I have studied in four seminaries and before that, a leading Christian college, yet never was I introduced to any of the material W. Kent Smith has brought forth here in The Book of Days, a work that sheds light on long-lost truths that most modern Christians know nothing about. God has preserved many things concerning His purposes as well as His indelible fingerprints on history. This book sets out to tell the story of those purposes and of those fingerprints.

My initial interest in The Book was due to my research into a 5,500-year messianic prophecy that I become aware of while studying the Early Church and The Septuagint, the Greek translation of The Old Testament used by 2nd Temple Judaism and the Early Church. Known as "the prophecy of the Great Five and a Half Days," this messianic prophecy is certainly the greatest promise that God ever gave to mankind. According to this prophecy, given to Adam and Eve when they were expelled from Eden, the Messiah would come to Earth to rescue humanity after 5,500 years.

In addition to my interest concerning this prophecy, I was struck by several questions about 2nd Temple Judaism: What motivated the rabbis in the late first and early second century when they "canonized" The Hebrew Bible? Why did The Septuagint version of The Old Testament have different books from the Masoretic Text? And why were so many previously accepted texts, such as The First Book of Enoch, completely ignored and excluded? I knew that earlier Jews had had a broader canon of Scripture than the one that the rabbis settled upon at Jamnia, but in many cases, I didn't realize how important these "excluded" books were to understanding so many of our best-known Bible stories. Kent's book picks up these themes and digs even deeper, with particular focus upon the 5,500-year prophecy.

According to the 5,500-year chronology of The Septuagint, the coming of Jesus perfectly fit the timing of this prophecy and was one of the reasons so many Jews came to believe He was the Messiah. At which time the rabbis proceeded to "tamper" with The Hebrew Bible at the end of the first century AD, rejecting The Septuagint, and then translating their "doctored" Old Testament into three new Greek versions for future Jewish use. Why? One of the main reasons was to obscure the 5,500-year prophecy in order to stop Jews from coming to Jesus as their Messiah.

Sadly, many Christians not only remain in the dark about this 5,500-year prophecy but also end up dismissing the best extant sources of evidence for its veracity. When one removes such blinders and trusts the testimony of Early Church writers like Justin Martyr and Tertullian, we see, as The Book of Days reveals, that God Himself protected the most significant messianic prophecy of all time. You may not agree with all of the author's conclusions, but I assure you that your "traditions" will be challenged if you allow the evidence he presents through the narratives he tells to inspire you and your faith in the God of The Bible.

As I told the author when we met, I believe new evidence is forthcoming that will shed even more light on these issues and convince countless people that the things he contends are true. Of course, only time will tell. But, until then, read The Book of Days for yourself, and your fascination with God will grow, as will your trust in His promises.

For such a time as this...

Rev. David J. Hess

Rock OC Church

Dana Point, California