The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

The History of an Interpretation 39
Of course if calculated from Nebuchadnezzar’s own accession
and invasion of Judah, B.C. 606, the end is much later, being A.D.
1914; just one half century, or jubilean period, from our probable
date of the opening of the Millennium [which he had fixed to
“about A.D.1862”]. 30
One factor that should be noted here is that in Elliott’s
chronology 606 B.C.E. was the accession-year of Nebuchadnezzar,
while in the later chronology of Nelson H. Barbour and Charles T.
Russell 606 B.C.E. was the date assigned for Nebuchadnezzar’s
destruction of Jerusalem in his 18th year.
The Millerite movement
The leading British works on prophecy were extensively reprinted
in the United States and strongly influenced many American
writers on the subject. These included the well-known Baptist
preacher William Miller and his associates, who pointed forward to
1843 as the date of Christ’s second coming. It is estimated that at
least 50,000, and perhaps as many as 200,000 people eventually
embraced Miller’s views. 31
Virtually every position they held on the different prophecies
had been taught by other past or contemporary expositors. Miller
was simply following others in ending the “Gentile times” in 1843.
At the First General Conference held in Boston, Massachusetts, on
October 14 and 15, 1840, one of Miller’s addresses dealt with
Biblical chronology. He placed the “seven times,” or 2,520 years, as
extending from 677 B.CE. to 1843 CE. 32 The second coming of
Christ was expected no later than 1844.
The date predicted for so long and by so many, with claimed
Biblical backing, came and went, with nothing to fulfill the
expectations based on it.
After the “Great Disappointment” of 1844, some, and among
them Miller himself, openly confessed that the time was a
mistake. 33 Others, however, insisted that the time itself was right,
30 E.B. Elliott, Horae Apocalypticae, lst ed. (London: Seeley, Bumside, and Seeley,
1844),Vol. III, pp. 1429–1431. Elliott’s work ran through five editions (1844,1846,
1847,1851, and 1862).In the last two he did not directly mention the 1914 date,
although he still suggested that the 2,520 years might be reckoned from the
beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.
31 David Tallmadge Arthur, “Come out of Babylon”: A Study of Millerite Separatism and
Denominationalism, 1840–1865 (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of
Rochester, 1970), pp. 86–88.
32 William Miller, “A Dissertation on Prophetic Chronology” in The First Report of the
General Conference of Christians Expecting the Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ
(Boston, 1842), p. 5. Other Millerites who stressed the 2,520 years included
Richard Hutchinson (editor of The Voice of Elijah) in an 1843 pamphlet, The Throne
of Judah Perpetuated in Christ, and Philemon R. Russell (editor of the Christian
Herald and Journal) in the March 19, 1840 issue of that periodical. The 2,520
years also appear on charts used by Millerite evangelists. (See Froom, Vol. IV, pp.
699–701, 726–737.)
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