Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Daniel 9

• Darius’ father (verse 1) is Ahasuerus, aka Artaxerxes.

Daniel’s Prayer for his People, the Jews

Daniel 9:¹ In the first year of Darius (522 BC) (See chart below) the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—

• Who is Darius? See chart below: The Genealogy of the Medes and Persians: Darius’ father is Hystaspes Ahasuerus aka Hystaspes Artaxerxes.

Daniel 9:² in the first year of his (Darius’) reign – I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem.

• Jeremiah’s prophecies somehow fell into Daniel’s hands. Someone from the captivity had to have had these writings in order for Daniel to receive them. Jeremiah was in Jerusalem while Daniel was in Babylon.

• Jeremiah 25:1 Seventy Years of Desolation: The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
  
• Jeremiah 25:11-12 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon (Belshazzar) and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans (Babylon), for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. (Defeated by Cyrus in Daniel chapter 5)

• After Babylon was conquered by Cyrus, King of the Medes and the Persians, Babylon continued to deteriorate until it’s walls were used for a zoo housing animals and then deteriorated almost completely. (See photo above).

• Jeremiah 29:10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.
  
• See Timeline BC: Scroll to Dates: UP toward the present DOWN to the past.

Daniel 9:³ Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

Fasting is a lack of that which goes into the body, sackcloth is that which covers the outside of the body, and ashes take the place of oil which anoints the head; all of which signifies a humble recognition of one’s desolate (empty) condition in prayer.

Fasting	Repentance of the inside of the body
Sackcloth	Repentance of the outside of the body
Ashes	Takes the place of the anointing of the head

• Below Daniel records his prayer concerning HIS people, the Jews. This is the same prayer the nations need today.

Daniel 9:⁴ And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,

Daniel 9:⁵ we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.

Daniel 9:6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.

Daniel 9:⁷ O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

• Concerning Daniel’s comment on “driven them”, The fate of the captives were this: 1) Jeremiah and others who had been left in Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem went to Egypt probably after the governor of Jerusalem was murdered. 2) Some were probably left in Babylon while Daniel and others were moved to Susa. 3) By the time of Esther, the Jews are strung all across the Persian empire of 127 Providences from India to Ethiopia.

Daniel 9:⁸ “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

Daniel 9:⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. ¹⁰ We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.

Daniel 9:¹¹ Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.

Daniel 9:¹² And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:¹³ “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.

• The Law of Moses:

• (God is speaking) Leviticus 26:14-39 14 ‘But if you (the Jews) do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, 16 I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.
  
  Leviticus 26:18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
  
  Leviticus 26:21 ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. 22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.
  
  Leviticus 26:23 ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25 And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied. 27 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
  
  Leviticus 26:28 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you. 31 I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. 32 I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
  
  Leviticus 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
  
  Leviticus 26:34 Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it. 36 ‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. 37 They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

Daniel 9:¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.

Daniel 9:¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

Daniel 9:¹⁶ “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.

Daniel 9:¹⁷ Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine (Be gracious) on Your sanctuary (The temple), which is desolate.

Daniel 9:¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations (emptiness), and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.

Daniel 9:¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

The Seventy-Weeks Prophecy

• NOTE: The seventy-week prophecy is not to be confused with the prescribed seventy years of desolation during the Jewish captivity prophesied by Jeremiah.

Daniel 9:²⁰ Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God,

Daniel 9:²¹ yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly (Or: being weary with weariness), reached me about the time of the evening offering.

• ► “Evening oblation—the ninth hour, three o’clock (compare 1Ki 18:36). As formerly, when the temple stood, this hour was devoted to sacrifices, so now to prayer. Daniel, during the whole captivity to the very last, with pious patriotism never forgot God’s temple-worship, but speaks of its rites long abolished, as if still in use.1. By this we see Daniel used vocal prayer, pouring out his soul.” Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

• ►Gabriel is the angel who delivered the news to the virgin Mary that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and she would bear a child.The only places the name Gabriel is mentioned is in the book of Daniel and the book of Luke.

Daniel 9:²² And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.

Daniel 9:²³ At the beginning of your supplications the command (Lit. word) went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:

• Literally “Seventy Sevens” and so on throughout the chapter.

• Prelude: In order to understand the following 70 week prophecy it is critical to understand that one day is equal to one year. Therefore; seventy weeks (seventy sevens) are equal to 490 years.

• The messenger is speaking about 490 years.

• How does one come to this conclusion?
  • It is the number of God’s predetermined judgment on their guilt.
  • God used one year for one day when the Jews wandered through the wilderness.
    • Numbers 14:34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.
    • History has also confirmed this with the arrival of Jesus on earth, the Prince of God occurring right on time at the 69th week and “cut off” (crucified).

• Sometimes, when scripture says “determined” it may be helpful to think of this as a computer program. In this case, the number set in the program is 490 years. It is pre-programmed. It is decided and done.

For your people (the Hebrews) and for your holy city (Jerusalem),

• Note: This excludes the gentiles, the age of grace. It focuses solely on the Jewish agenda.
  
  1) To finish the transgression, (To finish the sins of your people, the Jews).
  2) To make an end of sins (To seal up), (Jesus’ crucifixion) end of 69 weeks
  3) To make reconciliation for iniquity (The Tribulation),
  4) To bring in everlasting righteousness (Jesus’ Return which will …),
  5) To seal up vision and prophecy (the prophecies have been fulfilled),
  6) And to anoint the Most Holy. (At the end of 70th weeks)

• Overview:

• ►Daniel received this vision the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus in 538 BC, approximately one year after Cyrus conquered Babylon.

• Daniel had just discovered the words of Jeremiah the prophet where God had determined seventy years of captivity for the Jews. He is now in his 67th year of exile, and he is thinking his people, the Jews, will be released in a couple of years. Daniel is about 82 years old.

• Daniel is looking forward to being released from captivity in another 3 years. But, Daniel is also looking at 490 years for his people, the Jews in the far future, beginning with a command to rebuild the city’s walls.

• Note: Six steps are prophesied to be completed by the end of the 483 years, beginning with the command to rebuild Jerusalem. That command takes place in 446 BC by King Artaxerxes with Queen Esther at his side and Nehemiah as his cup bearer 93 years from Daniel’s vision. See Timeline 311 BC -500 BC

• Daniel’s vision appears to him in 522 BC but the 490 years does not begin until 446 BC during Queen Esther’s time.
  • 446 BC: Nehemiah is given the command to return and rebuild the city during the reign of Artaxerxes I. Nehemiah was made governor of Jerusalem and allowed to return and rebuild the CITY. (Neh. 2:1 and Neh. 5:12) And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes.
    
• NOTE !
  • There are two Artaxerxes of significance to understand scripture:
    • 1) Darius’ father is Hystapses Artaxerxes,the Artaxerxes who ordered the Jews to cease. He was a peer of Cyrus II. It was not until Darius became king that the building program began again.
    • Cyrus, Darius, and Daniel were peers.
    • 2) Artaxerxes, the king who chose Esther as his Queen.

• The reign of the Persian King Artaxerxes I Yr 20 (There is an argument this took place in the 19th year. See Wilhelm Rudolph in his major Nehemiah commentary (1949), p. 102, who suggested that the Hebrew read “in the nineteenth year of Artaxerexes the king”):

• Jesus, the prince was “cut off”. Had the Jews accepted Him as their Messiah He would have become their King and God, the everlasting kingdom would have been ushered in and the prophecy would have been completed. There still would have been seven years of turmoil and Jesus would have had to shed his blood for the sins of the people, but there would not have been a gentile “Age of Grace”.

• BUT! The Jews did not accept Him, therefore; the gentiles were “graphed in”, subsequently, after 69 “weeks” or 483 years, there is an interim for the Age of Grace and the Gentile Bride of Christ (with Jewish exceptions) until the introduction of the 70th “week” of seven years. This 70th week is called the tribulation when God once again focuses on His program with the Jews.

• The entire book of Revelation is the 70th week of Daniel, the seven year tribulation. They will be under great affliction until every last one who remains will come to recognize Jesus as their Messiah.

• When was Jesus’ the prince cut off (crucified)? His crucifixion week would have looked like this given his 3 days and 3 nights in the grave before His resurrection: 31 AD is the ONLY year which fits ALL biblical scriptures.
  Note: See the Hebrew/Roman Days of the week which explain why some days seen to “shift”.

• According to the Jewish calendar of 360 days per year, multiplying by 483 years becomes 173,880 days. God told Daniel it would be 173,880 days from the time the command goes forth to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah, the Prince. (The crucifixion date of Nissan 14th in 31 AD is April 25th 31 AD on the Gregorian Calendar. ) http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=31+AD (below)

Using Julian date for 31 AD is 04/25/0031 (See chart above), we can determine the date for Nehemiah’s command to rebuild the city if we count backward 173,880 days.

We know that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the 10th of Nissan in 31 AD. 173,880 days prior would be April 21 446 BC on the Julian calendar. Therefore, moving the date forward to the 14th when Jesus was crucified in 31 AD would make Nehemiah’s command to rebuild the city for Nehemiah move forward in 446 BC from March 31 to April 3, 446 BC

The proof for the 173,880 days:

Daniel 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 (Or open square) shall be built again, and the wall (Or moat), even in troublesome times.

Daniel 9:²⁶ “And after (at the end of) the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off (Suffer the death penalty), but not for Himself; (For the sins of all the people of the world from the time of Adam to time ending.)

• “Summary, there are 69 weeks or 173,880 days from April 3, 446 BC to April 25, 31 AD on the Julian Calendar. See Timeline BC 446 BC. Nehemiah was given the command to rebuild the city on April 3, 446 BC and Jesus was crucified on April 25, 31 AD on the Julian calendar.“

• END OF 69 WEEKS: THEN THE BEGINNING AND OF THE AGE OF GRACE

• The following scripture takes up after the age of grace at the beginning of the seven year tribulation called “Daniel’s70th week:

And the people of the prince (Antichrist) who is to come shall destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood (army),
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

• This is probably the war of Gog and Magog which begins just prior to the tribulation.

Daniel 9:²⁷ Then he (the Antichrist) shall confirm a covenant (treaty) with many for one week;

• Why is it called a week? Because it is Daniel’s 70th week, the 7 year tribulation.
• The covenant is a seven year peace treaty.
• Side Note: The Antichrist indwelt by Satan mimics everything Jesus does: See Topic: The Mimic. Here, the Antichrist is making a covenant with Israel, just as God makes a covenant with Israel but the Antichrist’s covenant brings disaster instead of peace.

But in the middle of the week (after 3-1/2 years) he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing (edge) of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation (end), which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate (Or desolator).”

• The Desolator is the Antichrist who will be captured and killed.

• Whether symbolic or literal, The High Holy Days describe the seven year tribulation comparing them to the seven days of affliction in Jewish Feasts called the “Yomim Noraim” nestled between the Feast of Trumpets and Yom Kippur called the Day of Atonement.

• The Feast of Trumpets parallels the Rapture while Yom Kippur parallels the Return of Jesus. By this pattern the Rapture precedes the seven year tribulation and the Return of Jesus immediately follows the seven year tribulation.

• May God bless our work in explaining one of the most important chapters in the Bible concerning prophecy. May He open the eyes to all who have a passion to understand.

• To Reiterate and Summarize:
  1)To finish the transgression, (To finish the sins of your people, the Jews for 490 years):
  2) From Nehemiah to the crucifixion is 69 weeks (173,880 days): To make an end of sins (To seal up) (the crucifixion),
  3) To make reconciliation for iniquity (the tribulation), ( 1 week 360 days 7 years) The end of Daniel’s 70 weeks when Jesus sets up His kingdom on earth…
  4) To bring in everlasting righteousness (To The first day of The Millennium, the day after Jesus returns to earth and sets up His Kingdom for 1,000 years),
  5) Vision and prophecy are sealed up (all the prophecies have been fulfilled),
  6) And to anoint the Most Holy (place), Jerusalem is restored.