28 is for Time

2419 words long.

Published on 2024-03-10

Red Herrings

Twenty-eight is an enigma. In Secrets of Time, Dr. Stephen E. Jones identified nine people led by the Holy Spirit to do something remarkable at the 28th mention of their name:

Noah
Abram
Jacob
Israel
Joseph
Joshua
David
Peter
Paul

Some of those events were significant, such as David taking off his armor when he fought Goliath, or Peter being sent to Cornelius to offer salvation to the Gentiles. Others seem comparatively minor. All these people were led by the Spirit on numerous occasions, so it could be a coincidence.

The same trivia is repeated in articles on many web sites:

King Jehu ruled for twenty-eight years
Rehoboam had twenty-eight sons
the curtain of the temple in Jerusalem was 28 cubits high
twenty-eight is the third perfect number (equal to the sum of its factors: 28 = 1+2+4+7+14 ).

None of those “connections” seem important.

Lunacy?

This leaves the only obviously meaningful use of twenty-eight as the structured list of times in Ecclesiastes 3 and the correspondence with the lunar calendar, as previously discussed. An idea advanced by some is that factoring 28 = 4 x 7 connects its meaning to the meanings of four and seven.

Four speaks of endless, repeating natural cycles, as we saw in Ecclesiastes 1.
Seven connotes a progression towards completion or perfection.

Together you get a spiral: cycles that change and draw nearer to their goal with each revolution. The question is, are we spiraling outward and upward towards heavenly peace, or spiraling out of control, downward to our destruction?

The Growth Pattern

The articles on this site that delve into the Seven Pillars of Wisdom rely on the number twenty-eight to prove their point. The Bible books included in the Seven Pillars are identified because they share two unifying structures. All seven books conform to the Harvest Pattern of Jesus (as defined in Matthew) and the Growth Pattern, defined in Ecclesiastes. The Growth Pattern has seven broad phases, each consisting of four times drawn from the poem in Ecclesiastes 3. The appearance of the number twenty-eight therefore is different from how other numbers appear in the Bible. This number shows up in structure, in items to be matched and counted. Here is how this number appears in each of the Seven Pillars:

Pillar 1: Psalms

Psalms 1 to 28 correspond to the twenty-eight times, with a few deviations. The analysis that the following is based on is from the chapter "Psalms of Growth: Psalms 1-28" in Plague, Precept, Prophet, Peace.

Psalm 1 addresses times 3 and 4 (planting and plucking up).
Psalm 2 deals with times 1 and 2 (a time to be born and a time to die).
Psalm 3 deals with uprooting, not planting.
Psalm 12 deals with mourning, not dancing.
Psalm 28 refers to thirteen of the times, not just peace, suggesting chaos and the disruption of God's plan near the time of the end.

In addition to this group of Psalms, some individual psalms contain the entire pattern of twenty-eight times. One is Psalm 102. Each of its twenty-eight verses matches the corresponding time from Ecclesiastes 3. As one example, consider verses 13-14, which match "a time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones together":

You will arise and have pity on Zion;

it is the time to favor her;

the appointed time has come.

For your servants hold her stones dear

and have pity on her dust.

- Psalm 102:13-14

Psalm 102 was likely written by King Hezekiah (or one of his men), as the trials it describes match that king's life. Hezekiah was told his time was up. He prayed and humbled himself and the word came to him through the prophet Isaiah that he would live. That man understood time and the twenty-eight verses of his psalm reflect his deep wisdom.

Pillar 2: Job

Chapters 15 to 42 correspond to the twenty-eight times, one per chapter. No chapter matches its theme better than the last, chapter 42, whose matching time is "a time for peace":

And after this Job lived 140 years,

and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.

And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

- Job 42:16-17

Pillar 3: Proverbs

Proverbs opens with three chapters of introduction before settling into the the Growth Pattern of chapters 4-31, which match the twenty-eight times. As an example, take chapter 13, which matches the tenth time, "a time to laugh". This is part of the third phase of the Growth Pattern, learning verbal and physical self control. "A time to laugh" is part of the first season, learning verbal self control. That means controlling the tongue. Consider a few of the verses in Proverbs 13 that match this time:

A wise son hears his father's instruction,

but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good,

but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;

he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

- Proverbs 13:1-3

Pillar 4: Song of Songs

Solomon's greatest poem may be divided into twenty-eight speeches, alternating between She, He and the Others, or Bride, Groom and Chorus, depending on the translation. In a surprising turn, the poem also flows according to the twenty-eight times, but not without conflict. Instead of the lovers cooperating with God's times, they often fight against them. This is the challenge of being young and in love; you want to hurry things up. This is the insight that dawns upon the Bride when she says,

"I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases."

- Song of Songs 3:5

The section that best exemplifies this conflict over time is in Song of Songs chapter 5. This section matches "a time to embrace", but the Bride loses her chance and her soul was crushed:

I slept, but my heart was awake.

A sound! My beloved is knocking.

“Open to me, my sister, my love,

my dove, my perfect one,

for my head is wet with dew,

my locks with the drops of the night.”

I had put off my garment;

how could I put it on?

I had bathed my feet;

how could I soil them?

My beloved put his hand to the latch,

and my heart was thrilled within me.

I arose to open to my beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

on the handles of the bolt.

I opened to my beloved,

but my beloved had turned and gone.

My soul failed me when he spoke.

I sought him, but found him not;

I called him, but he gave no answer.

- Ecclesiastes 5:2-6

How many worthy things might we have done, but couldn't be bothered to get out of bed?

For a detailed analysis of this poem according to Solomon's times, consult "Appendix G: A Prophetic Psalm of Psalms" in Peace, like Solomon Never Knew.

Pillar 5: Ecclesiastes

The twenty-eight times show up in more than just the poem of Ecclesiastes chapter 3. The phrase "under the sun" occurs twenty-eight times in the book, dividing the first ten chapters into sections of uneven length. Each section corresponds to one of the times, but some are too short to say anything substantial about that time. The chapter "Solomon's Sundial" in Peace, like Solomon Never Knew dives into this pattern. Here are where the section boundaries are, according to where each "under the sun" is found:

1:3 Born
1:9 Die
1:14 Plant
2:11 Uproot
2:17 Kill
2:18 Heal
2:19 Tear down
2:20 Build
2:22 Weep
3:16 Laugh
4:1 Mourn
4:3 Dance
4:7 Scatter stones
4:15 Gather stones
5:13 Embrace
5:18 Refrain
6:1 Search
6:12 Give up
8:9 Keep
8:15 Throw away
8:17 Tear
9:3 Mend
9:6 Be Silent
9:9 Speak, Love
9:11 Hate
9:13 War
10:5 Peace

One of the saddest correspondences was to "a time to uproot".

Then I considered all that my hands had done

and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold,

all was vanity and a striving after wind,

and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

- Ecclesiastes 2:11

What was the greatest work of Solomon? He built the temple. In the prophetic timeline worked out in my books, "a time to uproot" matches the Babylonian Exile, when the Jews were uprooted from their homeland. The Babylonians tore down his temple, making wise Solomon's sad prediction come true.

Truly all the times come upon us. We can't skip the ones we don't like.

Pillar 6: Matthew

Unlike the other pillars, Matthew has no subtle reordering of times, no inversions, and no introduction to obscure the pattern. The gospel has twenty-eight chapters and they fit their times perfectly. Though Jesus is called "something greater than Solomon", the homage to Solomon is equisite.

The chapter "One Greater than Solomon" in Peace, like Solomon Never Knew shows the correspondence. One of the chapters where the pattern is hardest to see is chapter 12. This is a place where Matthew tackles a season (a pair of times) as a unit. The times for chapters 11 and 12 are "a time to mourn and a time to dance". Both times are covered explicitly in chapter 11 by way of comparing and contrasting:

“To what can I compare this generation?

They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

“ ‘We played the pipe for you,

and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge,

and you did not mourn.’

For John came neither eating nor drinking,

and they say, ‘He has a demon.’

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say,

‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard,

a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’

But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

- Matthew 11:16-19

In the preceding passage, Jesus is talking about physical self-control and knowing the propriety of what to do and not do at any given time. He mentions both mourning and dancing and how to the world he is out of step with time. However, it is the world that does not know the proper times. It is out of step with God's times.

The succeeding chapter seems to mention neither mourning nor dancing. It does, but only by way of referring to an Old Testament Bible story about King David. In the passage, Jesus is criticized because his disciples picked grain on the Sabbath. Again, it is about confusion about the right time to do things. In response, he recounts a story about David obtaining showbread from a priest when in great need. Only the priests were supposed to eat it. That story includes this:

But the servants of Achish said to him,

“Isn’t this David, the king of the land?

Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:

“ ‘Saul has slain his thousands,

and David his tens of thousands’?”

- 1 Samuel 21:11, NIV

Because his identity was exposed, David became afraid, but controlled his fear. He pretended to be insane, convinced the king he was no threat, and was free to leave. Just like David did not lose his head, Jesus did not lose his. The principle of maintaining self control in stressful situations is what Jesus is getting at, and that definintely relates to mourning and dancing.

Pillar 7: Revelation

The use of the Growth Pattern to structure Revelation is not a short discussion. That book is the conclusion of the Bible. Every pattern and plan of God reaches its conclusion there. Thus there is a complex interplay between the patterns as they are expressed. The fitting of the book to Solomon's times is done in the chapter titled "Aftertaste: Donner & Blitzen" in Peace, like Solomon Never Knew. The book is divided into seven sections according to places where thunder is heard (excluding chapter 10, where the voice of the Seven Thunders speaks). Each section speaks of four of Solomon's times. Those seven thunders are found in these verses:

4:5, 6:1, 8:5, 11:19, 14:2, 16:18, 19:6

In this case, each thunder ends a section instead of beginning it. The fifth thunder in Revelation 14 is a good one to reflect on. The fifth group of times in Solomon’s clock is:

searching and giving up
keeping and throwing away

The searching is done by the dragon, who searches for the woman and her child (Jesus or the church) to kill them (12:13-16), but he gives up his search, a failure.

The keeping is God keeping the woman and child safe (12:5-6,14,16), while the throwing away is something to cheer, the expulsion of Satan from Heaven:

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,

who accuses them before our God day and night,

has been hurled down.

- Revelation 12:10, NIV

May the Lord pronounce Aaron's blessing on you also, to keep you and never throw you away:

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

- Numbers 6:24-26

Make your times count

The secrets of how God manages time are among the deepest mysteries in Scripture. Finding the many ways that the Lord has woven the number twenty-eight into the books of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom took me years. However, we should not become overwhelmed by the complexities of time. Psalm 28 has the last word on what the number twenty-eight means. The twenty-eighth time is "a time for peace". When we get there, we can stop counting.

Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

- Psalm 28:9

Do not think of time running out.

Think of forever.

List of articles in this section: