The Seventy weeks

A Bible study on Daniel 9:24-27.

Jan Kapteyn

Yahuweh has given a time schedule for the completion of His plans for this earth.

This plan concerns Israel the descendants of Jacob, which nation Yahuweh has chosen as the instruments for His plans. This time schedule starts after the Babylonian exile.
We find this in Daniel 9:24-27. This study is done from the Hebrew Tanakh, because it is the only reliable source for study. This writing will use the writer's translation of the Hebrew. It is based on context translation, in other words from the many meanings of a word, those denotations are taken that fit the context.I use the Jewish dating and use BCE Before Common Era and CE Common Era to indicate the other calendar era.<*><*><*><*><*><*> Daniel called out to Yahuweh to ask for mercy, on behalf of His people, the town Jerusalem and the abandoned ruins of the Temple, Dan.9:1-19.
Yahuweh answered his prayer by sending the Angel Gabriel, Dan.9:20-23.
The answer is given in Daniel.9:24-27: Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are set out for your people and concerning your Holy City. To finish the transgression and to cease sin and to cover iniquity, and to cause to come righteousness for ever and to seal up vision and prophecy and to consecrate Holy Of Holies. Shavooah means week and is derived from sheva, meaning seven. Shavooah means also a unit of seven, like our dozen is a unit of twelve.
From the context it can be seen that for week, a unit of seven years is meant.

Finish transgression.: Transgression is violating the rules as set out in the Torah about our conduct.
To cease Sin: Sin is the shortcoming we have in reaching the goals set out in the Torah.
To cover up iniquity: Iniquity is willfully ignoring and violating the rules and goals set out in the Torah. To cover it up does not mean to make it look like it never happened, it means to put a lid on it so that it cannot escape anymore.
Cause everlasting righteousness to be the rule for always.: Righteousness means that rules are implemented, which are to the benefit of the whole of creation.
To seal up Vision and Prophecy.: Primary this indicates that the Nation Israel is the only source of Vision and Prophecy. This means that only from out this nation prophets can arise. Prophesy and visions are sealed up after those 70 weeks, which means that they are kept sealed as a witness and can be opened by someone in authority to be used in evidence. It also means that prophecy and visions are now only possible in those 70 weeks and I will come back to this later.
To consecrate the Holy of Holies.: The holy of holies is the dwelling place of Yahuweh on Earth. Only when it and all its implements are properly consecrated it will be ready for His occupation. Twice before this has happened. Once with the Tabernacle in the desert, Exodus 40:34-35 and once when the Temple of Solomon was finished, 1Kings 8:10-11.
It will happen again at the conclusion of the seventy weeks. This has been foreseen by Ezekiel and recorded in Ezek. 43:1-4.
It is important for the explanation of this prophecy to realize that the Temples build after the exile did not contain the ark of the covenant and that Yahuweh's shekhina glory did not fill these Temples. They were only consecrated to allow sacrifices.

There will be more years involved, up till the thousand years of peace, then these four hundred and ninety years. However, Israel shall only be actively involved in Yahuweh's work for the 70 week time period. This involvement is not voluntarily, it has been determined by Yahuweh._{Deuteronomy 7:6} We will now see what else was revealed to Daniel, about Yahuweh using Israel during the 70 weeks
Dan.9:25: And learn to know and have insight, from the going out (of) word to return and to build Yerushalaim, till Moshiyach ruler, Seven weeks and sixty two weeks, to return and to build street and hard-working also in the times (of)constraint. We see clearly two distinct periods set out, one of seven weeks, 49 years, and one of 62 weeks, 434 years. That is 69 weeks or 383 years till the Moshiyach ruler.

The 490 years start when permission is given to return and start rebuilding Jerusalem.

In Ezra 1:1, we read that Cyrus (Koresh) king of Persia gave the Jews permission to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple, after seventy years of exile.
Yahuweh through Jeremiah, as recorded in Jer.25:8-12, foretold this. In Isa.44:24-45:7 Yahuweh confirms this return.
The return of the first exiles to Israel, started in the year 3224 (536 BCE.) There has been a clay cylinder discovered, upon which Cyrus himself describes that the deity Marduk had commanded him, to let the exiled peoples return to their home countries. According to 2Chro.36:23 and Ezra 1:2 the proclamation of Cyrus used the name Yahuweh. The cylinder of Cyrus says Marduk. Cyrus did not acknowledge any other deity but Marduk, the Babylonian deity. He claimed that Marduk had given him the power to conquer the Babylonian Empire and therefore Marduk had the everlasting gratitude of Cyrus.
Marduk was called Merodach in Hebrew and is mentioned in Jer.50:2. Of course the Bible writers knew that it was not Marduk, but Yahuweh who made Cyrus act. That is why they used the name Yahuweh. Cyrus was not a worshiper of Yahuweh but nevertheless a servant of Yahuweh, because Yahuweh used him to accomplish His plans. At the time of the permission for the first return in the year 3222 (538BCE) there was no order to rebuild Jerusalem.
The intention of the first exiles that returned was to rebuild the Temple.
Even that was not started until two years after their arrival and their attempts were severely troubled, because Yerushalaim was in ruins and could not be defended properly.
They finished building a small temple in 20 years, in the year 3245 (515BCE) Nehemiah a Jew still in exile, realized that the city needed rebuilding to protect the temple and he was led by Yahuweh to get from Artaxerxes the promise and order to rebuild Yerushalaim, Nehemiah Chapt:2. Artaxerxes reigned from 3295-3335 (465-425BCE). Nehemiah tells us that the permission to rebuild Jerusalem was given in the 20th year of his reign, in the month Nisan.
This makes it the 7th month of the year 3315 (445 BCE), 70 years after the temple rebuilding was finished.
It would take 49 years to rebuild Jerusalem.
After this there were still 434 years to go till the Messiah. All together a period of 483 years. Counting 483 years from 3315 up wards, brings us to Nisan in the year 3798 (38 CE.) Taking in consideration some possible miscalculations in establishing the year of the birth of the Messiah, we end up somewhere around the year in which Yeshua the Moshiya entered Jerusalem, hailed as a ruler. This is recorded in John 12:12-14. We should also take notice that this was again in the month Nisan.
Dan.9:26 then after the weeks sixty and two shall be cut off Moshiyach and he has not. and the city and the holy shall destroy people ruler the coming one. Then his end in a pool. Then at the end battle will be decisive to anguish. These 62 weeks, begin after the 7 weeks it took to restore Jerusalem. We are now up to 69 weeks, out of the total of 70 weeks.
After these 69 weeks or 483 years, the Moshiyach will be cut of.
The Hebrew word used here, is 'karet', and means in this context a premature death. The meaning of cut off in English, is the same.
We know that the Moshiyach, suffered a premature death. It says therefore that the Moshiyach shall have a premature death after these 62 weeks.
Then we have the expression "and He has not." I have heard many explanations and have seen many strange translations, but there is really no mystery about it, it is very simple.
When translating Hebrew, we always have to look at the context to find the right concept but above all what the people of the time understood about this. We must realize that Daniel and his generation were well acquainted with the many prophecies of the promised Moshiya, the deliverer, which would restore Israel forever as Yahuweh's people in the Promised Land with ever lasting peace.
However, Daniel speaks of an anointed ruler, 'Moshiyach nagiyd' in Hebrew.
Now Yeshuah was anointed, Matt,26:6-13 and hailed as a ruler, Matt 21:1-11. but He was not officially annointed as ruler and He did not complete His task as Moshiya, which is deliverer at that time either.
So the expression "and He has not," makes perfect sense.
This appearance of the Moshiyach was not the complete fulfillment of the restoration promise. He could not be, because there is still one week outstanding from the 70 weeks necessary to prepare for the promised delivery and restoration of Israel.
We also know from the Khetuvim Netzarim (writings of the followers of Yeshua) that Yeshua entered Yerushalaim as a ruler on that particular day, Matt.21:1-9, Mark 11:1-10, Luke 19:28-38, John 12:12-16.
However, Yeshua never took up His position as ruler, because the time was not yet right and He was executed as King of the Jews, John 19:19, and He has not, fulfilled all the prophesies. There is at some time in the future still another 7 years to go, after which the Moshiya has fulfilled all the prophesies.

For clarification, the Hebrew word Moshiyach means anointed and Moshiya means deliverer, the final 'ch' is making all the difference.
Daniel is the only one referring to the Moshiyach, all other referrences in the Tanakh to the comming deliverer are using the word Moshiya and it's grammatical forms, such as Moshiyecha, your deliverer.

" and the city and the holy shall destroy, people ruler the coming one.." To put this in plain English:
"The city and the holy place shall be destroyed by the people, from whom the future leader shall come.
We know from history that the Romans, a people not known in Daniel's time, destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. This happened shortly, about 40 years, after the Messiah was executed. We also know that in the 4th century the Roman Empire faded into the Church, which became the next world ruler.
From the context of this and other Scriptures, we know that this ruler will be the coming Antichrist and the beast from Rev.13:1-10. In Rev.13:18, John gives an other hint that the leader comes from the Roman empire, which was taken over by the Church. This is the fourth kingdom from Daniel 2:19-45.
John, in his days, could not openly say that this beast was to come from the Roman Empire. He therefore used a code. He said the number of the name was six hundred and sixty six. The letters the Romans used for their integers were: D=500 C=100 L=50 X=10 V=5 I=1. D+C+L+X+V+I = 666.
The M=1000 was not used in the days of John. "Then his end in a pool. Then at the end battle will be decisive to anguish" The grammar of the Hebrew suggests that this end, concerns the coming leader.
The (NASB) translation "and his end (will come) with a flood" does not make much sense.
We have to go back to the Biblical context to find the right meaning. The Hebrew word used, shetef, translated as flood, can also mean, a pool or a lake.
From Rev.19:20 we know that this leader's end, will be in a lake of fire and brimstone. This makes it clear a pool or lake is meant and not a flood.
When we read Rev.6:8; 9:15; 15:17-21; 19:21, we will know that there will be a terrible battle in the end times, which will be decisive for the downfall of the anti-Christ and brings a lot of anguish to him and his followers.
Dan.9:27 and confirm covenant to the many week one and halfway the week stop sacrifice and offering, and upon wing detestable things cause horrors and upon completion also to mutilate to pour forth to be astonishing. The Hebrew grammar indicates this is a covenant that was made with many people at some time and now is confirmed.

We do not know yet what covenant this will be, many people try to pinpoint a special person or group of persons, however, they are just guessing.

Yahuweh has still one working week to go with Israel, to finish the items of Dan.9:24 and to get them restored to a nation which fears Yahuweh and make them ready to accept the Moshiya and His reign. Satan knows this and got his own man, the Antichrist, ready for that week to oppose Yahuweh.
The Antichrist shall strengthen an existing treaty at the beginning of the one week that is left over from the prophecy.
Since the context is still Israel, the treaty will be with Israel. There might be many other nations involved.
Apparently at that time the Jews have resumed the temple worship of sacrificing and offering.
From scriptures like Revelations Chapt:11 and Ezechiel Chapt:40, we know that the Temple shall be rebuild in Jerusalem.
Whether in these last 7 years an actual Temple shall be build or a temporary shrine shall be erected on the Temple mount, we do not know. We know the temple from Eze.40, shall be build eventually, but the sacrifices could be done in a temporary structure. After three and a halve years, the Antichrist shows his real face and shall stop the Temple ceremonies. On a wing or extreme part of a building, probably the spot where the altar is, he shall do a detestable thing to make the people appalled or horrified.
He probably, like Antiochus IV in the year 3600 (160 BCE), will offer a swine on the altar before the Holy of Holiest and put him self up to be God. This is the "Abomination of Desolation," which Yeshua is referring to. Compare Matt.24:15, 2Tes.2:3-4 and Dan.12:11.
It might also be the image of the beast from Rev. 13:14 that he set up, which is here referred to. And upon completion also to mutilate to pour forth to be astonishing. When he has finished setting up this appalling thing, to mutilate mankind he will pour forth things that make the people astonished and Revelation Chapter 13, tells us all about it. <*><*><*><*><*><*> There has now been already a time lapse of about two thousand years, between week sixty-nine and the seventieth week.
When we read Psalm 90:4 and 2Peter 3:8 we see confirmed an old belief that one day is like a thousand years with Yahuweh.

Six working days followed by a Shabbat of rest equals six thousand years of working for the world, followed by a thousand year of Yahuweh's Shalom.
Yeshua's saying that He will rebuild the Temple within 3 days could indicate that indeed He will rebuild the temple in the third thousand-year period.
Rising from the tomb on the third day might indicate His return in the third thousand years.
Hosea 6:2 in the context of Hosea 5:15 might indicate that Israel be without the Moshiya for two thousand years but that he will restore them in the third period of thousand years.

We must consider that Yahuweh's time clock might tick away different from ours and our thousand years could be close but not exactly like Yahuweh's thousand. Romans 11 confirms that Yahuweh temporary has set Israel as a nation aside and is working through the Jewish ekklesia of the Moshiya, which is the true remnant of Israel and those not from Israel who have accepted Yahuweh through Yeshua and are keeping His Torah.
This is not the Church, which has abandoned Yahuweh's Torah The last week for Israel shall begin with the confirmation of a treaty by the western leader presumably the Antichrist.
He will be the rider on the white horse, Rev.6:2.
This rider is not the Messiah as many claim. The return of the Messiah is foretold in Rev.19:11-16. He is differently attired from the rider in Rev.6:2.
The Antichrist is also mentioned in Dan.8:23-25 and 2Thes. chapter:2.
Isaiah Chapter:33, could describe the time after the first three and a halve years of the last seven.
The time in between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week, is also called the time of the Gentiles or nations, gooyeem in Hebrew, as told by Yeshua in Luke. 21:24.
Yeshua says Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the time for the gentiles is fulfilled.
Here we see again that Yahuweh has set out a time for the Gentiles, which is also affirmed in Rom.11:25, and which most likely is a period of about two thousand years.
Everyone who has been in Jerusalem, can understand the words of Luke 21:24. Neither the Islamic nor the so-called Christian Holy Places belong in Jerusalem. Neither do the pagan rituals held in those so called holy places, belong to Israel or Yerushalaim.
The expression, times be fulfilled, can be better translated as, times completed. From the context it appears that this shall be in the end just before the return of the Messiah.
This is not about the number of converts from the Gentiles, as some people teach. They will have been taken from the Earth before this time 1Thes. 4:13-18.
People, who claim that Yeshua is speaking about the siege of Jerusalem in 68 and 70, have skipped over the rest of the texts and did not read the context.
Rom.11:25-26, complements Luke 21:24. From a comparison with the Greek of Eph.1:10, we find that not a number of people are meant, but a completion of time. This is in accordance with Yahuweh's principle, of allowing everybody time to demonstrate the righteousness of his or her intentions. Actually Yahuweh knows exactly the number of people involved in a time span.
When the time set out for the nations is completed, Yahuweh will start to purify Israel.Zech.13:8-9; Mal.3:2-3.
This purging is what these last seven years are all about. At the end of this period, there shall be left in Israel a people, who will be completely loyal to Yahuweh and ready to receive Him, the Moshiya, as their ruler, Ezek. 37:21-28. Only then shall the New Covenant come into force and not before it, like many have proclaimed.
Among the many references to this in the Bible, are the Chapters 30 and 31 of Jeremiah.<*><*><*><*><*><*>
The big treaty as mentioned in Dan.9:27, is not a treaty with Yahuweh or the Moshiya.
The covenant between Yahuweh and Israel is perpetual.
This treaty, is most likely between the Antichrist and the nation Israel, with probably the leaders of other nations involved.
When we take in account the present animosities of the nations against Israel, it is obvious that Israel has to make some treaty with them to be able to start rebuilding the Temple. The leader of the false religious movement probably will say to Israel, "I see to it that the treaty is adhered to!" Isa.28:14-18, calls it a covenant of death, and suggests that when the covenant shall be covered over, the scourge shall come to Israel. This will be the great tribulation, Dan.12:1, Matt.24:21-22 and detailed in the Book of Revelation. One condition necessary, to allow the treaty and the start of the last week, is that Israel has to be a nation, in the land of Israel.
This condition was met on May 14th' 1948, when Israel became a nation in the to them by Yahuweh assigned country, with its own government.
The last condition necessary is the restoration of sacrifices and offerings, for which a temple has to be build in Yerushalaim. We have to take in consideration that although Yahuweh, has brought Israel back in their country, and kept them there, Israel as a nation, has not accepted Yahuweh as their deity, their Elohiem. They shall become His people again when they shall recognize the Moshiya, Zech.12:10-14, Rev.1:7.
The Bible is very clear about the future of Israel after the tribulation and restoration, which shall be after the 70 weeks are completed.
There are many prophecies that only could be applicable to a time after the 70 weeks. There must therefore, be a period between the end of the 70 weeks and the completion of Yahuweh's entire plan for this world.
This cannot be any other period, then the one mentioned in: Rev.20:1-9, Isa.62; 65:15-25, Jer. 30 and 31, Eze. 36, Amos 9:11-15, Micah 4:1-8 Zeph.3:12-20 and Zech. chapters 12 through 14. We should not do, like so many Church leaders have done over the ages, and take these prophecies allegorically or symbolic. We, should take them literally. These prophecies fit nicely in the whole Biblical context, without having to go to fabricated explanations. We need a lot of imagination, to make those prophecies fit the Church.
When we read Ezekiel Chapters 40 through 48, we have to conclude that these things, are not pertaining to a period we have known.
Therefore these prophecies and visions are pertaining to a time still future.
The only time, which fits those prophecies, must be after the seventieth week and after Israel's restoration. This is what we call, the Millennium.
Many theologians have rejected this idea. They claim that after the dead of the Moshiya sacrifices are not longer needed and therefore Ezekiel could not have been talking about the future.
Many people who take the Bible literally, believe that the temple rituals will be restored. They are a reflection of Heavenly manifestations and topics of Yahuweh's plan, which still have not been totally completed. The total completion of the earthly reflections of the heavenly things, will be after the thousand years of reigning by Yahuweh (Zech.14:9), when the Earth shall become part of the Heavens. Shedding of the blood of animals, is a sign that blood has to be shed to redeem people back to Yahuweh.
Yeshua's blood was shed for our sins, the remembrance of this, will be kept going during the millennium.
It is all plainly written in Yahuweh's word and Yahuweh has His reasons. They might not be perfectly clear to us now, they will be one day.<*><*><*><*><*><*> As a conclusion to this study I would like to point out that over the last two thousand years many people have claimed to be a prophet of were given a prophecy from Yahuweh or which ever other epithet they gave Him. According to the word, which we just have studied, prophets after the Babylonian exile could only come from Israel that is, from a descendant of Jacob, because Yahuweh is going to use them to finish prophecy. However up till now, the last one to qualify as a prophet was Yeshua the Moshiya.
After His dead no prophet or prophecy can be expected until the last week of the seventy has begun. Because as we have seen prophecy falls only in the seventy year-weeks. What has been translated as prophecy in our copies of the Khetuvim Netzarim (NT), must be understood as bringing the good news of salvation and not of prediction. Anyone claiming to be a prophet who is not a descendant of Israel (Jacob) is a false prophet.
Anyone claiming to be a prophet between the execution of the Moshiya and the restoration of the sacrifices in Yerushalaim, which is the beginning of the start of the last week, is also a false prophet, see Zech.13:1-6.<*><*><*><*><*><*> However, there are and have been in this period people who were taught by Yahuweh how to interpret His word that was already given to others.
There are also scores of people who were taught by others who also were taught by others, who teach the interpretation of the word of Yahuweh according to human wisdom.
To know which ones are the genuine article, we have to rely on the Spirit of Yahuweh and we have to ask Yahuweh for His guidance.<*><*><*><*><*><*> The intention of this writing, is to stimulate individuals to study the words of Yahuweh and see if these things are so, Acts 17:11.

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