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Day-Year Language of Prophecy
Page 20 (pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35)

Prior to the mid-19th century when the eschatologies of futurism and partial-preterism began to come into vogue, there was a widely recognized "language" of prophecy, of "each day for a year" suggested by the following:

Ezekiel 4:5  For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 4:6  And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Numbers 14:34  After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, [even] forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, [even] forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

Genesis 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.

Additionally Exodus alludes to a week of days as years:

Exodus 23:10  And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
Exodus 23:11  But the seventh [year] thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, [and] with thy oliveyard.

Quoting a few that cited this "language of prophecy":

Thieleman van Braght, wrote the following in Martyrs Mirror, pages 21-24: 'a thousand two hundred and threescore days, which reckoned according to prophetic language means as many years… let it be reckoned as it may, say we, as a very long period of time.'  

Matthew Henry, in his 'Commentary of the Whole Bible (Vol VI, page 1157 column 1, para. 2):  "….if the beginning of that interval could be ascertained, this number of prophetic days, taking a day for a year, would give us a prospect of when the end might be."

Isaac Newton - "She is nourished by the merchants of the earth, three times or years and an half, or 42 months, or 1260 days: and in these Prophecies days are put for years." - Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St.a John - Chapter 3

Even 19th century Jamison, Faucett & Brown commentary write as though it was common knowledge of their times - "..... in the wilderness 'a thousand two hundred and threescore days.' In the wider sense, we may either adopt the year-day theory of 1260 years..."

Others from throughout the Christian era who recognized this language include:

Augustine (AD 430)
Nahawendi (Jewish) (AD 8-9th century)
Jehoram (AD 10th century)
Abraham bar Hiyya (Jewish) (AD 1136)
Arnold of Villanova AD (1292)
Tichonius (AD 380)
Joachim of Floris (AD 1202)
John Wycliffe (AD c.1379)
Nicholas of Cusa (AD c.1452)
Martin Luther (AD 1522)
Phillip Melanchthon (AD 1543)
Johan Funck (AD 1558)
James I of England (AD 1600)

Let's see what we might find when we apply this day-year language to the book of Revelation. In this link to Revelation 12:6 we find a period "days" listed of  "a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days". Since a "score" is the equivalent of 20, how many years would this indicate, as suggested by those great men of God of the Reformation quoted above?