Introduction

In the last episode we dove into the major differences between Futurist and Historicist/Preterist interpretation of this passage and I told you why I agree with the Historicist interpretation. Now we need to get into the meat of the prophecy. Daniel has been fasting and praying after a revelation from Jeremiah's prophecy about Judah being taken into captivity, when Gabriel comes to explain a vision to him.

70 Literal Weeks?

Daniel tells us that 70 weeks have been set for Israel. This is 490 days or a litlle less more that one year. That's actually a really short period of time considering everything that is supposed to happen during that time, but let's look deeper. Nehemiah 6:15 tells us it took them 52 days to build the wall around Jerusalem, so it's possible that if they started working on the wall immediately after the decree, there is a great deal of time left for the rest of the prophecy. The catch is, Messiah is to appear after the 69th week. That would be the 483 day of the prophecy. He would only have 7 days for His part of the prophecy to be fulfilled. Even if one was to assume He appeared durng the 69th week instead of after it, that only buys us 7 more days.

Messiah appearing could mean one of three things:

1. His birth (as told in Matthew and Luke)
2. His ministry, which began with Baptism around the age of 30 (see Luke 3)
3. The triumphful entry in to Jerusalem the week before His crucifixion

Either way we have a problem with this 490 day prophecy. From birth to crucifixion is way longer than the time line would allow, so that wouldn't fit. Messiah's ministry lasted approximatedly 3.5 years and that is also a lot longer 490 days. Even though the triumphful entry would give us the 7 days for the everything with the Messiah to be wrapped up in a week, it would imply the command to rebuild the wall and the Temple happened during Messiah's ministry. However both of those tasks were completed well before Messiah's arrival.[2][3] That leads us away from literal days to the possibility of prophectic time.

No matter what your school of thought your beliefs fall into, we all have to grapple with the fact that 70 literal weeks just doesn't cut it. In the next section we're going to dive in to the possible start years for the prophecy, and no mater how early or how late we start the prophecy, whether we chop off the final week or not, the fact remains that we need more than 70 literal weeks to get to Messiah's arrival and crucifixion from the decree. Lucky for us, there's both a pattern of prophectic timeline being given in the format of a day for a year and the language to support this claim.

Language

In Daniel 9:24, the Hebrew uses the term "שָׁבוּעַ", which means a period of seven. While it is generally translated to be week (as in period of seven days), it could also mean a period of seven years[1] and you will see that translation in many modern translations of the text. Therefore the passage could easily read "70 periods of 7 years are determined..."

A Day For A Year

There are several cases when God decrees something and specifies a time, He turns a day in to a year. One example is during the Exodus; the Israelites are made to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, one year for ever day the spies spent scoping out the land (Numbers 14:34, specifically, Numbers 13-14 for context). Another example can be found in Ezekiel 4:5-6, where Ezekiel has to lay on his side one day for every year Israel and Judah have transgressed their covenant. If we apply this principle here, 490 days becomes 490 years. This fits the language and solves the problems discussed above.

How Does this Relate to the Previous Vision?

In Daniel 9:23, Gabriel instructs Daniel to "consider the vision." What vision? The last vision we know Daniel to have had is that of Daniel 8 about the ram, the goat, and the little horn. Presumably the prophecy given in Daniel 9:24-27 is related to that vision. If you read them back to back, you will see overlap in the discussion of the little horn of Daniel 8 and the events that transpire during the 70th week of Daniel 9.

Where do these 70 weeks of Daniel 9 fit into this vision? We were told the other vision takes 2300 days—though there is ambiguity about whether that refers to the whole vision or only the latter part concerning the little horn. If the days of Daniel 9 are using a day for year, I think it's likely the days of Daniel 8 are also meant to be a day for a year (which we also touched on in that episode). This means we have a time period of 490 years and a time period of 2300 years. Are the 490 years part of the 2300 years?

Technically speaking, the 490 years could be the beginning, the middle or the end of the 2300 years (or outside of the years all together, but that seems unlikely). Since Gabriel gives Daniel a starting point to count from, it makes the most sense for the 490 years to kick off the 2300 years—that's actually the only way you would be able to track the time and verify both prophecies. This interpretation caused quite an uproar with the Millerites, who used these two prophecies to teach the end of the world was coming in 1844. From this movement came the Seventh Day Adventist church which explains the fulfillment of the 2300 days with "the investigative judgment" (also discussed two episodes ago). If I'm being honest, this was probably a major turning point in the Protestant Church being staunchly Histroicist.

Messiah tells us that no man knows the day nor the hour that He will return (Matthew 24:36). Arguably He doesn't say year, but I think the point was that know one can say with certainty when He is coming back and when the end is. That leaves two possibilities for the 2300 days/years of Daniel 8, though: we either aren't supposed to be able to identify a start and end (which would mean we can't actually validate the prophecy) or it isn't pointing to when He comes back.

What Is Supposed to Be Accomplished?

Gabriel tells Daniel (and as a result, us) that certain things are supposed to be accomplished during the 70 weeks:

• finish "the transgression"
• make an end of sins
• make reconciliation for iniquity
• bring in everlasting righteousness
• seal up the vision and prophecy
• annoint the most Holy

The Decree to Rebuild Jerusalem

We have to start the timeline with the decree to rebuild and restore the city. Too bad there are four of them, so it's not straight forward which is the correct command. We need to find the command that gave the Jews permission to both rebuild and restore the city and Temple...

People argue about when Messiah was born and crucified—a lot of that has to do with changes in the calendar but it also has to do with not being able to line up historical record with Biblical record. For instance, Herod the Great who the wise men visited and sought to kill Messiah as an infact, died in 4 BC.[4] That means Messiah had to be born before that. I've seen people claim Messiah was born as early as 7 BC, and I don't know enough about history and the calendar changes to speak on an exact year. What I do know however, is that if we assume Messiah was born just before Herod died—we're going to use 4 BC—He would have been 30 in 26 or 27 AD. If His ministry lasted 3.5 years as many proposed, this would bring His crucifixion and resurrection to the Spring of 29 or 30 AD. If that is the midst (or middle) of the 70th week, then the end of the 70th week would be 3.5 years lated in 32 or 33 AD. The decree from Ezra 7 fits that timeline exactly.

Messiah Arrives

I'm of the belief that the arrival of Messiah is meant to be the beginning of His ministry. One reason I don't believe it is meant to represent His birth—aside from the fact that it doesn't fit the timeline—is that Ecclesiastes 7:1 tells us a man's death is more important than his birth. The Bible doesn't ever show God's people celebrating a birthday; the times birthdays are on display, it's a pagan king and something bad usually happens. While the birth of Messiah is important (and critical to the prophecy) I don't believe this is the moment the prophecy was directing attention to. Remember, it wasn't until Messiah started preaching and teaching that He was calling Israel to the tasks outlined in the beginning of the prophecy.

The 70th Week

I talked about a large number of the events occuring in the 70th week in the last episode.

Not in the 70 Weeks

When I sat down to make this episode, I got really tripped up over the destruction of the Temple. No matter how you interpret the passage, the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD and that's not in the prophetic window. I actually had to call a pastor I respect to ask him how that fits in the timeline. No matter how you slice it, it doesn't fit—regardless of which approach you take (Historicist or Futurist). His explanation was that the destruction of the Temple was a consequence of the events that transpired during the 70 weeks. This makes sense as it still fits within the 2300 years prophesied in Daniel 8.

Reference & Footnotes

1. "Strong's H7620. שָׁבוּעַ". Blue Letter Bible; visited September 26, 2024
2. "The Second Temple". Bible Odyssey; visited September 27, 2024
3. "Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE". Harvard Divinity School; visited September 27, 2024
4. Stewart Henry Perowne. "". Encyclopedia Britannica; visisted September 27, 2024
5. https://revelationbyjesuschrist.com/decree-to-restore-jerusalem/