The Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9
Daniel 9:24-27 and its fulfillment in Yeshua (Jesus). Verses 26a and 27a speak of Messiah, and 26b and 27b of the destroyer. Tap a segment.
Daniel divides the span to Messiah into seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The sixty-two are counted back from AD 29/30 and read as approximate. No decree is claimed at about 405 BCE, and Daniel states no interval between the two. The final week is split: the first half is Jesus' ministry and cross (9:26a, 27a), the second half is the war that ends in AD 70 (9:26b, 27b).
The six purposes (Daniel 9:24)
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 reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
| Purpose | Commonly cited fulfillment |
|---|---|
| Finish the transgression | Isa 53:5; Col 2:14 |
| Make an end of sins | Heb 9:26 |
| Reconcile iniquity | Rom 5:10; 2 Cor 5:18-19 |
| Everlasting righteousness | Rom 3:21-22 |
| Seal vision and prophecy | Luke 24:44 |
| Anoint the Most Holy | Luke 3:21-22; Acts 10:38 |
Messiah cut off, not for himself
Daniel 9:26 says Messiah is cut off after the sixty-two weeks and not for himself. Read as the atonement: he died for others (Isa 53:8; Rom 5:6-8).
He confirms the covenant
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.
Romans 15:8. The verb "confirm" parallels Daniel 9:27, "he shall confirm the covenant with many." See also Matt 26:28; Heb 9:15-17.
Sacrifice and oblation cease
In the midst of the week, he causes sacrifice and offering to cease. On this reading, the cross makes the sacrificial system obsolete in its covenant meaning (Heb 10:8-14), whatever happened in the Temple later.
The people of the prince
Daniel 9:26 closes with the people of the prince who shall come destroying the city and the sanctuary, with a flood and war. This is read as Rome in AD 70, which Josephus describes.
Sabbatical years run Tishri to Tishri. This chain is a reconstruction counted in strict sevens from Ezekiel 40:1 (Tishri 10, 573 BCE), taken as a jubilee. The jubilee year doubles as year 1 of the next cycle. It is not a documented record.
| Year | Note |
|---|---|
| 588/587 BCE | Siege of Jerusalem runs through it; city falls 587/586 |
| 574/573 BCE | 49th year |
| 573/572 BCE | Jubilee (Ezekiel 40:1) |
| AD 22/23 | Sabbatical |
| AD 29/30 | Ministry opens; Luke 4:18-19, "the acceptable year of the Lord" |
| AD 36/37 | Sabbatical |
| AD 43/44, 50/51, 57/58 | Sabbaticals |
| AD 64/65 | Sabbatical, before the war |
| AD 71/72 | Sabbatical, after the Temple's fall |
John's ministry begins at Tishri 10 in AD 28/29 (Luke 3:1-2, Tiberius' 15th year); Jesus is baptized about a year later.
What this view has to defend
- The count is approximate. No decree is recorded at about 405 BCE, or at about 454 BCE, the start of an exact 483-year count to AD 29/30. Ezra 7 (458/457) and Nehemiah 2 (445/444) bracket it.
- The seven and the sixty-two. Daniel 9:25 gives them as one span unto Messiah. Dividing it is defensible, but the text states no interval between them.
- One week, two halves. Verse 27 shows no break inside the week. The split rests on pairing 26a/27a with 26b/27b. Each half is 3.5 years: "a time, times, and half a time" (Dan 7:25; 12:7) is 1 + 2 + ½ years, and Rev 12:6, 14 gives 1,260 days for the same period.
- Who "he" is in 27b. The desolator is read as a new figure, not the "he" of 27a.
- The midpoint. The cross at AD 33 is the midpoint of the week. AD 70 closes the second half.
- The sabbatical chain. It sits 3 to 4 years from the Herod-based reconstructions, and the 1 Maccabees cross-check is an unresolved ambiguity in Seleucid-era dating.