~~~ The Seventy 'Sevens' ~~~
1) Daniel Prays and Gabriel Answers: (Daniel, chapter 9)
  1. "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding... Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:" What vision is Gabriel referring to and that Daniel needs to understand?
  2. Obviously it is the vision he describes in Daniel 8, involving the conflict between a ram and a goat. This is detailed in: Vision of a Ram and a Goat
  3. This is the effect the vision had on Daniel: "I was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days... I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding." Daniel 8:27
  4. Gabriel speaks: "Seventy 'sevens'[1] are decreed for your people and your holy city." The significance, or ultimate purpose of this time period prophesy is:
    • To finish transgression. To put an end to sin
    • To atone for wickedness.
    • To bring in everlasting righteousness.
    • to seal up vision and prophecy.
    • And to anoint the Most Holy. Daniel 9:24
  5. "Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens', and sixty-two 'sevens'. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble." Daniel 9:25
  6. "After the sixty-two 'sevens', the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing[2]." Daniel 9:26 (first part)
  7. "The people[3] of the ruler[4] who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed." Daniel 9:26 (last part)
  8. "He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering." Daniel 9:27 (first part)
  9. "And at the temple[5] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.[6]" Daniel 9:27 (last part)
  1. Or weeks
  2. Or death, but not for himself
  3. Or troops
  4. Or prince
  5. Hebrew: wing
  6. Or poured out upon the Desolator
2) Unfolding the Seventy 'Sevens':
  1. The overall impression is that this is a Messianic prophecy.
  2. The seventy 'sevens' (weeks) comprises a period of 490 years. One seven = seven years * 70 = 490 years.
  3. The seventy 'sevens' are subdivided into three periods: Seven 'sevens', sixty two 'sevens', and one 'seven'.
  4. The decree issued by king Artaxerxes I in 457 BC is generally accepted to be the "word that goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem."
  5. This decree permitted some Hebrew exiles in Persia to return to Jerusalem to begin the rebuilding of the city.
  6. The rebuilding of the temple had already been completed 108 years earlier:
    • King Cyrus II, moved by his friendship with Daniel, ordered the temple reconstruction. "The Lord, the God of heaven... has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah." 2 Chronicles 36:23
    • Temple reconstruction begun in the second year of king Darius I (520 BC). Haggai 1:1.
    • Temple reconstruction completed sixth year of king Darius I (516 BC). Ezra 6:15
  7. 457 BC is then the starting date for the seventy 'sevens'. From that time to the "Annointed One" there would be seven 'sevens' and sixty two 'sevens' (483 years).
  8. The first 'seven' is given as the time for the restoration to be completed, or about 408 BC.
  9. After the sixty two 'sevens' the "Annointed One" will appear, which is about the year 26 AD.
  10. From the time of the prophet Samuel and beginning with Saul, the practice of annointing with oil signified God's choice to rule as king. 1 Samuel 10:1
  11. When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate he was asked, "Are you the king of the jews?", to which Jesus replied, "My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:33-36
  12. Jesus is also the sacrificial "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Therefore, his death on the cross is the fulfillment of the seventy weeks prophecy.
  13. The ending for the seventy 'sevens' prophecy would be about 33 AD, which coincides with the most commonly accepted year of the crucifixion of Jesus.
  14. The final two verses in the seventy 'sevens' prophecy introduces a startling departure from the previous verses.
  15. The city and the temple will be destroyed by a new entity identified as "people of the ruler who will come."
  16. In Jesus' day Judea was a Roman province, so this entity, also referred to in the text by the pronoun "he", has to be Rome.
  17. It is Rome, therefore, that is said to do the following:
    • He confirms (makes) a covenant (agreement) with many for one 'seven'.
    • Midway through the 'seven' he breaks the agreement by abolishing the sanctuary services.
    • At the temple he sets up the abomination that causes desolation.
  18. Some interpreters say this entity is the antichrist who makes a pact with Israel at the beginning of the tribulation.
  19. It allows the Jews to re-establish their sacrificial system of worship which requires the reconstruction of the Jewish temple.
  20. Since they claim this is an end-time event it means this last 'seven' are cut off (not contiguous) with the first sixty-nine.
  21. This interpretation is not supported by Jesus' own words given to his disciples in which he quotes Daniel.
    • "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel... then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." Matthew 24:15-16
    • "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near... For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written." Luke 21:20-22
  22. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 70 AD when Roman forces under general Titus put down the final Jewish revolt.
  23. This was the end of the Jewish temple religious practice and has never been resumed. The Islamic sacred site known as the Dome of the Rock now occupies the temple mount.