The Fifth Trumpet, The Flood and Hanukkah

Some in the past have argued for seeing some kind of thematic connection between The Fifth Trumpet in Revelation 9 and The Flood account in Genesis 7 and 8 based on parallel time periods.  First 40 days and then five months.  I'd noticed this months ago and mentioned it on this blog.

More recently (it came up while I was engaging with Flat Earthers) I've realized that the Abyss/Bottomless Pit could possibly be the same place as The Great Deep where much of the Flood waters were before The Flood.  Abyss has sometimes been translated as Deep.  There is no water there now, it's all on The Earth's surface, but it's interesting.

That makes the possibility of a connection here even stronger.  A period of 40 days of something coming out of the Deep to punish mankind for five months.  Very different but an interesting connection.

In the very first post on this blog I argued that the opening of The Abyss in Revelation 9 is the removal of Restraint mentioned in II Thessalonians 2.  And I've discussed how the Antichrist's Resurrection is defined as him ascending out of The Bottomless Pit.  I do not consider those arguments dependent on identifying The Antichrist or False Prophet with anyone specific in Revelation 9, we can debate Apollyon all day. The point is nothing can ascend out of The Abyss before Revelation 9 happens.  I'll return to this later.

Could this connection mean the 40 days of Revelation 9 happen on the Hebrew calendar about the same time as the 40 days of rain from The Flood account?

The Rain began on the 17th day of what was the Second month but is now the Eight.  I believe back in Pre-Flood times all months had 30 days because the Lunar and solar cycles were in sync putting the end of the rain on the 26th of Kislev.  But a repeat of that today would put 40 days that began on the 17th of the Eight month as ending on the 27th of Kislev.

Both of those days have in common that they are part of the the Eight Days of Hanukkah.

In my discussion of Winter Pagan holidays I pointed out that the claims of Anitochus Epiphanes being born on the 25th of Kislev or December are spurious, but that he did die seemingly during or near the first Hanukkah according to the accounts in both books of Maccabees.

I had also pointed out in that post that the Solstices were when pagans placed deaths and resurrections/conceptions, not births.  And I have also argued that IF The Antichrist is someone from the past who already lived coming back, it would most likely be be Antiochus Epiphanes, and certainly could only be a Seleucid ruler.

If this theory is true, I believe it would be the Hanukkah that occurs 9 months before the Yom Teruah that marks the Midway Point of the Week, when the Seventh Trumpet will be sounded and The Rapture will happen.

The first of Tishri is when Noah removed the Cover of the Ark in Genesis 8:13.  That fits being connected to the 7th Trumpet.  Perhaps the 6th Trumpet will then be linked to the first day of Tammuz (Genesis 8:5).

Further Update:  Reading Maccabees more carefully it seems less likely Epiphanies died that close to Hanukkah.  The First Hanukkah celebration being at the end of Chapter 4 in First Maccabees, with the account of Epiphanies demise being Chapter 6.

However Second Maccabees tells the story of Epiphanies Demise in Chapter 9 and then the first Hanukkah celebration at the beginning of Chapter 10 right after.  I generally consider Second Maccabees less reliable however.