Daniel – Seventy Weeks, Part 2

Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity,… 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…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.   Daniel 9, selected verses

Here we meet the first problem in understanding Daniel – language. Where our English bibles read “weeks,” the Hebrew word is literally “sevens.” Weeks in essentially a misinterpretation that has stood for a long time. In this case, we can know that Gabriel is talking about sevens of years, because we know that the Babylonian Captivity lasted 70 years. 70 weeks becomes 70 sevens or 490 years. That’s the period of time that Israel remained unobservant and unrepentant regarding the 70 Shemitah years, which came every seven years.

They couldn’t figure out how to translate the Hebrew for “Sevens”, so…they used “weeks.”

Another consideration is that the prophetic years are 360 days, not 365. They kept a calendar of twelve, 30-day months. An example of this is in Revelation 11:3 and 12:6 wherein a three and a half year period is counted as 1260 days; 1260 divided by 3.5 equals 360.

Next we must remember that the prophecy is for Israel and the city of Jerusalem, not Gentiles. Gabriel says very plainly that is about Daniel’s people and Israel:

Seventy weeks (sevens) are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.   Daniel 9:24

Again, “seventy weeks” is better translated as “seventy sevens or 490.” It also just occurred to me as I write this that Jesus told his disciples that they are not to forgive others just 7 times, but 70 times 7. I can’t help wondering if that wasn’t deliberate to tap their memories of the Babylonian exile.

Gabriel lists six events for the prophecy. Three are bad news and three are good news. Dr. Jeremiah notes that some scholars think that all six events were fulfilled on the cross. Those same scholars believe that God has no future plans for the Children of Israel, and I can recall a pastor I knew who openly told us that Israel is no longer God’s special people, that they had fulfilled their purpose as a race in producing Jesus.

A careful reading of Isaiah 60 will give the lie to that, as he prophesizes Israel’s dominance and the kingdoms of the world paying honor to her at the end of time.

So let’s look at those six events:

1 – “To finish the transgression” Transgressions were not finished at the cross; they were forgiven. In other words sinning continues to this day and even flourishes. The prophecy speaks of a time when transgression are checked and no longer flourish, although sin will still be present.

2 – “To make an end of sins” Simply, sin will be no more…literally. This is what is described in Christ’s Millennial Reign as described in Revelation. Ezekiel also has the same prophecy in chapter 37: “They shall not defile themselves anymore…with any of their transgressions.”

3 – “To make reconciliation for iniquity” This refers to Jesus’ atonement on the cross, but Israel won’t realize the effect of this atonement until the end of the seventy “weeks.”

4 – “To bring in everlasting righteousness” Obviously, Jesus’ sacrifice provides redemption of all sins. But remember that this prophecy is regarding Israel alone. Gabriel told Daniel, “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city.” “Your people” are Daniel’s people, which are the Children of Israel. In the same vein, “your holy city” refers to Jerusalem. The everlasting righteousness Gabriel speaks of is “…when Israel as a nation…as a nation…(makes) appropriation at Christ’s second coming in power.” Leon Wood quoted in Agents of Babylon.

5 – “To seal up vision and prophecy” The prophecies are to be sealed up/preserved for the future generations that will see the prophecies coming true and can understand Gabriel’s words. Recall that Daniel asked the meaning of what he was being told, and this was Gabriel’s answer.

6 – “to anoint the Most Holy” The term “Most Holy” never refers to a person in the Bible. It refers solely to the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem. This this phrase would be better understood to us as to have the temple built and dedicated. Ezekial was shown this Temple to come by God, and he records it in Ezekiel chapters 41-46. This new Temple will be something beyond the previous two Temples.

Dr. David Jeremiah tells us that all six of these events must be experienced by the nation of Israel and that they will happen at the end of the 490 years of Daniel’s prophecy.

NEXT – Measuring out the 70 “weeks”