2844
The Tomer Devorah blog:
Daniel 12.11,12 --- And from the time the daily sacrifice was removed and the silent abomination placed, is one thousand, two hundred, and ninety [years]. Fortunate is he who waits and reaches days of one thousand, three hundred, and thirty-five [years].
A difference of 45 years and this year, May 20th will mark 45 years since Yerushalayim was unified. And 2,844 years ago, Shlomo HaMelech began building the First Temple in the month of Iyar.
Once all impediments are removed, we, too, will begin to build - The Third Temple - to our God. Why shouldn't it also be in the month of Iyar - the month of Ziv - "brilliance?"
Interestingly enough, the verse (Daniel 8:14)
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי--עַד עֶרֶב בֹּקֶר, אַלְפַּיִם וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת; וְנִצְדַּק, קֹדֶשׁ
has the gematria of 2844.
Rashi on the verse says that the words ערב בקר from that verse are to be interpreted as gematria. Perhaps we can say that the entire verse should be interpreted as gematria. 2844 years from 2928 (the year the construction began on the first Beit Hamikdash) brings us to 5772.
Continuing with Rashi's interpretation, Rashi on the previous verse interprets וקדש as the Beit Hamikdash (unlike the Metzudat David, who says it means the holy nation). Malbim also interprets it this way. This tells us that the place that was sanctified by Shelomo Hamelech (even though the sanctification didn't start until 8.5 years later - in Tishri of 2937), whose construction started in Iyar 2928, will be (נצדק) justified 2844 years later.
May it be so.
posted by yaak @ 4/23/2012 05:13:00 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Daniel 8:14 is probably the most cryptic verse in the most cryptic book in Tanakh. It seems to refer to approximately or exactly 2300 years. The morning is the healing of Ya'akov after his all night wrestling match. The healing from his limp took place at Penuel at sunrise. 72 minutes before sunrise was Alot HaShachar corresponding to 72 1/2 years ago, the beginning of the Shoah, when Ya'akov had his thigh vein displaced. The key seems to be what happened 2300 years ago that brought darkness onto the world? Check when Ptolemy lived, and when did he have the Torah translated into Greek by the Septuagint. If it turns out that the year of the Septuagint was exactly 2300 years ago, then we have cracked the code in Dan. 8:14.
just one last point. The assumption is always made that the Ptolemy referred to here is Ptolemy the 2nd. This may be a mistake. It may have been Ptolemy the 1st. One of the main purposes that one of these two Ptolemys had for translating the Torah was to place it in the brand new library in Alexandria, the most important library in the ancient world. Whichever Ptolemy had the Torah translated the 1st of the 2nd wanted the major "national" book of all of their conquered nations. We know that the the Torah was translated to Greek by one of these two Ptolemys. Here are their years of reign: The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was the largest and most significant[1] great library of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a major center of scholarship from its construction in the 3rd century BC until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. The library was conceived and opened either during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter (323–283 BC) or during the reign of his son Ptolemy II (283–246 BC).[2] With either Ptolemy we are talking about an event approx. 2300 years ago. Interestingly enough, the translation was on the 8th of Tevet. The last day of the Mayan calendar is also the 8th of Tevet, connecting Dec. 21st, 2012 to the translation of the Torah into Greek, not to the siege of Jerusalem which began two days later. It seems that far more darkness fell upon the world when the Torah was translated into Greek. Misused and abused by other peoples throughout history, the Written Torah alone with all of its mistranslations have made this exile one very dark night indeed. Imagine how our national treasure has been used by one third of the world's residents to prove the divinity of their god. And on top of it all, many of them accuse us of murdering him!!
Yasher koach, Yaak! Amen! And thanks!
Plus that entire section of Chapter 8 from verse 5 until verse 22 deals almost exclusively with Malkhut Yawan. The great horn on the he-goat is Alexander. And one of the four horns who split up Alexander's kingdom and replaced Alexander was Ptolemy the first. The Seleucid kings who wrested Eretz Yisrael from the Ptolemaic dynasty were another one of these four horns. Antiochus was one of the Seleucid kings. So verse 14 must be speaking about the events in the reigns of one of the Ptolemys. But as we see from Chapter 8 the details about the keitz were obscured by Daniel himself. He was told to do so by the Malach Gavriel. We can only understand this vision with 20/20 hindsight.
Bingo. It seems that it was Ptolemy the 1st after all. From a website that deals with the Septuagint translation I found this fascinating paragraph which explain Aristobulus's claim that the translation was during the reign of Ptolemy the 2nd.
The earliest writer who gives an account of the Septuagint version is Aristobulus, a Jew who lived at the commencement of the second century B.C. He says that the version of the Law (The Torah) into Greek was completed under the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (Ptolemy 2nd), and that Demetrius Phalereus had been employed about it. Now, Demetrius died about the beginning of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (the 2nd), and hence it has been reasonably inferred that Aristobulus is a witness that the work of translation had been commenced under Ptolemy Soter (Ptolemy the 1st).
So subtract 3300 years from 2012. One gets to the year 287 bce., right near the end of Ptolemy the 1st's reign. Ptolemy the 1st's reign ended in 283 bce. It seems that Daniel's quote of 3300 years of darkness would be exact after all. If Aristobulus referred to Demetrius playing a major role in the Targum, it has to be at the end of Ptolemy the 1st's reign since when Ptolemy the 2nd ascended the throne, Demetrius went immediately into exile. Apparently, Ptolemy the 2nd did not like him. Within three years (no one is precisely sure when he died), he died of a poisonous snake bite.
Sorry subtract 2300 years from 2012. I made a typo.
Rashi says that the words ערב בקר from that verse are to be interpreted as gematria.
In that case, the roshei teivos of ערב בקר
equal 72.
[as in 5772]
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