The Mystery of 39 and its connection to the Timing of the Tribulation - by David Wills - 2024

In another article, I outlined some intriguing occurrences of the number 490, which are symbolically linked in scripture to the Fulness of Time and Perfect Forgiveness and therefore by extension to the Timing of the Tribulation. Please click on the following link to view this article before reading this one in which I will present the mystery of the number 39 and its multiples and will expand on the idea that the God has used certain numbers as pointers to the events of the last days.

490 - The Sabbath and the Timing of the Tribulation - by David Wills - 2024 / Blog | EndTime_BibleProphecy

39 and its multiples - The Shortening of Days

In doing this, it is my intention to demonstrate from the bible that the numbers 39, 390 and 3900 are also connected to the timing of the last days and in a very real way could actually be the fulfilment of Jesus’ declaration in Matthew 24: 21-22, where He states that the days associated with the Tribulation would be shorted because they will be so bad, that if they weren’t, it would be possible that no flesh would be saved:

^"21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. Matthew 24:21-22

Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways from this particular verse is that Jesus cannot just be talking here about the actual days of the Tribulation, the 7 year period also known as the ‘Time of Jacob’s Trouble’, because metaphorically speaking the length of time for this period has been set in stone since the days of Daniel, when he received the 70 weeks prophecy around 535 BC, as outlined in Daniel 9:24-27

⁴ “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.²⁵ “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. ²⁶ “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. ²⁷ Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week, He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 9:24-27

So it is my contention that this has a broader context and can actually be applied to all of the days of mankind, such that God determined from the foundation of the earth that He would shorten the 6,000 years that scripture shows was allocated to human history (foreshadowed by the 6 days of Creation) prior to the 1,000 years allocated to the 7^th day of rest, remembering that 2 Peter 3:8 states:

⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8

All this would have ultimately had the end-times in view, such that by shortening the overall days God would also be decreasing the latter days, which Jesus said would be like the days of Noah:

^"7 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:37

And then Moses, under inspiration of God, would describe them as being so evil that God repented that He had made man, apart from Noah who found grace.

⁵ And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And it repented the LORD that he had made -- man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. ⁷ And the LORD said, I will destroy -- man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:5-8

Biblical Support for the Shortening of Days

In this regard, it is important to note a unique occurrence of the number 39 in Scriptures that supports the premise that the number 39, and its multiples, are actually the fulfilment of the promise to shorten the days.

This will be seen after firstly understanding the significance of the number 40, as seen in Deuteronomy 25:3, where God specifically limits instances of physical punishment (symbolic of Tribulation) to 40 lashes:

^"3 Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight." Deuteronomy 25:3

This is significant because scripture associates the number 40 with a time of testing and trial. A few examples include:

• The rain associated with Noah’s Flood was upon the earth for 40 days

^“12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” Genesis 7:12

• The Israelites 40 years of Wilderness wandering after leaving Egypt because they did not trust God to be able to given them victory of the Giants reported to be in the Promised Land.

^“33 And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.” Numbers 14:33

• Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, resisting Satan’s temptations.

^“1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.” Matthew 4:1-2

Number 40 - the Origin of its meaning

Biblically, the basis for the number 40 carrying this meaning comes from the events surrounding Cain and Abel. Time and space here do not allow for a full exposition of the biblical support for this, suffice to say that the bible does support that Cain and Abel were twins and that the age of accountability was 20 and therefore 2 x 20 = 40 has a meaning connected to the event that involved Cain killing Able and effectively two lives were lost totaling 40 years - I will expand on the this below.

This event is why all the Israelites who were 20 years or older and who had not believed that God would help them defeat the Giants in the Promised Land, after the Exodus from Egypt, were condemned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, until they had all died out.

^“29 The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.” Numbers 14:29

Notably, after the original fall of Mankind only the ground was cursed, not Adam:

^"17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’ : “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life." Genesis 3:17

but when Cain and Abel were born outside of the Garden of Eden and Cain killed Abel, God directly cursed Him…

“11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” Genesis 4:11

So, as can be seen, the first specific curse against a human being was against Cain and because subsequent curses were associated with the age of 20 we can then see that Cain would have been 20 when God cursed him. Importantly, the Hebrew text shows that the first two human beings, that were born (noting Adam and Eve were both special creation) were actually twins and that both were lost when Cain killed Abel, because Abel was dead and Cain became a fugitive and a vagabond.

As such, the 40 represents the 2 by 20 year-old lives that were lost, as well as the testing and trials they went through, as seen when God in His great mercy had pleaded with Cain to do the right thing, warning him that if he didn’t the Sin that was laying at the door to his heart would rise up and devour him. Faith and choices have consequence and just like Abel chose the good, Cain chose what was evil. So, the 40 years represents their lives and the choices that they made, as the following passage in Genesis 4:2-7 shows:   

​"1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Genesis 4:1-8you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Genesis 4:2-7                 

So, returning to our starting scripture in Deuteronomy 25:3 we see God restricting the lashes for punishment to 40, to prevent the punishment becoming too great for the recipient, and to avoid them be humiliated, as the following shows:

^“2 then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. ³ Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight.” Deuteronomy 25:2-3

The 40 becomes 39

What is fascinating about all of this is that the people were so intent on ensuring that they kept this commandment, to restrict certain punishments to 40 blows, that they reduced them to 39. Significantly, by the time of Paul, this had become known as the Jewish tradition of "forty minus one", otherwise known as Malkot, or flogging.

This can be seen in the Apostle Paul’s reference to having five times received the “forty stripes minus one” in a letter to the Corinthians:

^"4 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one." 2 Corinthians 11:24

So, while a man found guilty of a crime could receive a penalty of forty lashes, the practice was to give only thirty-nine lashes, to avoid the punishment becoming excessive. Effectively, the number 40, which is traditionally associated with a period of 'Trial and Testing' would be reduced to 39 for the protection of the guilty.

In this way, it mirrors God’s heart to limit the length of the 'Trial and Tribulation' of fallen mankind to something shorter than would normally be dictated. From this perspective, I believe an analysis of scripture supports the shortening of the period from Adam to Christ based upon this '40 to 39' pattern.

A Day is as a thousand years

Many scholars acknowledge the biblical pattern, mentioned in the Intro of this article, that is based upon 2Peter 3:8, which states that to the Lord a day is as a thousand years:

 “⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.: 2 Peter 3:8

This pattern sees the days of the creation week prophetically predicting events of history, based upon the 1,000 years per day principle. A few examples from the first four days will suffice to demonstrate the pattern:

Day 1 of Creation  - God separates Light from Darkness

Day 1 of History (0 - 1,000 years) – Adam starts in the Light (without Sin), but falls into Darkness through disobedience and dies before the day is over at 930 years of age.

Day 2 of Creation  - God separates the Waters, resulting in the Waters Above and the Waters Below

Day 2 of History (1,000 – 2,000 years)  - Noah was born during the 2^nd day (1,656 years after creation) is rescued from the Judgement of the Waters, when the 'Waters Above' and the 'Waters Below' flood the earth.

Day 3 of Creation – God reveals the land; creates Seeds and Plants bearing Fruit.

Day 3 of History (2,000 – 3,000 years) – God calls Abram who was born in the second day, 1948 /1949 years after Adam and promised him a Land; and Seed as numerous as the sand on the seashore and the Stars above; and changes his name to Abraham telling him that He will make him Fruitful.

Day 4 of Creation – God makes the Sun and Moon and the Stars

Day 4 of History (3000 – 4,000 years)  - Jesus is born towards the end of the 4^th Day and in Scripture is metaphorically compared to the Sun in Malachi:

^“2 But to you who fear My name, The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings;” Malachi 4:2

And is called the Bright and Morning Star in Revelation:

^“16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” Revelation 22:16

So from this pattern we can see that the six days of Creation actually represent 6,000 years of human history from God's perspective and with Jesus the 'Light of the world' being compared to the Sun, created on the 4^th day, it becomes clear that God originally allocated 4,000 years from Adam to Christ, but to shorten the days of mankind to ensure man’s survival, He also established a pattern of history based upon the number 39 (390 and 3900), as the following will show.

The Pattern in the Genealogies

In support of this please note the following:

Adam - Noah

God created mankind perfect in Adam, but 9 generations after the fall of Adam, mankind had become so wicked that God decided to destroy all life, except for Noah and his family, because all flesh had become corrupted. Basically, God had to reset humanity because it had become too evil and violent, but Noah found Grace:

“⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD ⁵.” Genesis 6:5-8

Importantly, this is the first major period of human history and if we examine the genealogy from Adam to Noah, we find something quite amazing” by noting the age (shown in the brackets below) of each descendant, when his son, in the line to Noah, was born:

God...

1) Adam (130)

2) Seth (105)

3) Enos (90)

4) Cainan (70)

5) Mahalalel (65)

6) Jared (162)

7) Enoch (65)

8) Methuselah (187)

9) Lamech (182)

10) Noah

Firstly, by adding these ages together, we see that Noah was born 1,056 years Anno Mundi (A.M.), or 1,056 years after Adam (a son of God) was created:

                130 + 105 + 90 + 70 + 65 + 162 + 65 + 187 + 182 = 1,056

Then in considering the pattern involving 39 and its multiples, we note that 1,056 is actually:

390 +666 = 1,056

So here we have our first pattern of a multiple of 39 in connection with 666, the number that the bible associates with the penultimate 'man of sin', the Anti-Christ. Clearly, this is appropriate, given that the sin of the world was so bad at this time in history that God marked it with the number 666 and then would destroy it 600 years later (another number associated with man’s number 6 and the fallen generation, born when Adam was 100 gives us 6 x 100 = 600) with a global flood.

Noah – Abram

Significantly, following the Flood, man began to multiply and again turned away from God becoming evil. However, this time, because God had promised never to destroy the earth again by a Flood, He chose to effectively reset humanity again by calling out a nation (Israel) for Himself. No longer was the focus just on individuals that could be responsible for progressing His plan for Mankind’s redemption, rather it would involve an entire nation – the bible states in Exodus 19:6 that Israel was meant to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests:

“⁶ And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” Exodus 19:6

 Again, the Genealogy reveals the '39 pattern'.

Noah...

1) Shem (100)  

2) Arphaxad (35)

3) Selah (30)

4) Eber (34)

5) Peleg (30)

6) Reu (32)

7) Serug (30)

8) Nahor (29)

9) Terah (70)

10) Abram

As before, we add the age that each person was when their son was born, and we find that Abram was born 390 years after Shem (a son of Noah) was born:

100 + 35 + 30 + 34 + 30 + 32 + 30 + 29 + 70 = 390

Periods of Transition

So, Adam to Noah and Noah to Abram / Abraham are two key periods of Transition in the timeline of God’s Redemptive plan for humanity and both Transition periods involve a 390 year period, while the wickedness of Noah’s time is also emphasized by its connection to an additional period of 666 years.

The Pattern from Adam to Christ

Importantly, the pattern does not stop with the genealogies from Adam to Abraham, but extends all the way to Christ. We are able to calculate this time period because the dates of the Key Biblical events involving Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and their entry into the Promised Land have been confirmed through Archaeology as being 1446 BC and 1406 BC respectively.

To see more information on this, I recommend that you access the work of Joel P. Kramer who wrote the top selling Archaeology Book called “Where God Came Down – The Archaeological Evidence”. He has also produced an excellent video titled “How we KNOW the dates for the Old Testament!” explaining how all of this was determined – click on the following link to watch it on Youtube:

https://youtu.be/3DJtVlLRMGw?si=SWNo3Xjj84crtqg5

However, with this understanding, we can now extrapolate further dates as follows:

Galatians 3:16 begins with the time when Abraham was given all the promises of God, stating that 430 years later the law was then given through Moses:

“ ⁶ Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. ¹⁷ And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. Galatians 3:16-17

 Exodus 12:40-41 clarifies this further by stating that the 430 years that started with Abraham’s calling, when he was given the promises of God, ended on the exact day that Israel’s Exodus from Egypt occurred

“⁴⁰ Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹ And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:40-41

This means that we can take 430 years away from the date of the Exodus to get to the date of Abram’s calling as follows:

Abram called: 1446 BC - 430 years = 1876 BC 

Then given Abram / Abraham was 75 years old when he was called, we can identify the year of Abram’s Birth:

Abram born: 1876 BC -75 years = 1951 BC 

Since we also know that Noah was born 1,056 years after Adam and that he was 600 years old (1656 A.M.) when the flood started and it lasted a year; and we know that Shem was 100 years old, 2 years after the Flood (when Arphaxad was born), we can know that Shem was 98 when the flood ended, or 97 when it began, which means Noah was 503 years old when Shem was born.

So, if we add 1056 (Noah born) + 503 (Shem born) + 390 (Shem – Abram) we find that it is 1949 years after Adam was created that Abram was born. This appears to be a hidden numerical prophecy of Israel being reborn in 1948, which triggered an Arab War that lasted until 1949, given that Israel is the nation that was promised to Abram / Abraham.

The Longer Time Spans

Now from all these dates we can begin to calculate some even longer time spans.

Given, as we have seen above, that Abram was born in 1951BC, if we also add the 1949 years from 'Adam to Abram' we get the full time period from Adam to Christ as follows:

1951 BC - 1949 = 3,900 BC

So rather than 4,000 years we see a shorter time period, being exactly 3900, a multiple of 39.

Then amazingly, if we consider the year 2025 AD as a focus point for a possible date of the Rapture, as was discussed in the previous article “490 - The Sabbath and the Timing of the Tribulation” mentioned above, we note that if you start with the 'Calling of Abraham' in 1876 BC  and adjust for no year 0, you get exactly 3900 years again, as follows:

1876 BC + 3,900 years +1 (adjust for no year zero) = 2025 AD

The patterns seem to be vastly more than Chance or Coincidence would produce and certainly appear to be connected with the idea that God is shortening Time, so that mankind is not consumed again by the same kind of evil that resulted in their destruction in the times of Noah.

39-390-3900 - God's Numbers for the Shortening of Days

Please see below for a Timeline Chart (not drawn to scale) that summarizes the key events that have been discussed in this article, that will hopefully clarify the idea that the multiples of 39 come into play in God’s Timeline of 'Salvation and Redemption', in a way that may find its ultimate conclusion in 2025, or at some other time near to it, if God delays - for as He says in 2 Peter 3:9 His delays, as we perceive them, are only because He is not willing for any to be lost.

“⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9