Measuring Time
Our use and reference to time have both a general or accommodative framework as well as a level of very precise meaning. The expression, “Arrival will be at 6 pm when the sun sets” may be understood quite differently for a meal invitation, a train schedule or a scientist monitoring an atomic clock. A child may say, “I am five and a half” when by common usage he is regarded as five. An aged man may say, “I have seen ninety-six years,” when he means he has passed ninety-five years and is now in his ninety-sixth year. In these matters we understand both the precision and the accommodative language intended in these expressions. We under- stand their meaning and don’t contest their intent. A similar standard of language is found in the expression “the nineteenth century” which implies all the dates beginning with 1800, and “the twentieth century” meaning all dates beginning with 1900.
Furthermore we understand one’s age is measured from the month of their birth to the current month and not from the beginning of a calendar year. Therefore if I were born on July 1, 1942, then on April 1, 2002, I can only say I am 59 (other- wise 59¾). Yet on October 1, 2002, I can say I am 60 years of age (otherwise 60¼). It is not so simple as subtracting 2002 – 1942 = 60. However, if the beginning and ending months are inclusive, it is perfectly legitimate to do the subtraction as in: 1874 – 539 = 1335, for the blessed prophecy of Daniel 12:12.
In ancient times the marking of events was noted according to the years in the reign of a king, a cycle in the Greek Olympiads or other contemporary events. The reference to years in the Christian era was simply another means of trying to standardize a time line covering many centuries. The means of counting time has a special consideration when some period spans what is commonly called the BC / AD eras. Historically speaking, this is simply a point designated for counting our common form of marking years. For reference purposes, the first and all subsequent years of this era begin with January and end with December. The year just before this era has the same length and is designated 1 BC. Brother Morton Edgar picks up this subject in Great Pyramid Passages, Volume II, Page 34 with the chart above.
Measuring across this line has been illustrated by a carpenter with his rule, who simply measures from one side of a wall and adds the measure from the other side, including fractions. Brother Russell took up this same matter in Volume 2, page 54 with the birth of Jesus. His point is that Jesus was born in the Autumn of 2 BC and was 30 years old in 29 AD. But one cannot simply add 2 + 29 = 30. As with the carpenter’s rule, Jesus was born in the BC era 1¼ years + 28¾ in the AD era = 30. Actually the main portion of Jesus’ first year was in 1 BC and the main portion of his 30th year was in 29 AD. Please see the chart in Beauties, volume 12, number 3, August 2001, page 6.
In this regard 2000 years have transpired in the AD era only on December 31, 2000 and 1913¾ years transpired on October 1, 1914. It has become customary to simply add the first whole (rounded) year in a BC era and the last year in the AD era together for the sum of a period, even though we recognize the events marking the first year may have begun some months earlier and the corresponding ending point may not reach the end of a calendar year. Such are the reckonings in volumes two and three of Studies in the Scriptures. Thus, certain prophecies are counted as: 1813 + 32 = 1845. 454 + 36 = 490. 454 + 1846 = 2300. 4128 + 1872 = 6000. 626 + 1874 = 2500. 606 + 1914 = 2520. However, it can be readily seen that each prophecy did not measure from January 1 until December 31. The first and last year of a period may be given as the year that saw its major portion. However, the event marking the exact beginning of the period may have its inception a few months before or after January of a given year.
Both Brother Russell and Brother Edgar connect the prophecy of Daniel 9:25 as beginning with the extraordinary events recorded in Nehemiah chapters 2-7. Thus Edgar (GPPII, pages 295-306), marks the precision of the 20th year of Artaxerxes in the Autumn of 455 BC, while the first full year of counting the 70 weeks is reckoned from 454. The same prophecy is regarded as ending in the Autumn of 36 AD. Thus: 454¼ + 35¾ = 490 years of the 70-week prophecy. Yet by common usage and ease of reference 454 BC and 36 AD are the reference points used in Studies in the Scriptures.
With similar precision, Edgar notes the Autumn of 607 BC for the inception of the Gentile Times extending to the Autumn of 1914 (GPPII, pages 32, 130, 225). The Hebrew civil New Year is reckoned from the Autumn, and Tower articles frequently reference October in regard to the Jewish calendar. This should cause no concern for a discrepancy in the harvest message as designating 606 as the first year of the period of 2520 years and 1914 as the last, as these marked the whole rounded years beginning and ending of the prophecy. There may even be additional distinction and confirmation seen by looking to the Hebrew reckoning of the 10th of the month Av on either end of the prophecy (Jeremiah 52:12).
So it is with other periods spanning the BC / AD point. For average readers it was sufficient to reference whole years on each end of a time span. When we notice that “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years,” it is remarkable that events can be traced so closely to earth-years. Some may read or interpret the events of history differently, but we do not regard the treatises by Pastor Russell as inaccurate or inconsistent. If we let the simplicity, harmony and beauty of the Plan of the Ages surface, we shall be rewarded with the promise of Habakkuk 2:2-3 (NASB). “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it. For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”
— Jerry Leslie