Eschatology

DANIEL 9:24-27 Sir Robert Anderson's Solution

Translation by Tim McMahon.

 

Daniel 9:24-27 Seventy heptads[1] are determined on your people and on your holy city to eliminate violations and to end[2] sins, and to cover iniquity and to bring in eternal righteousness, and to seal the vision and prophecy,[3] and to anoint the holy of holies. 25 So know and discern[4] that from the issue of a decree to return and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince: seven heptads and sixty-two heptads; it will be rebuilt,[5] street and wall, even in time of distress.[6] 26 And after the sixty-two heptads, Messiah will be cut off, having neither the city nor the sanctuary. And the coming one will defile [destroy[7]] the people of the Prince; and his end is in a flood, and until the end of battle desolations are determined. 27 And he will strengthen a covenant with the many for one heptad; and at the midpoint of the heptad he will stop sacrifice and grain offering; and on the summit[8] of abominations one who desolates,[9] until completion, and that which is determined shall be poured upon the desolator.

 

1.   What is a week? Gen 29:27 Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.

2.   Why did Daniel pray? Dan 9:2-19. He was praying, and confessing his sin and the sin of his people Israel, and presenting his supplication before the Lord, and asking Him to forgive them.

3.   What was the answer? Dan 9:24. “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, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

4.   How long is a year?

      Dan 4:16 Let his heart be changed from that of a man, Let him be given the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over him.

      Dan 4:32 And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.

      Dan 7:25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.

      Dan 12:1,7 Time of trouble. 7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.

      Rev 11:2,3 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.

      Rev 12:6,14 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

      Rev 13:5 And he [the beast] was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.

5.   How long is the time of Dan 9:25? In years? In days? Dan 9:25 “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 shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.” The number of years would be: 69 x 7 = 483 years. 483 x 360 days per year = 173,880 days.

6.   When was the commandment given? Neh 2:1-8 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,  4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” “[Send me to] Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it. ” 8 “and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

7.   Who was Artaxerxes? Astyages of Herodotus and Ahasuerus of Esther 1:1 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia). He came to the throne in 465 BC. His 20th year would be 445 BC. Therefore, the commandment was given on Nisan 1, 445 BC.

8.   When was Messiah's triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Christ came to Bethany 6 days before Passover, John 12:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. Passover was eaten on Thursday that year. So, He came to Bethany Friday and entered Jerusalem Nisan 10 = April 6, AD 32.

9.   Time in days predicted by Dan 9:25 was 173,880 days. Now, how many days were there between Nisan 1, 445 BC and Christ's entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? We figure that as follows:

        445 + 32 - 1 = 476

      476 x 365 = 173,740

      Nisan 1 was March 14, 445 BC.

      March 14-31 inclusive and 6 days in April is how many days?        24

      Days for leap years, AD 1-32                    8

      Days for leap years, BC 445-1              111                    111 + 8 = 119

      Julian year is 129th of a day longer than a solar year, therefore, 3 extra days in 400 years which we subtract 3

      Therefore                                476 x 365 =                                173,740

      Days from March 14 to April 6               24                                    +24

      Add for leap years                                  119                                  +119

      Subtract for too many leap years             -3                                       -3

      Actual days from the command to Christ’s entry.                   173,880

      Therefore the time predicted and the days between Nisan 1, 445 BC and Christ's entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday are exactly the same, 173,880.

10. What is the 70th week of Daniel 9:24-27?

11. Where does it fit in the rest of the prophetic program of God?

12. When is the rapture?

13. When is the millennium?

14. How long is the Davidic Kingdom?

15. When will the Davidic Kingdom end?

 


[1]Hebrew shebuvim is an irregular plural of the noun for “week”. Our word “heptad” is a period of seven years.

[2]A textual alternative reads “seal” for “end”, but the MT reading better suits the parallel, and the alternative reading (followed by LXX) can be explained as an anticipatory error for “seal” later in the text.

[3]Literally, “prophet,” a case of abstract used in place of concrete.

[4]“Know and discern” could also be rendered as a future indicative, “You will know and discern.”

[5]Literally, “it will return and be built.” We have interpreted Hebrew shub as an auxiliary (but compare the preceding “return and build”).

[6]Literally, “in distress of time.”

[7]Hebrew shachat can mean either to defile an object ritually or to destroy it physically. This is probably the reasoning behind the Pauline usage of fqeivrw in 1 Corinthians 3:17.

[8]Hebrew kanap, “wing,” refers to the pinnacle of the temple (Matthew 4:5).

[9]A minor textual emendation could be posited to yield the rendering, “and on the summit [of the temple] , the abomination of desolation.” The identical phrase occurs in Daniel 11:31, and is referred to in Matthew 24:15.