Les Feldick interprets the seven years as fitting inside the Tribulation because Scripture counts any part of a year as a whole year.
The objection is that the seven-year cleanup could not finish inside the Tribulation's seven years. Les answers by citing a biblical principle: throughout Scripture, a whole year is assigned to anything that covers even part of a year. This allows the Ezekiel 39 cleanup to fit within the Tribulation without requiring seven full calendar years.
Ezekiel 39:9 — States that Israel will burn the weapons of the destroyed invading army with fire for seven years, the exact period at issue.
Ezekiel 39:12 — States that the house of Israel will bury the dead for seven months to cleanse the land, completing the cleanup picture.
Ezekiel 39:9 in the King James Version says, 'And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:' Ezekiel 39:12 says, 'And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.' These verses plainly describe a cleanup after God destroys an invading army in Israel. The burning of weapons lasts seven years, and the burial of the dead lasts seven months. The text itself does not say whether this occurs before, during, or after Daniel's seventieth week.
Les Feldick directly addresses the timing question in his teaching on Ezekiel 39. He says people object that the seven-year cleanup cannot take place inside the seven-year Tribulation because there is not enough time to finish it. His answer, which he calls 'my argument, and that's all it is,' is that the Bible always ascribes a whole year to anything that covers part of a year. Therefore, the same seven-year expression can describe both the Tribulation and the cleanup, even if the invasion and burial occur partway through the Tribulation. He does not present this as a dogmatic statement but as the key that resolves the apparent conflict.
Ezekiel 39:9 says the weapons will be burned with fire for seven years, while Ezekiel 39:12 says the house of Israel will be burying the dead for seven months. Les's discussion of 'seven years of burying the dead' is a shorthand for the whole cleanup process described in the chapter: the burning of weapons extends over seven years, and the burial of the dead takes seven months. The seven-year figure in the question is therefore specifically the weapon-burning period.
Les says people object that the seven-year cleanup cannot take place inside the seven-year Tribulation because there is not enough time to finish it. His answer is that throughout Scripture, the Bible ascribes a whole year to anything that covers part of a year. This removes the timing problem: the cleanup can take place within the Tribulation and still be described as seven years, because a portion of a year is counted as a full year. He is careful to call this his argument rather than a dogmatic statement.
Les places the events of Ezekiel 39 inside the final seven-year period. He identifies the invading armies as Russian armies that God will destroy on the hills of Israel, with fire falling on their homeland. He also teaches that the final seven years begin with the covenant mentioned in Daniel 9:27. Because any part of a year counts as a whole year in biblical reckoning, the invasion and the subsequent cleanup do not have to begin on day one of the Tribulation to still be described as seven years.
Russian Armies in Ezekiel 39
Les says Ezekiel 39 refers to God destroying invading Russian armies on the hills of Israel, showing he places this event within the final seven-year period he is discussing.
The Whole-Year Principle
Les directly answers the objection that the seven-year cleanup cannot fit in the Tribulation by explaining that Scripture counts any part of a year as a full year.
Daniel's 70 Weeks Explained — The 490-Year Prophecy Unpacked
So from that decree of Daniel chapter 9 then, until Christ was cut off, was 483 years, and that left 7 in order to make the 490. So now what most of you have heard with regard to any kind of prophetic teaching is Daniel's 70th week, and it's that 7 -year period of time that we now know is still future.
The Antichrist's 7-Year Treaty & Israel's Great Escape
And so He says, "...except those days should be shortened." Now I know a lot of people get the idea that this means that instead of running 7 years, it may run 6.5 years. I think the Greek implies that unless it would end on schedule, it's going to go the full 7 years. But if it would go a week over, or a month over, no one would survive.
Daniel 2 Explained: The Stone Kingdom That Fills the Earth
Now you ever get to Israel, and you get to the Dead Sea, nothing can live in it now, but the day is coming, and oh, I've got to show it to you in a minute. Let's look this one up, verse 9, then we'll go back to Ezekiel so you'll see what I'm talking about. But while you're here in Zechariah, let's read verse 9, "...and the Lord shall be king over all the...
Jacob's Trouble: Why the Tribulation is for Israel, Not the Church
And if there's a discrepancy, it's ours, not God's. So anyway, he had determined that there would be 483 years from that decree of Nehemiah 2 until the crucifixion. But the total, remember, and we looked at this earlier, the total years that God was going to deal with Israel was 490. So if 483 took place up to the cross, that means there is 7 years left.
Why Is Nebuchadnezzar's Dream Still Relevant Today? Daniel 2
Now you ever get to Israel, and you get to the Dead Sea, nothing can live in it now, but the day is coming, and oh, I've got to show it to you in a minute. Let's look this one up, verse 9, then we'll go back to Ezekiel so you'll see what I'm talking about. But while you're here in Zechariah, let's read verse 9, "...and the Lord shall be king over all the...
Daniel 9:27 Starts the Seven Years
Les teaches that Daniel 9:27's covenant is the triggering mechanism for the final seven years, providing the timeframe into which the Ezekiel cleanup fits.
Ezekiel 39:9: And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
This is the exact verse that speaks of a seven-year period of burning weapons after God's destruction of the invading army.
Ezekiel 39:12: And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
This verse gives the seven-month period for burying the dead, part of the same cleanup event Les discusses.
Daniel 9:27: And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Les cites this as the trigger for the final seven-year period, the timeframe into which he fits the Ezekiel cleanup.
No, according to Les Feldick. He teaches that the seven-year period for burning weapons and the seven-month period for burying the dead can fit inside the Tribulation because the Bible counts any part of a year as a full year. He acknowledges this is an argument rather than a dogmatic statement.
Ezekiel 39:9 says the people of Israel will burn the weapons of the destroyed invading army for seven years. The burial of the dead is a separate seven-month period in verse 12. Les's phrase 'seven years of burying the dead' covers the overall cleanup described in the chapter.
Les says the text refers to Russian armies that God will destroy on the hills of Israel, and that fire will fall on their homeland. He makes this connection while discussing the seven-year period in which the cleanup occurs.
Watch the Teaching: When Will the Tribulation Begin? The 70th Week of Daniel