The 13th Enumeration (36 page)

Chapter 74

Tel Aviv, Israel

Anton Ramirez had made the transfer of the artifacts his team found at Capernaum. They transported them by truck to Tel Aviv and then by rented boat one hundred miles out to sea, where they rendezvoused with a Liberian freighter Sir Peter Herschel had hired to carry the goods back to England. After handing them off, Anton Ramirez headed back to Israel in the rented boat. He had been informed by Sir Peter Herschel that Efran Finkelstein was going to be used by the Mossad to follow the messages to their destination in Dubai. Anton had been instructed by Sir Peter to take care of Efran, as he was no longer needed. More to the point, Sir Peter did not want him talking about what he had seen and heard.

Once Efran was out of the way, Anton was to “interview” the baker and find the destination of Capsule 13. Sir Peter Herschel wanted the identity of the person searching for the secret. That person was the real enemy. All the rest were just accessories. The other loose ends could wait until the destination of Capsule 13 was known.

* * *

Marcus Nayat was scared—very scared. He knew he was ultimately responsible for the bombing of the Capernaum dig. Only the Guardian would have had the audacity to order this destruction. Bombing a major archeology site in Israel was no small feat, and they had been bold.

Whomever the Guardian had sent to Israel to clean things up was a real sick dude. They hadn’t just killed the highly trained Mossad agents guarding the site—they had mutilated their bodies and marked them with a strange symbol. The unmutilated body of a known terrorist was found at the dig site, and everyone had assumed he was part of the attack. Marcus Nayat knew better.

Instinctively, he knew it was only a matter of time before he became a loose end that needed dealing with. Marcus knew he was trapped. He couldn’t run and hide, or he would have both the Guardian’s minions and the Mossad looking for him. The only option he had was to play along as long as possible. When he made the first phone call many months ago, he hadn’t signed up for killings and bombings in his own nation. Marcus decided he’d better find out what was so important about the Capernaum dig that it needed to be completely destroyed. Maybe if he could find out, he could work out some sort of truce. If that failed, he might be forced to go hunting himself. He desperately needed a way out, and no one was invincible—not even the Guardian.

Chapter 75

Capernaum, Israel

“What do you mean, you know what Matthew is trying to tell us?” Rachael asked, surprised and skeptical.

Zane had let go of her hand and jumped up in excitement. His eyes shining, he replied, “You just said it: ‘Night unto night sheweth knowledge.’ Do you remember telling me several months ago in one of your e-mails that the solution to Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks, if there was one, would be found in a reckoning of time as understood by Daniel’s people?”

“Yes, I remember saying something to that effect. But what in the world does that have to do with Matthew?”

Zane continued, “Biblical time as described in the Scripture is based on a lunar/solar calendar. The days and weeks are measured by the rising and setting of the sun, and the months are reckoned by the cycle of the moon. In a symbolic sense, the rising and setting of the sun regulates man’s day-to-day activities—his struggle to survive, to grow, live, and love. The moon, on the other hand, regulates the religious calendar and reminds the Jewish people of the promises of YHWH. From the perspective of the apostles, the biblical holy days, at least the spring festivals, were symbolic pictures fulfilled by Jesus. He was the Passover
lamb which ‘takes away the sins of the world.’ He was also the ‘the Firstfruits of them that slept.’ All these prophetic pictures inherent in the biblical feast days were regulated by the cycle of the moon.”

As Zane was talking, Rachael’s mind jumped ahead. She could see where he was going with this.

Zane continued, “We know the solar and lunar cycles are not the same length. So how are the two cycles reconciled?”

Zane paused, waiting for an answer. “Are you asking me?” Rachael replied.

“Yes,” Zane said. “What would your answer be?”

Rachael smiled, knowing the answer he was looking for. She replied, “The solar and lunar cycles are reconciled by the thirteenth month.”

“Exactly!” Zane replied with elation. “Our day-to-day activities and labor under the sun are reconciled with YHWH’s prophetic calendar and the lunar cycle by the thirteenth month. Each day we labor reminds us of our sin and the curse of sin upon the earth. Each night we look up into the sky and are reminded of YHWH’s promise of reconciliation and the eventual restoration of mankind through Jesus, or Yeshua, the promised Messiah. Matthew, in the first chapter of the first book of the New Testament, emphasizes the numbers thirteen and fourteen in relation to the lineage of Jesus, the Messiah. What were the four words Matthew chiseled over the three-column list we found?”

Rachael replied, “Tell, one, offering, loved. Or in other words, it could read, ‘Proclaim YHWH (Echad) loved his offering.’”

“And who was YHWH’s offering?” Zane asked.

“Yeshua,” Rachael whispered reverently. Involuntarily, John 3:16–17 came into her mind, and she spoke those famous words, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that world through him might be saved.”

Zane continued, his excitement continuing to grow. “Throughout the Old Testament, the number fourteen is associated with sacrifice. During the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, thirteen rams, two bullocks, and fourteen lambs are required to be sacrificed. Every month for thousands of years, the moon has testified to those who have followed its cycles. From first visible light, the moon waxes for thirteen or fourteen days, reaching its maximum, and then for thirteen or fourteen more days it wanes. These two sets of thirteen or fourteen days are in every month. How incredible is that! The biggest lighted billboard in the world reminding us, ‘and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.’”

Rachael looked at Zane with an expression of shared excitement. Then more soberly, she asked, “But how does this answer the time element of the prophecy of seventy weeks?”

Zane was brought back to reality. More soberly he replied, but with a look of unexplainable faith, “Rachael, I believe. I just know that thirteen and fourteen are the key. Do you think it’s a coincidence that Matthew left out the one name on the list that was associated with
the prophet
Daniel’s captivity? And left it out between the thirteenth and fourteenth names on that list?”

Soberly Rachael replied, “No, based on what we have found, it don’t think it was a coincidence. But how does that explain the timing element of the prophecy?”

Zane replied, “ I can’t do the math in my head, but I have my computer up in the car. If my theory is correct, thirteen and fourteen will gives us the dates which prove Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of seventy weeks.”

“How about we go find out?” Rachael suggested.

“Yes,” he replied, sticking out his hand to help her up. “Let’s.”

Together, they walked back up toward the dig site and the parking area where Mr. Neumann had left the car. With a laugh, Rachael started to run. “Catch me if you can, Mr. Harrison! I’ll race you there!”

With a laugh and shout, Zane gave chase. Despite his best efforts, he could not catch up. He reached the car several steps behind her, and they leaned up against it laughing and trying to catch their breaths. A few minutes later Jacob Neumann returned, a look of pleasure appearing on his face as he saw the smiles on both of theirs.

“Are you both ready to return then?”

On the way back to Jerusalem, Rachael sat in the back with Zane as he worked on his computer. Jacob Neumann heard their quiet whispers and laughter as he drove. Whatever had transpired between the two of them, they were now as happy and excited as they had been sad and upset. With a knowing look in his mirror, Jacob Neumann saw the beginnings of love.

As the single father of a daughter, Jacob Neumann was strangely happy. He had been around all sorts of men his entire life, and he knew the young man in the backseat of his car had all the makings of a real man. A man who would protect and care for his daughter. A sensitive man, but also a strong man. One who would not be intimidated by the exceptional qualities of his daughter. Jacob Neumann whispered to himself, “My dear Constance, your daughter has found her man.” With tears glistening in his eyes, Jacob Neumann drove home with a contented heart.

In the backseat, Zane opened up his Excel spreadsheet. Turning to Rachael, he said, “The prophecy of seventy weeks states the Messiah will be
cut off
after sixty-two weeks, or literally, sixty-two sevens. As I explained before, this sixty-two weeks follows the first seven weeks, so the cumulative total is sixty-nine sevens,’ or 483 periods of time (69 x 7 = 483). Fourteen is associated with sacrifice throughout the Old Testament. Now, if my theory is correct, these ‘weeks’ or sevens will be measured by a symbolic length of time measured by a fourteen
month
lunar cycle. After all, the Messiah is
cut off
or ‘sacrificed’ after the sixty-ninth seven.”

Zane entered fourteen into one of the cells on his spreadsheet. Then he multiplied fourteen by the lunar cycle of 29.53 days. This gave him 413.42 days for each period of time. Next, he multiplied the 413.42 days by the sixty-nine weeks, or 483 periods of time. This gave him a total of 199,681.9 days, after which the Messiah was cut off. From his earlier research, he knew the “command to restore and build Jerusalem,” given by YHWH and witnessed by both the prophets Zechariah and Haggai, was in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, or 520 BC. Zane divided 199,681.9 days by 365.24, and this gave him 546.71 years. He then subtracted the 546 years from 520 BC and reached the fall of 27 AD.

Turning to Rachael with a triumphant look on his face, he said in awe, “ 27 AD is within the time frame many scholars believe that Jesus began his ministry. Depending upon who you listen to, Jesus was crucified or
cut off
two or three years later, in 30 AD.”

“What about thirteen?” Rachael asked. “From the list of Matthew, it also seems to be important. If fourteen is associated with the Messiah’s sacrifice, is it possible that thirteen is associated with his birth?”

Zane thought for a few minutes. Finally he said, “Maybe a thirteen-cycle period of time might explain the first part of verse 25. In all the commentaries of Daniel 9, few address it: ‘Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks.’
Clearly this indicates the Messiah comes after just seven ‘weeks,’ but then later in verse 26, it indicates he was ‘cut off’ after the sixty-ninth week. Many have ignored the first part of Daniel 9:25 because it would seem it’s talking about two different comings of the Messiah. The span of time between the first week and the sixty-ninth week is thought to be too great to reference the same Messiah.”

“What if the prophecy was layered?” Rachael asked.

“What do you mean?” Zane asked.

“What if the seven ‘sevens’ or forty-nine periods of time were just a device to indicate
one magnitude
larger fulfillment? In other words, 490 periods of time. Wasn’t it somewhere in the book of Matthew that Jesus was asked by Peter if he should forgive his brother seven times? And what did Yeshua say? He said not seven times, but seventy times seven.”

Nodding, Zane said, “Okay, let’s try your theory. If you are correct, then 13
month lunar cycle times
490 should give us about the time when Jesus was born.” Tentatively, Rachael nodded her head in agreement. Zane entered the numbers into his spreadsheet: 13 x 29.53 gave him a 383.89-day period of time. Next he multiplied the 383.89 days times the 490 periods of time for a total of 188,106.1 days or 515.02 years. Five-hundred-and-fifteen years from the “command to restore and build Jerusalem” in 520 BC brought them to the winter of 5 BC.

Looking at Rachael, he smiled. “Assuming that is what was intended by the first part of verse 25, it looks like it gives us the year 5 BC. M
any
chronologists believe 4 BC was the date for the birth of Christ—we’re awfully close to that.”

Rachael replied, “What if the date is not referencing his birth, but the point when he became flesh—in other words, his conception? If his conception was in the winter of 5 BC, it would place his birth nine months later in the fall of 4 BC, wouldn’t it?”

“You’ve got a valid point there,” Zane replied thoughtfully. “Let’s look at this another way, from a big-picture perspective. Seventy ‘weeks’ times a thirteen-lunar-cycle period of time marks the conception or birth of Jesus the Messiah in 4–5 BC. Sixty-nine ‘weeks’ times a fourteen-lunar-cycle period of time marks the start of his ministry in 27 AD. The total seventy weeks times a fourteen-lunar-cycle period of time takes us to 35.67 AD, sometime after the call of the apostle Paul
. The last recorded apostle who was personally called by Jesus.
”

Rachael looked at Zane curiously. “Are you saying the seventy weeks are fulfilled? Most Christians say there are yet seven years to be fulfilled.”

“I don’t know, Rachael. Frankly, I have to question all of my assumptions concerning the prophecy. Most scholars and teachers had the starting point over seventy years too late. What if they are wrong about the final week as well?”

“I guess you have a valid point. But if the final week has been already fulfilled, does that change your view of the second coming?”

“Not at all,” Zane replied. “The Scripture is abundantly clear that Jesus will return again to rule from Jerusalem for one thousand years. I know many preterists believe the second coming has already happened, and they
try to
use an interpretation of Daniel 9 to support that belief. I just don’t see how a preterist’s position is supported with a literal interpretation of the Scripture. The second coming is not contingent upon any interpretation of the prophecy of seventy weeks, even a flawed one. I know I don’t have all the answers right now, but I will go out on a limb here and say that this new understanding of Daniel 9,  will only strengthen the biblical proof for a literal second coming of Jesus. This may be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.”

Rachael, a thoughtful look in her eyes, said, “I hope so, Zane. I truly hope so.”

The rest of the way to Rachael’s home, Zane furiously typed notes and made calculations while Rachael sat thinking about the implications of what they had found. Zane wanted to get this new information organized so he could e-mail it to Sam and David to get their input. They always had unique perspectives to add.

Speaking of David, he hadn’t called him back yet.

Zane dialed his voice mail and listened to David’s message. He could hear the concern in his friend’s voice. He dialed David’s number. It rang several times, then David’s voice mail answered. “This is David, leave a message and I will return your call.”

Zane gritted his teeth in frustration. He couldn’t be the only one in the world who hated leaving messages. In a world where everyone had a cell phone and communication was supposed to be efficient, it seemed everyone spent more time talking and listening to machines than they did real people. Was modern technology really helping make things more efficient, or were humans becoming slaves to their machines?

Shaking his head, Zane waited for the beep. “David, it’s Zane. I’m okay. I’ve had a crazy couple of days. I’m sending you an e-mail. Would you take a look at it and let me know what you think? It’s something I’m really excited about. Hey, if you can get away, I would really like to get together in the next day or two before I head home. There have been some unexpected changes in my plans. Talk to you soon.”