The 70 Weeks of Daniel Explained

Doctrine of Daniel’s 70 Weeks Understood

He that answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame unto him (Proverbs 18:13).

Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.

(Daniel 9:24-27, NKJV)

Consider

There are 178, 968.82 days in 490 years 70 weeks of years
There are 176, 412.13 days in 483 years 69 weeks of years
There are 158, 515.25 days in 434 years 62 weeks of years
There are 17,896.88 days in 49 years 7 weeks of years
There are 2, 556.7 days in 7 years 1 week of years

Consider

There were several decrees to rebuid Jerusalem:

Decree of Cyrus the Great, First King of the Persians (559 BC) 2 Chron. 36:22,23; Ezra 1:1-3
Decree of Darius the Great Third King of the Persians (518 BC) Ezra 6:1-12
Decree of Artaxerxes Sixth King of the Persians (457 BC) Ezra 7:11-15
Decree of Artaxerxes Sixth King of the Persians (444 BC) Neh 2:1-8

The words of the decree of Artaxerxes given to Nehemiah are not given, but its subject matter can easily be determined. Nehemiah hears of the desolate condition of Jerusalem. He is deeply grieved. The King asks the reason. Nehemiah replies,

The city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchers, lieth in waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire. The king bids him make request. He does so promptly, asking an order from the King that I be sent to the city that I may build it.

And as we read, he was sent, and he rebuilt Jerusalem. This decree then is the “commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.” There is no other decree authorizing the restoration of the city. This decree authorizes the restoration, and the book of Nehemiah tells how the work was carried on.

What Daniel 9:24-27 does not mention:

The Rapture
The Anti-Christ
The Great Tribulation
The Resurrections of the Jews to Power
The Ushering in of a Millennial Reign

Each set of weeks had to follow the next for the prophesy to be fulfilled.

Antiochus Epiphanes Profanes the Temple 156 BC

The Weeks of Daniel 9 Decoded

The Olivet Discourse Decoded

Revelation Timeline Decoded

The Greatest Prophesy Ever Fulfilled, Part 1 (Dan. 9:24-27)

Introductory Observation

The prophet Daniel declared the Prince to come would confirm a covenant with many for one week (Daniel 9:27).

The word ‘confirm’ tells us that the covenant already exists.

Notice that prior to verse 27, Daniel refers to two different covenants that existed at the time of his writing of prophecy.

The Three Covenants of Daniel 9

The Mosaic Covenant Daniel 9:1-3, 5-19
The Everlasting Covenant Daniel 9:4; Hebrews 13:20
The Covenant of the Prince Daniel 9:24 -27

In context, in Daniel 9, the prophet is pleading for forgiveness for the Jew who have not kept the Mosaic Covenant as they promised to do at Mt. Sinai, so a curse was upon them.

Then all the people answered together and said,

“All that the LORD has spoken we will do.”
So, Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. ~Exodus 19:8

Jewish disobedience to the Law led the people into Babylonian Captivity for 70 years, and the people had not changed their way.

Consider

One particular sin angered the Lord leading to the 70-year period and that was a failure to honor the principle of letting the land rest every seventh year for 490 years. God was going to reclaim His time.

The Land was to Rest Every Seventh Year

And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying,
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them:
‘When you come into the land which I give you,
then the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD.
Six years you shall sow your field,
and six years you shall prune your vineyard,
and gather its fruit;
but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath
of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD.
You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
What grows of its own accord of your harvest
you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine,
for it is a year of rest for the land.

~Leviticus 25:1-5

The Divine Faith Rest Principle was Violated Followed by Captivity

And those who escaped from the sword
he carried away to Babylon,
where they became servants to him and his sons
until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,
to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,
until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths.
As long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

~ 2 Chronicles 36:21

The Babylonian Captivity was to Last 70 Years

And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment,
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed,
that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,
the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord;
and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

~Jeremiah 25:11,12

The Proclamation of Artaxerxes to Ezra in 457 BC

I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel
and the priests and Levites in my realm,
who volunteer to go up to Jerusalem,
may go with you.

~Ezra 7:13, NKJV

Central to understanding Daniel’s prophesy is the divine objective of the Prince to come, the Messiah, to atone for the sins of those who fall short of keeping the Father’s commandments.

The Everlasting Covenant of Daniel 9:4

And I prayed unto the Lord my God,
and made my confession, and said, O Lord,
the great and dreadful God, keeping the [everlasting] covenant
and mercy to them that love him,
and to them that keep his commandments;

Messiah Shall Confirm the Covenant Hebrews 13:20

Now the God of peace,
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

Jesus nailed our sins to cross in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel, and it ended the need for Temple animal sacrifices as Daniel 9:27 foretold:

Messiah Shall Cause the Sacrifice and Oblation to Cease

The Everlasting Covenant had to be confirmed, ratified, with the blood of the Spotless Passover Lamb.

The three covenants of Daniel 9 point to the Cross of Calvary.

The Mosaic Covenant reveals the helpless of man to keep the Law. We need a Savior.

The Everlasting Covenant reveals the love, grace, and mercy of God in His Son, our Savior.

The Covenant of the Prince reveals what the Father planned, the Son executed and confirmed.

Assing the covenant to an end time Anti-Christ (Prince) hides the glorious truth of how Christ confirmed the Everlasting Covenant with His people, the ekklesia, the Church (in the Old Testament and the Church in the New Testament).

Another observation is that the word “for” in the Authorized Version of Daniel 9:27 is not in the Hebrew manuscripts.

Consider

Daniel was not saying the Prince would make a covenant for just one week of seven years. No, no. The Prince would confirm the covenant in the seven years of the 70^th week. In the middle of the seven years, in the middle of the week, the sacrifice of Messiah for sins would end Temple animal sacrifices.

The popular teaching of a 7-year covenant is based on a misunderstanding of the text.