to prophetic time. In the later Jewish calendars a short month, Ve-adar, was added occasionally to correct the calendar, which, of course, would make correct the average Jewish year. See Smith's Bible Dictionary, Art. "month."

1483.—"Able to Destroy." Matt. 10:28.

Who is it that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, as stated in Matt. 10:28. H.

That Being "who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" is the only One we are to fear. That is the great Creator (Rev. 14:7), "the living God" (Heb. 10:31), "the Lawgiver and Judge, even He who is able to save and to destroy" (James 4:12). God is said to "destroy," and kill (Luke 12:5), because He pronounces sentence of death upon the sinner. The word "hell" in the last text come from Gehenna, the final place of punishment.

1484.—Children of Ham. Gen. 10:6-20.

Is there good authority for the statement that the negroes are the descendants of Ham? If so, is it probable that it was the result of the curse pronounced upon Canaan by Noah? It does not seem possible that God would allow what seems so unjust a thing. Especially when Canaan had nothing to do with it, and it was the result of Noah's drunkenness? E. A. B.

Yes, the negroes are descendants of Ham, as you will learn by tracing the ethnological branches of the Hamitic branch of Noah's family. See Gen. 10:6-20. They spread abroad to the south, and inhabited Africa. God's curse upon Canaan was not an arbitrary one; it was the simple declaration of what would come upon Ham's descendants as the result of the father's weakness of character. Noah's drunkenness was doubtless accidental, through ignorance; but Ham's sin was a revelation of low character, which, transmitted to his children, would make them the weakest branch of his family. Yet from that curse there always has been and is redemption in Christ Jesus.