“Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of Years” Dan.9:25 Part #2

“Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of Years” Dan. 9:25 – Part #2

“Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” Dan. 9:25

Once Gabriel had given Daniel the general overview of the events of the “seventy weeks,” he elaborated on certain important themes. You may recall that the first statement in Dan. 9:24 concerned the interval of “seventy weeks;” in that verse we were engaged with the events that were to transpire during that time. However, in this verse the question is, “How is that time going to be divided or apportioned?” Will there be different segments into which those “seventy weeks” would be divided? Gabriel exhorted Daniel to “Know and therefore understand or discern” the arrangement of the “seventy weeks.” The next three verses, Dan. 9:25-27, explain the threefold division of the “seventy weeks.” The first part would be “seven weeks” or 49 years, long. The second part would be “sixty-two weeks” or 434 years, long. The third and final part, would be “one week” or seven years, long.

If this timetable is to tell us anything about God’s prophetic calendar, we need to know when this period of “seventy weeks” or 490 years began. If our reckoning is incorrect here, no calculations based on this passage will be worth anything. The beginning of the “seventy weeks” was definitely given as the time of, “the issuing of the decree/commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.” The question is, “Which decree was this and when was it given?” So, it is absolutely essential that we identify the exact decree/commandment referred to and when it was issued.

We know first of all, that this decree concerned itself solely with the restoration and reconstruction of the city of Jerusalem, because the latter part of v.25 says; “the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” It was in 536 B.C.E. that Cyrus, upon taking the throne of the Medo-Persian Empire, issued a decree that allowed the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem. The record of this edict is found in Ezra 1:1-3, “Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing saying, “Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia; The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He has charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is the God) which is in Jerusalem.” It is clear from this passage that his commandment included the reconstruction of the house of the LORD God of Israel and intended nothing more. Ezra 6:15 bears this out, “And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, the king.” Therefore, that decree, cannot be the decree spoken of in Dan. 9:25.

Another imperial decree was the first decree of Artaxerxes, which authorized Ezra to go up to Jerusalem on important business. According to Ezra 7:8, this decree was issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes’ reign, “And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month (Av), which was in the seventh year of of the king.” Artaxerxes ruled the Persian Empire from 465 B.C.E. to 424 B.C.E. Therefore, the seventh year of his reign would be around 458 B.C.E. Was that the decree that Gabriel referred to? You must observe that Ezra was solely a scribe of the law of the LORD, instructing the people of Israel in the Law and in the statutes of the LORD. Therefore, his calling would not include rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. Also, Ezra 7:13 says, “I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of His priests and Levites, in my realm, who are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.” Therefore, Artaxerxes’ decree authorized Ezra only to assemble and conduct to Jerusalem those Jewish people who were minded to go of their own free will, and that whatever offerings were entrusted to him were not for rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, but were to be used to rebuild the house of the LORD and to make an offering once they were there; Ezra 7:15-17  says, “And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem. And all the silver and gold that you can find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem; That you may buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, and their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God, which is in Jerusalem.” So, you can see from these verses, that every part of this first decree of Artaxerxes was concerned only with matters relating to the Temple in Jerusalem, and not in any way related to the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.

King Artaxerxes Longimanus issued a second decree in the twentieth year of his reign, 444/445 B.C.E. It was given to Nehemiah and we have a record of it in Neh. 2:4-8, and this undoubtedly was the edict that Dan. 9:25 refers too. In this second edict there was nothing of the exclusively religious nature of the other two decrees. It dealt solely with a matter of political import, the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. You only have to read the book of Nehemiah and its account of his works to know that his activity answers exactly to the requirements of the decree in Dan. 9:25. “Then the king said to me, For what do you make request? So, I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant has found pleasure in thy sight, that thou would send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchers, that I may build it. And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall your journey be? And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Moreover, I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may let me pass through till I come unto Judah; And a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which is near to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” Neh. 2:4-8. The word “wall” (koma) appears 34 times in Nehemiah, more than any other book in the Scriptures and means protection, safety and impenetrability. Nehemiah heard, “the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates were burned with fire and the remnant was in great reproach and affliction and he wept and mourned and fasted and prayed, Neh. 1:3-4. So, he needed to rebuild the “walls” for protection, to rebuild the people for preservation, to rebuild Israel by re-population.

Thus, the “seventy weeks” of years began in the month of Nisan (March/April) 444/445 B.C.E. We read in Dan. 9:25 that the first division of the “seventy weeks” was a “seven week” or 49-year-long, period. It is stated that the work to be accomplished during this period was the reconstruction of Jerusalem: “The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” This describes the work of Nehemiah and his men who performed their task under very difficult circumstances, with a trowel in one hand and a weapon in the other, Neh. 4:17. That’s exactly what this prophecy said, “They would rebuild their street and wall “again” in troublous, perilous, times.” We will have to stop there, and pick up on the second division of the “seventy weeks of years” next time. Check out our note on (Dr. Charles Feinberg) on our last blog on Dan. 9:24. So, till next time, we’ll see you, “…Between The Lines…”

“Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of Years” Dan. 9:25 – Part #2 – 6/1/13

“Daniel 9:24-27” – ‘Part #1’

“Daniel 9:24-27 – Part #1″

If this one prophecy could be proven, verified, validated or settled, once and for all, it would establish the book of Daniel as, “Divine Revelation!” Daniel 9:24-27 is probably one of the most detailed, specific, pointed prophecies in all of the ‘Hebrew Scriptures’ and does four things for us: 1 – It establishes the literal method of interpreting Bible prophecy, not the allegorical method; 2 – It demonstrates the literal truth of the Scriptures; 3 – It proclaims the church as a mystery not revealed in the Older Testament; 4 – It furnishes us with a divine chronology of Bible prophecy. There are over 333 precise, predictive prophecies fulfilled in Yeshua/Jesus in the Scriptures and some scholars say there are as many as 456, but you only need two to prove His existence: Daniel 9:24-27 tells you ‘When’ Israel’s Messiah would arrive and Isaiah 52:13-53:12 tells you ‘Who’ to look for. It’s like a birthday invitation, Daniel tells you when and where the party is going to happen and Isaiah tells you what and whose party it is.

Many Liberal scholars as well as Jewish scholars claim Daniel is too detailed, too specific to be predicted 600 years in advance, “No one could do this!” They are right, no one that is except, God! It must have been written after 200 AD or during the ‘Maccabean Revolt,’ at best or later, they claim. Excuse me, but doesn’t the Hebrew word for prophet (na-ba or na-be) mean, “To speak by inspiration in prediction?” Then what’s the problem? Deut. 29:29 says, “The secret (sa-tar – hidden, concealed) things belong unto the LORD our God; but those things which are revealed (gala – uncovered, unsealed, exposed) belong unto us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” I love Prov. 25:2 and it fits here so well, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings to search out a matter.” So, get out your shovel and start digging, and that’s the title of our blog!

However, history itself answers the Jewish and Gentile skeptics. Alexander the Great was victorious at Granicus in 334 BC and Issus in 333 BC and captured Damascus and Sidon and laid siege to Tyre in 332 BC and sent a message to Jaddua the High Priest of Jerusalem requesting supplies, men and allegiance to which he refused! (Bad Choice!) Alexander gave the order to throw the debris that Nebuchadnezzer left behind in 587 BC when he destroyed Tyre after destroying Jerusalem when many of the people of Tyre escaped to an island off the coast. However, the prophecy in Ezek. 26 was fulfilled over 250 years later to the letter; the city was thrown into the water, it was scraped clean, it was never rebuilt, fishermen cast nets on its shores today, and there are no more Tyrenians. There may be some sub-terraneans but I have never heard of a Tyrenian, have you?   The Bible has to be God’s reliable word to predict all this to the letter 250 years before it happened, so how about Daniel? Alexander destroyed Tyre, then Gaza and was wounded and then he turned toward the ‘Holy City’ and swore an oath to make an example out of Judah and to torment Jaddua the High Priest to the death and make Jerusalem a cemetery, and his face was set like flint! Then Jaddua and the people went into a panic, (oops) bad choice!

So, they offered sacrifices and prayed and Jaddua was given a vision in a dream to dress up in his robes of purple and scarlet, decorate the walls with garlands, throw open the gates, dress the Levites in white linen and march out in a procession to meet Alexander and his armies along with the Phoenicians and the Chaldaeans, ancient enemies of the Jewish people, who only awaited the signal to pillage the city, slaughter the people, and torture the High Priest, (Great!). To all their astonishment, as Alexander approached the city gates to destroy it, he jumped off his horse Beusephilus and bowed prostrate before Jaddua. His armies thought he had lost his senses, in fact Parmenio his general asked him why would he, whom the whole world worshiped, kneel before a Jewish priest? Alexander replied, “It is not the high-priest, whom I worship but his God who has honored him with the priesthood. In a vision in Dios in Macedonia, I saw him arrayed as he now stands, and when I was debating how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, He exhorted me to make no delay, but to boldly cross the sea, for He would conduct my army, and give me victory over the Persians.” (New Testament History, Dr. G.F. Maclear) You see he was not worshiping Jaddua, but the name inscribed in gold on the mitre on Jaddua’s head (YHVH) YeHoVaH or YaH-WeH or YaH-VaH. Remember, Hebrew is consonantal, and we add the vowel points. Josephus said it was at this point that Jaddua took Alexander by his right hand and led him into the city, to the Temple and offered sacrifices and prayer. Then Jaddua opened the book of Daniel and showed Alexander chapter eight where the Greek King – a Goat would destroy the Persian King – a Ram and that Alexander was that Greek King. Then he offered to bestow upon the Jewish people whatever privilege they might select. Alexander then gave them tax relief every seven years, permission to worship and practice the laws of their ancestors as well as the Jewish people in Babylon and Media. In exchange the High Priest gave Alexander supplies, men, allegiance and they even began to name their children after Alexander, a Greek gentile king, which is still practiced today.

Now if the book of Daniel was written after 200 AD, I have some questions for you; 1 – How did Jaddua read it to Alexander before 300 BC? 2 – How did the authors of the Septuagint include it in their translation in 250 BC? 3 – How did Josephus quote from it in 70 AD? 4 – How did the Church fathers quote from it in 160 AD? 5 – How did it become part of the Talmud in Tractate Yoma 69 in 200 AD? After you answer those for me I have one more; Why didn’t Alexander, a furious Gentile King, with arch enemy warriors of the Jews behind him in a rage, the Chaldeans and Phoenicians, not kill and torture Jaddua as he swore and destroy Jerusalem, and why did he give them all those privileges and none like them to any other people group? Also why do Jewish people still today name their children, Alexander, Alexis, Alex, Alec, Lexi, Xander, etc after a Gentile king? There is no logical, human explanation for this historical event, none! Believe me I have searched. So, I will accept history, Josephus, the Talmud, the Septuagint, Tradition, Dr. Maclear, and Christ’s own testimony in Matt. 24:15, that Daniel wrote Daniel during the Babylonian captivity 200 years before Alexander was even a gleam in his father Philip’s eye, “When you, therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whosoever reads let him understand).” Jesus Christ.  Now that we have established the historicity, the reliability, the authorship and the date of the book of Daniel we need to examine the accuracy of the prophecy itself in Daniel 9:24-27. However, that will have to wait until next time, so until then, I hope to see you;    “…Between The Lines…”

“Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of Years” – Dan. 9:24-27  Part #1