Perhaps a rather homely illustration will help to make the point clearer. A man, let us

suppose, has an account at the bank, and upon enquiry he learns that his balance stands at

$500. From one point of view he may truthfully say that he owns $500. There is another

point of view, however; he owes $200 on his house, and other outstanding bills total

$200; so that although his bank book shows $500, he actually owns only $100. The

bankbook figure represents the calendar of the world, and the residual figure the

prophetic times.  The "Lo-ammi" periods correspond with the debts and must be

subtracted to obtain the prophetic periods.

We do not know whether Mr. G. H. Pember should be credited with the following

illustration of this principle, but we acknowledge our indebtedness in the matter to his

book, "The Great Prophecies of the Gentiles". In I Kings 6: 1 we are told that Solomon

began to build the temple in the fourth year of his reign, and in the four hundred and

eightieth year after the exodus from Egypt. In Acts 13: 18-21 we find a different

computation. Paul there speaks of 40 years in the wilderness, 450 years under the Judges,

and 40 under Saul. If to this we add the 40 years of David's reign (I Kings 2: 11) and the

3 years of Solomon's reign before he commend to build (I Kings 6: 1) we have a total of

573 years. The two figures are therefore 573 and 480, shewing an apparent discrepancy

of 93--a discrepancy which needs explanation. Reverting to our previous illustration, the

573 represent the balance as shown by the bankbook, the 93 represent the unpaid bills

still owing, and the 480 the actual amount in credit. In other words there are 93

"Lo-ammi" years to be accounted for--years which are omitted in Solomon's

computation, but included in Paul's. We must first point out that in I Kings 6: 1, as

The Companion Bible makes clear, it is an ordinal and not a cardinal number--480th and

not 480. This leaves room for the idea that this time is part of some longer period.

There were five occasions when the Lord "sold" His people into the hands of their

enemies, and for these five periods the prophetic clock stopped and time was unrecorded.

These periods are all found in the book of Judges:--

Of course no time can be reckoned "Lo-ammi" that is not connected with the whole

nation; raids and bondage that affected only some of the tribes are not included.

The first principle, therefore, that we must observe when computing prophetic periods

is that which allows for the non-reckoning of "Lo-ammi" periods. This applies in both