The importance of the Prophecy
This prophecy gives the exact timeline for when the Messiah would arrive and also details the timeline of events of the tribulation. It is one of the most important prophecies in the Bible and is often misunderstood when weak analysis is done on the passage. It is important to know that when the word “week” is used in this passage, it is simple the Hebrew word for “seven”, so one must first figure out what is meant by the number. It turns out that if one understands “70 weeks” (70 sevens) to be 7×70=490 lunar years, the math works out perfectly for predicting when Jesus would arrive in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The prophecy then explains that the Messiah would be “cut off” (killed), and then an indeterminate amount of time would pass, and then a final 7 lunar years would occur where the Antichrist would reign which is very consistent with other passages in Matthew, 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation.
In the Olivet Discourse in Matthew, Jesus said that it was important for people to understand the prophecies in Daniel:
Matthew 24:15 “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand…”
When the Prophecy was Made
Daniel was given this prophecy by the Angel Gabriel in Daniel chapter 9 around the year 516 BC while he was in captivity in Babylon. It gave a timeframe for when the 490 years would begin (see below) so that precise calculations could be made from it which we will do here.
How Time is Measured in the Bible
Dates and times in the Bible are based on the Jewish lunar calendar (30 day months and 360 day years).
As an example, in Genesis, 5 months was considered exactly 150 days.
7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.
7:24 The water prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.
8:4 Then in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.
Comparing related verses in Daniel and Revelation, the lunar calendar is used where months are 30 days and years are 360 days.
Daniel 7:25 “time, times and a half”
Daniel 12:7 “time, times and a half”
Revelation 11:2 “42 months”
Revelation 11:3 “1260 days”
Revelation 12:6 “1260 days”
Revelation 12:14 “time, times and a half”
Revelation 13:5 “42 months”
The Prophecy – Daniel 9:24-27
verse 24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
⦁ This verse summarizes the remaining 3 verses of the prophecy
⦁ This prophecy concerns the Jews and Jerusalem and does not apply to the Gentiles or the church
⦁ to finish the wrong-doing – the captivity in Babylon
⦁ to make an end of sin and make atonement for guilt payment on the cross
⦁ bring in everlasting righteousness – Jesus reigning on Earth in the Millennium
⦁ seal up prophecy – No more need for prophecy
⦁ anoint the Most Holy Place – Anoint the temple
verse 25 So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress.
⦁ 7+62 “weeks” will be the time frame between to events
⦁ The word “weeks” in Hebrew is simply the word for “seven”
⦁ The start will be a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem,
⦁ including streets and moat in times of distress
⦁ The end of this period of time will end with Messiah the Prince (Jesus)
verse 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
⦁ After this time is over – Not during the time, but “after” the 7+62 weeks
⦁ The Messiah will be “cut off” – The crucifixion
⦁ A people will come and destroy Jerusalem and the temple. This happened in AD 70 when Titus and the Romans destroyed the temple and Jerusalem
⦁ This is followed by war and desolations – a general statement of history since that time and possibly events leading up to it known as “birth pangs” in the Olivet Discourse.
verse 27 And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate.”
⦁ Someone will make a covenant for one “week” with “the many” – This is the prince mentioned in v26. This covenant lasts for the 70th 7-year period
⦁ In the middle of this 70th 7-year period, he will stop the sacrifices
⦁ Then comes the “abomination that makes desolate” – What Jesus said that we need to understand. Paul also describes this in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
The Starting Date
Using verse 25, there are several historical events that seem to fit “the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem”, but only one that also fits “it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress”.
In Nehemiah 2:1, Artexerxes made the decree that fits all aspected of the prophecy. It has been calculated using historical information that this decree was made in Nisan, 444 BC.
The Ending Date
We only know that the 69 weeks ends when Messiah the Prince is presented (v25), but before the Messiah is cutoff (v26) since that occurs “after” the 69 weeks.
It has been calculated that Christ’s crucifixion occurred on Nisan 14, AD 33. So the end date occurs before that date.
The Math for the 7 + 62 Weeks
From Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, by Harold Hoehner.
Multiplying the sixty-nine weeks by seven years for each week by 360 days gives a total of 173,880 days. The difference between 444 B.C. and A.D. 33 then is 476 solar years. By multiplying 476 by 365.24219879 or by 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.975 seconds, one comes to 173,855 days, 6 hours, 52 minutes, 44 seconds, or 173,855 days. This leaves only 25 days to be accounted for between 444 B.C. and A.D. 33. By adding the 25 days to March 5 (of 444 B.C.), one comes to March 30 (or A.D. 33) which was Nisan 10 in A.D. 33. This is the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
The Gap Between the 69th and 70th Week
Some try to imagine that there is no gap between the 69th and 70th week and that events after Christ’s triumphal entry occurred in the immediate 7 years afterward. However, there are clues that this is not the case.
⦁ In verse 26, it states a set of events that occur “after” the 69 weeks and week 70 is not mentioned until later in the prophecy. For example, the “city and the sanctuary” were not destroyed in the 7 years immediately following when Christ came on the scene. This is not occur until AD 70, about 37 years later.
⦁ The description of verse 27 has not yet occurred. Some try to press Nero into this mold, but he didn’t come immediately after the 69th week, and certainly did not fulfill the Abomination of Desolations which even Paul mentions as being future in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
⦁ There are numerous Biblical passages that indicate that the offer of the Kingdom to the Jews was legitimate but was not accepted, thus postponing the Kingdom. This is indicated in many passages. Here are just a few:
⦁ When Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-2 in the synagogue but stopped in the middle of the verse because it separated His first advent and second advent.
⦁ When Jesus presented the parables of the Kingdom (representing the intervening the church age) in Matthew 13 after being rejected in chapter 12.
⦁ The distinction between the first 4 appointed times in Leviticus 23 from the last 3 because of the gap of time represented by the foreigner gleaning the corners of the fields of the Jews.
The 70th Week and the Abomination of Desolation
There are many passages that speak of the 70th week of Daniel and the Abomination of Desolation including:
⦁ Daniel 9:27, 11:29-32, 12:11-12
⦁ The Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24
⦁ Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
⦁ Most of the book of Revelation
Eschatology and Apologetics 