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The Number 17

August 11, 2024

(2 minute read)

Here are some discoveries that I made with regards to the most recent trip to Israel that God inspired. They revolve around the number 17.

Here is what I found:

1. The trip begins on the 17th of Tammuz (Fast of Tammuz marking the breach of Jerusalem’s walls by the Romans in 70 A.D., prior to the destruction of the 2nd Temple)
2. The trip ends on the 17th of Elul, exactly two Hebrew months later (The anniversary of the start of WWII in 1939 – (Sep 1)
3. The first and last destinations on the trip were inspired exactly 17 weeks apart (Taupo & Tutukaka)
4. There are 17 days between the first and second destinations on the trip
5. The first visit to Israel is to last 17 days (Aug 11–28)
6. The Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth was inspired on the 17th of Nisan (a potential resurrection date of Jesus), and was due to occur on August 17th
7. The first and last inspired visits to Jerusalem were inspired exactly 17 weeks apart in the Hebrew calendar (18 Kislev – 19 Adar II, 5784)
8. My departure date to Israel falls exactly 17 weeks to the day since Iran’s first attack on Israel on April 13. August 10 is the Sabbath Day, also known as “Shabbat Chazon”, or the “Sabbath of vision/prophecy”. It is based on the Haftarah reading of the day from Isaiah 1:1–27, based on Isaiah’s vision over Judah and Jerusalem. It is also known as the “black sabbath” – the saddest sabbath of the year, and is the last of a series of three sabbaths known as the “Three of Rebuke”.

Some of the biblical and non-biblical references to the number 17 include:

• Noah’s Flood began on the 17th day of the 2nd month (Genesis 7:11), and the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat exactly five months later on the 17th day of the 7th month (Genesis 8:4).
• Some believe that Jesus was raised from the dead on the 17th of Nisan – the same day that the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat in the Hebrew civil calendar.
• Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob was given his coat of many colours and sold into slavery by his brothers at the age of 17. He was reunited with them 22 years later in Egypt, where his father lived for another 17 years before his death at the age of 147 (Genesis 47:28).
• The vote to create Israel in the United Nations occurred on the 17th of Kislev on November 30, 1947, Israeli time.

I'm not sure what all this means yet, but it seems to go beyond mere coincidence!

Itinerary: July–September 2024

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