SRR #74 | Rightly Dividing The Weeks - The Danielic Imperative Part 12

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SRR #75 | The 70th Week of Daniel - Danielic Imperative Part 13

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I do a podcast. I'm not interested in your podcast. The anathema of God was for those who denied justification by faith alone.
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When that is at stake, we need to be on the battlefield exposing the air and combating the air.
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We are unabashedly, unashamedly Clarkian. And so the next few statements that I'm going to make,
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I'm probably going to step on all of the Vantillian toes at the same time. And this is what we do at Simple Riff around the radio, you know.
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We are polemical and polarizing Jesus style. I would first say that to characterize what we do as bashing is itself bashing.
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It's not hate. It's history. It's not bashing. It's the Bible. Jesus said,
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Woe to you when men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way, as opposed to blessed are you when you have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
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It is on. We're taking the gloves off. It's time to battle. This week on Simple Riff around the radio,
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Timothy Kaufman walks us through the 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel chapter 9, showing that Gabriel actually states that the 70 weeks are cut up or divided, and then proceeds to describe them as cut up and divided into three separate sets of weeks.
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Historically, eschatologists have tried to put the sevens back together again to make them fit Christ. But instead, we ought to do as Gabriel did, which is leave them cut up.
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When we cut them up the way Gabriel did, we find that each set of weeks has its own starting point and its own fulfillment under the
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Mosaic covenant, ultimately leading us to the identification of the abomination of desolation that Jesus said would return within one generation as a sign of Jerusalem's impending destruction.
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For more, here's Tim. Okay, thanks Tim. It's good to be back.
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I hope everybody enjoyed last week's episode, and we're ready for another one. This is our 12th episode in this series, and we appreciate those who have been hanging on this long to listen.
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We've been discussing Daniel 9 for several weeks now, and the context of that chapter is that Jeremiah had prophesied 70 years of desolations for Jerusalem because the
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Jews were guilty of worshipping false gods, violating the Sabbath, and profaning the sanctuary. According to Leviticus 26,
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Keep in mind that Leviticus 26 is the only place in the Law of Moses that promises desolation for these sins, and it is the only place in the
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Law of Moses that promises a sevenfold multiplication of the punishment for a failure to repent.
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Now, the vision of Daniel 9 occurs toward the end of the 70 years of captivity, and Daniel writes at the beginning that he had been studying the books of Jeremiah that prophesied the desolations, and further, that the desolations had come upon them according to the
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Law of Moses, which is a reference to Leviticus 26, and further, that after all the punishments, the
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Jews still had not repented of their wickedness. That, of course, would require a sevenfold multiplication of their punishments, according to Leviticus 26.
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That failure to repent during the 70 years of captivity was corroborated in Zechariah 1 .12,
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which says the Lord continued to have indignation against the Jews for those 70 years, and Zechariah 7, verses 4 -7, which says that the
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Jews had not at all turned to the Lord in true repentance all those 70 years. In the prayer of Daniel 9,
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Daniel seeks the Lord's guidance on when the 70 years will end, and in the process confesses that even at this point the
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Jews still had not repented. And so, instead of Gabriel showing up to tell him when the 70 years would end,
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Gabriel shows up to tell him not only that the 77s are now in view, which is a sevenfold multiplication required under Leviticus 26, but that even more desolations are determined, which, again, is a reference to Leviticus 26, the only place in the
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Mosaic Law that requires desolations as a punishment for sins. What we also highlighted last week was the fact that the
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Jews were given clear instructions from the Lord on exactly how to show that they were truly ashamed of all their sins.
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And part of that was to purge, cleanse, and rededicate the altar for eight days following very specific instructions directly from the
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Lord in the 25th year of their captivity, delivered through Ezekiel the prophet. However, when the
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Jews returned to the land, they did not do this. As we saw in Ezra chapter 3, they simply did not follow his instructions.
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And further, they were required to acknowledge that they had walked contrary to God and that he had walked contrary to them, something that is explicitly required according to Leviticus 26.
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In other words, there was no real repentance, shame, or sorrow for what they had done. And a sevenfold multiplication of punishment was not only completely justified, but was required according to the
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Law of Moses. Now to put a fine point on it, the whole chapter of Daniel 9 simply drips with Leviticus 26 significance.
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And we have missed it for literally millennia because we have focused instead on the belief that Daniel 9 was a promise of a coming
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Messiah. Instead, it was in reality an implementation of the Leviticus 26 protocol.
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This is why we have said from the beginning of this series and maintain now that the prophecy of Daniel 9 is
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Mosaic rather than Messianic. It is not fulfilled in the coming of Christ, but in the repentance of the
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Jews when they finally rededicated the altar and the sanctuary in accordance with the instructions of Ezekiel.
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That is what we will be showing this week and next week. So, what we dealt with last week was the traditional
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Messianic interpretation of the 70 weeks of Daniel, especially regarding the parts that speak of finishing the transgression, making an end of sins, making reconciliation for iniquity, bringing an everlasting righteousness, and sealing up the vision and prophecy and anointing the
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Most Holy. That is Daniel 9 24. These have for more than a thousand years been interpreted as a
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Messianic promise, but not by any writer of apostolic authority. Not one New Testament writer or speaker identified
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Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel chapter 9, even though the New Testament places a great deal of emphasis on Jesus' fulfilling prophecy.
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And as it turns out, these prophecies of finishing the transgression, making an end of sins, making reconciliation for iniquity, bringing an everlasting righteousness, sealing up the vision and prophecy, and anointing the
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Most Holy were all consistent with the conditions of the Leviticus 26 protocol and the conditions expressed by Ezekiel to show true repentance.
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Thus, we showed last week that the apparently Messianic implications of Daniel 9 24 were in fact mosaic, and would conclude with the
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Jews rededicating the altar and anointing it, and the altar is the Most Holy, and anointing it in accordance with the
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Law of Moses. That is why, as we showed last week, the 77s would not be complete until the
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Jews anointed the Most Holy, the altar, under the Old Covenant, showing true repentance for the sins that had brought around the 70 -year punishment to begin with.
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It is a mosaic prophecy, not a Messianic one. OK, so our listeners will ask, well, what about the passages in Daniel 9 that explicitly prophesy the coming of the
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Messiah? Well, that's a great question, and the answer to that question is in the text. It's in the
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Scriptures. My first point is that Daniel 9 does not prophesy the coming of THE Messiah, and I will just say for the record that the capitalization of Messiah the
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Prince in Daniel 9 25, and the capitalization of Messiah in Daniel 9 26, are interpretations of the text.
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The text does not actually say THE Messiah, THE Prince. We'll get to that momentarily, but the ones
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Daniel 9 did prophesy to come, actually did come, and they came under the Old Covenant, under a mosaic construct.
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When I say they, I'm referring to the fact that Daniel wrote down for us what Gabriel prophesied, and Gabriel prophesied three separate time periods of 7 -7s, 62 -7s, and 1 -7.
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And we're going to get to the division of that 77s in a few minutes, but one anointed ruler is supposed to come after 7 -7s, and another anointed is to be cut off after 62.
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And we'll show how that was all fulfilled under a mosaic construct, under the
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Old Covenant. That should not surprise us, because from start to finish, the punishments, the seven -fold multiplications of the punishments, the desolations of the sanctuary, and the rededication of the altar, are all mosaic in nature, based on Leviticus 26, and the instructions received from Ezekiel 25 years into the 70 -year captivity.
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And it is clear that Gabriel and Daniel and Jeremiah were all speaking the same mosaic language in the exchange that is recorded in Daniel 9.
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And as we will show, that is true even of the parts that have been historically interpreted as explicit references to the coming
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Messiah. In fact, the coming Messiah is actually a coming ruler who is anointed, one that was actually explicitly identified in the
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Scriptures. And we'll show who that is. So let's take a look at the words of Gabriel and start working our way through them.
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We're going to do two things in this episode. First, we're going to address the fact that Gabriel divided the weeks into three subsets, as the text plainly shows.
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After introducing the 70 weeks, Gabriel never refers again to the 70 weeks as a single unit, but instead refers to seven sevens, 62 sevens, and one seven.
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That will be the first part of this week's episode. Second, we will address the starting points of each set of sevens.
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And yes, I did say starting points in the plural, not starting point. We will address the starting point of each set of weeks into which
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Gabriel divided them. And that means we've got to find three starting points. In the history of Danielic eschatology, most but not all schools of thought have put the weeks back together after Gabriel cut them into pieces.
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But we're going to deal with them as separate pieces of the prophecy, the way Gabriel described them. So let's start with the division of the weeks according to Gabriel's prophecy.
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So reading from Daniel 9 24, it starts with 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.
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That phrase has alternately been interpreted in various translations as 70 weeks are determined, 70 weeks are decreed, 70 weeks are apportioned, and 70 weeks are cut short.
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I have even heard it described as 70 weeks are covenanted upon thy people and upon thy holy city.
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There is a reason for the diverse translations, and the reason is that the word translated as determined is actually a unique and obscure Hebrew word occurring nowhere else in the scriptures, but it means to divide, which
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I hasten to add is not the word Gabriel uses elsewhere when he means determined. By way of comparison, when
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Gabriel uses determined later in his prophecies, that is later in this chapter and in chapter 11, he uses a different word, and he uses it consistently.
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Daniel 9 26 says, And unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he uses the word karatz for determined.
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Daniel 9 27 says, And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. And he uses the word karatz for determined.
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Daniel 11 36, speaking of the same time period, says, Till the indignation be accomplished, for that that is determined shall be done.
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And again uses the word karatz. These are all references to the end of the indignation and the fact that desolations had been determined as a judgment by God against the
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Jews in accordance with Leviticus 26. But when saying 77s are, quote, determined, unquote, in Daniel 9 24,
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Gabriel actually uses a different term. It's a unique term, and it means to cut up or to divide. That word is kathat.
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The theological word book of the Old Testament says of the term, This verb appears only in the passive stem, nifal, and only in Daniel 9 24, the famous 70 weeks passage.
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In rabbinic Hebrew, the root basically means cut, hence the translation decreed in most versions.
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That's from the theological word book of the Old Testament, page 778. In his dictionary of Targumim, Talmud, and Midrashic literature,
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Marcus Jastrow shows that when kathat is used in its passive stem, the primary connotation is typically in the cutting or the severing or amputation of the object itself.
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He gives several examples about things being cut off and severed or cut into, amputated, or being cut in half.
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And that's from, again, Marcus Jastrow, dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud, and Midrashic literature, volume 1, page 513.
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So, based on what we know about the term, let's at least acknowledge that when
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Gabriel speaks of 77's being cut up and proceeds to divide them into three sets of weeks, it appears at the outset that Gabriel really meant that 77's had been divided or cut up.
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It is hardly a stretch to conclude that meaning from the text. 77's are divided or cut up into three subsets of weeks.
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18th century Hebrew scholar John Gill also recognized the significance of Gabriel's singular use of the term.
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In this very specific context, 70 weeks had been kathat, or cut up, or sectioned into smaller amounts.
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This is from John Gill's exposition of the Bible on Daniel 9 .24. It says, So, yes, the word
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Gabriel uses was kathat, or divided. And he used the term in the context of 70 weeks being sectioned or cut up into three subsets of weeks.
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And that is precisely how Gabriel discusses the weeks from that point forward. After he first introduced the 70 weeks, he then spoke of their fulfillment only in their division.
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And we ought to consider these separate sets of weeks as they are revealed to us instead of trying to add them back together again, which is typically how we have approached
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Daniel chapter 9. Gabriel never says, for example, In fact, as I will show, he did not even say, after 69 sevens the
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Messiah will come. He actually said an anointed ruler would come after 7 sevens, and that an anointed would be cut off after 62.
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That is simply what the text says. And that's actually what happened, as we'll show. And this leads to a problem that has faced eschatologists since we first started interpreting the 77s.
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We have simply added them back together and tried to deal with them as a single unit, either as 77s or as 69 sevens, to get to Christ and His ministry, and then one week sometime later on, separated from the 69.
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Interpretations differ about how to handle the 70th week. Some hold that the 69 years lead to Christ, and the final week sums up His earthly ministry until His ascension.
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Others see half the week fulfilled in Christ's earthly ministry, and the other half fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem. And still others see the second half of the week fulfilled in the distant future, with the rise of Antichrist and Christ's returns.
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But many interpretations simply add the 7 and the 62 together to get a 69 -week unit, which is something
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Gabriel does not even mention. The point we are making is that Gabriel divided the 70 weeks, and they need to be interpreted in their divided form, because that's how he revealed them to us.
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We cannot simply put them back together again to try to make them fit Christ and His ministry. What we're going to propose is that the
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Jews knew this, and what is more, that we, as in we Protestants, have known this from a long time ago, and that the text of the passage does not actually support a 69 -week period.
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But with the passage of time, we have forgotten what we used to know about that Hebrew text, and we have been trying to make the prophecy fit
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Christ, and we've been adopting a 69 -week period, even though we actually know the text does not mention one, and actually does not support one.
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So let us start with the Jewish objection to the translation of Daniel 9 .25, in which Gabriel mentions 7 weeks and 62 weeks.
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And our modern translations largely put them back together again into a 69 -week period. We understand that the
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Jewish objection is going to be considered biased against an interpretation that finds its fulfillment in Christ. But my concern is that the
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Christian interpretation is biased in favor of finding fulfillment in Christ, and we need to cast the bias aside and study what the text is actually saying.
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I believe that by looking at the text closely in Daniel 9 and studying it in the context of Leviticus 26, the solution will come to the surface, and as we mentioned earlier in this series, when we are finished, we will not only identify the start and finish of each of the three sets, but we will also be able to discern the meaning of the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings, the 1 ,290 days, and the 1 ,335 days, and we'll also be able to explain why
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Gabriel would describe a three -and -a -half -year period as 1 ,290 days instead of 1 ,260.
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Again, the answers are all in the text. So let's turn to Daniel 9 .25. In the
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King James, Daniel 9 .25 reads, The seven weeks and three score and two weeks is typically taken as 69, but our first objection is that if Gabriel had been speaking of a 69 -week period, he would have said three score and nine instead of seven weeks and three score and two weeks.
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Here are a few examples of how this is done in Hebrew. Genesis 46 .27 But if she should bear a maid, child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation, and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three score and six days.
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66 days. Numbers 31 .28 Referring to the word 72, the text says three score and twelve, and the beaves were thirty and six thousand, of which the
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Lord's tribute was three score and twelve. 72. Numbers 31 .39
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In order to say 61, the author writes three score and one. It says, and the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred, of which the
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Lord's tribute was three score and one. That is 61. Thus, and my point is that when you write a number in Hebrew and it starts with three score or sixty, you simply add to three score whatever you need to get to the right amount.
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So, 72 is three score and twelve, 70 is three score and ten, 66 is three score and six, 62 is three score and two, and 61 is three score and one.
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To say 69, you would not say seven weeks and three score and two weeks. That is simply not the way you would say 69.
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You would say three score and nine. Gabriel was clearly talking about a seven -week period, or 49 years, and another 62 -week period that was 434 years.
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Then later in the passage, he refers to one week of seven years. We will talk about those three periods momentarily, but we need first to establish that Gabriel actually divided the weeks, and importantly, he certainly did not mention the 69 -week period.
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He actually said he was dividing the 77s, and then proceeds to discuss them as if he had divided them.
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And that's how we need to understand the passage. Now, what I want to point out next is that the King James translates in Daniel 9 .25
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unto the Messiah, the Prince. But the definite article, that is the word the, as it's translated into English, does not actually occur in the
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Hebrew. And further, the Hebrew simply says an anointed ruler, not the Messiah, the
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Prince. As we said last week, Christ is an anointed ruler, but not every anointed ruler is
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Messiah, or Christ. Lacking a definite article, the correct translation is simply unto an anointed ruler, rather than unto the
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Messiah, the Prince. Additionally, in the Hebrew, the punctuation of Daniel 9 .25 speaks of the seven weeks as something separate from the 62 weeks.
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I'll start with the Jewish objection to the King James translation, and then address the Protestant acknowledgement of the same issue.
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I'm about to read from a group called Jews for Judaism, criticizing the modern King James, but before our listeners take offense, it's worth pointing out that even
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Protestant Hebrew scholars, as well as the original 1611 King James, actually agree with the
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Jewish critics on this point, on the punctuation issue that exists between the seven and the 62.
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My point is, even people who believe Jesus is the Messiah agree that Gabriel did not speak of 69 weeks.
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Okay, so here's the comment from Jews for Judaism. The King James version disregards the
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Hebrew punctuation. The punctuation mark, At -Nak, functions as the main pause within a sentence.
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The At -Nak is the appropriate equivalent of the semicolon in the modern system of punctuation.
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It thus has the effect of separating the seven weeks from the 62 weeks. That is, until an anointed one, a prince, shall be seven weeks, semicolon.
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Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again. By creating a 69 -week period, which is not divided into two separate periods of seven weeks and 62 weeks, respectively,
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Christians reach an incorrect conclusion, i .e., that the Messiah will come 483 years after the destruction of the first temple.
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That's, again, Jews for Judaism on the translation of Daniel 9 .25. So, we could object and say that, well, the
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Jews are, of course, biased against Christ, but our own Hebrew scholars agree and know that this is true.
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The fact is, the Hebrew text militates strongly against the chronic temptation to construct a 69 -week period simply by adding the seven to the 62.
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For example, this is from Professor Robert Dunsweiler of Biblical Theological Seminary. This is actually from his class notes from Systematic Theology 4, and you can actually download these online.
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It's from Biblical Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and if you download his lecture notes, you can find this on page 389 of Systematic Theology 4.
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He says, The construction of verse 25 does not appear readily to lend itself to the idea of simply adding the seven weeks to get a total of 69.
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In fact, it would appear that in the Hebrew construction, the seven weeks would go with what becomes before them, and the 62 weeks would appear to be a separate unit.
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So that's from Professor Robert Dunsweiler, class notes, Biblical Theological Seminary.
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My point is that when Daniel 9 .25 says, From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
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Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, it is saying, shall be seven weeks, semicolon or period, thus establishing a 49 -year period, not a 483 -year period.
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And that means there must be a separate 62 -week period, and in fact what we find in the next verse,
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Gabriel picks up and says, After the 62 weeks. That's very, very significant because we have tried to add the 62 to the seven, and Gabriel keeps right on talking as if he was only talking about a 62 -week period that's separate from the seven.
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But for now, we just wanted to show that the actual text shows that the seven and the 62 are separate.
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They are not supposed to be added back together. The Hebrew text separates them. We'll also address the commandment to rebuild
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Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah, the Prince, in a few minutes when we get to the discussion on the starting points.
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But first, we just need to focus on Gabriel's division of the weeks, and especially the fact that there is no 69 -week period in Gabriel's prophecy, and the punctuation of the original
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Hebrew militates against our attempt to add them back together again to make 69.
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Now, the Jewish objection that there is a semicolon between the seven and the 62 has been corroborated by Dunsweiler.
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It was also reflected in the original 1611 translation of the King James. This is how the passage was translated when the
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King James was first rendered in English. From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
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Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, semicolon, and threescore and two weeks the street shall be built again and the wall even in troubleless times.
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Now, the later King James translation actually demoted that semicolon into a comma so that it softens the hard break between the seven and the 62 that is present in the original
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Hebrew and that the original King James recognized. The King James now reads,
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From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, comma, and threescore and two weeks the street shall be built again and the wall even in troubleless times.
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And now the new King James gets rid of any punctuation at all between the seven and the 62 and completely eliminates even the hint of the hard break that actually exists in the original
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Hebrew. Here's how the new King James translates the verse, From the going forth of the command to restore and to build
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Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks the street shall be built again and the wall even in troubleless times.
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So, that's a brief study of the comparatively recent translations of an ancient text and what has happened over time is that we have gradually and discreetly eliminated something in the
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Hebrew because it did not comport with our conviction that the text must be speaking of the arrival of Christ after 483 years or 69 sevens.
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We eliminated the hard break between seven and 62 because we thought we already knew what the prophecy was about and thus the punctuation didn't matter.
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All that mattered to us was that the prophecy must be about Christ and so we have over time let the punctuation fade into the background so that we could get our 69 week period.
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Instead of simply adding them together to make the prophecy fit Christ we should have been asking why the punctuation militates so strongly against our traditional attempt to join together what
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Gabriel divided. And again, I want to make sure everybody understands when I say we, I really mean we.
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I spent years studying Daniel chapter 9 trying to figure out how it maps to Christ. The fact is, there is a hard punctuation between the seven and the 62 because Gabriel divided them and that is how we should approach the text.
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Now, before we move on I do want to acknowledge that there are some relatively minor or obscure translations that still honor that original text and I'll mention them here.
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I'm going to mention a Protestant translation a Roman Catholic translation and a Jewish translation.
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So this is from the English Standard Version a Protestant translation. From the going forth of the word to restore and build
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Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince there shall be seven weeks. Period. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and a moat but in a troubled time.
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The New American Bible that's the Roman Catholic translation says from the utterance of the word that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt until one who is anointed and a leader there shall be seven weeks.
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Period. During 62 weeks it shall be rebuilt with streets and trenches in a time of affliction.
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And now here is the Jewish Publications Society translation of Daniel 9 .25 from 1917.
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It says from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto an anointed one, a prince shall be seven weeks.
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Semicolon. And for three score and two weeks it shall be built again with broad place and moat but in troublous times.
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So there are three different translations from Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Jews acknowledging something that is actually present in the original text.
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The hard separation between 7 and 62. That hard separation manifests in two ways.
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Namely, in the fact that if Gabriel had meant 69 weeks he would have said three score and nine weeks instead of seven weeks and three score and two weeks.
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And also in the fact that punctuation serves to separate the 7 from the 62.
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As Jews, Protestants, Roman Catholics all know to be true. This is not an interpretation but is simply a fact in the original text.
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That is why the original King James and some other translations still separate the 7 from the 62. Because in the original
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Hebrew that's how it was revealed to us. My point is that in opposition to Gabriel's revelation historically we have been straining at the text to make it say what we want it to say.
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That straining at the text to find a 69 week period satisfies the longing of the eschatologist to find
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Christ in the prophecy. The longing is understandable for at the end of the alleged 69 weeks the
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Messiah comes and is cut off. But the Hebrew simply does not allow that reading as we showed from Daniel 9 .25
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and from actual Hebrew scholars including Protestants. In fact, in the next verse it shows that Gabriel did not see the
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Messiah being cut off after three score and nine weeks but after three score and two. In reality,
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Gabriel says one Messiah or rather an anointed ruler is coming at the end of the 7 weeks and another will be cut off after the 62 weeks.
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There are in fact two sets of weeks in view here in Daniel 9 .25 -26. A set of 7 and a set of 62.
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Not a single set of 69. And there are two anointed one at the end of the 7 and one at the end of the 62 which we are about to show.
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Neither of them is the promised Christ and just as important, Gabriel never at any point in the prophecy ever says an anointed is coming at the end of the 69 weeks.
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And in fact he never even mentions the 69 week period at all. And then when we get to Daniel 9 .27 he refers to the third and final set of weeks that is the last week.
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And we will spend an entire episode on that 70th week in our next episode. So to conclude this section on the division of the weeks we'll briefly observe why
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Gabriel's prophecy had both good news and bad news for Daniel. Daniel was lamenting the fact that the sanctuary and the city are now desolate and Gabriel responded that the city and the sanctuary would be rebuilt but that even more desolations are determined.
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And for there to be more desolations that would require that the city and the sanctuary be rebuilt so they could be re -desolated.
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Just read the text of Gabriel's prophecy. That's what it says. During the 62 weeks it will be rebuilt and in the 70th week it will be re -desolated.
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But keep in mind the objectives of the 70 year punishment and the objectives of the 77's punishment.
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To get the Jews to repent and to re -dedicate the altar in accordance with the instructions of Ezekiel. And that repentance would require that the altar the most holy, be anointed.
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And what we'll find is that that is exactly what happens at the end of the 70th week. And that's the point we were making last week at the end of the episode that the 77's are divided into three sets and that at the end of each one there is something about an anointing or an anointed.
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After 7, an anointed ruler will come. After 62, an anointer will be cut off.
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And after 1, the most holy will be anointed. And that brings us to part 2 of this week's episode.
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When do the 77's begin? The real question is actually when does each set begin?
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And that's what we'll cover next. Well, when do the weeks begin? Or when does each set of weeks begin?
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The answer is in the text. We've already shown that Daniel 9 is an application of Leviticus 26.
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So we know that the 7 -fold multiplication is because of their failure to repent. We also know from Jeremiah 24 that God had identified two baskets of figs for captivity, good
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Jews and bad Jews. And He was going to use the same captivity for the good of the good figs and to scatter the bad figs.
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We also know that the Jews did not repent or follow the Lord's instructions for showing their sincere shame and repentance for their sins during the
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Lord's indignation against them for 70 years. And thus the original captivity had to be extended according to Leviticus 26.
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And that is why we see that the end of the indignation is much, much later under the Greek Empire. And in fact we see the same two baskets of figs being dealt with at the end of the indignation as we saw in Jeremiah 24 before the 70 -year captivity.
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Because once we get to Daniel 8 and Daniel 11 we see that the same punishment was still being used to scatter the power of the
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Jews when the transgressors are come to the full in Daniel 8, 23 -24 but also to purge and purify those of them who have understanding and wisdom according to Daniel 11, 33 -35.
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It is important to establish the continuance of the original punishment and that the Lord had indignation against the
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Jews for 70 years and then the indignation would not end until under the Greek Empire because we need to establish that what was going to end after 70 years was now going to be delayed until after the 77's in accordance with Leviticus 26.
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That was the whole point of the Leviticus 26 protocol. Now with that in mind I'm going to lay that down as a benchmark for reference and we'll come back to it momentarily and this is the benchmark.
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The 77's is simply a continuance or an extension of the 70 years and that means that both the 70 years and the 77's must share a common starting point and that starting point is 605
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BC the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The 77's is simply a continuation of what the
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Lord began in 605 BC. We will come back to that point because it matters greatly to the understanding of Daniel 9 so hold on to that point.
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The 77's must begin at the same point as the 70 years did and that is 605 BC. And we are basing that on the fact that the 77's is an implementation of the
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Leviticus 26 protocol which simply extends the punishment. The 70 weeks and the 77's share a common objective and share a common point of beginning.
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I'm not saying that all three sets of 7's start at 605 BC but at least one of them has to.
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We know that the 77's starts with something going forth about the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the 17's starts after the 62 7's but Gabriel never mentions when the 62 began.
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He doesn't even say after the 77's there are 62 7's he just says there are 62 7's and we will show that means the 62 7's must start at 605
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BC and thus the three sets of weeks have different individual starting points. And we are going to start with the 77's because that is where Gabriel starts.
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And the 77's are measured from the going forth of some kind of statement about rebuilding Jerusalem. So let's start working through the text.
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We have already shown that Gabriel mentioned a 7 week period and a 62 week period not a 69 week period.
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In other words, a more correct translation of the first half of Daniel 9 25 would be know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
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Jerusalem unto an anointed ruler shall be 7 weeks. We are going to focus first on the 77's because that is where Gabriel starts and we are going to show that an anointed ruler came 49 years later and Gabriel provided a very specific beginning point for those 77's.
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That beginning point is typically translated as a commandment or a decree to restore and to build Jerusalem and because of that in the history of Danielic eschatology we have been trying to figure out which decree
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Gabriel was talking about. There are four candidates. The decree of Cyrus in 538
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B .C. as recorded in 2 Chronicles 36 in Ezra chapter 1 and 5. The decree of Darius in 520
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B .C. as recorded in Ezra chapter 6. The decree of Artaxerxes in 458
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B .C. according to Ezra chapter 7. And the decree of Artaxerxes in 444
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B .C. according to Nehemiah 2. Now we could spend a lot of time evaluating each decree but we are not going to because Gabriel did not actually mention a decree.
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What is rendered in Daniel 9 .25 as the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem is the
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Hebrew word dabar which may refer to any spoken thing. A command, a promise, a proposal, a comment, a question, etc.
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Context determines the meaning and the context here does not of necessity demand a decree from a king.
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What informs our context is the fact that Daniel had been reading the books of Jeremiah. That is what he said in Daniel 9 .2.
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And the book of Jeremiah is replete with such promises to rebuild and restore Jerusalem. I am going to just take a couple of them for reference.
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Jeremiah 30 .18 The city shall be built upon her own heap. Jeremiah 31 .38
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Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananiel unto the gate of the corner.
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Jeremiah 32 .44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah.
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Jeremiah 33 .7 -11 And I will build them as at first. Again there shall be heard in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness.
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Those are just four references. There are plenty more in those chapters of Jeremiah 30, 31, 32, and 33.
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Notably, the promise to rebuild and restore the city occurred no sooner than Jeremiah 30, placing it squarely in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar.
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Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in 587 B .C., the 18th year of his reign, according to Jeremiah 32 .2.
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In chapter 32, Jeremiah is shot up in prison and is still hearing this promise to rebuild the city, and it is still the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar.
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In Jeremiah 33 .1 -5, Jeremiah is still in prison, and the sack is ongoing, and therefore it is still the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar.
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This repeated promise of the Lord to Jeremiah to rebuild and restore the city occurs in four chapters of Jeremiah 30, 31, 32, and 33, all of which were written in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar, any earlier than Jeremiah 30, and there is no promise to rebuild
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Jerusalem, because Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed. What this tells us is that the promise to rebuild and restore
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Jerusalem is found right where Daniel had been looking, in the books of Jeremiah the prophet. And that promise went forth from the mouth of the
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Lord by Jeremiah the prophet in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. That is 587 B .C.
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If you count 18 years from 605 B .C., the first year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign and the beginning of the exile and the captivity, 18 years from 605
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B .C. is 587 B .C. So 587 B .C. is when the promise went forth that Jerusalem would be restored and rebuilt.
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So we're going to take 587 B .C. as the beginning of the seven weeks as we proceed forward 49 years to arrive at 538
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B .C. Well, guess what happened in 538 B .C.? That was the first year of Cyrus the
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Great, and according to the scriptures in Isaiah, Cyrus was not only an anointed ruler, but was an anointed ruler chosen by the
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Lord because he was going to rebuild and restore Jerusalem. This is what the Lord said of Cyrus, his anointed according to the prophet
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Isaiah. This is reading from Isaiah 44 24 to Isaiah 45 1.
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It says, 2.
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It says, 2. And I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut.
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So, two other times in scripture, that is 2 Chronicles 36 -22 and Ezra 1 -1, the particular word from the
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Lord by Jeremiah in chapters 30, 31, 32, and 33, is characterized as a promise, and the promise was fulfilled in the raising of Cyrus, the king of Persia, the
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Lord's anointed. Daniel 9 -25, as we can see, was not about Cyrus' decree to rebuild
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Jerusalem, but rather about the Lord's promise to rebuild it, and he made that promise in 587
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BC, the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. 49 years later, or seven sevens later, he raised up Cyrus as his instrument, an anointed ruler, to make good on that promise.
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Thus we have in the scripture the fulfillment of the seven weeks, from the promise to rebuild Jerusalem in 587
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BC, to the coming of an anointed ruler who would rebuild it 538 BC. That's 49 years.
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That's the first set of sevens. What is typically rendered as Messiah the Prince in Daniel 9 -25 is in reality just an anointed ruler, and that anointed ruler was
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Cyrus, king of Persia, according to the scriptures. It was he that performed all that God had promised through Jeremiah, whose book
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Daniel had been reading. Okay, so that's the first set of sevens. Now let's talk about the 62 sevens.
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As we noted earlier, the 70 weeks are a continuation or a prolongation of the 70 -year chastisement, and weeks and years are inextricably linked in accordance with Leviticus 26.
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Therefore, the weeks must somehow share a common beginning point with the 70 years, which is 605
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BC, the first year of Nebuchadnezzar. Because the seven weeks and the one week each have unique starting dates identified separately, the seven weeks begins with the going forth of God's promise to restore and rebuild
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Jerusalem, and the one week of necessity takes place after the 62 weeks. There is only one set of weeks that can share a common point in beginning with the 70 years.
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The 62 weeks must have necessity, therefore begin at 605 BC. From 605
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BC, we progress forward 62 weeks, 434 years, and that gets us to 171
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BC. During that 434 -year period, the city was rebuilt, even in troublous times. According to Daniel 9 -25,
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Ezra 1 -10, and Nehemiah 1 -13. 171 BC is the year the high priest,
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Onias III, was murdered while in exile from Jerusalem, according to the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, under the listing of Onias.
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As we know, the high priest of Israel is an anointed, according to Leviticus 21, 10 -12, and Numbers 35 -25.
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And thus, in 171 BC, an anointed was cut off, which is to say, he was murdered. The passage in Daniel, as rendered in most translations, continues by saying that the anointed was cut off, but not for himself.
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That rendering of the passage is typically taken to refer to the fact that Jesus died for the sins of his people, rather than for himself, as stated in Hebrews 7 -27.
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But that is to impose unnecessarily a messianic interpretation upon the text. In fact, it's translated that way because it is believed it must refer to Christ.
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But the term used in Daniel 9 -26 is ayin, which is Hebrew for nothing or not, and carries a sense of being without possession, as in Isaiah 41 -24,
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Jeremiah 7 -32, and Ezekiel 28 -19. The sense is not that the anointed will be cut off, but not for himself.
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The sense is that the anointed will be cut off having nothing. By the time of Onias' death, his brother
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Jason had usurped the title of high priest by paying Antiochus IV, king of Syria, a sum of 32 ,000 pounds of silver.
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That state of affairs eventually led to Onias' flight from Jerusalem to Daphne, near Antioch, where he was murdered.
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At the end, he had been a high priest living in exile, and all that was left to Onias by the time of his death was his anointing.
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He was truly cut off, having nothing. Anyone that wants to review the history of that period can look at the apocryphal book of 2
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Maccabees 4, and we'll be coming back to that later when we cover the 70th week. But our point here is that we see in Onias III the completion of the 62 weeks.
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After 62 weeks, an anointed was cut off, having nothing. During those 62 weeks, the city was rebuilt, but in troublous times.
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So, here we are in Daniel 9, and seven sevens after the going forth of the promise that Jerusalem would be rebuilt, comes
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Cyrus, king of Persia, a ruler, who the Lord called his anointed, and guess what?
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2 Chronicles 36 -22 and Ezra 1 -1 say Cyrus had been raised up to fulfill the promise made to Jeremiah that the city and the sanctuary would be rebuilt.
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After 62 sevens, and quite noticeably not after 69, Onias III, an anointed high priest, is cut off in 171
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BC, having nothing, and that during the reign of Antiochus IV, when the rest of the scriptures said the end of the indignation would occur.
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And guess what happens after that? After the 62 sevens, there is actually a seven -year period that begins the same year the high priest
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Onias III died, and a covenant is confirmed between Antiochus IV and the Jews, and three and a half years later, sacrifice and oblation are prohibited, and then
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Antiochus places the statue of the Roman god Jupiter in the temple, and then there is an uprising of the Jews who defeat the forces of Antiochus IV and rebuild the altar in accordance with Moses' instructions and rededicate it in accordance with the prescription of Ezekiel, and that would have included the anointing of the
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Most Holy seven years after the covenant was confirmed. That's the final week, the 70th week of Daniel, and we're going to be covering that next week in more detail.
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So there you go. Gabriel came to Daniel and announced 77s as a multiplication of the 70 -year punishment, and then he immediately divided the 77s into three sets of sevens, each one with its own starting point and ending point.
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The only starting point not explicitly identified is the 62 sevens, but based on the Leviticus 26 connections that we've been identifying for the last few weeks, the 62 sevens would have had to start in the same year as the 70 years.
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So here's our summary. After 77s comes an anointed ruler, not a reference to Christ the
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Messiah, but rather to Cyrus the anointed ruler. After 62 sevens an anointed is cut off having nothing, and that's a reference to the high priest being murdered, not to the
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Christ coming and being crucified. Then after 17, the Most Holy is anointed, and that is a reference to the rededication of the altar, not a reference to the baptism of Christ.
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We'll cover that final week in all of its details, including the 2300 evenings and mornings and the 1290 days, the end of sacrifices and oblations, the abomination of desolation, and the rededication of the temple and the altar, when we come back to the 70th week next week.
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We will also discuss the meaning of the extra 45 days that go beyond the 70th week, as identified in Daniel chapter 12 verses 11 to 12.
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That's when the angel says, there shall be 1290 days, blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1305 and 30 days.
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Why the extra 45 days after the completion of the 70th week? We're going to discuss that as well.
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So, that's where we'll leave off today, but I do want to make one final point before we leave, and that is the attentive listener is going to notice that the seven sevens, if it takes place from the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar until the rising of Cyrus the
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Anointed 49 years later, and the 62 sevens starts in 605 BC and goes all the way to 171 when
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Anias III was killed, doesn't that make the seven sevens and the 62 sevens parallel?
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That is, they're actually happening at the same time. The answer is yes, and there's a couple responses to that.
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First, I want to show that this is not the only time in the scriptures that three sets of sevens occur that way, and when we get to Revelation we're going to see this, but we'll notice as you look through Revelation the seals, the seven seals are followed by seven trumpets, but the seven bowls actually happen on a separate timeline parallel to that, and we'll talk about that when we get there.
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But I also want to talk about how in Daniel chapter 9, we have traditionally interpreted this as a verbal prophecy, because all that we have in front of us are the words, but it's also important to note that this was actually a vision to Daniel.
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Daniel was directed by Gabriel to understand the vision, and Daniel was seeing a vision of 77's.
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Gabriel cut up the 77's and then began to lay them out for him. So, in a visual demonstration or a visual depiction of 77's,
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I can see and I hope the listeners can too, that if Gabriel takes 77's and divides them up visually for Daniel and places them wherever he wants to place them, it's entirely conceivable that those 77's would have some overlap because they were in fact divided into three separate prophecies, each with different beginning points and ending points.
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And so in a visual depiction of the 77's, it's very easy to understand how these three different sets of 7's could be laid out and in fact at some points overlap, because they are not a single contiguous or consecutive prophecy.
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The only thing consecutive about it is that the 70th week happens after the 62. There's nothing in there about saying that the 62 happens after the 7.
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That's what's missing in the text is any statement that the 62 happened immediately after the 7. But what the text does say is that the 70th happens immediately after the 62.
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So, I hope this will answer some of the questions that our listeners would have about what essentially is the mystery of the 70 weeks of Daniel as depicted in Daniel chapter 9.
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And hopefully this will answer some of the questions, like why did Gabriel respond to Daniel's question about 70 years with an answer about the 77's of years?
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That has to do with Leviticus 26. Why did Gabriel use such an obscure word that means divided instead of decreed or determined in order to describe the 77's?
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That's because he actually divided them up. Why did Gabriel describe the 77's as three different sets of 7's instead of just telling us something is going to happen after 490?
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Why did Gabriel place a hard break, the equivalent of a semicolon, between 7 weeks and 62 weeks, instead of just saying 3 score and 9?
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Why did Gabriel say the 1 week was after the 3 score and 2 weeks instead of saying it was after the 3 score and 9?
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Why did Gabriel say God would gather His people back to Jerusalem and cause His city and sanctuary to be rebuilt, only to have the people, the city, and the sanctuary re -desolated again?
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That's because the end of the Lord's indignation would not actually occur until under the Greek period, as Gabriel revealed in Daniel chapter 8.
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Why did Gabriel say that despite Daniel's prayers of sorrow, even more desolations are determined for His people, the city, and the sanctuary?
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That's because the Leviticus 26 protocol had been invoked. Why did God have indignation against the
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Jews for 70 years in their Babylonian captivity, according to Zechariah 112, only for Gabriel to show up to Daniel toward the end of those 70 years and tell him that the indignation would not end until the period of the
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Greeks? These are all questions that have been lingering out there around Daniel chapter 9 for a very, very long time.
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But as we have shown, the answer is in the text. It's the text that puts the hard break between the 7 and the 62.
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It's the text that says that the 70th week happens after 62 weeks instead of after 69.
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It's the text that says the 77s are divided. It's the text that says that desolations are determined.
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It's the text that says all of this happened to the Jews according to the law of Moses.
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It's the text that actually connects the 77s with Leviticus 26.
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It's the text that shows that the 77s are divided. It's the text that shows that the 7 -7s has one starting point and the 1 -7 happens after the 62.
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And that leaves us with only one starting point for the 62, and it would have to be 605
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BC, the same starting point as the 70 years. What we have shown is that when we look at the three sets of 7s as three separate independent prophecies, we have a promise going forth from the
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Lord in 587 BC, the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar, that He would restore and rebuild
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Jerusalem. 49 years later, in fulfillment of the promise of Jeremiah, Cyrus, an anointed ruler, arose to begin a reconstruction of Jerusalem.
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What we have from the text is that after 62 7s, not after 69, but after 62, an anointed will be cut off, having nothing, and sure enough, we start in 605
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BC, 434 years later, you get to 171 BC, which is when
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Onias III was murdered, after his brother had taken the high priesthood from him, and he was living in exile.
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And then finally, what we'll show next week is we have Antiochus IV confirmed a covenant with the
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Jews that same year that Onias III was killed. Three and a half years later, he made sacrifices illegal.
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Three and a half years after that, the Jews took the temple back and rededicated it and anointed the
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Most Holy and rededicated the altar exactly the way Ezekiel had prescribed. And that's why it took that long to get to the end of the indignation.
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It's all about what's in the text, but we have spent literally millennia trying to make this prophecy fit
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Christ when in fact it was a prophecy that would be fulfilled under a
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Mosaic construct, and the final part of the 70 weeks was going to be the rededication of the altar and the anointing of the
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Most Holy, which is a Mosaic construct. And that's why we've been saying that this is a
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Mosaic prophecy not a Messianic one. We're going to wrap up there this week and next week we'll be back and we're going to cover in all of its details the last seven years of the prophecy.
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And they begin with the confirmation of the covenant between Antiochus IV and the
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Jews. And it's also going to include the prohibition of sacrifices and oblations three and a half years later.
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And we're also going to come to the identification of the abomination of desolation, which was as we've said in previous episodes, was actually a statue of Jupiter, the
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Roman god that Antiochus IV placed in the temple. And we're going to conclude with the anointing of the
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Most Holy and then we're going to discuss the extra 45 days that go beyond that, and why the angels said that blessed is he who perseveres until the 1 ,335 days.
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Anyway, we'll be back next week but we do hope people are enjoying the episodes and we're happy to do them and we're looking forward to covering the 70th week of Daniel so we can identify the abomination and that's what we're going to talk about.