Daniel’s 70 weeks
Background: In 605 BC after the first siege of Jerusalem by Nebukadnezar (Dan 1:1-4), Daniel was ordered to be brought to the court of Babylon for (re)education and service to the king. He became famous when he interpreted N’s dream of a statue (Dan 2). Later, Daniel himself had prophetic visions.
Tradition and the New Testament attribute the book to Daniel himself (6th to 5th century BC), cf e.g. Mt 24:15, at least the main sections that are written in the first person. A critical view that Daniel’s prophecies must have been written ‘after the fact’ in the Maccabean period (2nd century BC) dates to the 3rd century AD (Porphyry of Tyre, a neo-platonic philosopher who tried to refute Christianity). It was revived by modern liberal theologians based on textual criticism. However, whether the conclusion of that ‘scientific’ approach is valid is contested by conservatives (for a recent analysis of arguments, see here).
In ch.9, Daniel’s prophetic vision of 70 ‘weeks’ came to him on the occasion of his prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem, when he read the earlier prophecy of Jeremiah that Jerusalem will be laid waste for 70 years (Jer 25:8-14). Diverse and mutually incompatible interpretations of the 70 weeks in Dan 9 abound already during antiquity (discussed e.g. by Calvin’s commentary). Rather than discussing those, this study examines what the 70 ‘weeks’ have to do with atonement for sin, and what difficulties interpreters must face who instead seek in Dan 9 a timetable for any particular future endtime scenarios. A study group that is interested in dates and the accuracy of Daniel’s prophecy about the first coming of Christ (v25) may want to devote another hour to the second half (Q4) of this study. Others may skip Q4 altogether and proceed directly with the next study (Daniel’s 70th week).
Read: Daniel 9:20-27
1) What purpose of the 70 ‘weeks’ was disclosed to Daniel? i.e. what will be achieved during that epoch? v24 [“…to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.”]
- What could this mean? What will be completed in these 70 weeks? [Atonement for all sin]
- Why was this good news for Daniel?
- Was it also bad news? Why or why not?
- Hint: Why is complete atonement not fully achieved until the end of the 70th ‘week’, v24? Why not already when the Anointed (= Messiah) is ‘cut off’? [Note: The last 3.5 ‘days’ refer to the time after Messiah is rejected by his people, v27; cf Rev 11:2, Ezk 44:10 (2 related prophecies about those who rejected their rightful king)]
2) Dan 9:2 points out that Daniel received this vision towards the end of 70 years of captivity (he himself was taken prisoner in 605 BC). What did these 70 years have to do with atonement?
- Lev 23:23-32 prescribed a Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur; kippur referring to the kapporeth, the covering of the ark of the covenant) every year on the 10th day (v26) of the 7th month (Tishrei) as a day of rest where any work was absolutely forbidden. Why? =>
- Read Lev 25:3-10 => If every 7th year was meant to be a ‘Sabbath year’ of rest for the land and its workers, why was this ‘duty’ of resting such a big deal? Heb 4:10 [Neglect called for excommunication, Lev 23:30. Yom Kippur (a day between Sept 14 – Oct 14) remains the most observed Jewish holiday].
- Read Lev 26:34-35. How did the Israelites have to atone for not observing these Sabbath years? cf 2Chr 36:20-21 [The period of 10 x 7=70 years in exile was recognized as a restitution, atoning (as slaves of the Babylonians) for every ignored Sabbath year]
- Why exactly seventy?
- After every 49 years (=7 “weeks” of years), the 50th year (=the 1st of the next 49) was a jubilee year to release everyone from any debt of labor (Lev 25:3-10). Since both year 49 and the following year were Sabbaths, the land was due eight Sabbath years per 49 year period. => So how long until seventy of these ‘Sabbath years’ have passed? [{(70/8) x 49}+1 = 430 years; the +1 is for the 50th year of the final 49 year period]
- Read Ezk 4:4-6. Ezekiel’s vision was about the timing when the Babylonian exile will start. What was he asked to to here? Why 390+40 days? What did the 430 days symbolize?
- Due to Lev 25:8 where 7 ‘weeks’ symbolize 49 years, commentators agree that 70 ‘weeks’ in Dan 9:24 means 490 years (or 455 years, if only 69.5 ‘weeks’ predict literal years). If the math is so simple (490 or 455 yrs), why do people disagree what times and events the passage in Dan 9 is talking about? =>
3) What makes the interpretation of Dan 9:25-27 difficult? Are there any issues that you find ambiguous?
- Compare different translations of v25: Should an Anointed one (Hebr. Messiah) come after 7 or after 7+62 weeks? [YLT, a literal translation is less ambiguous: 69 weeks]
- Especially Jewish and Christian commentators do not agree: Is this Messiah a prophecy about Jesus, or about Cyrus II (or any other benefactor of the Jews)?
- After 7+62 weeks, which event in the life of the Messiah is called his ‘anointing’? Birth? Baptism? Crucifixion? [If his death is described by v27, v25 must refer to an earlier event, possibly his birth or (more likely) his ‘ointment’ at baptism]
- Who is the “he” that is mentioned in v27: Messiah (v25) or the Antichrist (a prince of Rome)? => Which of these we think is meant in v27 will result in diametrically opposite expectations about the endtimes.
- Do you think this verse is sufficiently unambiguous to make it a cornerstone of any endtime theory, be it pre-, post- or amillennial?
- Should we regard the (entire) 70th week as fulfilled in the past, present or future?
- Read Mt 24:15 and Lk 21:20-28 => it seems Jesus applied Dan 9 to events that do not fit a description as a literal 70th week. In fact, no literal 7 or 49 yr period following the above events fits with history: Desolation only came in 66-70AD, following attempts of the Romans to install their idols in the temple.
- The (uncertain) start date of the 70 weeks: What edict could v25 be referring to? =>
- Uncertainty of how to count years: Years of 365 days? Or 12 lunar months = years of 360 days?
4) Can history (retrospectively) identify the starting date of the 69 week countdown? How would you do this?
- What will be fulfilled after 49 years? Dan 9:25 (the city of Jerusalem must be rebuilt, not just its walls)
- What will be fulfilled after 69×7 years? [Messiah coming as the anointed]
- Read Neh 2:1-3=> Nehemiah tells us that Jerusalem was still in ruins in the 20th yr of Arthaxerxes (=445 BC, provided that historians have the date of 538 BC right) => this rules out possibilities 1 & 2 [In good agreement, 69 year weeks from 520 or 538 BC take us to no significant dates].
- Caveat: e.g. Hippolytus, 200AD, held to the first view (i.e. edict in 538 BC) since Jewish chronology suggested that the Jews only returned from exile by 434. Our chronology of the Persian kings is based on Herodot and other Greek historians, who give a different account of the Persian dynasties and an earlier date for Cyrus, and hence for the return from captivity.
- If we are left with options (3) and (4), which of these commanded the restoration of Jerusalem (i.e. not only of the temple)?
- As early as 220AD, Julius Sextus Africanus noted that 69×7 years (of 360d, 12 lunar months) separate 445 BC from 32AD
- In 1894, Sir Robert Anderson calculated the end of that period to coincide with the day of Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem on palm Sunday.
- Calvin comments on Dan 9 about Africanus (and his lunar years) and about Hippolytus, but instead favored the edict of Cyrus II as the start date of the countdown
- For 490 literal 365day years, history fits with 458 BC as start date, because: 458 BC – 46 years to build the temple (cf Jn 2:20) – 3yrs of the foundation => 409BC (= first 7 weeks), – 434 years (62 “weeks”) = 25 (+ year 1) = 26AD, the baptism of Jesus. In other words, counted backwards: 26AD – (46+3+434) = 26 – 483 = 26 – 25 (to year 1) – 458 = 458 BC
- For 360 day years, the later start date of 445 BC makes the most sense.
5) Application
- What do you think stops people from even trying to make sense of prophecies in general, and of Daniel’s 70 year-weeks in particular?
- Do you think it matters how we read these and other prophetic parts of the Bible? Why or why not?
- What danger lies in trying to “know it all” (and better than all)?
- What danger lies in deciding to ignore it all?
- How should we read them? Is it arrogant if you believe you can discern its meaning?
- If you think you have obtained clarity about how to interpret this or other complicated Bible texts, how can you find out whether you are perhaps mistaken?
- Do you think Dan 9 is sufficiently unambiguous to make it the foundation for schisms about different endtime views?
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