Blog 17: Mark of Restoration

In Blog 15, we saw that the key to life is to walk with God, yoked together, learning to live in a manner that produces good (tov) and not evil (ra). Walking humbly with God yields the generations of YHWH Elohim, inheriting the promises to Abraham of life for Israel and all nations. And in Blog 16, we traced the course of God’s will and purpose for humanity to His heart, represented by the number 432, to which the whole cosmos is tuned. Even after Israel’s continual failures to keep YHWH’s commandments and statutes, Isaiah said, “And yet we shall be saved,” a numerical value of 432 (Isa. 64:5c). How will saving, a restoration to His will, happen? Hezekiah, Israel’s twelfth king, gives us important clues.

Hezekiah, intensely longing for Israel to become the blessing to the world God intended, “clung to YHWH” (2Ki. 18:6). As Israel’s King, he stood for the nation. When he became sick unto death, cut off from the privilege of restoring true worship, God heard his prayer and gave him the sundial sign that he would rise to worship at the temple in three days. Raised on the third day links directly to the prophesied raising up and restoration of Israel’s remnant on the third day (Hos. 6:2). Israel’s king had no heir, but in the third year, a son was born. Hezekiah (“God has strengthened,” ISBE) cleansed the desecrated temple, restored Passover and Holyday observance, and destroyed places of idol worship, including Moses’ brazen serpent. He entangled himself not with foreign powers but built-up Jerusalem’s water supply from the Gihon through a tunnel to the pool of Siloam. At the time of Israel’s fifteenth Jubilee, YHWH delivered Hezekiah’s Israel from Sennacherib’s army, empowering the remnant with faith and renewal, foreshadowing Israel’s rebirth into the New Covenant restoration spoken by the mouth of the prophets (Act. 1:6; 3:21). King Hezekiah composed ten songs of degrees (the number of degrees YHWH turned back Ahaz’s sundial) and added five, four from David and one from Solomon, making fifteen songs for Israel to sing on the fifteen ascending steps to the temple, the same number of years YHWH had added to his life. Israel’s Elohim arranged Hezekiah’s days as in the ten generations.

By His hand, YHWH’s ordered the generations (toledot) from the beginning, and He will call the generations until the end, declaring, “I, YHWH, am the first; and with the last I am He” (Isa. 41:4c).

From Abraham to Solomon are fifteen generations. Solomon, radiating with the light of God’s wisdom, built YHWH’s temple, housing His light. (Phosphorus, the fifteenth element, is distinct for giving off light.) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, plus twelve sons, are fifteen persons, and the Tanakh mimics the structure in three major prophetic scrolls: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 12 minor prophets.

From the year Israel entered Canaan in 1446 BC to Hezekiah’s Jubilee in 710 BC were fifteen Jubilees. And from Hezekiah’s Jubilee to Yeshua’s ministry in AD 26 are fifteen Jubilees. The total years from 1446 BC to AD 26 are 1470 years with 30 Jubilees. The Jubilee signaled Israel’s return to the land. Additionally, if we look at the annual Feast cycle, we see a full moon on the night Israel left Egypt, Abib 15, and on the opening night of the Feast of Tabernacles, Tishri 15. These two crucial nights are the promise and the establishment of Israel’s renewal. Visibly, YHWH’s calling the generations of Elohim into existence connects to the moon and its function of ordering the eight Feasts of YHWH.

Isaiah spoke of a time after the Messiah’s return when YHWH would gather a remnant of His people out of eight listed lands where He had scattered them, restoring them as His nation through atonement (Isa. 11:11-16). The event would mimic Israel’s exodus from Egypt, witnessing YHWH’s power to the world (Isa. 43:10). In Acts 1:4-6, after His promise of baptism with the Holy Spirit and power to be His witnesses, the disciples asked the risen Yeshua, “Will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Ten days later, they were filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and began to speak in languages. From the twelve tribes scattered abroad, the Hebrew people who had come to keep Pentecost in Jerusalem heard the apostles speaking in their own tongues. Peter stood up and addressed all the house of Israel with a Feast of Trumpets message on the day of Pentecost. I find it compelling that Luke lists fifteen regions the men of Israel had come from in the context of restoring Israel by the pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 2:9-11), adding seven to Isaiah 11’s list of eight

Takeaway:
Marked by fifteen, Hezekiah’s life and acts portend Israel’s restoration and hence the nations. Genealogies, Old Testament scrolls design, jubilees, and two of eight feasts display the number fifteen. Fifteen is often used in conjunction with His name constant, 37, and the ten generations numbers created “by the hand of YHWH” (see Fun Factors below). In the context of Israel’s renewal, Isaiah lists eight, and Luke lists fifteen regions from where YHWH gathers Israel. And eventually, dear blog reader, we will arrive at the denouement of the 147 time sequence introduced in Blog 2, for Israel also bears the 1-4-7 stamp.

   

Fun Factors:
The sum of Hezekiah’s name is 136, equivalent to 8 multiplied by 17. Additionally, “Hezekiah, the Leader of My people” totals 323, equal to 17 multiplied by 19. The 10 plus 7 of 17 generally point to God’s complete accomplishment, victory.

2 Kings 20:5c, “On the third day, you will go up to the house of YHWH” = 1656, 8 × 207, the same as the ten generations firstborn’s years (see Blog 10), referencing the 8 Feasts housed in the 207 days of light.
2 Kings 20:6a, “And I will add to your days fifteen years” = 2019, 3 × 673, 3(232 + 122), 172 + 192 + 372.
2 Kings 20:5c-6a = 3675, when subtracted from the ten generation’s total number (Abraham’s years of walking with YHWH number, 175 ×72) 8575, yields (8575 – 3675) 4900, 72 × 102, tamim (490) × ten generations.

Elaborating on 2 Kings 20:5-6, Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, said in fifteen words, “Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with Him fifteen days.” Galatians 1:18 = 6630, 17 × 390. When subtracted from the ten generation’s middle number of years sons and daughters were added to the family (6919-6630), it yields 289, 172 (172 = 152 + 82; 17 = tov, good).

Isaiah 41:4 “Who has performed it and done it?” = 611, 13 × 47 (47 is the 15th prime number).
“Calling the generations from the beginning” = 1457, 31 × 47 (47 = “by the hand of YHWH”).
“I am YHWH, the first and the last, I am He” = 1433, 372 × 82.
The verse sum is 3501, 32 × 389, or 512 + 302, which is 32(172 + 102); (172 = “Elohim created,” Gen. 1:1).

The number fifteen: ten, ‘eser, עשר, has a letter sum of 570; five, khamesh, חמש, has a letter sum of 348. Added, 570 + 348 = 918.
Fifteen’s letter sum 918 = 2 × 33 × 17, or 6 × 153.
The sum 918 has 16 divisors (8 + 8) which can be divided into two sets of 1080 (moon’s radius) or a single of 2160 (moon’s diameter).
Divisors of 918: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 17, 18, 27, 345154, 102, 153306459, 918
1 + 2 + 3 + 9 + 18 + 27 + 102 + 918 = 1080
6 + 17 + 34 + 51 + 54 + 153 + 306 + 459 = 1080
1 + 2 + 3 + 6 + 9 + 17 + 18 + 27 + 34 + 51 + 54 + 102 + 153 + 306 + 459 + 918 = 2160
Of the sixteen divisors of 918, after 10 the multiples of all but one of the divisors (18) are either 17 or 27
17 (1 × 17), 27 (1 × 27), 34 (2 × 17), 51 (3 × 17), 54 (2 × 27), 102 (6 × 17), 153 (9 × 17), 306 (18 × 17), 459 (27 × 17), 918 (2 × 27 × 17)

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