bible_dan70 – From Death Into Life

DANIEL’S SEVENTY WEEKS

by Ray Shelton

In the first year of Darius, about 538 B.C., Daniel had been in Babylon almost 70 years (Dan. 9:1; II Chron. 36:19-23; Ezra 6:3-5). And he reads in Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10) about 70 years passing before the end of the desolation of Jerusalem. So he sets himself to pray and confess the sins of the people and ask the Lord to act concerning Jerusalem.

In answer to his prayer, Gabriel was sent to give him a message, a prophecy of seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24-27 NAS).

“²⁴ Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. ²⁵ So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even times of distress. ²⁶ Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. ²⁷ And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

The interpretation of this prophecy depends upon the meaning of the Hebrew word translated “weeks”. The Hebrew word shabuim is the plural form shabua, which means “a unit of seven”. This word occurs 20 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, and is translated in the King James Version 19 times by the English word “week” and once as “seven” (Ezek. 45:21). Its meaning is determined by its context. Three times the word is followed by the Hebrew word which means “days” (Ezek. 45:21; Dan. 10:2, 3). Six times it means a normal seven-day week (Gen. 29:27, 28; Lev. 12:5; Deut. 16:9 twice; Jer. 5:24). Five times it refers to the Feast of Weeks (Exod. 34:22; Num. 28:26; Deut. 16:10, 16; II Chron. 8:13). And six times it is used as a “unit of seven” without reference to days (Dan. 9:24, 25 twice, 26, 27 twice).

Its meaning in Daniel 9:24-27 refers to units of seven years, and thus in this message to Daniel the seventy weeks indicates a period of time of seventy of these units of seven years, or the total of 490 years. These weeks are not “weeks of days” but a “weeks of years” and there are seventy of these. The reason for this interpretation is the context. Daniel had been thinking about years and multiples of years, “seventy years” (Dan. 9:1-2). He also was considering the reason for the seventy years captivity. According to Jeremiah the captivity was the result of violating the sabbatical year (Jer. 25:11; 29:10), which was to be observed every six years (II Chron. 36:21; see Lev. 26:34-35, 43). Each year of the seventy years of captivity represented one seven-year period of which the seventh or Sabbath year had not been observed. The seventy-year captivity was due to the Jews not observing seventy sabbatical years over the period of 490 years since the days of the divided kingdom. Now it was revealed to Daniel that another period of another seventy units of seven (490 years) had been decreed upon the Israel’s future. Also this interpretation makes sense in Dan. 9:27 where the covenant that will be confirmed “one week” will be broken in the middle of the “week”. If this “week” is taken as a “unit of seven years”, then this would mean that the covenant will be broken after three and one-half years and that the last three and one-half years will be a time of trouble and desolation. This would correspond to the period of trouble specified as “a time, times, and half a time” given to Daniel earlier (7:25; see Dan. 12:7 and Rev. 12:14).

According to Daniel 9:25, the starting point (terminus a quo) of the seventy weeks is the issuance of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and with a plaza (or square) and a moat (or trench) and it will be built during times of distress. When was this decree issued? There are four decrees issued by the Persian monarchs that are recorded in the Old Testament.

1. The decree of Cyrus given on October 29, 539 B.C. (II Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; 6:3-5) to rebuilt the temple.

2. The decree of Darius issued about 519 B.C., after Darius had ordered a search for Cyrus’ decree to confirm Cyrus’ original decree (Ezra 6:1-12).

3. The decree of Artaxerxes to Ezra in 458 or 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:11-26) to rebuilt the temple.

4. The decree of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in Nisan (March/April) 444 B.C. (Neh. 2:1-8) to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

The first three decrees are not to rebuild the city but to rebuild the temple. Only the fourth decree makes direct reference to the restoration of the city (Neh. 2:3, 5) and of the city gates and walls (Neh. 2:3, 8). Therefore, the fourth decree, the decree issued by Artaxerxes to Nehemiah, is the starting point of (terminus a quo) of the seventy weeks. Although Nehemiah 2:1 does not specify on which day of the month of Nisan the decree to rebuild Jerusalem occurred, it cannot have occurred before Nisan 1. We will assume Nisan 1 as the starting point of sixty-nine weeks, realizing that it could have occurred on any other day of Nisan. Now Nisan 1 in 444 B.C. was March 4, or more likely March 5, since the crescent of the new moon would have been first visible so late at night (about 10 p.m.) on March 4 and it could easily have been missed.

After the sixty-two weeks period, that is, sixty-nine weeks (seven weeks + sixty-two weeks) from the starting point of the seventy-weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing (Dan. 9:26). This is a reference to the death of Jesus and indicates that in His first advent He would not bring in the Messianic Kingdom that was prophesied in the Old Testament (Dan. 7:13-14). The Jews would reject Him as their Messiah. Thus the sixty-nine weeks were completed just shortly before Christ’s death. And the end point (terminus a quem) of the sixty-nine weeks is shortly before Christ’s death, which occurred on Friday, Nisan 14 in A.D. 33 (Friday, April 3, A.D. 33, on the Julian calendar).

Let us calculate the date of the end point (terminus a quem) of the sixty-nine weeks of years. Let us take the length of these years as the length of our solar year. Modern astronomy has determined that a solar year is “365.24219879 days or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.975 seconds.” [1] If the sixty-nine weeks are multiplied by seven solar years, then the total time of the sixty-nine weeks would be 483 solar years. Now subtracting this from 444 B.C. we find that the end of the sixty-nine weeks will be A.D. 38, five years after Christ’s crucifixion. This calculation with solar years is obviously wrong.

Robert Anderson in 1895 proposed that here the length of the year should be taken as 360 days. He called these 360-day years “prophetic years”. [2] In ancient times various calendars were used. But when the calendars of ancient India, Persia, Babylonia and Assyria, Egypt, Central and South America, are investigated, one finds that they uniformly used a thirty-day months (a few had a year of eighteen twenty-day months) making a total of 360 days for the year. As strange as this may seem to us, it was common in those ancient times to use a 360-day year. [3]

In the prophetic literature of the Bible, a year of 360 days is used. The prophecy of Daniel’s seventy weeks is a good example. A covenant will be confirmed for one week of seven years (Dan. 9:27), but it will be broken in middle of the week. In the last half of the week, or three and half years, there will be a terrible persecution. This corresponds to the persecution prophesied in Dan. 7:24-25, which will last for “a time, times, and half a time”, or three and one-half years. This phrase is used also in Dan. 12:7. In the New Testament, this phrase is also used in Revelation 12:14 and in the same chapter the persecution is said to be for 1,260 days (Rev. 12:6). In Revelation 11:3, the number 1,260 days is used for the period that the two witness will prophesy, and in the previous verse (11:2) the period is given as being forty-two months during which the nations will tread under foot the holy city. Also the forty-two months is mentioned in Rev. 13:5, during which the beast will have authority to act. All these events occur during the same period of time. Thus the forty-two months is equal to the 1,260 days, and that is equal to the time, times, and half a time, or three and half years, which is equal to a half week in Dan. 9:27. Hence the month is thirty days and the year is 360 days.

Outside the prophetic literature in the Bible, in one other place in the Bible the year is taken to be 360 days long. Genesis 7:11 states that the flood began on the seventeenth day of the second month. According to Genesis 8:4, the flood ended on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, exactly five months later. But Genesis 7:24 and 8:3 state that the duration of the flood was 150 days. Hence five months equals 150 days or each month is 30 days. And the year of twelve months is 360 days. According to these observations, the 360-day year is not unusual in the Bible.

If the length of the year is then taken as 360 days, and if the sixty-nine weeks is multiplied by seven years for each week and that by 360 days for each year, then we get a total of 173,880 days for the sixty-nine weeks. The difference between 444 B.C. and A.D. 33, then, is 476 solar years. Multiplying 476 by 365.24219879 or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.975 seconds, we get 173,855.68662404 days or 173,855 days, 6 hours, 52 minutes, 44 seconds. This leaves only 25 days to be accounted for between 444 B.C. and A.D. 33. By adding the 25 days to March 5 (of 444 B.C.) we get to March 30 (of A.D. 33) which was Nisan 10 in A.D. 33. This is the date of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-40). [4]

Who is the person in Daniel 9:27 that makes a covenant with many for a week and then in the middle of week puts a stop to the scarifice and grain offering? This person cannot be “Messiah the Prince” referred to in Dan. 9:25. Neither is this person Jesus Christ. At no time in Christ’s ministry did He confirm an already existing covenant. But even if Christ did confirm a covenant in His first advent, when did He break it or caused it to stop? Would Christ break a covenant that He had made? Chirst made a new covenant (Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20; I Cor. 11:25; Heb. 8:8, 13) but this was not a existing covenant and neither did He break or stop it. Neither did Christ’s death cause the end of the animal sacrifice. In fact, the animal sacrifice continued until Jerusalem and the temple where destroyed on August 6, A.D. 70. And the abomination of desolation prophesied in verse 27 had not been fulfilled at that time; it was still future. In Matthew 24, Jesus said that it would occur at the end of the age.

“¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come. ¹⁵ Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,” etc. (Matt. 24:14-18 NAS).

Jesus spoke of this as the beginning of the great tribulation. He said,

“²⁰ But pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath; ²¹ for then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.” (Matt. 24:20-21).

None of the events prophesied in Daniel 9:27 occurred during Christ’s ministry nor during the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70. Clearly this covenant confirmer of Daniel 9:27 is not Christ, Messiah the Prince. But he is “the prince who is to come” mentioned in verse 26.

“Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.” (Dan. 9:26 NAS)

The people of this “prince who is to come”, who will destroy the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary, the temple, are the Romans and whose armies did destroy the city and the temple in A.D. 70.

This “prince who is to come” will make a covenant with many for one week but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; apparently the covenant he makes with many involves the rebuilding of the temple and restoration of animal sacrifice and grain offering in the temple. But in the middle of the week (three and one-half years) he stops the animal sacrifice and grain offering and the abomination of desolation takes place. Later Daniel tells of his vision of the two;

“⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river, and the other on that bank of the river. ⁶ And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be to the end these wonders?” ⁷ And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives for ever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. ⁸ As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, ‘My lord, what will be the outcome [final end] of these events?’ ⁹ And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. ¹⁰ Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly,
and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. ¹¹ And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.'” (Dan. 12:5-11 NAS).

That is, there will be 1,290 days to the end from the time that regular sacrifice is abolish and the abomination of desolation is set up. In an earlier vision, Daniel was told,

“²⁴ As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. ²⁵ And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.” (Dan. 7:24-25 NAS).

This act of defiance of God is the abomination of desolation. This person corresponds very well with the evil person called “the beast” in Revelation 13, who was given “a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemes; and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.” (Rev. 13:5). This forty-two months is 1260 days, three and one-half years of 360 days, and “a time, times, and half a time.” This is the second half of the week that is described in Daniel 9:27 and is the great tribulation. The length of the great tribulation is forty-two months, 1260 days, three and one-half years of 360 days long, not seven years, nor the whole of Daniel’s seventieth week, nor the last half of that seventieth week.

Since these events described in Daniel 9:27 have not occurred but are still future, there are two different views as to their fulfillment in history.

1. The most widely accepted interpretation holds that there is a time-gap between ending of the sixty-nine weeks and the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy. This view teaches that the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy does not immediately follow the sixty-ninth week; it is still to be fulfilled. The seventieth week is still future. This interpretation leaves room for the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary as prophecied in Dan. 9:26, which did not take place until A.D. 70. The possibility of such a time-gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks is well established and an accepted phenomenon of Biblical prophecy, in which time-gaps such as that between the first and second advents were not seen by the prophets. An example of such a time-gap is that between the two advents of Christ that may be seen in the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-2 which was read by Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth on the Sabbath (Luke 4:18-19); He read the words about His first advent but omitted the words referring to His second advent.

This interpretation does seem to be likely, except for two facts:

a. The Messiah was cutoff in the seventieth week. Dan. 9:26 says “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, …” The seventieth week would normally occur just after the sixty-two weeks (after the sixty-ninth week), and hence the Messiah would be cut off during the seventieth week. There is nothing in Daniel’s prophecy to indicate that the seventieth week did not follow immediately after the sixty-two weeks. It is just assumed not to follow immediately after the first sixty-nine weeks in order to include the week of verse 27 in Daniel’s seventy weeks. But the week of Daniel 9:27 is not in Daniel’s seventy weeks. Why?

b. Because the seventy weeks ended in verse 26. “And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.” What’s end? It is the end of the seventieth week and the end of the seventy weeks. And during the time before that end, there will be a flood of war and the resulting desolation. By ignoring this reference to the end of seventieth week in verse 26, the week of verse 27 is assumed to be Daniel’s seventieth week. But the week of verse 27 is not Daniel’s seventieth week since the end of the seventy weeks is recorded in verse 26.

The gap between the first sixty-nine weeks and the seventieth week is an assumption; nowhere in the Scriptures does it say that there is a gap or interval of time between the first sixty-nine weeks and the seventieth week.

2. On the contrary, the seventieth week follows immediately after the first sixty-nine weeks. And the time gap is after the end of Daniel’s seventy weeks, after the end of the seventieth week and between verse 26 and verse 27. In that case, the seventieth week would end seven years after the death of the Messiah and is in the early part of the history recorded in the book of Acts. The events prophesied in verse 27 are future after the seventy weeks and there is a time gap (now almost 2000 years) between the end of Daniel’s seventy weeks recorded in verse 26 and the week of the covenant recorded in verse 27 that the prince to come (the Antichrist) will make and then break.

Some have argued that this interpretation is unlikely since during this time in verse 26 there was no “end of transgressions” on the part of God’s people, as prophesied in verse 24, but rather an increase. And “everlasting righteousness” has not been brought in yet. But this is not correct. There has been the “end of transgressions”; it was accomplished in the death of Christ who died for our sins, to redeem us from the slavery of sin. Whether anybody appropriates that redemption or not does not nullify the work accomplished by His death. Christ’s death is the “end of transgressions”. And there was a bringing in of the “everlasting righteousness”. This “everlasting righteousness” is the righteousness of God; that is, God’s righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. And this righteousness of God is synonymous with the salvation of God (Psa. 98:2; Isa. 46:13; 51:5; 56:1). That the righteousness of God is the salvation of God is shown by the parallelism of the Hebrew poetry in these verses. The righteousness of God is not the attribute of God by which God gives to each what he or she have deserved, but is the activity of God for the deliverance of man from the slavery of sin (idolatry), setting right the wrong. And this salvation of God was accomplished in the death and resurrection of the Messiah. In fact, the righteousness of God was displayed in God raising Christ from the dead and thus providing salvation for mankind from death to life. Whether anyone appropriates that salvation or not does not nullify this “everlasting righteousness”. All of the purposes for the seventy weeks as stated in verses 24-25 was accomplished in the death and resurrection of the Messiah. Thus the seventy weeks that were determined upon the people and upon the holy city was completed with the death and resurrection of the Messiah for that people in their city; He finished the transgression by providing redemption in His death and brought in the everlasting righteousness by His resurrection from the dead. But the people of Israel, except for a remnant, did not accept the Messiah and His “everlasting righteousness”; the Messiah was cut off and He had nothing.

Summary and Conclusions

When Daniel asked about the termination of the seventy-year captivity, Gabriel gave him an answer that Israel would not come into its rest until seventy weeks were completed. We have concluded that the seventy weeks is seventy weeks of years or 490 years and that the years are the prophetic year of 360 days. The starting point (terminus a quo) of this seventy-week period was found to be March 4 or 5 (Nisan 1), 444 B.C. After sixty-nine weeks of years (seven weeks + sixty-two weeks) or 483 years, the Messiah the Prince would be cut off and have nothing; that is, He would be rejected, crucified, and would not be received by His people. The end of the sixty-ninth week (terminus ad quem) was determined to be March 30, A.D. 33, the day of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As predicted in Zech. 9:9, Jesus presented Himself to Israel as the Messiah the king for the last time with a multitude of His disciples shouting loudly and quoting from the messianic psalm: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psa. 118:26; Matt. 21:9; Mark 11:10; Luke 19:38; John 12:13). This occurred on Monday, March 30 (Nisan 10), A.D. 33, and only four days later on Friday, April 3 (Nisan 14), the Messiah was cut off and crucified. His people had rejected Him and He had nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end (of the seventy weeks) will come with a flood of wars and the determined desolation caused by the wars.

After the seventy weeks has ended there will be a time gap (the present age) until the prince who is to come (the Antichrist) will make a covenant with many (Israel) for a week (seven years) and in the middle of this week this prince will make the sacrifices and grain offerings to cease; he will set himself up as the Messiah and proclaim himself to be God. He is the abomination that makes desolate (Matt. 24:15). And this is the beginning of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:20-21), which will last for three and one-half years of 360 days = 1260 days.

Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks of years has been fulfilled. But Israel did not accept the end of transgression and the bringing in of the everlasting righteousness by the death and resurrection of the Messiah: the Messiah was cut off and had nothing because His people Israel did accept Him as their Messiah. But this will be accomplished in the future after the great tribulation and the second coming of the Messiah when Israel will be back in her land with her Messiah. Until then, the vision and prophecy will be concealed and sealed up.

⁴ “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” (Dan. 12:4 NAS).

“⁹ And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time.'” (Dan. 12:9 NAS).

ENDNOTES

[1] Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology
(Princeton, 1964), p. 19.

[2] Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince
(London: 5th ed., 1895), pp. 67-75.

[3] Velikovsky gives extensive documentation for the calendars of various countries.
Immanuel Velikovsky, World in Collision
(Garden City, NY,1950), pp. 330-338.

[4] Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1977), p. 138.