Seventy Weeks of Daniel

I. Introduction

Dan 9, especially Dan 9:20-27.

Review of what we have already covered.

There will be four kingdoms to dominate Jerusalem from the time of Daniel (Ch 2, 7).

Babylonian Kingdom

Head of gold (Dan 2:37-38)

Winged Lion (Dan 7:4)

Medio-Persian Empire

Chest and Arms of Silver (Dan 2:39).

Bear with three ribs (Dan 7:5)

Ram (Dan 8:3-4)

ATG and Subsequent Greek Kingdoms

Thighs of Bronze (Dan 2:39).

Leopard with four heads (Dan 7:6)

Goat with the conspicuous horn (Dan 8:5-8)

There will be a type of Antichrist in the third kingdom who causes an abomination of desolation in the temple

(Dan 8:9-12)

Antiochus Epiphanes IV

The Roman Empire.

Will have two distinct stages (Dan 2:40-43).

Legs of Iron

Feet of Iron and Clay

Struck by the coming Kingdom of God, which will start small and grow to fill the Earth (Dan 2:44).

Terrible Beast of Dan 7:7-8)

Tramples the people of God and brings destruction.

Another type of Antichrist in Titus, the son of Emperor Vespasian, who overthrew Jerusalem.

This empire will be judged by God and will witness the enthronement of the Son of Man (Dan 7:11-28).

Jesus’ accounts in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 also closely parallel the events described in Daniel 7-8.

Setting of Dan 9:

“In the first year of Darius” (vs 1). The same year as the Lion’s den.

The body of the chapter is a prayer and its answer from heaven.

This is meant to fit with the theme of prayer in Ch. 6. We don’t know that this is the prayer for which He was thrown in the den, but it is the same time frame and the same activity.

II. Body

The prologue: Vs 1-3

Daniel 9:1–3 “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.”

Daniel is reading the letter from Jeremiah in Jer 29.

Jeremiah 29:10–14 ““For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

Jeremiah's letter to the exiles includes this promise of restoration after 70 years when the people call to the Lord in repentance and seek Him.

Daniel may have been a disciple of Jeremiah and would therefore have been a likely recipient of his letter in Jer 29.

Daniel knows that the promise of restoration is tied o repentance and prayer, so he steps into that role on behalf of his people.

Why seventy years?

2 Chronicles 36:20–21 “He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.”

The land was to go fallow every seventh year. Leviticus 25:4–5 “but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.”

King Saul was coronated as the first king in 1095 BC. 490 years later was 605 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar first took captives.

For those years, they never let the land go fallow.

God promised that the land would get its rest while the people were in captivity. Leviticus 26:34–35 ““Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.”

The prayer: Vs 4-19. Stunningly beautiful prayer of repentance on behalf of the nation.

Gabriel’s message of response: Vs 20-27

Daniel 9:20–21 “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.”

Angels are frequently called “men” in scripture because they take on a human-like appearance (Gen 18:2, 22; 19:1, 5, 10). Others.

Cherubim and Seraphim are described as having multiple sets of wings (Ezek 1:11, Rev 4:8). Others.

Of all the occasions in scripture, this is the only “man” angel who is described as flying (assumption: with wings).

At the time of the evening sacrifice: There hadn’t been a sacrifice in the temple for almost 50 years. Daniel still marked his day with this observance.

Daniel 9:22–23 “He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.”

Daniel was marked as a mad with “great understanding” all throughout the opening chapters. Gabriel is here to help him understand more.

The love of God for Daniel is overtly stated.

He loves all His children.

Daniel 9:24–27 ““Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, 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. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. And for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.””

Seventy “weeks.” Heptads. Groups of seven.

Based on what happens, it is unreasonable to expect these “sevens” to refer to weeks of days or months.

Same grouping of years as described in Leviticus in the context of sabbath years for cultivation, which was the immediate context of Jeremiah’s letter and Daniel’s prayer.

What happens in these seventy weeks (vs 24).

Finish the transgression

Put an end to sin

atone for iniquity

Bring in everlasting righteousness

seal both vision and prophet

anoint a “most holy” (place) One.

This is obviously apocalyptic and eschatological.

Many people try to make this all have to do with the destruction of the temple in AD 70, but these goals were not achieved by that time.

Much is foreshadowed in Christ and the destruction of the temple, but it is not completed.

From the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem.…

Which decree?

Cyrus to return to the land and rebuild the temple in 538 BC?

Decree of Artaxerxes in 458 to equip the temple?

Decree of Artaxerxes in 445 to rebuild the wall? Yes.

Nehemiah 2:1–8 “In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.”

Seven weeks and Sixty-Two weeks.

Only the ESV makes these separate sentences, requiring a “Prince, an Anointed one” at week 7.

If correct, this was the time of the first good high priest. Others before “Johanan the Just” were corrupt political appointees.

Much cleaner, though, to only have one “Anointed One” in this section, Messiah.

Rebuilt with squares and a moat in times of trouble. The book of Nehemiah.

Vs 26. After 62 sevens, the Anointed One will be put to death and have nothing.

The Jewish Calendar is 360 days (Lunar).

Our calendar is 365.25 days (Solar).

If you do the math, Nissan 445 BC to Nissan AD 33 is 483 Jewish years, accounting for leap years and Jewish leap months.

Many put the Triumphal entry on the exact day that this prophecy describes as the end of the 69 “weeks” of years. March 30, AD 33.

Jesus revealed himself as the king of the Jews on the day that the Anointed One was to be known!

Luke 19:36–44 “And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.””

Jesus follows the triumphal entry with an echo of Daniel’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem.

“After 62 weeks...”

Jesus is crucified one week later.

The Romans (the people of the prince who is to come—antichrist) destroy the temple and the city.

Fulfilled in AD 70.

It’s end will come suddenly, with a flood, and with war.

Desolations are decreed—Dan 8 reference.

Much of the Olivet Discourse in Matt 24 and Luke 21 is partially fulfilled in these events.

There is a gap between weeks 69 and 70.

The temple is destroyed “after” 69, but it is being used again in worship in the 70th.

Messiah is cut off and Jerusalem destroyed “after” week 69, not “in” week 70.

The “prince that is to come” is future at the destruction of the temple after week 69 but is personally involved in week 70.

This is the “age of the Gentiles,” the “Church age.”

The Seventieth Week, vs 27.

“He,” the “Prince that is to come” in vs 26. Antichrist.

Will make a strong covenant with “many” including Jews for 7 years.

Will break that covenant halfway through.

Put an end to sacrifice and offering: stop the temple worship.

The final desolation of abomination.

This is the subject of the book of Revelation.

By the end of the 70th week, all of the ages of mankind are done. God judges sin and remakes the cosmos.

Where we see Jesus: He is the “Anointed One” referenced in vs 24, 25, and 26.

III. Conclusion/Application

The precision of this prophecy, as well as the content of Ch 11, is astounding. That is why many want it to be written after the fact, but we have manuscript evidence that it was written when it claims to be. You can trust the Bible.

Jesus knew exactly what He was doing and when He would do it. Nothing was a mistake or made up along the way.