W. F. Shaw calls attention to the number 3½ as being of mystical importance, as the half of seven, typifying present suffering as compared with future joy. The famine in the time of Elias, when Israel was persecuted by Ahab and Jezebel, lasted 3½ years. Antiochus Epiphanes persecuted the church 3½ years. Forty-two months, or 3½ years, are symbolical of times of trouble. Jesus preached 3½ years.
In the Revelations, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, suffers 1260 days in the wilderness, being a time, times, and a half, Rev. xii. 6–14. Again the Holy City is said to be trodden under foot forty-two months, or 3½ years. The two witnesses testify 3½ years, and their dead bodies remain unburied 3½ days: so also the scattering of the holy people as mentioned in Daniel xii. 7 is for three times and a half, by which we were to understand a period of suffering.