Daniel's Seventy Weeks Prophecy
Daniel 9:24-27
by Daniel J. Dyke
JPS Version
24 Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sin, and to forgive iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal vision and prophet, and to anoint the most holy place. 25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto one anointed, a prince, shall be seven weeks; and for threescore and two weeks, it shall be built again, with broad place and moat, but in troublous times. 26 And after the threescore and two weeks shall an anointed one be cut off, and be no more; and the people of a prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; but his end shall be with a flood; and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and upon the wing of detestable things shall be that which causeth appalment; and that until the extermination wholly determined be poured out upon that which causeth appalment.'

Introduction:
    Predictive prophecy is what sets the God of Christianity and Judaism apart from the so called gods of other religions. Simply stated, God is able to see the future, but the demons who masquerade as gods cannot (Is. 41:21-24). They can manipulate the future to some degree, but only as the true God allows. Prophecy is God's declaration of what he will do or allow in the coming days. Sometimes he states a prophecy in such a way that it cannot be understood until it takes place, but he also will state it in such a way that when it does take place it becomes obvious that he knew what he was talking about. One of the great prophecies of Christ in the O.T., if not in some ways the greatest, is Daniel 9:24-27. It not only predicts the greatest event of history, the coming of Jesus, but tries to date when that will take place.
Setting: It was originally set in the the context of Daniel reflecting on the fulfillment of what is called Jeremiah's 70 years prophecy (Jeremiah 25:8-14; 29:10). He realized that the period of captivity was about over.

I.    The Sixfold Purpose of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy (9:24)
A.    Finish Transgression (lükallë´ haPPeº&scaron;a` / [v;P,øh; aLe’k;l.)
B.    Make an End of Sin (ûlaHTöm Ha&dagger;&dagger;ä´ôt / tAaJ'x; ~Tox.l;W)
C.    Make Atonement for Iniquity (ûlükaPPër `äwön / !wOë[' rPEåk;l.W)
D.    Bring in Everlasting Righteousness (ûlühäbî´ ceºdeq `ö|lämîm / ~ymi_l'[o) qd,c,ä aybiÞh'l.W)
E.    Seal Up Vision and Prophecy/Prophet (wülaHTöm Häzôn wünäbî´ / aybiên"w> !Azæx' ‘~Tox.l;w>)
F.    Anoint the Holy of Holies (wülim&scaron;öªH qöºde&scaron; qo|dä&scaron;îm / ~yvi(d'q") vd,qOï x;voßm.liw>)

II.    The Beginning of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy (9:25)
"The issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem . . ."

A.    539 BC Cyrus the Persian (Darius the Mede) allows the Jews to return from Babylonian captivity and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1-4; 6:1-4). The problem with this date was that they were only allowed to rebuild the temple and Daniel is talking about the decree to rebuild the city including the walls.
B.    458 BC Artaxerxes allows Ezra the scribe to return home with large offering for the temple that he may use for whatever project he wishes to undertake (Ezra 7:11-26), but because of pressure from the Samaritans he makes them stop (Ezra 4:11-23).
C.    445 BC Artaxerxes allows Nehemiah to return and finish the work that was begun by Ezra (Nehemiah 2:1-10).

III.    The Object/Goal of the Prophecy (9:25)
A.    Messiah the Prince (mashiach nagid).
B.    The Greek term christos/Xri/stoj(i.e. Christ) is merely a translation of this Hebrew word. Both terms mean "anointed" or "smeared."

IV.    The Three Parts of the Seventy Weeks (9:25)
A.    7 weeks
B.    62 weeks
C.    1 week
A ____ B ___________________________________________________ C _ D

V.    The Length of the Weeks
A.    There were two type of weeks in Israel: days and years.

1. According to Deuteronomy 5:12-15 the work week for man was divided into seven days, man would work for six days and then would rest for one. If Daniel was thinking about this type of week then he would have seen the fulfillment in his own lifetime. No one interprets the passage this way.

2. According to Leviticus 25:1-6 the work week for the land was divided into seven years, the land would be worked for six years and then would rest for one. Most conservative commentators, and some liberal, would interpret this passage in this way.

3. Using the second method the length of each period can then be determined.

a. Period AB = 49 years (7x7=49)

b. Period BC = 434 years (7x62=434)

c. Period CD = 7 years (7x1=7)

d. Period AD = 490 years (7x70=490)

B. Those who reject the idea that this method take the numbers to be of totally symbolic value.

VI. What happened during the first sixty-nine weeks according to Daniel (9:25)?

A. Messiah the Prince will come.

B. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with plaza and moat in times of distress.

VII. Facts Concerning Jesus

A. Birth: 6-4 BC

B. His childhood visit to the temple: AD 6-8

C. Baptism: AD 24-26 .

D. Death: AD 30

VIII. Proposition: If Jesus is the Christ, one should be able to make this work out to the event(s) of His life.

A. What makes this significant is that the prophecy is in the holy book of another religion and is thus outside the control of our religion to have made an addition after the fact to that holy book.

B. Calculations

1. 539-483=56 BC

2. 458-483=25+1=AD 26 .

3. 445-483=38+1=AD 39

4. The one is added because on the calendar there is no zero. You move directly from 1 BC to AD 1 .

a. Positive and Negative Number Scale -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

b. Calendar: -3 -2 -1 1 2 3

C. Question: Does the prophecy fit Jesus? Yes, it falls into line with the beginning of his ministry when he was baptized by John and anointed by the Holy Spirit.

IX. What was to happen after the 69 weeks? (9:26)

A. Verse 26 is a summary of things that will take place later. Notice that these things are not dated like those in verse 25. It is not very precise in its language. The rule that I follow is that when something lacks precision, I am not dogmatic. If something lacks precision it may not be the main point of the passage.

B. Events:

1. Messiah (mashiach)

a. Cut off = death (cf. Is. 53:8)

b. Have nothing (cf. Is. 53:2-10)

2. City and the sanctuary destroyed by people of the prince (nagid)

3. War and desolation are determined until the end.

C. Fulfillment:

1. Death of Jesus in AD 30

2. Titus (prince of Rome) sacks Jerusalem and destroys the temple in 70 AD, because the Jews who are the people of the messianic prince reject the Messiah (cf. Mt. 23-24)

3. The Jewish war of 66-73 devastated the country.

X. What Happens During the Seventieth Week? ( 9:27a)

A. Messiah will make covenant with the many: Jesus offers the Jews either personally or through his apostles the new covenant for a period of seven years. The scriptures follow the pattern "to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles." From the beginning of the ministry of Jesus to the Conversion of Paul (the apostle to the Gentiles) was a period of seven years

.

B. Cessation of sacrifice and offering in the middle of the week: Jesus dies on the cross a did away with all sacrifice whether animal or cereal.

XI. What Happens After the Seventieth Week? (9:27b)

A. Abominations (Options)

1. Roman Eagles, troops, sacrifices, etc.

2. Moslem Mosque

3. Tribulations of Jews

B. One Who Makes Desolate

1. Titus

2. Islam

C. Complete Desolation

1. AD 70

2. Second Coming

XII. Summary

458 ___ 409 _________________________________________ 26 _ 33 (70)

A B C ^ D E

A Artaxerxes grants Ezra permission to rebuild (i.e. to do what he wants)

AB Ezra and Nehemiah rebuild the city against Samaritan opposition

BC Waiting for the Messiah

C Jesus is baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit

^ Jesus dies and puts an end to O.T. sacrifice, finishes transgression, makes an end of sin, etc.

CD The Gospel is offered to the Jew first

D The Gospel is taken to the Gentiles

E The After Period: Roman general Titus destroys the temple and the city and other abominations follow.

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All Rights Reserved
Daniel J. Dyke