From: ucakrvb@ucl.ac.uk (Vijay Bhuchar)
Newsgroups: alt.messianic
Subject: **More on the Amazing Prophecy**
Date: 25 Jan 93 12:38:46 GMT
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium

I think that a lot of confusion is arising around the Daniel prophecy
and it was made more confusing by a posting putting the start date
at 457 BC ( a different decree ) and an interpretation of the 70th
week as being fulfilled.

I wanted to post up a series of day to day studies on the prophecy 
later but I am being pre-empted.  This would have been crucial to my
forthcoming 'Future Of Israel' series.

Recently I worked with a team on various messianic literature.  I am
posting their interpretation of the 70 weeks below.  Like most 
contemporary analysts they put the 70th week down as the unfulfilled 
7 year period in the Book of Revelation.

Since it was written for Jews you find terms like 'us Jews' etc.

Vijay 
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                 THE SEVENTY WEEKS (DANIEL 9:24-27)

This is the AMAZING PROPHECY.  Gabriel gave Daniel this prophecy in 538 BC
that Messiah would be executed 69 x 7 years after a certain date.  It has only
really been fully understood this century.  Prior to this it was thought to
refer to a Jewish High Priest.  We shall look at the other version later.

~Seventy weeks are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to
finish the transgression, and 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.  Therefore, know and understand that
from the issue of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the
Prince comes there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built
again with plaza and moat, even in troubled times.  Then after the sixty-two
weeks Messiah will be cut off, he shall have nothing, and the people of the
prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  Its end shall
come with a flood and to the end there shall be war, desolations are decreed. 
And he will make a strong covenant with many for one week and in the middle
of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering; and on the wing of
abominations shall come one who makes desolate even until the complete
destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the desolator.~

The Prophecy Fulfilled

The word ~week~ literally means seven.  It is taken to represent 7 years.  The
concept of the ~week-year~ was not unfamiliar to us Jews at that time (see for
example Lev 25:1-8).  

Anyone who has studied Bible prophecy knows that the fulfilment is always
chronological.  Hence one is sought here, with the major events occurring in
order.  They are:

1) Decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
2) The first 7 weeks
3) The next 62 weeks
4) Messiah the Prince
5) Messiah cut off
6) Destruction of city [Jerusalem] and sanctuary [the Temple]
7) The 70th week

We are told Seventy weeks are decreed.  The word for decreed is chathak which
means cut out or divided.  So God has taken all of Human History and cut out
490 years in which He deals with us Jews.  There is nothing to say that the
490 years run consecutively.  Infact the wording of the prophecy states that
there are 3 periods composed of 7, 62 and 1 weeks.

The starting point is the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.  This was
made by Artaxerxes in his 20th year of reign.  It is described in the
beginning of the Book of Nehemiah.  Check the entry ~Artaxerxes~ in a Jewish
encyclopaedia.  He ascended to the Persian throne in 465 BC and therefore this
decree was made in 445 BC.

History records that Jerusalem did take about half a century to rebuild, this
represents the first 7 weeks (about 49 years).  We are told that Messiah will
come after a further 62 weeks.

The secret of solving this prophecy is to note that the 360 day year is more
prominent in the Bible than the solar year and that it was also the year at
the time of Daniel. (360 day year see Gen 7:11, 8:3-4, Rev 11:2-3, 12:6,
12:14, 13:5)

The full 69 weeks is 173,880 days (69 x 7 x 360) which is 476 solar years and
25 days (173,880 / 365.242) and this takes us from 445 BC to 32 CE (there is
no year zero).

The term ~Messiah the Prince~ refers to the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem
in 32 CE and was hailed as King of the Jews by the populace.  Two writers have
gone so far as to prove that the number of days between the decree of
Artaxerxes and Jesus' triumphant entry was exactly (not approximately) 173,880
days!  They have done this by using predicted astronomical data, since the
Jewish calendar is based on the observance of the moon.

In Nehemiah 2:1, we see that the decree went out in the month of Nisan.  Since
no day is specified, then by tradition the 1st day of Nisan is assumed.  The
remainder of 25 days apart from the 476 years indicates that the 69 weeks
terminate either in the same month, Nisan or the next month, Iyar.  Jesus'
triumphant entry into Jerusalem was on 10 Nisan.
The term ~cut off~ in the prophecy is the Hebrew karath which specifically
applies to the execution of a criminal - Jesus died in such a way, being
crucified with 2 thieves.  The term ~he shall have nothing~ is indicative of
the fact that Messiah -  even though he will one day rule the nations - had
nothing - no power, no glory, no kingdom.  We are told that after this, the
city and the temple will be destroyed - this happened around 70 to 72 CE!!

We are also told that all prophecy regarding us Jews must be sealed (i.e.
fulfilled) at the end of the 70 weeks.  As much prophecy is still being
fulfilled today this implies that the last seven year period (the 70th week)
has yet to occur.

Although the events of the prophecy follow chronologically it must be
appreciated that there is a gap between the 69th and the 70th week.  This is
described in the New Testament as the mystery, which from the beginning of the
ages, has been hidden by God (Eph 2:6) and refers to the Church Age.  It is
a special dispensation of grace granted so that the Gentiles may have access
to God instead of Him being exclusively for us Jews.  

God's dealings with Israel will recommence when this is over, in the 70th
week.  This is made evident in the wording of the prophecy which states that
the 70 weeks concern Daniel's people i.e. - us Jews.  Paul elaborates more on
this in the New Testament (Romans, ch 9-11).  The 70th week is also the 7 year
period described in the Book of Revelation when all the terrible judgements
will take place.  You can read the events of the 70th week in our free booklet
`The Future Of Israel'.

Prior Version Of The Seventy Weeks

In a prior version of the fulfilment, the word mashiach was translated not as
~Messiah~ but ~an anointed one~ and the emphasis on the punctuation was
changed so that it read:

~...until an anointed prince is seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it will
be built again...after the sixty-two weeks an anointed one will be cut off...~

The prophecy was taken to start at 586 BC when Jerusalem was destroyed and the
first 7 weeks (i.e. 49 years) take us up to 538 BC when Cyrus made his decree
for the exiles to return to Jerusalem.  Cyrus is taken to be ~an anointed
prince~ on the basis of the prophecy in Isaiah - Thus says the Lord to his
anointed, Cyrus (Isa 45:1).

The next 62 weeks take us up to 171 BC when the High Priest Onais was
murdered; he is taken to be ~an anointed one~ who was cut off (because priests
are anointed - Lev 4:3). 

The three major reasons that this version is now known to be wrong are:
1) Daniel was only given the prophecy in 538 BC, it is unlikely to apply
retrospectively to start from 586 BC - the nature of prophecy is that it
concerns the future, not the past.
2) The prophecy has to start at the decree to rebuild Jerusalem NOT at the
destruction.
3) The 367 years from 538 BC to 171 BC is not even close to 62 x 7.