It is one of the most controversial and often debated portions of Scripture. In fact, the Jewish Talmud forbids Jews from reading this passage and attempting to calculate the dates of this chapter. (Talmud Sanhedrin 97b). Why? What is trying to be concealed? It is one of the most amazing chapters in the Bible, for in these verses we are told when Messiah would come. Incredibly, even the archangel Gabriel is dispatched to lend understanding to the author of its meaning.
In 538 B.C. and being mindful of Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jeremiah 25:11) regarding the 70 years of captivity that Israel experienced during the Babylonian Captivity, Daniel began to pray and intercede for his people, inquiring of the Lord the future of Israel. He received one of the most amazing visions ever given to a man, the vision of Seventy Weeks of Years foretold to the precise day when Israel would reject and “cut off” their Messiah, and then look forward to the distant future and Israel’s final “week of years.”
“24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Daniel 9:24-27 KJV)
“From the going forth…sixty-two weeks (threescore and two weeks)” was fulfilled to the exact day 483 biblical years after it commenced.
How does one calculate this? First, if we want to understand precise times in the fulfillment of prophecy, we still need to use the same biblical lunar-solar year of 360 days which the prophets themselves used.
The commandment to rebuild “the walls of Jerusalem” was fulfilled by King Artaxerxes Longimanus of Persia on March 14, 445 B.C.
“In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes….” (Nehemiah 2:1)
According to the ancient Talmud, “The first day of the month Nisan is the New Year for the computation of the reign of kings and for festivals.”
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, UK, states that the first of Nisan in King Artaxerxes 20th year was March 14, 445 B.C.
“from the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem”– seven “weeks” (7X7= 49 years) and sixty–two “weeks” (62X7= 434 years). 49+434= 483 biblical years or 173,880 days (483×360= 173,880).
At the end of 69 “weeks”, according to Daniel, “Messiah will be cut off.”
From March 14, 445 B.C. (1st of Nisan) to April 6, 32 A.D. (10th of Nisan) is 173,880 days.
To arrive at this from a solar calendar year perspective, use a calculator. From March 14, 445 B.C. to March 14, 32 A.D. is 476 years of 365 days each or 173,740 days. Add 24 days from March 14 to April 6. Then add 116 leap days that occurred. (173,740+24+116= 173,880 days).
April 6, 32 A.D. just happened to be the Tenth of Nisan, or Palm Sunday. It was the same day that all Jewish families selected an unblemished lamb to care for the next four days until it was slaughtered to be their Passover lamb. And it was the only day that Jesus allowed Himself to be worshiped as Messiah. It was on that day that he rode into Jerusalem on the back of a foal and his disciples recognized Him as the Messiah, proclaiming, “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.” (Luke 19:38) But the Pharisees and most of the people refused to acknowledge Him as Messiah. The called out to Jesus, “Master, rebuke thy disciples.” (verse 39)
But Jesus replied to the Pharisees that “if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” Then Luke describes the scene as Jesus approached Jerusalem, “he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)
As our Passover Lamb, Jesus was crucified four days later. As He hung on the cross, the Bible tells us the sun became darkened from 12 noon until 3pm. This celestial event was even recorded in Rome, Athens, Syria and Carthage, Egypt as shared by historians Thallus, Phlegon, Tertullian, and Julius Africanus. It was not just a ‘solar eclipse.” A solar eclipse can last only a maximum of 7 minutes. This event lasted three hours and the land so darkened that Phlegon said one could see all the constellations of the stars as if it were night.
This is just a portion of the “evidence.” When one considers the full record of all the evidence it is obvious that the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is simply undeniable.
Jesus had earlier chastised the Pharisees for being able to recognize the seasons but not recognizing the time of “thy visitation.” (Luke 12:56; Matthew 16:3)
Consider it. Do you recognize the season you live?
Sources: Sir Robert Anderson, Grant Jeffrey, Phlegon, Thallus, Tertullian, Julius Africanus, Dr. John Walvoord, Daniel Anderson