The Importance of Understanding Lo-Ammi
I would encourage everyone to be a student of the Bible. For those who are serious students of the Scriptures I share the following observation.
After the past 20 years of independent bible studies, I am convicted that there are two critical topics that are essential to a correct understanding of the Bible. These are two topics that I never heard in fifty years of going to church.
1. What happened at the end of The Acts (which we learn from C. H. Welch)
2. The Lo-Ammi years of Israel (from E. W. Bullinger in the Companion Bible)
The failure to understand these two topics and the failure to apply them to biblical doctrine is a significant cause of misplaced truth in the tradition and religion of Christianity.
This message is going to focus on the second of these two topics: understanding the Lo-Ammi years of Israel. According to Dr. E.W. Bullinger, this has been the major cause of dating and chronology differences between biblical scholars. We will discover that it also has a significant impact on the first topic.
The years of God’s reckoning in Scriptures is called “Anno Dei”. In the Scriptures the Holy Spirit reveals to us that there are periods of time that are not included in God’s calendar pertaining to Israel. These periods are given a prophetic name in Hosea 1:9: “Lo-Ammi”. Concerning Biblical prophecies and dates, these years must be taken into account when attempting to establish dates and chronology using the years of the world, called “Anno Mundi”. Remember, there were no calendars during biblical times.
We must also take into account 4 years of discrepancy in our Gregorian calendar. The era called Anno Domini was first fixed by a monk Dionysius Exiguus about A.D. 532 but afterwards an error was found in beginning the era four years too late. That is why it is said that Jesus was born in 4 B.C. and died in A.D. 29 at age 33.
Anno Dei = God’s years (of reckoning)
Anno Mundi = year of the world (From creation)
Anno Domini = year of the Lord (from the birth of Jesus Christ)
Lo-Ammi years
There are several Lo-Ammi periods in the Bible.
Judges 93 years of Lo-Ammi
Kings 20 years of Lo-Ammi (Saul 1000 B.C. – 496 B.C. Jehoiakim’s 4th )
Babylon 70 years of Lo-Ammi (Servitude 496 -426 B.C.)
Temple 21 years of Lo-Ammi (Decree 426 B.C. – Temple dedication (405 B.C.)
[Daniel 49 years (454 B.C. – 405 B.C.) (one that Bullinger missed)]
Act 28:28 2 days (Hosea 6:2) the present age of 2,000 years
Judges: 93 years
There is an apparent discrepancy between what Paul said in Acts Chapter 13 and what the Old Testament says in 1 Kings 6.
1 Kings 6:1
And it came to pass in the 480th (ordinal) year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the Temple.
But when Paul was on his first missionary journey in Antioch, Pisidia he stood up in the synagogue and gave his first speech. He threw out a number of years that would add up to 573 years from Egypt to Solomon beginning the Temple.
That includes:
40 years Israel in the wilderness
450 years until Samuel the Prophet (according to Paul in Acts 13:20)
[*note that Samuel served as a judge for forty years. “Until” means to the completion of Samuel’s time and the beginning of Saul as King of Israel. The 450 years includes Samuel’s forty years)
40 years of King Saul
40 years of King David
3 years of King Solomon (4th year of Solomon he began to build the Temple)
573 chronological years (But 1 Kings 6:1 states that it is the 480th [ordinal] year)
Paul said that there were 450 chronological years until Samuel the Prophet, but I Kings 6 :1 accounts for only 357 (Anno Dei) years because during the Book of Judges there were five times when God delivered Israel to over to other kings because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. Together, these totaled 93 years’.
Judges 93 years of “not my people”
3:8 8 yrs Mesopotamia
3:14 18yrs Moab
4:3 20 yrs Canaan
6:1 7 yrs Midian
13:1 40 yrs Philistines
By comparing 1 Kings 6:1 and Acts 13:20, and assuming both are correct, we learn something very important about the Bible. This not only teaches us that God’s prophetical clock with Israel does not include certain years when Israel is out of God’s favor, but also that there are no mistakes in the word of truth. This status of disfavor has a name called Lo-Ammi. The name Lo-Ammi is given to a son of Hosea (Hosea 1:9) which means “you are not my people and I am not I am to you”. Hosea prophesied before the northern Kingdom of Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians. But this status of disfavor began with Israel in Judges long before Israel became a kingdom.
It takes some serious studying of the Scriptures to make this fact known. What has been discovered in the I Kings 6:1 and Acts 13:20 discrepancy is that “two rights don’t make a wrong”. Both are verses are correct and teach us something about the manifold wisdom of God. Both verses place the end of judging and the beginning of the Kingdom of Israel at 1,000 B.C. We can thank E.W. Bullinger for his wisdom and understanding.
Kings: 20 years
In the kingdom duration of 504 Years, beginning with Saul (1,000 B.C.) and ending with Jehoiakim’s 4th year (496 B.C.) there are three LO-Ammi periods:
6 years Athaliah’s usurpation (daughter of Omri, king of Israel) She was not of the house of Judah. The mother of Ahaziah destroyed all the his seed royal (except Joash was taken and hid while Athaliah reigned for 6 years) There was a 6-year gap between the Kings of Judah. (788-782 B.C.) (2 Ki 11:3 and 2 Chr 22:12)
13 years Gap between Amaziah and Uzziah. Uzziah (Azariah) as 3 years old when his father Amaziah was killed, but was made king of Judah at the age of 16. There was a 13-year gap between the Kings of Judah. (714-701 B.C.)(2 Ki 15:1 CB note)
1 year Gap interlocking regnal year Between Uzziah and Jotham. Uzziah died after 52 years of reign and his son Jotham became King of Judah in the 54th year (658-675 B.C.).(2 Ki 15:32 Second year of Pekah who began the year Uzziah died)
Chronology
Why is this important? You ask. Have you ever studied Biblical dates or researched dates on the internet wonder why the dates for the captivities or the dates of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple are so far off from what we use? In Appendix 50 Dr. Bullinger gives a detailed explanation of why the Biblical datings of certain events vary by 93, 99, and 113 years. Those who do not understand and apply the Lo-Ammi years and Anno Dei accounts to determine their go-to anchor dates come up with much different dates. What we just studied will answer for those 93. 99, and 113 year differences.
Babylon: 70 years
There were three 70-year periods connected with The Kingdom of Judah:
70 yrs Babylonian Servitude 496 B.C. – 426 B.C. (Darius the Median takes Babylon)(Je 25:11)
70 yrs Captivity 489B.C. – 419 B.C. (Nehemiah Appointed Governor)(Je 29:10)
70 yrs Desolation 478 B.C. – 408 B.C. (Zechariah’s last date)(Le 26:27-36, 2 Ch 36:20-21, Ze 1:2)
During all these periods, which overlap, Israel was considered Lo-Ammi under Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, Cyrus and Darius. Israel remained Lo-Ammi until the rebuilding and dedication of the second Temple in Jerusalem in 405 B.C.
Daniel 9:24-26
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Temple
The decree in Daniel 9 for the rebuilding of the walls and the city of Jerusalem was given in 454 B.C. (Ne 2:5-8) The decree by Cyrus to rebuild the Temple was given in Ezra 1:3 in 426 B.C., which was completed in 405 B.C. This is an additional 21 years of Lo-Ammi added to the 70 years of Babylonian servitude (496-426 B.C.). This is important to know to determine when Israel returned to the “Ammi” status with God.
Seven Sevens
Daniel 9:25 specifies two periods of time: seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. The seven weeks or forty-nine years is from 454 B.C. to 405 B.C. It is interesting to point out that Bullinger has identified these seven weeks of years in Daniel 9:25 (454 B.C. – 405 B.C.) as being Lo-Ammi years, as explained above, but he includes them in the seventy weeks of years of Daniel 9 prophecy (Ap 91 in the CB) as does the tradition Christian teaching of the seventy weeks of years. Ap 91 must have written from Bullinger’s mid-Acts position before he saw the post-Acts truth of the Mystery. The Anno Dei reckoning of the seventy weeks of years begins in 405 B.C. when Israel is “Ammi” after the Temple is dedicated. The threescore and two weeks of years (434 years) points to the year Christ died (A.D. 29)
Acts 28:28
It is important to understand the Lo-Ammi of Israel to understand the Old Testament dating and in order to correctly understand the New Testament and what happened at the end of The Acts.
Dispensational truth holds that Israel was Ammi from the dedication of the Temple in 405 B.C. and remained God’s people until the end of The Acts. This includes the 35 years of the Acts period which was an answer to Christ’s prayer on the cross to forgive them. Israel was again judged in Acts 28:26-27. By virtue of the pronouncement of Acts 28:28, Israel was again deemed Lo-Ammi by God.
This Lo-Ammi declaration is believed to follow the prophesies of Hosea 1:9, 3:4, and 6:2. This coincides with the mystery of the present age during which God is blessing all nations alike and is calling out His chosen Body of Christ.
It is conjecture as to exactly when that took place. Some believe it is the year A.D. 64, which is 35 years (7 x 5) after the cutting off of the Messiah in A.D. 29. Some believe it could have been when the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed in A.D. 70.
The Return of Christ would have taken place in A.D. 85 if Israel would have acknowledged Christ as their promised Messiah. If A.D. 64 is used as the date of Israel’s Lo-Ammi, then it appears that there remains three sevens, or 21 years, of Daniel’s seventy sevens yet to come to pass.
It is important to know that we are living in a time of Israel’s Lo-Ammi status with the understanding that God says many times in the scriptures that He will return again to Israel to redeem them, bless them, and to restore their kingdom. This is the definition and fulfillment of the New Covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31. It is important to know that the final seven years of Daniel’s seventy sevens will not just suddenly commence with a so-called rapture and the appearing of an anti-Christ who makes a covenant with Israel. Many prophesied things must happen yet, including the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Comparison of the Seventy Sevens Chart
We now turn to the chart that accompany this study which compare the traditional understanding of the seventy weeks to the “Berean” or dispensational understanding of the seventy weeks. This chart was recently provided to me by Peter Redmon of the Bible Forum in Peru, Indiana.
With the datings that the traditional Christians use, I don’t know how they match the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 9 with A.D. 33, the year they use for the death of Christ and the dates they use for the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. All they know is that there is one “seven” left to go and they are waiting for the anti-Christ to appear on the scene. They believe that Israel was cut off at the death of Christ and the Christians have assumed Israel’s role as God’s people under the New Covenant and the kingdom hope. They do not believe that Israel was still “Ammi” during the Acts period or that Israel will be restored to an “Ammi” status in the future. Surprisingly Dr. Bullinger’s chart in Ap 91 agrees with the traditional Christian view.
The “Berean” or dispensational view recognizes the Anno Dei years. The first seven sevens are Lo-Ammi years and are distinctly identified and separated in Dan 9:25. The threescore and two years are “Ammi” years and conclude exactly 483 years to the day Jesus rides into Jerusalem the second time in A.D. 29. However, Israel is not cut off at the death of Christ because of Jesus’s prayer to forgive them. The Acts period is a grace period of 35 more years to obey the gospel and acknowledge their King. Because they failed to do so. They were pronounced Lo-Ammi at the end of The Acts. This puts us at sixty-seven sevens with three sevens yet to be fulfilled before the return of the Messiah of Israel. We believe that these final three weeks of years will commence at the end of this present dispensation when the Body of Christ is completed and shall appear with the Head in glory when He appears in glory. The great tribulation, called the time of Jacob’s trouble, will commence and run during the last half of the last seven years.
This comparison chart shows the difference between understanding the Lo-Ammi of Israel or not understanding Lo-Ammi. It also show the difference between understanding what happened at the end of The Acts and not understanding what happened at the end of The Acts. As I began this study, these are the two critical topics to the correct understanding of the Bible.