Daniel’s 70 Weeks Made Easy

ByCharles Meek

The 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 is almost universally understood to be “70 weeks of years.” Thus, a “week” is 7 years. Why is that? The original Hebrew word for week means “a period of seven” and can apply to days or years. A more literal translation of Daniel 9:24 would be “seventy sevens are determined.” The only way to understand the events described in this passage is 70 times 7 or 490 years. It’s also noteworthy that “seven” is sometimes used figuratively in Scripture to depict fulfillment or completion. The time line begins with a “decree.” There are four decrees in Scripture that are possible starting points for the prophecy, but the precise dates are in question. (Note: on a phone you will need to turn the phone to horizontal view to see all 4 columns correctly):

       Decree                           Date                       69 Wks/483 Yrs                70 Wks/490 Yrs

Ezra 1:1-4 (Cyrus)              538/537 BC                     55/54 BC                             48/47 BC

Ezra 6:3-14 (Darius)          520/518 BC                     37/35 BC                             30/28 BC

Ezra 7:12-26 (Artaxerxes)     457 BC                             27 AD                                34 AD

Neh. 2:1-8 (Artaxerxes)     454/444 BC                    30/40 AD                            37/47 AD     

None of these timelines work out perfectly to the historical facts according to the description in the text, as we will explore. But the Ezra 7 one is close.

Let’s first consider some background information: Consider Daniel 2:37-44, were we find five kingdoms, widely understood to be Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then Christ’s eternal kingdom (the fifth kingdom) which would arise from the fourth kingdom of Rome.

  1. The best fit for the starting date, though not perfect, is 457 BC when King Artaxerxes decreed that the Israelites (who had not already done so) could return to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile (Ezra 7:12-26). Note that Daniel 9:24 is a summary of what is to follow: It’s about Jerusalem when Christ would atone for sins. Verses 25-26a, using 457 BC as the starting date― the sixty-ninth week, that is seven plus sixty-two, (69 x 7 = 483 years) ended about AD 27. That date is likely when Jesus began his ministry. (Jesus was born around 3 BC, and began his ministry at about age 30 per Luke 3:23). The text says that after the sixty-nine weeks, the Anointed One (Jesus) was “cut off” (crucified). This happened in history in about AD 30.[1]
  2. After that, at “the end” (verse 26b) there would be a war in which the city and sanctuary would be destroyed. When did that happen? ANSWER: AD 70. Notice that “the end” is mentioned three times in verses 26-27. These references to “the end” demand that the 70 weeks ended with the Jewish-Roman War of AD 66-73.
  3. The “end to sacrifice and offering” (verse 27a) would occur at the 70 ½ week point. That’s when the temple was destroyed in AD 70. The Jewish-Roman War began in AD 66, but the Romans retreated and the Jews claimed victory. Nero started over. He sent Vespasian and his son Titus for the final assault on Jerusalem.(Vespasian returned to Rome when Nero died in AD 68. Titus completed the job in Jerusalem.) This assault began in February AD 67 and the temple was destroyed in August AD 70. That’s exactly 3 ½ years, or “half a week.” This is precisely the half of a week described in Daniel 9:27.
  4. It’s not clear whether the “end to sacrifice and offering” was the first half or the second half of the 70th week. But if it was the first half of 70th the week, what happened during the second half? The text doesn’t say. But it hints that the end of the war was coming (9:26b). While the Jewish-Roman War culminated in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple, it ended in finality in AD 73-74 when the Romans finally took the fortress of Masada (AD 73) and eliminated the remaining strongholds (AD 74).[2] That was appx. 3 1/2 years from the destruction of the temple in AD 70. So, the whole seven-year 70th week was completed at that time. The war was the Great Tribulation of which Jesus spoke in Matthew 24 that would happen in his generation, just as He foretold (Matthew 24:21, 34).
  5. Who are the two “princes?” The first prince (9:25a) is the “anointed one” thus the Messiah Jesus, who atoned for iniquities. The second prince (“who was to come” in 9:26a) may also have been Jesus (Acts 6:14). Jesus was given all authority to judge per John 5:22. But conceivably was a different prince―the Roman general Titus, the one who destroyed the city and sanctuary.
  6. When was the Abomination of Desolation, i.e. the desecration of the temple (9:27b and 12:11), fulfilled? According to the text of Daniel 9, it had to be at the same time as the Jewish-Roman War. Jesus confirmed this, teaching that it would happen in his generation and his first-century followers would witness it (Matthew 24:15, 34). This was coincident with Jerusalem being surrounded by armies (Luke 21:20-24, 32). These facts are an insurmountable problem for dispensationalists who put the fulfillment of the 70 weeks thousands of years in the future. Note: There were two Abominations of Desolations in history, and both are mentioned in Daniel. The first one (Daniel 8:14 and possibly 11:31) happened in about 168 BC when the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes plundered the temple. The 8:14 event, in particular, is handled differently in the text than the 9:27 and 12:11 situation, as Antiochus did not destroy the temple. The text of 8:14 says that it was “restored to its righful state.” The AD 70 destruction of the temple (9:27 and 12:11) was permanent.
  7. Who is the “he” that makes a covenant “with many” (9:27a)? Pronouns demand an antecedent, so it has to be one of the princes mentioned earlier, not a figure future to us today. Using Scripture to interpret Scripture, it can be argued that it is Jesus as He is the one who brought a “covenant for many” per Matthew 26:28. It could also be the Roman general Titus as he was the prince that was most directly responsible for the destruction. Notice that there are two “he’s” in 27a, so it is possible that the first one is Jesus, while the second one was Titus. In any case, it isn’t a future Antichrist boogeyman as dispensationalists think. Antichrist is not even mentioned specifically in Daniel as  dispensationalists read their presupposition about this into the text. According to 1 John 4:3 the Antichrist was already in the world by the first century as it was the “last hour” (1 John 2:18) back then.
  8. This timeline is consistent with Daniel 12 which describes “the time of the end” happening when the “power of the holy people would be shattered” (12:7) and the “regular burnt offering taken away” (12:11). Note that the “time, times, and half a time” of Daniel 12:7 is 3 ½ years and is consistent with the timeline of Daniel 9. These things happened in AD 70. This also perfectly matches Revelation 11:2 when the holy city would be trampled for 42 months―also 3 ½ years.
  9. Was there a gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week? YES, I believe there was. Using the Ezra 7 timeline, the sixty-ninth week (483 years) ended in about AD 27. And the 490 years, if strictly literal, would therefore end  at AD 34. Some commentators favor this literal timeline, placing the culmination of the 70 weeks at the stoning of Stephen (about AD 34)―and the gospel going out to the world―in order to try to make the timeline come out perfectly. But that doesn’t work because the text ends with the Jewish-Roman War four decades later (66-73 AD). So, there was a gap, but the gap was small―about forty years. Thus, the prophecy is not strictly literal. It is noteworthy that other passages of Scripture suggest that the writers saw Jesus’ earthly ministry and the destruction of Jerusalem (i.e. at his “coming in judgment”) as two aspects of the same event (Isaiah 61:1-2; Daniel 7:9-14; Zechariah 12-14; Malachi 3:1-5, 12; 4:1-6; Matthew 3:1-12; Matthew 16:27-28; Luke 11:27-32; 21:28; John 5:19-29; 8:12-16; Romans 2:16; Hebrews 10:10-17). The dispensational view of a gap of thousands of years is reading a presupposition into the text that cannot be justified. That’s an illegitimate interpretation that makes a mockery of the clear teaching of the text and historical facts.[3]
  10. There’s another problem for dispensationalists, some of whom think that Daniel 9:24-27 suggests a rebuilt temple in our future. That view is preposterous. Daniel was written after Solomon’s temple had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC and before the building of the Second Temple, which was completed in about 515 BC and upgraded by Herod between 20 BC and 64 AD. Daniel was looking forward to this temple and its destruction in AD 70. In Daniel 9 there is no re-constituted Roman empire, no re-built temple in our future, no re-instituted animal sacrifices or required circumcision, no Antichrist, no 2,000-year gap, no future Great Tribulation, no secret rapture of the church, and no millennial kingdom.

CONCLUSION: The 70 weeks of Daniel unambiguously ends with the Jewish-Roman War of the first century, when God used to Roman army as the instrument for his vengeance against apostate Old Covenant Israel (Matthew 23:29-24:2; Luke 21:22-23). Further, Jesus declared that all Old Testament prophecy would be fulfilled in his generation (Luke 21:22, 32; cf. Acts 3:24).

******************

NOTES:

The final partial sentence can be translated several different ways, including: (1) “until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” (2) “even till the consummation, and that which is determined is poured on the desolate one.” (3) “even until the consummation which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” (4) “until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.” (5) “until the decreed end is poured out by (or because of) the desolator.” The last option seems the best considering the context.

Josephus and other ancient writers believed that the 70 weeks period was fulfilled in the Jewish-Roman War of AD 66-74. See

The Early Church Fathers and Daniel’s 70th Week – Prophecy Questions.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] FYI, some translations confuse verse 25 by making two sentences out of it, making it seem that the “anointed one” would appear after 7 weeks. Young’s Literal Translation, however, shows only one sentence:  “And thou dost know, and dost consider wisely, from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem till Messiah the Leader [is] seven weeks, and sixty and two weeks: the broad place hath been built again, and the rampart, even in the distress of the times.” This makes it clearer that the appearance of the “anointed one” would be 69 weeks from the starting date of the prophecy, or about AD 27.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_wars

[3] A few commentators say that the fate of the people, the city, and the temple was to be merely DETERMINED (but not accomplished) within the 70 weeks. This view is an attempt to make the prophecy be fulfilled exactly by the 490th week. But that is forcing the text to say what you want it to say, i.e. reading something into the text that is not there. Daniel 9:24a clearly says that the holy city’s fate would be determined within the 70 weeks. Confirmation comes from the “end” (of the 70 weeks) being with the war (9:26b).

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply