which concerned the end. And he gave him a number, actually more than one number, but it is the final number that concerns us here.”
“A number having to do with what?” I asked.
“The time that the Temple Mount would be given into the hands of strangers, the time that God’s purposes would be obstructed.”
“The time until that which obstructs is taken away,” I said. “The strangers would be occupiers. And if they have the Temple Mount, they would also have Jerusalem. And if they have Jerusalem, they would also have the land. So it also had to do with the time that Jerusalem and the Holy Land would be occupied by enemy forces. Did it come true?”
“Centuries after Daniel was given that prophecy, foreigners invaded the land. They took possession of Jerusalem. They prevented the Jewish people from worshipping on the Temple Mount.”
“So it was fulfilled?”
“Yes and no,” he replied. “Some parts of the prophecy were fulfilled in ancient times. Other parts were reserved for the future. So Daniel was given a prophetic number:
Blessed is the one who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days."1
“1,335. The number in my vision.”
“1,335 is the number signifying the end of the occupation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.”
“And blessed is the one who waits for that day, because that’s when that which holds back the purposes of God is removed.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “when hostile powers must leave the Holy City and God’s people can return. It’s the number of restoration.”
“And what does it have to do with the mystery?”
“As the end of the Ottoman occupation of Jerusalem drew near, a sign began appearing.”
“A sign . . . ?”
“The number that signifies the end of the occupation—1,335. The number 1,335 began manifesting in the Middle East.”
“Where in the Middle East?” I asked.
“In the land of Egypt, the place where Allenby started the campaign that would drive the Ottoman Empire out of the Holy Land, the campaign that would end the occupation. The number appeared on an Egyptian coin.”
“As in my vision. So when did it begin appearing?”
“Just as the year 1917 was approaching and then throughout that year.”
“So it appeared in the year of Jubilee,” I said. “The number that signified the end of the occupation appeared in the Jubilee, the year that the one occupying the land has to relinquish it.”
“Yes.”
“How did they come up with that particular number?”
“It turned out that on the Islamic calendar the year happened to be 1335. It was 1,335 years from the rise of Islam. But in the Bible the same number is linked to the liberation of Jerusalem. And it all converged in the year of Jubilee, 1917.”
“So was that the fulfillment of the prophecy?”
“It’s not that it was the fulfillment of the prophecy but rather the playing out of a biblical template. The prophecy speaks of days, but the significance here is the pattern, or template. One thousand three hundred thirty-five is the number given to the Jewish people to speak of the end of foreigners occupying the land, inhabiting the holy places, the end of the obstruction of God’s purposes.”
“So the Islamic calendar just happened to mark the year 1917 with the same number given in the Hebrew Bible signifying the ending of an occupation . . . and in the process pinpointing the year of Jubilee!”
“Yes. And the number wouldn’t have appeared only on the coins.”
“No, it would have to have appeared all over the Islamic world . . . in the year 1917.”
“Which powers,” he asked, “occupied the land of Israel for most of the two thousand years when the Jewish people were in exile?”
“Islamic powers?”
“Yes. So the occupation of the land that began with the first Islamic empire, or caliphate, with the rise of Mohammad would end 1,335 years later with the defeat of the last Islamic empire in 1917.”
“The man in the red hat who had to leave, he represented the Ottoman Empire. It was the Ottoman Empire that was constraining the purposes of God.”
“And yet there’s still more to the mystery,” said the Oracle. “The British government was not going to proceed with the Balfour Declaration until getting approval from the American president, Woodrow Wilson. They were notified of that approval on October 16, 1917. And do you know what October 16, 1917, was?”
“No.”
“It was the very day that sealed the year 1335. The occupation would thus end, the restoration would begin, and blessed would be those who waited for that day.”
“Amazing.”
“One more