The Messianic Seventy Weeks (with prologue)

For ancient civilizations, the moon was the celestial body that determined time. A year was composed of twelve lunar months. The length of a lunar month was determined by observing the phases of the moon. An old month ended and a new month began at the beginning of a new moon when a thin crescent curving towards the north appeared on the western horizon at sunset.

Modern astronomers define a lunar month as the time it takes for the moon to revolve around the earth with reference to the sun. One revolution is completed in 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.7 seconds. When expressed as a decimal fraction, the length of a lunar month is 29.531 days. Consequently, the length of a lunar year is only 354.372 days.

Ancient priests determined the appropriate time for festivals not only by observing the moon but also by monitoring the crops. If the crops weren’t mature enough, the incoming year would be postponed by one month. That manoeuvre added an extra month to the outgoing year, resulting in an anomalous 13 month year. It was an arbitrary act that wasn’t performed with any regularity.

The Babylonians went a step further. Not only did they consider the moon in their determination of time but also the sun and the seasons. In the sixth century BC, they discovered a 19 year cycle in which 7 of the 19 lunar years had an extra month. In other words, a 19 year Babylonian cycle contained seven 13 month years. That cycle matched up almost perfectly with 19 solar years.

Chapter 9 of the Old Testament book of Daniel began in 538 BC.  It was the first regnal year of Gubara a.k.a. Darius the Mede who was made king of Babylon by Cyrus the Great.  During that time, Daniel was being held captive in Babylon.

Daniel observed that the seventy years of Babylon’s desolations of Jerusalem, prophesied by Jeremiah, were drawing to a close and he began to pray for the release of Judeans from their captivity in Babylon.

During Daniel’s prayer, the angel Gabriel appeared and informed him that, at the beginning of his supplications, the command was issued (by Cyrus to let the exiles go free).  Then Gabriel revealed the 70 week Messianic prophecy to Daniel:

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 atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: the streets shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

And after sixty-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.

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.

The commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem marked the beginning of the seventy weeks.  Its identification has long been the subject of debate.

Some identified the commandment with Artaxerxes’ decree, in 458 BC, that sent Ezra to Jerusalem.  While Ezra brought several hundred exiles and an offering for the temple with him from Babylon, his ministry was one of spiritual reform and not rebuilding Jerusalem.

Sir Robert Anderson identified the commandment with Artaxerxes’ letters that authorized Nehemiah to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem in 445 BC.  Up to that point in time, few people lived in Jerusalem.  Nehemiah finished the wall in 52 days and the Jews felt well protected from their enemies.  That led to one tenth of the population of Judah moving to Jerusalem.  However, Artaxerxes’ letters granted Nehemiah safe passage to Jerusalem and enough timber to rebuild the wall and to build himself a home in the Holy City.  That’s a far cry from the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.      

Still others believed that as Jeremiah’s seventy years drew to a close, the seventy weeks began.  They identified the commandment with Cyrus’ proclamation in 538 BC, a copy of which can be found in "The Conquest of Babylon."  However, Cyrus’ proclamation dealt explicitly with rebuilding the temple but only implicitly with rebuilding Jerusalem because the builders needed lodging in close proximity to the temple’s reconstruction site.

I believe the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem was God’s command to Cyrus the Great which was prophesied by Isaiah:

It is I who says of Cyrus, "He is My shepherd and he will perform all My desire."  And he declares of Jerusalem, "She will be built," and of the temple, "your foundation will be laid."  I have aroused him in righteousness; he will build My city, and will let My exiles go free.

God had an agenda regarding Jerusalem.  Cyrus was an instrument chosen to carry out His agenda.  God aroused the spirit in Cyrus, hardening his heart towards Babylon and softening it towards the Jews.  He commanded Cyrus to free the Jewish exiles and rebuild Jerusalem including the foundation of the temple.  It was imperative that Cyrus conquer Babylon in order to free the exiles.  Assuming the conquest of Babylon was part and parcel of God’s commandment to Cyrus, His command must have been given before October 12, 539 BC.  Cyrus had to recruit Gubara and plan a course of action.  The year, 540 BC, would have been a reasonable time for God’s commandment.

(This article will only be concerned with the first sixty-nine weeks.  For a description of the final week, click Jerusalem's Third Temple on the sidebar.) 

The seventy weeks do not refer to weeks of days but rather weeks of years.  The first 69 weeks were divided into two parts, 7 and 62 weeks, suggesting different interpretations of time for each part.

The first seven weeks represent weeks of years within longer cycles of time.  Daniel the prophet had become well acquainted with the Babylonian concept of time.  The moon was the celestial body that determined time for ancient civilizations; notably the Babylonians also considered the sun and the seasons in their determination of time.  Shortly after Daniel was deported to Babylon, the Babylonians discovered a 19 year cycle in which 7 of the 19 lunar years had an extra month.  In other words, there was one week of 13 month years within each 19 year Babylonian cycle.  Thus 7 weeks of 13 month years elapsed with the passing of seven 19 year Babylonian cycles or 133 years.

The 62 weeks are less abstruse.  They simply represent weeks of Babylonian years; those years being arranged in 19 year cycles with 7 years in each cycle having an extra month.  Sixty-two weeks are the equivalent of 434 years; sixty-two weeks times seven years per week (62 X 7).

Remember that a 19 year Babylonian cycle matched up almost perfectly with nineteen solar years.  Hence, the sum of the two parts is 567 solar years.  Because there was no year 0, there were 540 years between 540 BC and 1 AD and 27 years between 1 AD and 28 AD.  Therefore, five hundred and sixty-seven years after God’s commandment to Cyrus, we arrive at 28 AD, the year of Messiah the Prince.

Luke 3:1-3, 21-23

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was the tetrarch of Galilee, the word of God came to John, in the wilderness.

And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.

Now it came about when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.”

And when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age.

Jesus was the only begotten Son of the King of kings.  He was called Prince of Peace by Isaiah the prophet.  His baptism marked the beginning of His earthly ministry.  He was baptized in the 15^th year of Tiberius Caesar.

Tiberius’ predecessor, Augustus, died on August 19, 14 AD.  Tiberius ascended the throne shortly thereafter.  By inclusive reckoning, the period from August 19 to December 31, 14 AD was credited to him as a full year and counted as his first regnal year.  Hence, his 15^th regnal year was 28 AD, the calendar year when Jesus was baptized. 

Jesus was 31 years of age when He began His ministry of miracles.  About two years later He was crucified, “not for Himself” or for His own crimes but as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of mankind, followed by the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD.

Daniel determined that 28 AD was the year of Messiah the Prince.  We have established that Jesus began His ministry that same year.  Not only was Jesus in the right place at the right time, but His supernatural powers also identified Him as Messiah the Prince.  There were no other candidates.  Jesus was unequivocally and incontestably the Messiah, the Prince, the Christ.     

Can we fully appreciate the magnitude of this prophecy?  Daniel pinpointed the very year when Jesus celebrated His baptism well over five centuries before its occurrence. That was extraordinary in itself, but Daniel also foresaw the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and its sanctuary which took place about 40 years after Christ was “cut off” or slain.

Unbelievers are without excuse.  The Seventy Weeks is the most remarkable prophecy in history, lending credibility to the Bible and especially the Book of Daniel as being written by the hand of God.