Good day,
Here's my opinion:
(Rev 8:1 KJV) And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
The Aramaic word for “silence” can also mean “veil.”
In the OT, a veil in the head or face could be a sign of mourning as in:
(2Sa 15:30 KJV) And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
(2Sa 19:1 LITV) And it was announced to Joab, Behold, the king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.
(2Sa 19:4 LITV) And the king had covered his face. Yea, the king cried with a loud voice, My son Absalom! Absalom my son, my son!
“Veil” as mourning in the opening of the 7th Seal makes sense because of the last passage from the 6th Seal:
Rev 7:14-17 KJV
(14) And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
(15) Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
(16) They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
(17) For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
The (symbolic) heavens mourned as a result of the Great Tribulation.
In the Jewish tradition, mourning for the dead is divided into several stages or periods.
"Periods of Mourning
While shiva is a very specific period of mourning, there are stages before and after shiva that have particular significance. In fact, shiva is merely one of many defined periods of grieving within Judaism. Below is a list of the others, each of which is a milestone for a mourner who is grieving the loss of a loved one.
Aninut
The period between death and
burial. The mourner during this period is called the ‘onen.’ Before commercial burials, the mourner was fulfilling the needs of the deceased in preparation for burial and therefore was exempt from other religious duties such as morning and evening prayers and putting on tefillin (scrolls containing verses from the Torah).
Avelut
This is the Hebrew word for mourning, which consists of three periods: shiva, sheloshim, and the year of mourning.
Shiva
The traditional seven-day period of mourning, following the burial, when mourners stay at home and receive guests to offer them comfort and participate in daily religious services.
Sheloshim
The 30-day mourning period after the burial and including the first seven days of shiva. It is observed by the immediate family and is designed to allow the mourner to get over the shock of the death. The mourners return to work after the first seven days, but other restrictions remain, such as refraining from attending weddings, dances or parties.
Year of Mourning
When the mourner is mourning a parent, the observances held in sheloshim are extended for one year from the day of burial.
Yahrzeit
The yearly anniversary of a death, which is commemorated with the lighting of a candle that burns for 24 hours and the recitation of the
Kaddish prayer.
"
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Periods of Mourning | Shiva, Jewish Mourning
Of all the stages of mourning mentioned above, only the 7-day period is what I can find in the Bible.
Gen 50:8-10 KJV
(8) And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
(9) And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
(10) And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
1Sa 31:12-13 KJV
(12) All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.(13) And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
A quote about the 7-day period:
"They fasted seven days - In imitation of the mourning for Jacob (marginal reference). They would give full honor to Saul though he was fallen."
- Albert Barnes
Another quote:
"To testify their sorrow for the public loss of Saul, and of the people of God; and to entreat God’s favour to prevent the utter extinction of his people. But you must not understand this word of fasting strictly, as if they eat nothing for seven whole days; but in a more large and general sense, as it is used both in sacred and profane writers; that they did eat but little, and that seldom, and that but mean food, and drunk only water for that time."
- Matthew Poole
…for about half an hour
(Rev 8:1 KJV) And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
In Bible prophecies concerning duration of time, the 360-day period is the most used and referenced time frame. If we are also going to use it in determining the actual duration of the Biblical “half an hour,” the computation would be similar to:
360 days / 24 = 15 days ≡ 1 hour
15 days / 2 = 7.5 days ≡ half an hour
7.5 days is equivalent to “half an hour” using the 360-day prophetic year. Now, isn’t the word “about” in the verse when used to express time means that it could be exact or just near the exact time indicated? John did not hear the time duration, it seems that he felt or experienced it. The Aramaic word "about" in the verse has the definition:
)yk p01 = )yk p --> hyk p
hyk (hayḵ/hēḵ/ˀaḵ) prep. like
1
like Palm, JLAtg, PTA, CPA, Sam, Syr, JBAmb, LJLA, JudSyr. --(a) as is appropriate for Syr. --(b) according to Syr. --(c) ܐܝܟ ܙܢܐ ܕ just as Syr.
The 7-day period of mourning is very close to the actual duration of “half an hour.”
Why would the "silence in heaven" be mentioned at the opening of the 7th Seal and why would its duration be about the space of
half an hour and not of the other periods or durations of mourning quoted above? Maybe, it has something to do with the timing of the 1st Trumpet and I believe this 7-day period is to be converted to years, a year for a day.