This is indeed a revelation. The very number of the years of Israel's servitude is equal

to the difference between the accounts of Solomon and Paul. If we look more attentively

at Solomon's statement, we find that he does not say that the total number of years that

intervened between the two points was 480, but that "in the 480th year" the Temple was

commenced. The number is ordinal (480th), not cardinal (480), showing that while Paul

was using the calendar of the Lord, and in that calendar no notice is taken of periods

when Israel are in bondage. From this emerges a principle. When Israel are Lo-ammi,

time is not counted prophetically.

Before proceeding let us endeavour to understand clearly what is meant by the

Lo-ammi periods of Israel's history. The term is borrowed from Hosea 1: 9 where we

read the Hosea's son was named Lo-ammi, meaning, "Not My People", the name being

prophetic of Israel's long night of rejection. This period of rejection is also predicted in

Hosea 3: 3-5:

Before applying this principle further, one other detail demands consideration. We

read in Judges 10: 8 that the children of Ammon and the Philistines "vexed and oppressed

the children of Israel" for 18 years. Why is this period not included in the list given

above? The reason is that it was confined to "the other side of the Jordan" until the close

of the 18 years (Judges 10: 8, 9), and so cannot be reckoned as a Lo-ammi period for all

The important principle enunciated above has a profound influence upon the

interpretation of Dan. 9: In this chapter we have a period of 490 years in which all the

purposes and promises of God for Israel are to be fulfilled. Inasmuch as this promise was

made to Daniel some 490 years before Christ, it is manifest that something is intended

other than the normal reckoning of 490 years on the calendar of the world. Since

Acts 28: Israel have been Lo-ammi; the prophetic clock has stopped and will not

begin again until Israel's day once more dawns. Moreover, during the captivity of Israel

in the time of Daniel, Israel were as much Lo-ammi as they were under the servitude at

the time of the Judges. The 490 prophetic years of Dan. 9: cannot include the period

when Jerusalem was a ruin, the Temple unbuilt, and the walls and gates destroyed.

Consequently we can appreciate the reason why the angel did not give Daniel a simple

period of years in Dan. 9: 25, but broke it up, the Lo-ammi period of seven weeks

(49 years) being occupied with the restoration of the city, while the threescore and

two weeks commenced when the city and people were back again into favour. This

has already been discussed in  Volume VI  (which has recently been reprinted in

Volumes XXV and XXVI) and the reader is referred to the article in Volume XXVI,

page 232, together with the diagram.

This principle also has a solemn application to ourselves individually. While the

believer can never be "lost" I Cor. 3: 15 makes it clear that he may "suffer loss". This

applies both to the period of the Acts and to the dispensation of the mystery, and is found