Double Restoration and Trouble with Equations: Pop-Prophecy and Zechariah 9:11-12
Copyright © Robert E. Cruickshank, Jr. (January 3, 2025)
All Rights Reserved
Wells McBogtash (Editor)
“As for you also, because of the blood of the covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to the stronghold, you prisoners who have the hope; This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you” (Zechariah 9:11-12).
Given the time and setting of Zechariah’s ministry, this passage isn’t terribly difficult to understand. God has set the “prisoners free from the waterless pit” (Zech. 9:10)—a fitting description of those returning from Babylonian exile. In this context, God tells His people that He will “restore double” to them (Zech. 9:12). The mathematical definition of double is simple— multiply a number by 2, resulting in twice the original value. Simply speaking, this is exactly what happened as the number of returning exiles was over twice as many as those taken captive. Hence, the interpretation is no more difficult than a simple math equation.
But if Common Core has taught us anything, it has taught us that some make math more involved than it needs to be. Parents of Millennials remember their frustration with this “new math” all too well. How could modern education elites have turned something so simple into something so complex? In this regard, the prophecy-speculation elites have much in common with Common Core. Just like the promoters of the infamous “new math,” the prophecy pundits aren’t content with the easiest path.
An Exegetical Slingshot
According to the purveyors of pop-prophecy, the prisoners being set free in verse 11 aren’t the returning exiles way back when. Instead, these are people who will be “taken captive during the Tribulation before the Millennium begins.”[1] So, another prophecy from the past takes a rocket blast – far into the future. “We know the promise was not fully realized when the exiles returned from the Babylonian captivity,” they tell us, “because of the commitment God makes in the text: ‘I will restore twice as much to you.’ That has not yet happened, but it will happen during the Millennium.”[2]
So, “twice as much” is their key to understanding the prophecy, and this is where their math gets fuzzy. Gary Bowers, from Eye of Prophecy, claims to have unearthed a “phenomenal finding,” and he offers his readers a “formula” based upon a series of “calculations” to prove it.[3] While reading his article, I was reminded of Spock making his “calculations” for time travel in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. In this classic movie, Spock gets the classic crew back in time “by using a gravitational slingshot around the sun.”[4]
In like manner, Bowers uses an exegetical slingshot around the text to rip it from its historical context and thrust it forward in time. Let’s follow the steps in his equation as he invites the reader to “do the math.” Fair warning: you might want to take some Dramamine. This is a wild ride – wilder than a warp-speed trip around the sun.
Fuzzy Math
Step 1: Bowers appeals to God’s proclamation that He will punish Isreal seven times for her sins (Lev. 26:18, 21, 23-24). According to him, this “is a specific time-lapse utilization of sevens that can be measured in years.” Based on this, Bowers makes the following calculation: “7 x 7 x 7 x 7 equals 2,401 (years).”
Step 2: Bowers informs the reader that “we must now convert the 2,401 years to Jewish years.” Going from the “Roman to Jewish calendar,” Bowers makes the adjustment for his readers: “2,401 years x 365 Roman calendar days = 876,365 days. Dividing 876,365 by 360 Jewish calendar days = 2,434 years Jewish years.”
To cover his flank, he offers this caveat to compensate for any missed minor details: “We’re rounding this off, because we’re only interested in the year, unlike the exact day(s) of the Daniel prophecy.”
Step 3: Bowers solves for the equation and claims that his computation yields an “astonishing result.” He explains: “2,483 years minus 516 BC (we must subtract BC years from the total) leads us to the year: 1967! Or 1,967 years AD plus 516 years BC is a total of 2,483 years.”
Step 4: Finally, Bowers adds one last variable to the equation. After jumping to light speed and leaving historical context in the weeds, Bowers then teleports Zechariah into his hermeneutical time machine. Zechariah 9:12 supposedly “fast forwards 2,500 years to the permanent return of the Jews (never to be exiled again) to the Promised Land that began primarily and prominently in the 20th century.” Thus, the double-restoration will happen sometime in the future, after the year 1967—a year which is now in our past. True to the pop-prophecy narrative, everything is all about us, and not the original audience, at the end of the day.
Getting back to the Star Trek movie for a nanosecond, Dr. McCoy was not crazy about Spock’s time-traveling ambitions. He cautioned, “A slingshot around the sun, you pick up enough speed, you’re in time warp. If you don’t – you’re fried.”[5] Fittingly, my brain felt fried after Bowers tried his time-warp math and slingshot exegesis.
Equally fitting is Time Magazine’s listing of “the new math” as one of “the 100 worst ideas of the century.”[6] With that said, it would be most fitting to see the whole pop-prophecy system join the forgotten ranks of Common Core Math. That should be listed among the worst ideas of the last 2 centuries!
History Class First
Back in school, I always had History class before Math. In keeping with that schedule, let’s do a quick history review. Remember, the pundits’ claim is that Zechariah’s promise of double restoration has not come true. In the words of a classic Sam Cook song, they don’t know much about history.[7]
Zechariah is writing around 520 BC – sixteen years after Cyrus allowed the Jewish people to begin returning to their homeland in 536 BC, and four years before the temple was rebuilt in 516 BC. Other significant events on the horizon include Ezra leading a second wave of exiles back to Jerusalem in 458 BC, and Nehemiah rebuilding the city wall in that same year.[8] This is the historical context and setting of the time when Zechariah wrote. The prophet is speaking to the concerns of his own day, not the concerns of people thousands of years away.[9]
In this context, Zechariah gives his readers their own history lesson by recalling God’s covenant with them:
“As for you also, because of the blood of the covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit” (Zech. 9:11).
Zechariah’s words here harken back to God’s original Covenant with Israel after the Exodus from Egypt, the only other time this phrase is used in Scripture:[10]
“And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:8).
So, Zechariah is recalling a past event in Israel’s history to give the returning exiles a new hope in their current situation. The past is the key to the present, as God sets “free” (Zech. 9:11) the prisoners “who have the hope” (Zech. 9:12).
From Exodus, to Exile, to Freedom
As Anthony R. Petterson says, “Yahweh bound himself to keep his words. It is the basis for God’s setting his people free from ‘the waterless pit.’”[11] And just as the phrase “the blood of the covenant” takes the reader back to the time of the Exodus, the idea of God setting his people “free” does as well. We all remember Moses’s famous words before Pharaoh: “Set my people free” (Exod. 5:1). Thus, the return from exile is thematically linked to the Exodus from Egypt. Mark Boda puts it this way:
“The verb ‘free’ is used in the Exodus account to express liberation of the Israelites from Egypt (e.g., Ex. 5:2, ‘let Israel go’), while the term ‘prisoners’ is used of the exilic community in several texts (e.g., Ps. 107:10; Lam. 3:34) and is thus appropriate for their experience after the fall of Jerusalem.”[12]
As Douglas R. Jones points out, Zechariah is taking his cue from Isaiah, who also portrays the imprisoned exiles being set free in terms of a Second Exodus (e.g., Isa. 42:6-7; 49:9; 51:14-16).[13] It is on the basis of the “blood” of the first “covenant” that God made with His people at the Exodus that He is going to set His people free once again. Only this time, it’s not the land of Egypt[14] from which they are being liberated, but the “waterless pit” of Babylon.
The is the backdrop and setting of the prophet’s words. Zechariah recalls the Exodus of the past to give “the prisoners” a “hope” for the future – their future, not ours. According to the prophecy pundits, this hope wouldn’t be realized for another 2,500 years – sometime after the year 1967! Fortunately for the exiles, they didn’t have to wait that long to be lifted out of the waterless pit of Babylon.
Give Me Some Water
Because of Nebuchadnezzar’s famous Hanging Gardens (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), some might consider it strange that Babylon would be considered a “waterless pit.” But these gardens were nourished by an elaborate irrigation system specifically because irrigation was needed in the region. This is not unlike their former enslavement in the land Egypt, where irrigation water from the Nile was relied upon to hydrate the land.[15] Again, the exodus from Egypt mirrors the return from exile.
Regarding Babylon, the climate of Mesopotamia “is generally very dry” with only 5-9 inches of rainfall per year.[16] “From the earliest times, the rulers of Mesopotamia regarded it as both a duty and act of piety to improve the canal system. In fact, the digging of a canal was regarded equally in importance to a ruler as a victory in war. Both kinds of enterprises were inscribed on clay tablets as boasts of their accomplishments.”[17] In other words, it was precisely because of the dry climate that the rulers would boast of their ability to get water to the parched region. These things being the case “waterless pit” is a fitting description of Babylon.
As Ryan Parazine says, “Most commentators agree that this primarily references those still stuck in Babylon as captives. So, in this immediate context, God is promising his people deliverance and freedom from their captivity in Babylon.”[18] George Klein puts it this way: “For Zechariah, the metaphor ‘waterless pit’ refers to the Babylonian exile, and the ‘prisoners’ symbolized those Judahites remaining in exile.”[19]
So, the prisoners who had the hope were being set free from the waterless pit. But did they receive the promised double restoration? Does the return from exile rise to the level of completely fulfilling the prophecy? What do the numbers say? This is the key question in terms of what the prophecy pundits are claiming.
Readings, Writings, and Arithmetic
As it turns out, the numbers do add up (and then some) when we take the time to read the writings of the Old Testament and do the arithmetic. Regarding the exile, 4,600 Jews were taken captive during the 7th, 18th, and 23rd years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (Jer. 52:28-30). His biggest incursion, however, came in the 8th year of his reign with 18,000 captives. Running the numbers then, 18,000 + 4,600 = 22,600 total captives during the Babylonian Exile.[20]
In Zechariah, God declares to the returning exiles: “I will restore you double” (Zech. 9:12). Doing the math here: 22,600 x 2 = 45,200. That is the minimum number of returning Jews needed for the double restoration. According to Ezra and Nehemiah, the first wave of returnees under Zerubbabel[21] comes in at 42,360 (Ezr. 2:64; Neh. 7:66). An additional 7,337 servants and 200 singers (Ezr. 1:65) brings the sum to 49,891. Finally, the second wave of 1,516 returnees under Ezra (Ezr. 8) gives us a grand total of 51,407 Jews back home in Israel after the exile. This more than meets the double-restoration requirement of Zechariah 9:12.
Nonetheless, the pundits will do what they always do. They will double down on their insistence that prophecies like this have not come true. They need these things to still be in the future for their narrative to work – and for their books to sell. With their warp-speed slingshots around the text, who knows what they’ll come up with next? Only time will tell.
Back to Math Class and Beyond
Reading through Bower’s complicated equation above reminded me of a problem in Geometry class, back in high school. I remember taking 18 steps to write a proof. I was so sure I was right and so proud of the complicated concoction I had created. Then came the homework review on the next day.
Turns out, I was way off. The correct answer was up on board. Not only did I have the wrong answer, but the right answer only took 3 steps! I remember thinking: “Is it really that simple? How could I have missed it?” The truth is, it was that simple and I did miss it.
All too many times, we approach the Bible the way I approached that Geometry problem – and that’s precisely the problem. Sometimes, most of the time in fact, the answer really is that simple. Take the blinders off when you read your Bible. Do your own homework. Pay attention to the details the Biblical writers are giving you. To echo Bower’s words from the opening of the article, you’ll “unearth” your own “phenomenal findings,” while the prophecy pundits will be finding themselves still sling-shotting around the sun.
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[1] https://explainingthebook.com/2019/05/12/zechariah-9-commentary-verses-9-17/
[2] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/prisoners-of-hope-liberated-and-blessed-richard-tow-sermon-on-messiah-267758?page=3&wc=800
[3] https://eyeofprophecy.com/2016/08/13/double-israels-trouble-double-her-blessings/
[4] https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/star-trek-spock-time-travel-superpower-picard#:~:text=Thrusters%20at%20Spock’s%20command!,the%20fly%20%E2%80%94%20by%20Spock%20himself.
[5] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek_IV:_The_Voyage_Home
[6] https://time.com/archive/6735628/the-100-worst-ideas-of-the-century/
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HoVF6iv7OE
[8] For the timeline of evets and prophecies leading up to and including the exile and return from exile, see: Robert E. Cruickshank, Jr., “Dispensationalism Strikes Out Again: Three More Verses They Get Wrong” https://burrosofberea.com/dispensationalism-strikes-out-again-three-more-verses-they-get-wrong/
[9] See: Robert E. Cruickshank, Jr., “Mordecai or the Millennium? Ancient History, Pop-Prophecy, and the Meaning of Zechariah 8:23 (Part 1: A Man, A Jew),” https://burrosofberea.com/mordecai-or-the-millennium-ancient-history-pop-prophecy-and-the-meaning-of-zechariah-823-part-1-a-man-a-jew/
[10] “God promises to act ‘because of the blood of your covenant’, a phrase found only once elsewhere in Exod. 24:8, where it refers to the covenant with Israel at Sinai and the blood dashed on the people to ratify it” (Anthony R. Petterson, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi: Apollos Old Testament Commentary [Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015], p. 223).
[11] Petterson, Ibid.,p. 223.
[12] Mark J. Boda, The New NIV Application Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), p. 419.
[13] Douglas R. Jones, “A Fresh Interpretation of Zechariah IX-XI”( Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 12, Fasc. 3, [Jul., 1962], p. 249.
[14] It should be noted that a small contingent of those in Judah did flee to Egypt in fear of the Babylonians (2 Kg. 25:26).
[15] https://ancientengrtech.wisc.edu/ancient-egypt-water-engineering/#:~:text=The%20Egyptians%20practiced%20a%20form,formed%20basins%20of%20various%20sizes.
[16] https://www.projecthistoryteacher.com/2015/07/climate-of-mesopotamia.html#:~:text=It%20is%20roughly%20between%2030,well%20over%20100%20degrees%20Fahrenheit.
[17] https://theplumber.com/babylonia/
[18] https://www.hccmobile.org/sermons/Zechariah9.11-13
[19] Klein, George. Zechariah: 21 (The New American Commentary) (p. 383). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
[20] For a short overview of the events as recorded in the Babylonian records, see: Laurie Pearce, “Babylonian Accounts of the Invasion of Judah” (Bible Odyssey) https://thecinemaholic.bibleodyssey.org/articles/babylonian-accounts-of-the-invasion-of-judah/
[21] Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7:7
