The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

IV. Relationship of the 2300 Years and the 70 Weeks

More than a century after Tillinghast of England had, in 1654, designated the 70 weeks as a lesser period within the greater one of the 2300 days, Johann Petri, Reformed pastor of Germany, in 1768 had put forth, apparently for the first time in history, the proposition that the 70 weeks are the first part of the 2300 years, both periods beginning together 453 years before Christ’s birth, the longer period therefore ending probably about 1847. The key date was Christ’s baptism at the age of thirty at the end of the 69th week. ¹⁴ But it was not until the nineteenth century was under way that there was any widespread acceptance of this principle. PFF4 209.2

Next, it is surely more than a coincidence that “J. A. B.” (evidently JOHN AQUILA BROWN) of England and WILLIAM CUMMINS DAVIS of South Carolina should publish independently, within a few months of each other, two strikingly similar datings for the 2300 years, based on the principle of the simultaneous beginning of the 70 weeks with the longer period. ¹⁵ J. A. B. started with 1843, as the ending of the 1260 Mohammedan calendar years from the Hegira (actually A. H. 1260, ending in January, 1844). Terminating the 1260 and 2300 years together, like Faber, he computed by subtraction the beginning of the longer period at the decree of Artaxerxes I (Longimanus), in 457 B.C., thence ending his 70 weeks with the crucifixion at its close, which he fixed as A.D. 33. ¹⁶ PFF4 210.1

Davis, however, started with Christ’s baptism at the age of thirty, and the cross in the midst of the 70th week, in His 34th year, thus ending the 70 weeks in A.D. 37. Then he figured back by subtraction to get his beginning date, in 453 B.C., from thence reaching 1847 as the end of the 2300 years. But he said that these dates should be keyed to the actual birth year of Christ, not an arbitrarily placed Christian Era. This was basically the method of Petri, and he arrived at the same end date. PFF4 210.2

Picture 3: EARLIEST EXPOSITORS OF 2300-YEAR TERMINUS IN 1843
(Left) Anglican “J. A. B.[rown]’s” article, printed in London, in November, 1810, matched by tractate (right) by presbyterian William C. Davis of south carolina, issued in January, 1811
Page 211

But the similarity-yes, the virtual identity-of Davis’ and J. A. B.’s dates (allowing for the Nativity in 4 B.C.) is indeed striking, and really marks the beginning of an epoch, for Bible scholars on both sides of the Atlantic soon began increasingly to declare the end of the 2300 days in 1843, 1844, or 1847. ¹⁷ PFF4 211.1

These views, transcending religious and geographical boundaries, appeared in Continental Europe, Britain, Africa, Asia, and North America. They include writers of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant background and faith. And in the Protestant world they were embraced by both Established and Nonconformist groups-Anglican, Lutheran, Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and soon other upspringing denominations-as in America, the Christians and Disciples. Never had there been such a widespread interest in a given prophetic epoch. PFF4 211.2