1844 Made Complicated Part 2

Evolution of the 1844 Doctrine

The 1844 doctrine or Sanctuary doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventists underwent several iterations from the time of Miller before reaching its final form as Seventh-day Adventists know it today. Let’s now take a quick look at the evolution of this unique doctrine of Seventh-day Adventists.

Having been born and raised as a Seventh-day Adventist, I have heard about the 1844 doctrine but I had very little knowledge about it. Sometimes I hear 1844 being mentioned in sermons and in evangelical crusades that I had attended growing up.

Although I had no deep understanding of this doctrine yet, by seeing the charts and hearing the explanations, my young mind at that time was convinced that this doctrine was correct, although I don’t fully understand it. It’s like seeing a math professor solve a complex equation and in a few minutes time, the whole whiteboard was filled with the numbers and symbols until arriving at the correct solution. That’s how I felt when I saw the charts, the symbols, the graphics. Like smoke and mirrors in a magic show, I was mesmerized.

Like I’ve mentioned before, William Miller derived 1844 at a much later date, with the help of Edward Snow and also after 1843 failed. He was focused on the year 1843 as that is what his calculations were pointing to. But Daniel 8:14 wasn’t how he originally got the 1843 date. Daniel 8:14 is just one of many routes in which he got to 1843. Actually he has 15 of them in total. We will just look at some of them, but you may read all 15 of these so-called “proofs” from this link.

William Miller’s 15 Proofs

If he would give me time, I would harmonize all these apparent contradictions to my own satisfaction, or I will be a Deist still” - William Miller

While many are somewhat aware of the 2300-year prophecy, even among non-SDAs, there are a lot more who are unaware of the 2520-year prophecy and until recently (at the time of this writing), I too am one of them. But before Miller found out about 1844, he had his mind set on an earlier year, and that is 1843.

But if you’re like me and you’re wondering how the number 2520 even came up in the Bible, and how it ended up to 1843, then read right on as we examine some of William Miller’s proofs.

Miller’s Proof 1

Long before William Miller came to Daniel 8:14, or the 2300 year prophecy as SDAs call it, he first came up with the 2520 year prophecy. His first proof is as follows:

Proof I. I prove it by the time given by Moses, in the 26th chapter of Leviticus, that the people of God are to be in bondage to the kingdom’s of this world; or in Babylon, literal and mystical; which seven times cannot be understood less than seven times 360 revolutions of earth in its orbit, making 2520 years. I believe this began according to Jeremiah 15:4, “And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem,” and Isa. 7:8, “For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Resin: and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people,”— when Manasseh was carried captive to Babylon, and Israel was no more a nation, —see chronology, 2 Chron. 33:9, “So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel,“—the 677th year B. C. Then take 677 out of 2520, leaves A. D. 1843, when the punishment of the people of God will end. (See Miller’s Lectures, p. 251.) 11.

My initial reaction upon reading Miller’s 1st proof is one of bewilderment. How does one even think that by multiplying 7 by 360 to get 2520 and then turn it to yearsto get the date of the return of the Lord?.

Let’s try to unravel Miller’s logic on how he derived his proof, but before we do that. We need to accept a few assumptions. You do not need to agree with this but in order to understand Miller’s thinking, we have to think like Miller. So let’s get on to it.

Assumption 1: In prophecy, a day equals to a year.

Proof Texts:

1. For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ Numbers 14:34

2. Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel. “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Ezekiel 4:5-6

3. 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. “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. “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. 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

For now, we will not be discussing the validity of the day-year principle. For the sake of understanding Miller’s proof, we just have to accept this assumption as valid.

Assumption 2: Whenever year or “times” are mentioned in prophecy, this always refers to 360 days (which can be converted to years if needed)

We all know that a year is equivalent to about 365 and 1/4 days. The ancients were also aware that a year contains more than 360 days. Even the Babylonians who employed a 360-day calendar needed to add an extra month at irregular intervals to compensate for the missing days. If intercalary days were not added, then the 360 day calendar year would have missing days and would not correspond to our current timeline.

For example, a 360-day calendar year will be 5 less days than a 365-day calendar like the ones we have. But every 4 years, we add 1 day to the month of February to make up for the missing ¼ day yearly. So 4 years in a 360-day calendar (without intercalation) will be 21 days less than our 365-day calendar (which is more accurate).

Using the 360-day calendar without intercalation for 100 years, would result in 525 fewer days or around 1 1/2 years to the current time. This would make it seem that the 360-day calendar is ahead by 1 1/2 years. Using this 360-day calendar without intercalation for 1000 years would result in a missing 5250 days or 14 years and 3 months compared to the current time. So using this 360-day calendar for 2300 years without intercalation would result in 12,075 days lacking or equivalent to 33 years. This would make the 360-day calendar ahead by 33 years if used for a span of 2300 years.

But again, in order for Miller’s proof to work, we do not need to take account of this. Maybe the prophetic year (360-day) is just like the commercial year (also 360 days) in the finance world. But unless the prophetic timelines don’t corresponed to reality, using this 360-day calendar wouldn’t align with the dates of history. So let’s just forget reality for now. It’s always 360 days = 1 year.

Now that we have those 2 assumptions in place, let’s now take a look at Miller’s 1st proof. How did Miller come up with 2520 years again? He got this from Leviticus 26:18-27. Let’s look at verse 18.

“If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.” Leviticus 26:18.

Miller believed that the people of God had been captured in Babylon (literal and mystical) for a period of 2520 years. That is the seven times mentioned in Leviticus 26:18 multiplied by 360 which according to Miller, are the 360 revolutions of the earth in its orbit, and voila, you get 2520, which also according to Miller is equivalent to 2520 years. Ok, so now that Miller has 2520 years, then how did it end up in 1843? Miller believed that a Messianic prophecy which is found in Isaiah 7:14-17 has an initial fulfillment which is the starting date of the 2520 year prophecy.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria. Isaiah 7:14-17

The starting date for this prophecy according to Miller was given in Isaiah 7:8,

for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. Isaiah 7:8

According to Miller’s interpretation, from the time that this prophecy was given, 65 years will pass and Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. Miller believed that this prophecy was given in 742 BC, if you subtract 65 years from that, you will get 677 BC, which Miller believed was when Manasseh was taken captive by the Assyrians. Thus, 677 BC is the starting date of the 2520 year prophecy. Subtract that from 2520 and you get 1843.

But was Miller correct in his proof? According to him, based from Isaiah 7:8, From the time that the prophecy was given(742 BC) to 65 years later(677 BC) Manasseh will be carried captive to Babylon and Israel will no longer be a nation, but archaeological records show that in 721 BC, Samaria fell to Assyria and its inhabitants were deported and replaced with other inhabitants. So 742 BC couldn’t have been the starting point of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:8 because in 742 BC, Israel was no longer a nation, when in Isaiah 7:8 says, in 65 years, Ephraim (which is a part of Israel) will be too shattered to be a people, meaning at the time the prophecy was given, they were not yet shattered. If 742 BC couldn’t be the starting point of the prophecy, then 677 BC couldn’t be the end point of that prophecy also. Then it means that 677 BC couldn’t be the starting point of 2520 and 2520 is also just a “magic” number, calculated by multiplying 7 by 360. Ok then, let’s get on to the next proof, perhaps it offers more substance.

Miller’s Proof 2

You may think this equation is the same as the equation from Miller’s first proof. Well, you are correct. The equation is the same but the way it was derived is a bit different.

Proof II. It is proved typically by the year of release. See Deut. 15. 1, 2: ‘At the end of every seventh years thou shalt make a release; and this is the manner of the release; every creditor that lendeth aught unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact of his neighbour or of his brother, because it is called the Lords release.’ Also Jer. 34:14: ‘At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother a Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee, and ‘when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee; but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.’ We are, by this type, taught that the People of God will be delivered from their servitude and bondage, when they have served their 7 prophetic years. 7 times 360 years is 2520. Beginning with the captivity of Israel and the king of Judah, Manasseh, 677 B. C., must end in A. D. 1843, when the children of God will be released from all bondage and slavery. (See Second Advent. Library, No. 14.)

In this 2nd proof, Miller used Deuteronomy 25: 1-2:

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. Deuteronomy 25:1-2.

And also Jeremiah 34:14

Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’ Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me. Jeremiah 34:14

According to Miller, God’s people will be delivered from bondage after they have served 7 prophetic years. 7 prophetic years multiplied by 360 years is 2520. And not surprisingly, the starting date of that is also 677 BC which, according to Miller is Manasseh’s arrest and captivity of Israel from proof number 1. But we now know how improbable that is, then we also know how invalid Miller’s 2nd proof is.

Miller’s Proof 5

Now this proof is a bit more complicated than the first two proofs above. In order for Miller’s proof to be plausible, one would need a lot of imagination in order to manipulate the verse to fit the timeline. When I first read about Miller’s proofs, I was mind blown. But we will not go through all 15 proofs, you can just explore them at your own leisure. We’ll just pick a couple more.

Proof V. Again we can prove it by the typical jubilee. Levit. 25. 8-13: “And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee, forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall all be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every, man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee that fiftieth year be unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you, ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year, of this jubilee, ye shall return every man unto his possession.” Now, if we can show any rule whereby we can find the antitype, we can tell when the people of God will come into the inheritance of the purchased possession, and the redemption of their bodies, and the trump of jubilee will proclaim liberty, a glorious one, through all the land. In order to do this we must take notice of the order of the Sabbaths. “Seven Sabbaths shall be complete.” There are seven kinds of Sabbaths, which all have seven for a given number.The Jews kept but six Sabbaths; if they had kept the seventh they would have been made perfect without us; but they broke the seventh. Therefore there remains a keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God. The Jewish Sabbaths were:

1. The 7th day. Exod. 31:15.

2. The 50th day. Lev. 23:15, 16.

3. The 7th week. Deut. 36:9.

4. The 7th month. Lev. 23:24, 25.

5. The 7th year. Lev. 23: 3, 4.

6. The 7 times 7 years and 50th Jubilee. Lev 25:8-13

7. The 7 times 7 Jubilee and 50th Jubilee will bring us to a complete or perfect Sabbath, —the great Jubilee of Jubilees. Thus 7 times 7, 50 years is 49 times 50 — 2450 years.

It is very evident no year of release or Jubilee was ever kept after the reign of Josiah, the last king of Jerusalem that obeyed the commandments of the Lord, or kept his statutes. This king’s reign ended B. C. 607. See 2 Kings 23d chapter, 2 Chron. 35 and 36 chapters, and Jeremiah 22d chapter. After which the Jews never kept, neither could they keep, a year of release, or Jubilee; for neither their kings, their nobles, their people, or their lands could have been redeemed after this. Jer. 44:20‑23. Here ended the Jewish Jubilee, they had not kept more than 21 Jubilees, lacking 28 of coming to the great Jubilee.And now the land was to lay desolate, while the people of God were in their enemies land. Levit. 26:34. How long is a Jubilee of Jubilees? Ans. 49 times 50 years = 2450 years. When did these years begin? When the Jews ceased the keeping of the Sabbaths and Jubilees, at the close of Josiah’s reign, B. C. 607. Take 607 from 2450, it leaves A. D. 1843; when the Jubilee of Jubilees will come. (See Sec. Adv. Lib., No. 14.)

This proof is certainly more complicated than the ones we’ve discussed. But let’s try to understand this.

Here, Miller reasoned that there are 7 Jewish Sabbaths, but the Jews were only able to keep 6 out of the 7. According to Miller,

“if they [the Jews] had kept the seventh they would have been made perfect without us; but they broke the seventh.”

So if only they were able to keep the all 7 Sabbaths then they would have been made perfect. I don’t know about you but this sounds like salvation by works to me. Anyways, let’s proceed to examine these 7 sabbaths listed by Miller

1. The 7th day

   For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. Exodus 31:15

2. The 50th day

   From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. Lev 23:15,16

3. The 7th week

   Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. Deut 16:9

4. The 7th month

   The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the Lord Lev 23:24,25

5. The 7th year

   For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Lev 25:3,4

6. The 7 times 7 years and 50th Jubilee

   Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. Lev 25:8-13

7. The Jubilee of Jubilees

Interestingly enough, Miller doesn’t provide a verse for this but instead gives a computation “Thus 7 times 7, 50 years is 49 times 50 — 2450 years.”

As you can see, Miller conveniently pointed out the pattern of Sabbaths as observed by the Israelites. You will notice that this is arranged in increasing order, starting from the weekly, 50th day, 7th week, 7th month, 7th year and to the culmination which was the Jubilee of Jubilees or 49 times 50 years. But I don’t know if Miller was aware that number 2, which is the 50th day and number 3 which is the 7th week, is talking of the same Sabbath Festival, that is the Festival of Weeks? So this would make his list just 6 Sabbaths instead of 7. And he conveniently left out Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement which was also observed as a Sabbath. In fact, Jews call this the “Sabbath of Sabbaths” and this occurs once a year.

This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves c and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. Lev. 16:29-31

The only reason I can think of why Miller would leave this out is because it would break his pattern of increasing order in relation to seven. But maybe he should’ve just added this instead of duplicating the festival of weeks, who knows? But it doesn’t matter anyway because this reasoning is faulty to begin with.

Then we come to the 7th in his list of Sabbaths which according to him was not observed by the Israelites, and that is the Jubilee of Jubilees or 49 x 50 = 2450 years. This is not found anywhere in the Bible nor in any way alluded to. How would the Israelite even know that they should multiply the seven times seven by the 50th year? This is possible only with a little bit a lot of imagination.

And as you can see from the equation, this proof has a different starting date, and that is 607 BC. But what is significant in 607 BC? you might ask, Well according to Miller, this is the end of the reign of King Josiah of Judah. After his death, the kingdom of Judah stopped observing the jubilee. Miller believed that the Israelites were only able to observe 21 jubilees, still lacking 28 more in order to complete the 49 jubilees, leading to the 50th. Thus, 7 x 7 jubilees (49) x 50 = 2450.

But according to historical records King Josiah reigned from 640-609 BCE. That’s about 2 years off from Miller’s date, but let’s grant him this for now, maybe the timeline was off during Miller’s day so let’s go with that. So if you subtract 607 from 2450, then you would get 1843 again. And not surprisingly, 607 BC also was the date used by Jehovah’s Witnesses when they predicted the end of the world on 1914. But what they believed was 607 BC was year of the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon and instead of subtracting that from 2450, they subtracted instead from 2520 years(see proof 1) to get to 1914. The Jehovah’s Witnesses know better to add 1 year to the date because there is no year 0 in the calendar, which the Millerites at that time haven’t thought of. It’s not strange that the Seventh-day Adventist and Jehovah’s Witnesses would share these same convuluted calculations because they both came out of the Millerite movement. The Adventists stuck with 1844 but now believes that it was the start of Jesus’ high priestly ministry in the Most Holy Place in heaven, while the Jehovah’s Witnesses went with 1914 but now believes that Jesus began his rule as King of God’s Kingdom in 1914. Pretty strange indeed.

Let’s now go to the last proof we’ll cover but this would be the most important one.

Miller’s Proof 8

Proof VIII. I can prove it by the length of the vision which Daniel had (8:1-14) of the ram, he-goat, and little horn, which Daniel was informed was 2300 days long. Dan. 8:13,14; “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” And from which the 70 weeks were cut off, and fulfilled, the year of Christ’s death. Dan. 9:20—27. Then 70 weeks be, years cut off from 2300 days, makes these days years; and 490 years fulfillled in A, D. 33, leaves 1810 years to the fulfillment of the vision, which added to 33 makes 1843, when the sanctuary will be cleansed and the people of God justified. (See Miller’s Lectures, p. 73.)

As I was reading about Miller’s proofs, I can’t help but wonder whether Miller has experienced a case of Apophenia. I am not a medical expert by any means but it is defined in Merriam-Webster dictionary as “the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)”. In Miller’s quest to discover the date of the Lord’s return, I think that his mind must have latched on to the idea that 1843 is the date that the Bible points to. As the saying goes, “All roads lead to Rome”. His proofs point to 1843. He couldn’t see it any other way.

It’s like when you look at the clouds and see a pattern formed, but since you’ve seen it, you cannot “unsee” it

This is referred to as “Pareidolia”. Pareidolia is defined as “the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern.” Pareidolia is a type of Apophenia, or rather a visual type of apophenia. In Miller’s case, the number 1843 appears constantly in his proofs and has convinced him and others who believed him that the Bible points to this date. Even when the dates failed to pass, they reckoned they must’ve just had an error in their calculation. After 1843 came and went, that’s when they realized that they had miscalculated because they failed to take into account that there was no year zero in the calendar. Unlike real numbers in mathematics, if you subtract 1 year from 1 BC, you will get 1 AD instead of 0 AD. So that’s what Miller did, he added 1 to 1843 to correct it and that’s how he got to 1844.