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Day-year principle
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Day-year principle
The day-year principle or year-for-a-day principle is a method of interpretation of Bible prophecy in which the word day in prophecy is considered to be symbolic of a year of actual time. It was the method used by most of the Reformers, and is used principally by the historicist school of prophetic interpretation. It is actively taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Christadelphians, though the understanding is not unique to these Christian denominations; since for example, it is implied in the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks. The day-year principle is also used by the Baháʼí Faith, as well by most astrologers who employ the "Secondary Progression" theory, aka the day-for-a-year theory, wherein the planets are moved forwards in the table of planetary motion (known as an ephemeris) a day for each year of life or fraction thereof. The astrologers say that the four seasons of the year are directly spiritually, phenomenologically like the four "seasons" of the day.
Proponents of the principle, such as the Seventh-day Adventists, claim that it has three primary precedents in Scripture:
While not listed as primary precedent by the proponents, some supporters cite a direct reference to the day-for-a-year concept is made in Genesis.
Jon Paulien has defended the principle from a systematic theology perspective, not strictly from the Bible.
The day-year principle was partially employed by Jews as seen in Daniel 9:24–27, Ezekiel 4:4-7 and in the early church. It was first used in Christian exposition in 380 AD by Ticonius, who interpreted the three and a half days of Revelation 11:9 as three and a half years, writing 'three days and a half; that is, three years and six months' ('dies tres et dimidium; id est annos tres et menses sex'). In the 5th century Faustus of Riez gave the same interpretation of Revelation 11:9, writing 'three and a half days which correspond to three years and six months' ('Tres et dimidius dies tribus annis et sex mensibus respondent), and in c. 550 Primasius also gave the same interpretation, writing 'it is possible to understand the three days and a half as three years and six months' ('Tres dies et dimidium possumus intelligere tres annos et sex menses'). The same interpretation of Revelation 11:9 was given by later expositors like Anspert, Haymo, and Berengaudus (all of the ninth century). Primasius appears to have been the first to appeal directly to previous Biblical passages in order to substantiate the principle, referring to Numbers 14:34 in support of his interpretation of the three and a half days of Revelation 11:9. Haymo and Bruno Astensis "justify it by the parallel case of Ezekiel lying on his side 390 days, to signify 390 years; — i. e. a day for a year. — ". Protestant Reformers were well established on the day/year principle and it was also accepted by many Christian groups, ministers, and theologians.
Others who expounded the Historicist interpretation are John Wycliffe, John Knox, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, Philip Melanchthon, Isaac Newton, Jan Hus, John Foxe, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Finney, C. H. Spurgeon, Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes, and Bishop Thomas Newton.
Daniel 9 contains the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks. Biblical scholars have interpreted the 70 weeks vision in the historistical methodology for nearly two millennia as illustrated in the following table.
The vision of the 70 weeks is interpreted as dealing with the Jewish nation from about the middle of the 5th century BCE until not long after the death of Jesus in the 1st century CE and so is not concerned with current or future history. Historicists consider Antiochus Epiphanies irrelevant to the fulfillment of the prophecy.
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Day-year principle
The day-year principle or year-for-a-day principle is a method of interpretation of Bible prophecy in which the word day in prophecy is considered to be symbolic of a year of actual time. It was the method used by most of the Reformers, and is used principally by the historicist school of prophetic interpretation. It is actively taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Christadelphians, though the understanding is not unique to these Christian denominations; since for example, it is implied in the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks. The day-year principle is also used by the Baháʼí Faith, as well by most astrologers who employ the "Secondary Progression" theory, aka the day-for-a-year theory, wherein the planets are moved forwards in the table of planetary motion (known as an ephemeris) a day for each year of life or fraction thereof. The astrologers say that the four seasons of the year are directly spiritually, phenomenologically like the four "seasons" of the day.
Proponents of the principle, such as the Seventh-day Adventists, claim that it has three primary precedents in Scripture:
While not listed as primary precedent by the proponents, some supporters cite a direct reference to the day-for-a-year concept is made in Genesis.
Jon Paulien has defended the principle from a systematic theology perspective, not strictly from the Bible.
The day-year principle was partially employed by Jews as seen in Daniel 9:24–27, Ezekiel 4:4-7 and in the early church. It was first used in Christian exposition in 380 AD by Ticonius, who interpreted the three and a half days of Revelation 11:9 as three and a half years, writing 'three days and a half; that is, three years and six months' ('dies tres et dimidium; id est annos tres et menses sex'). In the 5th century Faustus of Riez gave the same interpretation of Revelation 11:9, writing 'three and a half days which correspond to three years and six months' ('Tres et dimidius dies tribus annis et sex mensibus respondent), and in c. 550 Primasius also gave the same interpretation, writing 'it is possible to understand the three days and a half as three years and six months' ('Tres dies et dimidium possumus intelligere tres annos et sex menses'). The same interpretation of Revelation 11:9 was given by later expositors like Anspert, Haymo, and Berengaudus (all of the ninth century). Primasius appears to have been the first to appeal directly to previous Biblical passages in order to substantiate the principle, referring to Numbers 14:34 in support of his interpretation of the three and a half days of Revelation 11:9. Haymo and Bruno Astensis "justify it by the parallel case of Ezekiel lying on his side 390 days, to signify 390 years; — i. e. a day for a year. — ". Protestant Reformers were well established on the day/year principle and it was also accepted by many Christian groups, ministers, and theologians.
Others who expounded the Historicist interpretation are John Wycliffe, John Knox, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, Philip Melanchthon, Isaac Newton, Jan Hus, John Foxe, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Finney, C. H. Spurgeon, Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes, and Bishop Thomas Newton.
Daniel 9 contains the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks. Biblical scholars have interpreted the 70 weeks vision in the historistical methodology for nearly two millennia as illustrated in the following table.
The vision of the 70 weeks is interpreted as dealing with the Jewish nation from about the middle of the 5th century BCE until not long after the death of Jesus in the 1st century CE and so is not concerned with current or future history. Historicists consider Antiochus Epiphanies irrelevant to the fulfillment of the prophecy.