Israel’s 71 Weeks in Daniel?

 

The following passage in Daniel chapter nine has, without a doubt, been the most talked about and written about four verses in Old Testament prophecy. Because so much has been read into this prophecy from others who have gone before, its message has been distorted and twisted to being nearly unrecognizable. The extra baggage this prophecy has been saddled with by others must be discarded and the prophecy allowed to speak for itself. Only by accepting the words to mean what their definitions permit and interpreting them through scripture can we extract its true meaning. Let’s now study this important passage, not by means of what we have heard but by what our eyes actually see on the page.

Daniel 9:16-19: Daniel prays for his people and for Jerusalem and the temple, which were in ruins. [22] Gabriel arrives to give Daniel “skill and understanding.” Gabriel’s message states: 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people (Daniel’s people Israel vs. 20) and upon thy holy city (Jerusalem vs. 16).” Take notice of the number “seventy.”

Seventy weeks to accomplish 6 tasks, all of which were completed by Yahshua Messiah (see references for proof).

1. “to finish (3607) the transgression:” Is. 43:25, 53:4-8; Ps 103:12; Ro. 3:25; Gal. 3:19; He. 9:15.
#3607 kala, to restrict, by act (hold back) or word (prohibit):-finish, forbid, keep (back), refrain, restrain, shut up, be stayed, withhold.

2. “to make an end of sin:” Jo. 1:29; Ro. 3:25, 5:18, 6:6-7 & 8:3; 2 Co. 5:21; He. 9:12 & 26; 1 Pe. 4:1; 1 Jo. 3:5.

3. “make reconciliation (3722) for iniquity :” Ro. 5:11; 2 Co. 5:19; Col. 1:20-22; He. 2:17.

#3722 kaphar, to cover; fig. to condone, to cancel:-appease, make (an) atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, pardon, purge (away), (make) reconcile (-liation).

4. “bring in everlasting righteousness :” Mt. 3:15; Ro. 3:21-26,10:4; 2 Co. 5:21, 9:9; Ph. 3:9; 1 Pe. 2:24.

5. “seal up (2856) the vision and prophecy:” This could be understood from reading Luke 24:44 (also Mt. 26:54-56; Lu. 18:31 &24:24-27; Ac. 3:24), that the Messiah was to fulfill or complete “the vision and prophecy.” This explanation would overlook the true definition of “seal up” (see #2856). From this we see it means to close up Israel’s understanding of, not only this prophecy, but also visions and prophecies, Daniel’s and all others, relating to Yahshua the coming Messiah. Isa. 8:14-17 shows how Elohim will be a sanctuary, perhaps to a few (remnant), and a stumblingstone to many. In Isa. 8: 17 Daniel’s words are echoed by Isaiah, “Bind up the testimony, seal the law.” A comparison of the following portions of scripture clearly demonstrates how Elohim withheld understanding from all but a remnant of Israel: compare Is. 29:10-13 with Mk. 7:6 & Ro. 11:8-10; Is. 65:8-9 & 10:20-22 with Ro. 9:27-33; Is. 11:1-5 & 10-13 with Ro. 15:12; Is. 65:1-2 & 15 with Ro. 10:20-21; Hos. 1:10 with Ro. 9:24-27 & 1 Pe. 2:10; Is. 8:14 with 1 Pe. 2:8; Ps. 69:22 with Ro. 11:9.

#2856 chatham, to close up; espec. to seal:-make an end, mark, seal (up), stop.

Look no further then this very book of Daniel for evidence chatham doesn’t in this case mean put an end to or fulfill.

Da 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal (2856) the book, even to the time of the end.
Da 12:9 Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed (2856) till the time of the end.

We see prophecy hasn’t stopped, ended or all been completely fulfilled but simply that this “vision and prophecy” had been locked away from the eyes of the Jews.

6. “to anoint the most Holy (6944).” Many take the “most holy” to mean Yahshua or Yahweh, but this Hebrew word is defined as “a sacred place or thing,” not a person, and is almost always referring to the Holy of Holies or the articles used therein. The KJV translators in many passages have rendered it “most holy place,” in order to convey the true meaning (see Ex 26:34, Nu 18:10, Eze 41:4).

#6944 qodesh, a sacred place or thing; sanctity:-consecrated or hallowed (thing), holiness, (most) holy, sanctuary.

The first day of each year Yahweh instructed Moses to set up the tabernacle and anoint it (Ex 40:2).

Ex 29:36 Thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. 37 It shall be an altar most holy (6944). See He. 9:18-22.

Ex 30:10 Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto Yahweh.

Ex 40:9 Thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, 10 And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy (6944). 11 Thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot, and sanctify it.

Can we see how Yahshua also did “anoint the most Holy?” First compare Mt. 27:51 with He. 10:19-20, then look at He. 1:3, “When he (Yahshua) had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

He 9:11 Messiah being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle. 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place. 23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Messiah is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of Elohim for us.

The priesthood has been transferred to Yahshua who anointed, not the earthly “most Holy,” but the true “most Holy” in heaven itself before the presence of Almighty Yahweh.

“Seventy weeks are determined (2852).” The Hebrew word for “determined” is only used this once in the entire Bible, meaning here to cut a portion off or out, to mark out or divide off. To whom and where was this period of time allotted? Not to mankind as a whole or all the nations, but to Daniel’s people, the Jews, and the holy city, Jerusalem. Listen to Gabriel, you’ll see this prophecy does not apply to the end time world when Yahweh pours out His wrath on all mankind but only to the House of Judah. What was this period of time set aside to accomplish? Listen again to Gabriel and not to men with vivid imaginations and you’ll hear him point out the six requirements we have just reviewed, all perfectly completed through the work of Yahshua Messiah. The seventy weeks were designated for the build-up to and completion of the Messiah’s work, nothing else.

Keep in mind that verse 24 describes the mission, the assignment, with seventy weeks to carry it out, whereas verses 25-27 lay out the general scheme of how it will unfold. It is also important to note that the second half of verse 26 breaks off from the chronological flow and jumps ahead to the destruction of Daniel’s people and the holy city. Gabriel, as part of the seventy-week mission, did not speak of the punishment of the Jews which was to follow and so we see it also is not included in that time frame. When we get to verse 27 it again reverts back into the chronological order until the word “cease,” when it leaps ahead once more to describe the consequences that will be suffered by the Jews as a result of rejecting this prophecy.

Falling back to verse 25 we read where Gabriel pictures for Daniel how and when these things will take place. He states that from the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem “unto the Messiah the Prince” shall be 69 weeks. Everyone agrees the Messiah is Yahshua Messiah and that 69 weeks = 483 years.

[26a] “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.” “AFTER 69 weeks” (62+7). The time period here never mentions the 70th week but simply reads “after 69 weeks.” Did Messiah die after the 69th week? Yes. Was the city and sanctuary destroyed after the 69th week? Yes.

[26b]“and the people of the prince that shall come.” At this point in this verse it speaks of events not within the 70 weeks but after. Make note of the words “that shall come” plus “and the end thereof” which indicate a time following the 70 weeks. Now where did this prince come from? What prince is he talking about? Only one prince has been mentioned in this entire chapter and that was in the previous verse, “Messiah the Prince.” Many KJV Bibles include in their margins starting after the word himself, “and {the Jews} they shall be no more his people, or, and the prince’s {Messiah’s, vs. 25} future people” shall destroy the city … This in no way can be claimed as Daniel’s writing and at best can only be used to lead us to see these people as instruments of Elohim’s judgement. However, the Septuagint (LXXE) reads this way.

[26a-b] And after the sixty–two weeks, the anointed one shall be destroyed, and there is no judgment in him: and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming. (LXXE)

Everywhere everybody agrees that in vs. 25 “Messiah the Prince” is Yahshua Messiah and vs. 26 “Messiah be cut off” is also Yahshua, then it only stands to reason “the prince” in vs. 26 is the prince in verse 25, the one we’ve been talking about all along and not someone who has not even been mentioned and is supposed to appear after all six requirements of this entire prophesy have been completed.

History confirms that Titus, the Roman prince, destroyed “the city and the sanctuary” commanding his army. Should this then not read “the prince and his people that shall come?” How can we then believe that they are “the people of the prince,” who is Messiah and not Titus? Isaiah 63:8 tells us Yahweh is the “Saviour” of “my people” (Israel vs. 8). But in vs. 10 “he was turned to their enemy, and he fought against them.” We believe the destruction, in 70 AD by the Romans, was brought on Israel by their disobedience and rejection of the Messiah. Most Christians believe this, regardless of how they interpret the 70 weeks. Why then is it so difficult to see that the instruments for this judgement would be called “the people of the (Messiah) prince?”

The first time Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, Yahweh’s servants destroyed it. Jer. 25:9 states, “Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant.” Yahweh even says He will profane His own sanctuary, “I will profane my sanctuary” (Ezk. 24:21). The Old Testament is chalked full of events where Israel was repeatedly punished by Elohim using heathen armies because of their constant disobedience. In Isa. 10:5 & 6 He uses the Assyrian army as “the rod of my anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation” against His “hypocritical nation.” In Hosea 1:9 Yahweh declares, “ye are not my people, and I will not be your Elohim.” Yet in the next verse He embraces a people, “it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living Elohim.” What people are these? John 1:11-13 explains it, “He came onto his own, and his own receives him not. [12] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of Elohim,” and these children are not descended from flesh but spirit (see vs. 13). How can we know Hosea speaks of the New Covenant assembly as Elohim’s chosen children in this age? Paul substantiates Hosea in Ro. 9:24-26.

So Yahweh has in the past used Babylon and Assyria to destroy Israel for Him and called them His servants or people, and so it should be no surprise that He would use Rome in the same capacity and call them the people of His prince. After all Yahweh called the destructive insects He used against Israel, “My great army which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25).

[26c] “and unto the end of the war desolations (8074) are determined.” If this is Yahweh’s doing can we say with certainty that He determined beforehand that His city and sanctuary would be laid waste? In Lev. 26:30-33 He does just that, “And I will destroy your high places,” [31] “And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation (8074),” [32] “I will bring the land into desolation (8074),” [33] “And I will scatter you among the heathen, …and your land shall be desolate (8077), and your cities waste.” Yahweh used the same Hebrew word (desolation #8074) with Moses as He did with Daniel, He meant what He said and took credit for the desolation.

#8074 shamem, to stun (or grow numb), i.e. devastate or stupefy:-make amazed, be astonied, astonish(-ment), (bring, lay, make) desolate(-ion), be destitute, destroy, (lay, make) waste.
#8076 shamem, from 8074; ruined:-desolate.
#8077 shamamah, from 8076; desolate, desolation, devastation, waste.

[27c] “for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,” just as He forewarned, “even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Isaiah describes this same thing in 10:22, “the consumption (completed destruction) decreed (determined, same Hebrew word) shall overflow (Dan. vs. 26, with a flood, same Hebrew word) with righteousness (justice #6666).” [23] “For Yahweh Elohim of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.” Yahweh, Elohim Himself, will destroy Israel, not any antichrist. This is how the NIV translates this verse, “The Lord, Yahweh Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land” (Isa. 10:23).

Yahshua laid it out clear as a bell in Mt. 23:37-38, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often would I have gathered… and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” He then departed from the temple and said to the disciples concerning the buildings of the temple, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down (24:2).”

In 70 AD Titus and his Roman army completely destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, repeated invasions and destruction continued until 135 AD, “the end of the war” of vs. 26 or “until the consummation” of vs. 27. Howard Fast tells us in The Jews Story of A People, pg. 136, “The Judean hills were desolate and lifeless, and Samaria would never recover from the destruction wreaked upon her by the Romans, in return for her joining the Jewish rebellion. Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, vol. 15, pg. 60 states, “When the rebellion was finally put down by Rome, Judea was prostrate.” Yes indeed, Yahweh fulfilled this prophecy to the very letter using the Romans as His instruments of desolation.

Is 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

[27a] “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:” Can we make the “he” apply to some future prince 2500 years in the future, not even named in the context of the prophecy, or must it pertain to the subject mentioned? We know that the pronoun “he” is not to be connected with the word “prince” in the expression “the people of the prince,” for prince is the object of the modifying clause “of the prince.” A pronoun cannot properly have as its antecedent the object of a modifying clause. To be grammatically correct the pronoun “he” must refer back to the noun “Messiah!”

One of the most incredible distortions imposed upon this prophecy is the unbelievable fact that many assert this pronoun “he” refers back to the prince in the phrase “the people of the prince,” whom they insist is Titus. Yet this pronoun for Titus is not Titus they tell us, no, it is someone who will live nearly 2000 years after Titus, someone they identify as the Antichrist. So they create three princes out of the one mentioned by totally disregarding the context, the rules of grammar and verification through other scriptures.

Since “he” does indeed speak of “Messiah,” can we see where Messiah did “confirm the covenant with many (Jews)?” Indeed we can because the New Testament corroborates the Old, Gal. 3:17, “the covenant, that was confirmed (4300) before of Elohim in Messiah.” By whom did Yahweh confirm the covenant? Paul says it was confirmed in Messiah. Another confirmation of the truth is Ro. 15:8, “Yahshua Messiah was a minister…to confirm (950) the promises made unto the fathers.” He confirmed the promises (1860) Elohim formed into a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Another testimony is He. 9:16-17, quoting vs. 17, “For a testament is of force (949) after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” The word “force” is from the same Greek word translated “confirmed” in Ro. 15:8, see Mt. 26:28; He. 8:6 & 10:9.

#4300 prokuroo, to ratify previously:-confirm before.
# 949 bebaios, stable (lit. or fig.):-firm, of force, steadfast, sure.
# 950 bebaioo, from 949; to make firm, establish, confirm, make sure

Although this was an everlasting covenant, it was only confirmed or in force with the “many” for one week. In Mt. 15:24 Yahshua says, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This is also seen in Ac. 3:26 “Unto you first Elohim, having raised up his Son Yahshua, sent him to bless you,” Peter is here speaking to the “men of Israel” (vs. 12). Paul says the same thing in Ro. 1:16, “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Even after the Christians were scattered following Stephen’s death they were “preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only” (Ac. 11:19), see Mt. 10:5-6 & Jo. 1:31. Why did Yahweh cutoff preaching to the Jews? The answer is found in Ac. 13:46, “It was necessary that the word of Elohim should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you put it from you (vs. 45), and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles,” also Mt. 21:42-45; Ac. 28:27 & Ro. 10:21. When did this happen? Ac. 18:6, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles,” and Ac. 28:28.

The word “many” (7227) is used throughout the Old Testament to signify a group of people or even a nation. Here are just a few instances: Ex. 5:5; 1 Ki. 4:20; Ezr. 10:13; Is. 8:15; Dan. 8:25 & 11:33; Mal. 2:6. He confirmed (strengthen or brought into force) a covenant with many (all Israel) but only a few (the remnant) accepted it, the rest were blinded (Ro. 11:7).

[27b] “and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease,” this has lead some to say this is where the antichrist breaks the covenant with the Jews mentioned above. Look again, it does not say the covenant is broken, for that matter the covenant is not even mentioned or implied. The second action does not have to necessarily be the undoing of the first, if it does then the covenant is only for 3½ years and not seven. Did the Messiah “cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease?” Hebrews chapter 10 tells us it is so. Verses 1 and 2 explains how if under the law sacrifices could have made man perfect, they would “have ceased to be offered,” and in vs. 14 that was the result, “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Now reading verses 5 through 12, we see in vs. 9, “He (Elohim the Father) taketh away the first, (vs. 5 “Sacrifice and offering,”) that He may establish the second” (vs. 5 the body of Messiah to be the final sacrifice). Showing in vs. 19 that we may now enter into the Holy of Holies through the new veil, which is Messiah’s flesh (vs. 20). That is why at the moment of the Saviour’s death the old veil was “rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Mt. 27:51). This was Yahweh demonstrating that the building on the Temple Mount was no longer His dwelling place, just as Yahshua had prophesied in Jn. 4:21-24. In He. 9:8 we see the way into the holiest place of all, Yahweh’s presence, was not yet made manifest (Messiah manifested in the flesh, vs. 11 & 1 Ti. 3:16) while the first tabernacle “was yet standing.” A. T. Robertson, in Word Pictures in the New Testament Vol. 5, pg. 397, translates this last phrase as “(having standing stasin #4714), the first tabernacle still having a place.” W. E. Vine, in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words vol. 4, pg. 72 sees it this way, “to have a standing, lit., has a standing.” Strong’s #4714, “stasis, a standing, i.e. (by analogy) position.”

We now can plainly see that this four-verse prophecy has two primary parties involved, 1) Yahweh, with His Son Yahshua Messiah, and 2) the chosen people Israel, in this case the Kingdom of Judah. There is no antichrist, no seven-year agreement or future seventieth week and no abomination of desolation in a modern, newly built temple. One of the principal reasons that has led to such a colossal misunderstanding is the combining of fragments of this prophecy intermingled with fragments of others, including the next three chapters of Daniel, particularly Dan 12:11. Sorry, but there is no 71^st week in this prophecy.