Daniel’s Seventy Weeks

Daniel had been in exile with his fellow Jews for nearly seventy years when Babylon was invaded by Darius the Mede. During the first year of Darius’ reign, Daniel was reading Jeremiah [25:12 and 29:10] and realised the seventy years of Israel’s exile were nearly complete and prayed concerning it. During his lengthy prayer for his people, the angel Gabriel came and gave Daniel a prophecy involving seventy weeks, which are seventy weeks (seventy sevens, explained below) of 360-day-years, representing Israel’s destiny. The angel Gabriel said to Daniel: At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision: [Daniel 9:23]. The seventy week prophecy followed in verses 24 to 27. Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed as to your people and as to your holy city, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going out of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in times of affliction. 26 And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. And the people of the ruler who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be with the flood, and ruins are determined, until the end shall be war. 27 And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and on a corner of the altar desolating abominations, even until the end. And that which was decreed shall be poured on the desolator. Verse 24a: Seventy weeks are decreed as to your people and as to your holy city, Seventy weeks are decreed …. In ancient Hebrew, ‘weeks’ simply referred to a unit of seven. The Hebrew word here is often used to mean a unit of seven days, but it may also be used for a unit of seven years. The Jews’ years were divided into weeks of years, each week containing seven years, the seventh year of which was a Sabbath year. This numbering (or counting) system was introduced by God to Moses to organise their agricultural system which allowed six years of planting and harvesting followed by a year when the land was rested [Leviticus 25:1-7] . After seven cycles of these seven years, there was to be a Year of Jubilee in which all land was restored to its original owner (where relevant) and all slaves were set free [Lev 25:8-10] . It was quite natural, then, for a week to be understood as a week of years, particularly because the Hebrew translated as “seventy weeks” literally means “seventy sevens” as to your people and as to your holy city The angel Gabriel was talking to Daniel, an Israelite. your people are the Israelites, the Jews, and your holy city is Jerusalem. This isn’t for Christians. The Seventy Weeks of Daniel, then, is a prophetic roadmap of highly significant events from the ending of the Jewish exile in Babylon to the second coming of Jesus. In summary: Verse 24 gives the scope of the prophecy, 70 weeks (= 70 x 7 years) and tells us it is for the Jews. Verse 25 gives the first 69 weeks and is the period between Artaxerxes’ decree to rebuild Jerusalem in 445 BC [ Nehemiah 2:5-8 ], and Jesus’ triumphal entry in Jerusalem in 32 AD . Verse 26 speaks of a period of unknown length between the 69th and 70th weeks during which the Messiah is executed, Jerusalem is destroyed (70 AD ) and the Diaspora follows. We know we are in this period of unknown length because not all the conditions of Daniel 9:25 have been met: to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Verse 27 speaks of the 70th week during which there will be a covenant enforced, but it will be interrupted half way through when sacrifices and oblations will cease and an abomination will desolate the Holy Place [ Mat 24:15; 2 Thes 2:3,4 ]. Then the great tribulation will begin [ Mat 24:21 ], which precedes the Messiah’s second coming at the end of the 70th week. It is the whole 70th week (seven years) that is generally referred to as the tribulation period. From our brief look at the Olivet Discourse, and having identified the seven-year tribulation, we can now consider the signposts which will help identify when the seven year tribulation period might start, or has started.

Signposts in Daniel 9:27

To remind us, this is Daniel 9:27: And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and on a corner of the altar desolating abominations, even until the end. And that which was decreed shall be poured on the desolator. The interpretation of which is: The Antichrist will strengthen, or enforce, a covenant with the Jews for seven years, but half way through the seven years he will renege on that covenant, preventing all further worship at the Jewish temple and present himself as God at the temple . From this one verse we can identify some signposts that will tell us if we are in the end-times. But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. This event will undoubtedly be known world-wide, announced through international news and social media networks. For sacrifice and offerings to be in place, there must be a temple in which the Jews will be carrying out their rituals, and a previous agreement for the temple to be built. The signposts can therefore be reasonably suggested as: A covenant with the many enforced - this is the key event that initiates the seven-year tribulation The Jewish temple constructed and the sacrifices and offerings resumed The covenant reneged and an end brought to the sacrifices and offerings The Antichrist setting himself up as God. The problem presented here is that if we rely on these signposts for a decision on preparing ourselves for the tribulation, assuming a pre-tribulation rapture they all come a little late. The covenant with many, enforced by the Antichrist, implies we will already be in the final seven years. If we are to do better than that, and make time to warn at least family and friends, then we have to look further than the obvious in Daniel 9:27. Where does this leave the initiation of the seven year tribulation; I've no idea. Our approach must remain the same: The seven year tribulation will happen at some time, as will the rapture of the church. Remembering we do not know the day or hour, Matthew 24:36, 42 But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels of Heaven, but only My Father. Therefore watch; for you do not know what hour your Lord comes. We must, then, ensure we are spiritually prepared and be aware the Lord could come at any time to gather His church. To adopt an approach that suggests this is a long way off could be a serious mistake for unbelievers, and also some believers whose faith might be superficial. The result of which could be an eternity separated from God. As a means of working towards being spiritually prepared, re-visiting the pages ‘ Is simply believing enough ’ and ‘ The Sermon On the Mount ’ will help. Click here to return to where we left off on the Tribulation page