In _applying_, then, these significant numbers (42, 70, 594, 666, 1,260, and 2,520) to years, from what point or date shall we begin to reckon the “_times of the Gentiles_” (Luke xxi. 24)? That there are such definite “times” the words of the Lord Jesus show, when He says, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke xxi. 24). That there are “seven times” of Gentile dominion is more than intimated by the symbolic episode in the life of Nebuchadnezzar as recorded in Dan. iv.; and that there are “seven times” of Israel’s punishment is clearly stated in Lev. xxvi. 18. “Seven times,” according to the Historicist school of interpreters, are equal to 2,520 years. Instead of asking where they begin, let us first note the fact that it is _duration_ which is emphasised in the Scriptures rather than _chronology_; and look at the duration of these years independently of, and before we attempt to fix, their beginning and ending. In Daniel ii. and vii. it is shown first to Nebuchadnezzar in a “dream,” and afterwards to God’s servant the prophet in a “vision,” that Israel was to be put on one side and become “Lo‐Ammi” (_not My people_), while government was to be put into the hands of the Gentiles. Jerusalem was the central point of both these great and solemn facts. That is to say, during 2,520 years, while Jerusalem should remain in the power of the Gentiles, Israel could be “no more a nation” in possession of their land and city. We know, as a matter of fact, that to‐day Jerusalem is in the hands of the Turks, and that it is still “trodden down of the Gentiles.” If we ask how long it shall continue to be “trodden down”? how long it will be before Israel shall again possess their city and their land?—the answer brings us at once to the heart of our subject. In seeking to determine both duration and chronology, it is necessary to plant our feet on sure ground. To do this, let us take a point on which all are agreed. There is _one_ date which is universally accepted; and concerning which the evidence is unquestioned. ABU OBEIDA, the Mahommedan General, laid siege to Jerusalem towards the close of 636 A.D. The city was then occupied by the Romans, who held out for four months. When they capitulated, the Patriarch SOPHRONIUS obtained a clause in the treaty giving security to the inhabitants, and requiring the ratification of OMAR himself. OMAR, who had therefore to be sent for, arrived some six months afterwards, and the delay caused the actual delivering up of the city to take place early in the autumn of A.D. 637.(80) The year A.D. 636‐7 is therefore the accepted date of the passing over of Jerusalem from the Romans to the Turks.