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

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 in verses 1-19.

A REVIEW OF VERSES 1 & 2 FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS:

Daniel’s Prayer for his People, the Jews and God’s holy city, Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:¹ In the first year of Darius (522 BC) (See chart below) the son of Ahasuerus (Artaxerxes), 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.
  Not to be confused with Artaxerxes I, Queen Esther’s husband.
  

The Jewish captives returning from the Babylonian exile were led in their goal to rebuild the temple by Zerubbabel, a descendant of King David who served as governor, alongside the high priest Joshua (or Jeshua).

The Seventy-Weeks Prophecy FOR THE CITY JERUSALEM

• 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 (Yᵊhōvâ ‘ĕlōhîm) for the holy mountain of my God (‘ĕlōhîm),

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 I Ki 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 books where the name Gabriel is mentioned are Daniel and 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.

Daniel 9:²³ (Continued) 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 result in …),
  5) To seal up vision and prophecy (All the promises of the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenant are fulfilled),
  6) And to anoint the Most Holy.

• Overview:

• ►Daniel received this vision in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus aka Artaxerxes, 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, to occur in his far future, beginning with a command to rebuild the city’s walls.

• Note: Six steps are prophesied to be yet completed, beginning with the command to rebuild Jerusalem. That command took place in 446 BC by King Artaxerxes with Queen Esther at his side and Nehemiah as his cupbearer 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 ! HYSTAPSES ARTAXERXES IS NOT PART OF THE SEVENTY YEARS FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE CITY. See Daniel 9 {1 of 3}
  • There are two Artaxerxes of significance to understand scripture:
    • 1) Darius’ father is Hystapses Artaxerxes,the Artaxerxes who ordered the Jews to cease building on the temple. He was a peer of Cyrus II. It was not until Darius became king that the temple building program began again.
    • Cyrus, Darius, and Daniel were peers.
      
• NOTE ! LONGIMANUS ARTAXERXES IS INVOLVED IN THE SEVENTY YEARS FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE CITY verses 20-27.
  
  • 2) Artaxerxes Longimanus, 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, with 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 book of Revelation includes 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 calendar, given that He spent three days and three nights in the grave before His resurrection in 31 AD, the ONLY year that fits ALL biblical scriptures without scripture conflicting with other scriptures.
  

• 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 the 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.

The proof for the 173,880 days:

• We know Jesus was crucified on Nisan 14, Passover, 31 AD. 173,880 days prior would be March 4, 446 BC, as the date Nehemiah received the command to rebuild Jerusalem’s city and the walls.

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 (seven sevens and sixty-two sevens or sixty-nine sevens);

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. See Timeline BC 446 BC. (311-500 BC) Nehemiah was given the command to rebuild the city on March 4, 446 BC, and Jesus was crucified on April 25, 31 AD.“

• END OF 69 WEEKS: FOLLOWED BY THE AGE OF GRACE, THE CHURCH AGE. AFTER THE CHURCH AGE, SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, ONE MORE WEEK, CALLED DANIEL’S 70TH WEEK.

And the people of the prince 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.

Daniel 9:²⁷ Then he (the coming 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 Godly: 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. The Antichrist is the “Mimic Messiah”

Daniel 9:²⁷ (Continued) 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).”

• See Topic: Three and a Half Years

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

• Whether a symbolic pattern or prophetic literal event, 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. *Note: The Yomin Noraim are TEN days of affliction. Of those ten days, SEVEN days (like seven years) are paralleled in between.

• 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 Hebrew prophetic 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.

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An interesting, historical find to review comments from the past:

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{1 of 3} Daniel 9 – “Who is Darius and Artaxerxes?” [70 YEARS Verses 1-2] 90661
{2 of 3} Daniel 9 – “Prayers Count” [Verses 3-19] 7950
* {3 of 3} Daniel 9 – “Odds are 70/70” [70 Weeks, verses 20-27] 90621