How a 6th century B.C. prophecy pinpointed the year the messiah would be killed

DANIEL Chapter 9:24-27 NKJV. 24 “Seventy

weeks[a] are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of[b] sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.

25 “Know

therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street[c] shall be built again, and the wall,[d] Even in troublesome times.

26 “And

after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

27 Then

he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

Footnotes: a. Daniel 9:24 Literally sevens, and so throughout the chapter b. Daniel 9:24 Following Qere, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate; Kethib and Theodotion read To seal up. c. Daniel 9:25 Or open square d. Daniel 9:25 Or moat 1

THIS STUDY CONSIDERS DANIEL 9:24-27 AS AN APOLOGETIC IN SUPPORT OF THE CASE FOR Y’SHUA AS THE MESSIAH: 1. It is beyond dispute that in the Sixth Century B.C. Daniel prophesied events which correspond to (1) the commencement of Y’shua’s public ministry to Israel, (2) Y’shua’s death, and (3) God’s rebuke of His chosen people, and His divorce of Judah (He divorced Israel in 722 B.C.—see Jer. 3:1-10).

2. It is beyond dispute that this is a Messianic prophesy.

3. It accurately depicts the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, after the death of the Messiah.

THIS STUDY IS NOT PRESENTED AS ESCHATALOGICAL EXPOSITION. IN ORDER TO SHOW DANIEL’S PROPHESY MOST COMPLETELY THIS PRESENTATION TAKES A PRETERIST VIEW OF DANIEL 9:24-27.

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DANIEL Chapter 7:13-14.

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“I was watching in the night visions,

And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven!

He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.

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Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,

That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.

This sets the scene for the coming of the Son of Man before God the Father, and God presenting Him with dominion, glory and an everlasting kingdom.

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DANIEL Chapter 9:1-2, 20-23 1 In

the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who

was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

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Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my

people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God,

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yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel,

whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.

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And he informed me, and talked with

me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.

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At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision: Lev. 25:1-9: And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. 6 And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, 7 for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food. 8 ‘And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the 4

seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.

2 Chron. 36: 15-21: 15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy. 17 Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his leaders, all these he took to Babylon. 19 Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions. 20 And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

These depict a concern with 1. The City of Jerusalem and Mount Zion, the Temple Mount; and 2. The relevance of seventy (and seven) year periods to the future of the City of Jerusalem and God’s chosen people.

3. God’s willingness to use pagan kingdoms as his messengers and servants in rebuking his chosen people.

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In 458 King Artaxerxes issued a decree to rebuild Jerusalem: Ezra 9:9: For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

Ezra 4:11-16 reveals the complaint made by opponents of the rebuilding efforts, which stalled the rebuilding until a second decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued in 445 B.C.: 11 (This is a copy of the letter that they sent him): To King Artaxerxes from your servants, the men of the region beyond the River, and so forth: 12 Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem, and are building the rebellious and evil city, and are finishing its walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Let it now be known to the king that, if this city is built and the walls completed, they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom, and the king’s treasury will be diminished. 14 Now because we receive support from the palace, it was not proper for us to see the king’s dishonor; therefore we have sent and informed the king, 15 that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. And you will find in the book of the records and know that this city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times, for which cause this city was destroyed. 16 We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, the result will be that you will have no dominion beyond the River.

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Exegesis of Dan. 9:24-27, and Scriptural confirmation of Daniel’s prophesy: v. 24: Shevuim shevim nechtach al amecha v’al ir kadshechah. “Seventy sevens are determined for your people and your holy city.” The statements of this verse are strikingly comprehensive in their effects, and are to be understood in a lofty, Messianic sense. The period of shavuim shevim is to end with the closing up, completing, and filling the measures of such transgressions.

Is. 9:6-7.

Is. 53:11.

Jer. 25:11-13.

Dan. 7:13-14.

Acts 2:23-36.

Rom. 5:10.

Rom. 11:11-36.

2 Cor. 5:18-20.

Eph. 2:16.

Col. 1:20-22.

v. 25: Starting from 458 B.C., moving forward 483 years brings us to 26 A.D. 1 which most accept as the commencement of Y’shua’s incarnate ministry to the people of Israel. Maschiach and nagid—these words identify the subject of the remainder of the chapter. Messiah carries with it the meaning of anointed or consecrated and there is little doubt that it refers to Y’shua. Nagid is “leader, prince or ruler” of the people of Israel. It is fundamental to note that these two titles are used correspondingly with each other. This establishes the identity of the then future incarnate Messiah of Israel. Noting the perfect correspondence of the decree of 483 years to the coming of Messiah the Prince, one need not look much farther to the complete fulfillment of the final shevim or seven year period.

Lev. 25:1-9.

2 Chron. 36: 15-21.

Because there was no year “zero” between B.C. and A.D. one year is gained in the calculation, which brings us to 26 A.D and not 25 A.D. 1

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Ezra 4:11-16, 9:9.

Jer. 25:12, 29:10.

Dan. 9:1-2, 20-23.

vv. 26-27: These verses describe how in the midst of the final shevim, in the spring of 30 A.D., at the time of the Levitical feast of Pesach (see Lev. 23:5-8), Messiah the Prince offered Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God. In keeping with v. 27 the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, representing the coming of the New Covenant reconciliation of Jewish believers with their God, in a way which removed the curse of the law.

The 490 years then conclude with the last three and one-half years that remained, through 33 A.D. as the Holy Spirit came to reside in the hearts of Jewish believers, and the New Covenant was confirmed to Israel. This also may be the year in which Stephen was stoned and Paul was saved, and the in-grafting of Gentiles into Israel began.

Is. 53:8, 11-12.

Matt. 23:34-39.

Matt. 24:1-34.

Matt. 26:26-28.

Matt. 27:51.

John 19:15.

Acts 2:38.

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