The 13th Enumeration (40 page)

Chapter 81

Phoenix, Arizona

The next morning, Sam received Zane’s e-mail. With anticipation, he opened the brief note and then the attached file. With interest, he started to read. Over the past couple of months he had brought himself up to speed on the prophecy of seventy weeks. He had read several commentaries on the prophecy and felt he understood the current general consensus. Sam had already read Zane’s earlier version of the research on the prophecy and understood why Zane believed that current consensus was flawed.

Sam read through the first few pages, going over the information he had already understood from Zane’s earlier research. Three-quarters through the paper, he sat up a little straighter in his chair. He had gotten to the part where Zane and Rachael found the lineage of Yeshua engraved in the cavern. As he read Zane’s explanation of the list and the coded phrase, he began to get goose bumps. This was incredible stuff. So much for the naysayers who had questioned the accuracy of Matthew 1 for the past several centuries! Right here in black and white was an incredible explanation: Matthew 1 was a coded key which unlocked Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks and provided proof that Yeshua was the Messiah promised in the Scriptures. Thirteen and fourteen were the Messiah factors. “Incredible!” he said out loud.

Sam sat back in his chair. Yeshua was the thirteenth generation at his birth. Symbolically, he could be considered the fourteenth
generation after his death and resurrection. Quite an amazing symbolic picture.

Sam sat straight up in the chair with a jerk, his feet crashing down on the floor. Speaking of symbolic pictures, from the Old Testament to the New Testament the Messiah was pictured as a chief cornerstone or capstone. Sam knew many scholars had misinterpreted these Scripture verses to mean that the Messiah was just one of many cornerstones of the building. This view fit well with the modern idea that Yeshua was just a great man among other great men. But an accurate reading of both the Greek and Hebrew conveyed the idea of a finishing stone or capstone, a completed work. Yeshua, the Messiah, finished or completed the plan of YHWH for the reconciliation of mankind. He was the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Sam knew Ephesians 2:20–31 by heart:

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.

Sam stood up and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He opened it and removed a one-dollar bill.

Sam shook his head in amazement as another piece of the puzzle fell into place in his mind. The Great Seal of the United States had an unfinished pyramid whose capstone had not been placed. Symbolically, a stone which the builder rejected, hanging suspended over the unfinished work. An unfinished pyramid with thirteen courses. The capstone, a single stone, was the fourteenth course—the stone which the builders rejected, a stone which they portrayed as not fitting the intended structure. This stone hung perpetually over the unfinished pyramid, covered with the symbol of an open eye. The same symbol which for millennia had represented the open eye of mankind’s enlightenment. The same enlightenment promised to the original man and woman way back in Eden:

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4–5)

In his years of interest in conspiracy theory, Sam remembered reading a quote by Manly P. Hall, a respected member of the Masonic order, in his work
The Lost Keys of Freemansonry,
which explained a picture of an unfinished pyramid with man in place of the capstone:

In this picture is concealed the allegory of the Lost Word. The master Mason, having completed his labors, becomes a worker on a higher plane than the one in which the ordinary builder is permitted to work. The Master Mason becomes the capstone of the Universal Temple.

And so the evidence of the struggle between the will of YHWH and the promise of the serpent again surfaced in the pages of history. This was a struggle between the reconciliation YHWH offered through the promised Messiah and the supposed enlightenment offered by the great deceiver. YHWH promised the restoration and completion of mankind through the work of Yeshua. The serpent promised the eventual evolution of mankind to godhood through their own efforts and the power of enlightenment he offered.

Sam’s thoughts turned back to the number thirteen. This number had for so long been associated with bad luck, rebellion, and evil. Zane and Rachael’s discovery would call into question many of those superstitions. What better way to hide the truth than to mix it with a little falsehood and a good measure of myth, assumption, and superstition? For almost two thousand years, the pages of history had been silent about the truth of the 13
th
Enumeration. Did its discovery now, at this point in history, have wider implications? Was this new information, which strengthened the credibility of the Bible, a counterbalance to the growing darkness of a secular age? Was it a warning that time was running short?

Sam looked again at the unfinished pyramid on the one-dollar bill. Was the claim of conspiracy researchers true—that Adam Weishaupt had originally created the symbol as the Seal of the Illuminati and it was this symbol which was borrowed by the founding fathers? Sam had found no proof of this claim. To the contrary, based on his research it was Charles Thomson who was responsible for the Great Seal. Thomson was a most unusual individual. He was part of Benjamin Franklin’s philosophical club, Junta, but after retiring from service as secretary of the Continental Congress, he spent twenty-five years working on the first English translation of the Septuagint. He was also responsible for the first American English translation of the New Testament. If anyone had the knowledge to hide a messianic symbol in the Great Seal, it was Charles Thomson. After all, he’d spent over one-quarter of his life
translating
the Scriptures. He would have been aware of Matthew’s list of Yeshua’s genealogy and the representation of thirteen and fourteen. The work of Yeshua was represented by the thirteen-level, incomplete pyramid. The capstone, the completion, the finished work, the fourteenth level, was held in abeyance under the watchful eye of enlightenment. It was the open eye of mankind’s enlightenment superseding the capstone, Yeshua, the stone which the master builders had rejected.

Sam had another thought. What if the seal was not a blatant attempt to show the enlightened philosophy of the new republic but was instead a symbolic warning by Charles Thomson of certain individuals’ intention to use the new republic for such a nefarious purpose? Few people would have been in a better position to see the undercurrents and intrigues of the early United States. Maybe Thomson’s symbol was a warning similar to the one Reverend Snyder addressed to George Washington concerning the Illuminati in that famous letter of October 24, 1789.

Sam wondered, did the American experiment represent a battlefield between the forces of secular enlightenment and the stone which the builders rejected? It appeared Charles Thomson thought so.

The idea shook him. There might be more at stake here than anyone had ever realized.

Chapter 82

Jerusalem, Israel

The next morning, Rachael read Zane’s e-mail and then opened the attached file with his updated notes on the prophecy of seventy weeks. Zane had been busy. A bigger picture was emerging, a picture showing the congruency of the biblical message. She read over his notes with growing excitement. There were pictures opening up in the Scripture that had never made sense before. Matthew 1, long considered a mistake, was turning out to be one of the most amazing passages of prophetic symbolism in the Scripture.

As she continued to read, she could see throughout the Scripture that the idea of sacrifice and atonement was associated with the numbers thirteen and fourteen. She had read this same information a hundred times, but until now it had never been placed in this context. The Passover lamb was sacrificed on the fourteenth of Nisan. During the seven days of the Passover feast from the fifteenth to the twenty-first, two lambs were sacrificed each day for a total of fourteen. During the Feast of Tabernacles, fourteen lambs were sacrificed every day of the feast from the fifteenth until the twenty-first. Even more curious was the fact that during the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, thirteen bullocks are sacrificed. Then, every day for the next six days, one less was sacrificed until on the twenty-first there were only seven bullocks sacrificed. This countdown from thirteen to seven gave a total of seventy bullocks during those seven days. Thirteen, seven, and seventy—they had already seen how a combination of those numbers gave the year of the Messiah’s birth. This symbolism added credibility to those who believed that Yeshua was born during the Feast of Tabernacles. What did the Gospel of John say concerning the Messiah—“And the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled with us.”

Zane also noted that the total commanded sacrifices of bullocks, rams, and lambs for those seven days equaled 182 sacrifices (13 x 14). Also interesting was the fact that on the first day there were thirteen bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs for a total of twenty-nine—the same numbers which made up the monthly lunar cycle. This all took place on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, as described in Numbers 29:13. There were also thirteen or fourteen days of waxing light followed by thirteen or fourteen days of waning light for a total of just over twenty-nine days.

Rachael finished reading the file and sat back absorbing what she had read. How wonderful the words of YHWH! What a different perspective this offered on the Messiah. As a daughter of a Christian mother and Jewish father, she had insight into the struggle that many Jewish people had concerning the Christian Messiah. For so long, Christianity had tried to distance itself from the Hebraic context of the Scripture. She understood that part of this stemmed from the persecution of early messianic believers by the Jewish rabbinic authority, but unfortunately, early Christianity had often gone to the other extreme. They embraced many pagan practices that were abhorrent to Torah-observant Jews and condemned by the Old Testament. When a Christian came preaching a messianic message wrapped in the clothing of ancient paganism, many Jewish people turned away in disgust.

By contrast, what Rachael had just read described a Jewish Messiah fulfilling a prophecy given to Jewish people and understood from a Jewish perspective of time.
Praise be to YAH,
Rachael thought reverently.

Rachael saved Zane’s file to her desktop and then printed it. She was going to share this with her father. He had rejected the Messiah not because he did not believe in a Messiah, but because he didn’t see the promised Messiah in Yeshua of Nazareth. What she had here was a picture of the Messiah her father just might understand.

Rachael walked to her father’s study and knocked softly before she entered. Jacob Neumann sat at his desk, a book opened in front of him. His glasses perched slightly forward on his nose, he smiled his welcome as Rachael entered. “Hello, my dear. What can I do for you?”

“Abba, would you read Zane’s research paper on the prophecy of Daniel and tell me what you think? He believes he’s found a connection between the inscription we found in Capernaum and the prophecy of Daniel’s seventy weeks. I think he has something here, and I would like your opinion on it.”

Rachael handed over the papers she had printed. Jacob Neumann reached for them with a curious look on his face. “You mean to tell me Zane believes there is a connection between the code we found in the Hebrew words and the prophecy of Daniel concerning the Messiah?”

“Yes, Dad, that’s what he believes he has found.”

Jacob, now with skeptical curiosity, replied, “Sure, I’d like to read what young Mr. Harrison has to say about a Jewish Messiah.” Setting the papers aside, he asked, “Anything else I can do for you right now?”

Rachael smiled. “No, Dad, that’s all I wanted.”

She turned to leave when her father’s voice asked, “What time are you having dinner with Mr. Harrison tonight?”

“Six-thirty . . . he said he was going to pick me up at six.”

“Very well, then. Let me know before you leave, will you?” Jacob turned back to his book as Rachael left the study.

Later that afternoon, Jacob Neumann picked up Zane’s research paper and began reading. He had read Christian explanations of their Jewish Messiah Jesus, but they had always seemed foreign to him. More Gentile than Jew. And yet, unlike many of his friends and associates, he did not share an animosity toward Jesus. His wife had seen to that. Her gentle love combined with her unfailing faith had given him a perspective on Jesus that many did not have.

Jacob read through Zane’s brief introduction concerning the prophecy of Daniel and the current generally accepted Christian interpretations. As he continued to read, he was surprised to find that Zane Harrison, instead of confirming the Christian consensus, seemed to be undermining it with clear contextual arguments based on the chronology of the Old Testament. So far, Zane had made a compelling argument why not to believe Yeshua had fulfilled the prophecy of seventy weeks. Then he had summarized a biblical understanding of time in relation to the biblical festivals as given by YHWH to Moses.

As Jacob read Zane’s explanation of the list of Matthew and its relationship to the prophecy of Daniel’s seventy weeks, his hand began to tremble. He saw the symbolism of fourteen and the sacrifices commanded by YHWH through Moses. He saw the symbolism of the countdown from thirteen to seven in the Feast of Tabernacles. As a historian and an archeologist, he knew the historical Jesus, based on a reasonable interpretation of the evidence, was born in 3–4 BC, and his public ministry as described in the New Testament likely began thirty years later in 26 or 27 AD and ended in 30 AD. What he now read was as if blinders were being taken off his eyes.

Jacob opened the bottom drawer of his desk and rustled through the papers there. Finally finding what he was looking for, he pulled out an old document he had prepared many years ago. It was the listing of the priestly courses as given in the Old Testament.

As he looked at the list, tears came into his eyes. With eyes that could barely see, Jacob Neumann walked around his desk and looked up at the large drawing on his wall opposite his desk—the drawing he had commissioned to a talented Israeli artist several years ago, based on years of Jacob’s own research. It was a drawing of the Second Temple as it looked in the days of Yeshua. As he looked up at the drawing, new tears forming in his eyes, he whispered, “You were right, Constance, my love. You were right.”

Jacob Neumann got down on his knees, and with a broken and contrite heart, acknowledged Yeshua ha’Mashiach as the Son of YHWH, redeemer of Israel and mankind.