On May 14th in 1948 the nation of Israel was reborn as an independent nation after being a scattered people dispersed throughout the world. Earlier in the history of Israel between 132- 136 AD, Simon bar Kokhba, who some hailed as the Messiah, led a revolt of the Jewish people in Judea against the Roman occupation. Although his revolt was successful at first, the Roman army finally crushed any hopes the Jewish people had for establishing an independent nation. God had determined many years earlier after the reign of Judah's last righteous king, King Josiah, that Judah like Israel would be removed from his sight. Second Kings 23:26-27 (KJV) tells us; 26 "Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
27 And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there". It was not only King Manasseh that provoked God but also the other Kings of Judah that did evil before his eyes. After years of continual disobedience God removed Judah as an independent nation and Jerusalem became a reproach among all the nations.
The times of the gentiles for the nation began in 610 BC soon after the death of Judah's last righteous king, King Josiah. After the Book of the Law was found near the beginning of his eighteenth year, King Josiah had received a prophecy from the prophetess Huldah telling him that his own life would end in peace but after his death then judgment against Judah and the Lords' designated holy city Jerusalem was assured. Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read—17 because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched". It is evident that Huldah's prophecy came in the eighteenth year of King Josiah after the book of the law was found in the temple. When the Book of the Law was found then King Josiah began to enact sweeping reforms throughout his entire kingdom. In that same eighteenth year King Josiah celebrated a great Passover Feast in Jerusalem, there had been none like it since the time of Samuel the prophet. That particular Passover took place on Nisan 14 in the year 623 BC. The sweeping reforms and the resulting Passover that took place in King Josiah's eighteenth year were so important that very date serves as a reference point in the opening passage of Ezekiel's book over thirty years later when Ezekiel had his first vision in 593 BC. King Josiah died thirteen years after that great Passover celebration when he tied to stop the advance by Pharaoh Neco of Egypt in 610 BC. King Josiah was wounded by Egyptian archers while they were preparing for battle and according to the writings of Josephus, upon being wounded he commanded a retreat for his army therefore a battle never ensued however Josiah died and he was removed to Jerusalem where he was buried. Then the people of Judah took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him King of Judah. King Jehoahaz reigned for only three months before he was dethroned by Pharaoh Neco upon his return from battle in Assyria. Pharaoh Neco, King of Egypt, upon returning from helping Assyria in 610 BC, stopped in Jerusalem and fined the newly appointed king, King Jehoahaz. According to II Chronicles 36:3 the king of Egypt deposed King Jehoahaz at Jerusalem and he imposed on the land of Judah a fine of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. Unfortunately most scholars believe this event took place in 609 BC during the 17th year of Nabopolassar however according to A.K. Grayson, in his book Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles the evidence suggest this event took place one year earlier during the 16th year of Nabopolassar in 610 BC. The text of the 16th year tells us the army of Egypt came to help the Assyrians. The amount of the fine imposed by Pharaoh Neco is significant because it was the same amount of silver used to construct the foundation of Moses wilderness tabernacle. Each of the Israelite men over twenty years of age was required to give one/half shekel for his redemption price to the Lord. This was indeed significant in 'The Law of Moses'. You've likely heard the expression 'follow the money', well that same amount of 100 talents of silver was not mentioned again until King Artaxerxes sent forth his first decree with Ezra allowing the Jewish people to return to Israel with up to 100 talents of silver in the year 457 BC. That decree sent with Ezra was undoubtedly the first of two decrees mentioned in Daniel's 70-weeks prophecy. By this time the Israelites were under a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31) and the New Jerusalem temple represented the new covenant. So the question remains; exactly when did the 'times of the gentiles' begin and when did they end. According to my research I believe God has two distinct periods designated as 'the times of the gentiles', one for the nation of Israel and one for the Lord's chosen city Jerusalem. This webpage deals with the times of the gentiles for the nation of Israel but click the following link if you'd like information about the times of the gentiles for Jerusalem.
As stated before the 'times of the gentiles' for national Israel began in the year 610 BC. The exact day was on the 'Day of Atonement' in 610 BC. I will now state how I came to this conclusion. After I had a customized calendar built for research purposes I began to experiment with various measures of time. One of the significant measures of time mentioned as a judgment by God is the expression 'seven times over'. We read this repeatedly in verses throughout the scriptures when God says his punishment for repeated disobedience will be 'seven times more'. I also understood that God uses both the lengths of the solar and Luna years. Knowing one solar year was exactly 365.2422 average days in length I then multiplied it by seven getting a result of 2,556.6954 days in seven years. However when God punished Israel He would use the year/day principle of time. For instance when ten of the twelve spies returned with a negative report they were condemned to spend the next forty Luna years in the wilderness (one Luna year for each day they spied the land). However in this particular case God uses the length of the solar year. Each day of the 2,556.6954 days would last for one solar year giving a total of 2,556.6954 x 365.2422 = 933,813 total whole days before Israel would once again become a sovereign independent nation. Then I proceeded to do the calendar calculation.
The Elijah Calendar calculation - I also noticed something peculiar about May 14th in 1948. It happened to be the sixth day of the Luna month and in the Elijah calendar it was also the month Sivan, the third month of the Jewish religious calendar. The sixth day of the third month also happened to be the Feast of Weeks, one of three designated Feast days during which Israelite men were required to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem, according to the statute set forth in Exodus 23:17. I then reset the Gregorian calendar date to just after sunset on May 13th in 1948 (which also happens to be the beginning of the 14th day from the Jewish prespective). Then I typed in 933,813 days into the interactive box and selected days. I then hit the 'Back Up' selection arrow and the results given for the Gregorian date read BC 610/9/2 (Sept 2nd in 610 BC) but the corresponding dates for both Jewish calendars read 3152/Tishri/10 which happened to be the Day of Atonement in the year 610 BC. This was also very significant because the start and end points both happened to be holy days designated by God in the religious calendar year. This was the first calculation I had performed that showed the pinpoint accuracy of Bible prophecy. Understanding this first prophecy set in motion the research and amazing calendar results seen throughout this website. The Rebirth of Israel in 1948 was the fulfillment of 'seven times over' judgment aginst Judah beginning on the Day of Atonement in 610 BC and ending on The Feast of Weeks in 1948 (May 14th). Looking at this from a historical view it was likely on the Day of Atonement when Pharaoh Neco, King of Egypt stood before King Jehoahaz in Jerusalem and told him that he and his nation was being fined 100 talents of silver and 1 talent of Gold. About two and one-half months later King Jehoahaz was removed by Pharaoh Neco and taken to Egypt where he died. Probably because he refused to pay the fine levied against Judah. It is also significant that Pharaoh Neco changed his given name 'Shallum' to Jehoahaz which means 'Jehovah seizes'. Anyways his older brother was placed on the throne by Neco, King of Egypt. From this we can perceive that God was essentially removing Judah's independence as a sovereign nation. From 610 BC foward Israel was continually put under subjugation to whatever nation was the dominant ruling nation. Only for a brief period under the Hasmonean dynasty between 163 - 63 BC did they experience any semblance of independence.