From: <MikeSatterlee@cs.com>
>
> For one thing, Newman fails altogether to deal with this prophecy's "70th
> week." He ends his discussion with its 69th week, during which time his
> interpretation says that Christ was crucified. However, the prophecy
> itself tells us that the Messiah would "put an end to sacrifice and
> offering" "in the middle of" its 70th week. He also entirely fails to
> address a major problem with understanding this prophecy. That is,
> understanding when the "70 weeks" began to run, in light of the fact that
> Josephus twice clearly indicates that Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to
> begin his rebuilding work in the "25th year of Artaxerxes," which
> historians tell us was 440 BC, while Nehemiah indicates that Artaxerxes
> gave him permission to do so in his "20th year" as king of Persia.
>
> This is a real problem for Newman and others like him who begin their
> count of the "70 weeks" in 445 BC. For the best current scholarship highly
> regards Josephus' dating of Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem. There are two
> ways of reconciling this apparent contradiction, both of which point to
> 440 BC as the year Daniel's "70 weeks" began to run, not 445 BC a
> Newman's article would have us believe. One of these ways is discussed at
> some length in John Bright's third edition of A History of Israel. It
> offers us what I believe is a reasonable solution to this problem.
> However, I believe the real solution lies elsewhere.
The following is the method of interpreting the 70 weeks that makes the most
sense to
me.
Dan. 9:25 says "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes,
there will be seven `sevens,' and sixty-two`sevens.'
The prophecy begins at the issuing of the decree to RESTORE AND REBUILD
Jerusalem. The author here was not being redundant. Restoring and
Rebuilding are two different things. So we need to find a decree that
states these two points.
In Ezra and Nehemiah we find 4 different decrees
1. "In the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus ISSUED A DECREE
to rebuild this house of God. 14 He even removed from the temple of Babylon
the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had
taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon.
"Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had
appointed governor, 15 and he told him, `Take these articles and go and
deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And REBUILD THE HOUSE OF
GOD on its site.' 16 So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations
of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has
been under construction but is not yet finished." Ezra 5:13-16
2. EZR 6:1 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the
archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the
citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:
Memorandum:
EZR 6:3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree
concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:....."
EZR 6:8 Moreover, I [Darius] HEREBY DECREE what you are to
do for these elders of the Jews in THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS
HOUSE the construction of this house of God:
The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal
treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not
stop. 9 Whatever is needed--young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt
offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and oil, as requested
by the priests in Jerusalem--must be given them daily without fail, 10 so
that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for
the well-being of the king and his sons.
3. EZR 7:13 Now I [Artaxerxes] DECREE that any of the Israelites in my
kingdom, including priests and Levites, who wish to go to Jerusalem with
you, may go. ... 15 Moreover, you are to take with you the silver and gold
that the king and his advisers have freely given to the God of Israel, whose
dwelling is in Jerusalem, ... 17 WITH THIS MONEY be sure to buy bulls, rams
and male lambs, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and
SACRIFICE THEM on the altar of the temple of your God in Jerusalem. [The
temple had been completed already]
EZR 7:18 You and your brother Jews may then DO WHATEVER SEEMS BEST WITH
THE REST of the silver and gold, in accordance with the will of your God.
....
EZR 7:25 And you, Ezra, ... APPOINT MAGISTRATES AND JUDGES TO ADMINISTER
JUSTICE to all the people of Trans-Euphrates--all who know the laws of your
God. And you are to teach any who do not know them. 26 Whoever does not
obey the law of your God and the law of the king must surely be punished by
death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.
4. NEH 2:7 "If it pleases the king [Artaxerxes], MAY I HAVE LETTERS to the
governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct
until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the
king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams FOR THE GATES OF THE
CITADEL by the temple and FOR THE CITY WALL and FOR THE RESIDENCE I will
occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, THE KING
GRANTED MY REQUESTS. 9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and
gave them the king's letters. The king had also sent army officers and
cavalry with me.
NE 7:1 After THE WALL HAD BEEN REBUILT and I had set the doors in place, the
gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed.
Of the four "decrees" we see that the only one allowed for both REBUILDING
and RESTORING -- the third one. First, they had Cart Blanch to do what ever
they wanted with the money (after sacrifices). The Temple had already been
built so the money would go for the REBUILDING of anything else they wanted
in the city. And secondly, they were to RESTORE the administrative and
judicial government of the Jews in Jerusalem.
The first two decrees dealt mainly with the reconstruction of the Temple.
And, to be sure, the wall was not finished until much later, but the decree
to both REBUILD AND RESTORE the city finds its fulfillment in the 3rd
decree.
History tells us that the 3d decree was given in 457 BC. 69 weeks of years
(483 years) later brings us to 27 AD. Did anything happen in 27 AD?
LK 3:1 In the FIFTEENTH YEAR of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius
Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip
tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-- 2
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to
John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3 He went into all the country around
the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
...
LK 3:21 When all the people were being baptized, JESUS WAS BAPTIZED too.
.....
LK 3:23 Now Jesus himself was ABOUT THIRTY YEARS OLD when he began his
ministry.
The 15th year of Tiberius, when Pilate was governor, and Herod the Tetrarch
of Galilee, etc., was 27 AD. The most precisely dated event in the life of
Christ (more precise than his birth or death) is his baptism. If Jesus was
born in 4 BC, he would be 30 years old in 27 AD. (4 + 27 -1 = 30) This is
when Jesus began his ministry. About 3.5 years later - about 31 AD - Jesus
was crucified, midway through the last week. At the end of the 70th week
(3.5 years after that - 34 AD) Stephen was stoned and the Disciples turned
to evangelize the Gentiles.
When Jesus died in the middle of the week He:
1. "finished transgression" by winning the victory over sin.
2. "put an end to sin" by providing the way for salvation.
3. "atoned for wickedness" by being the Atonement to bring man back to God.
4. "Brought in everlasting righteousness" by substituting his righteous life
for our sinful lives.
5. "Sealed up vision and prophecy" by fulfilling all prophecy about the
Messiah.
6. "and anointed the most holy" with his own blood.
7. "confirmed a covenant with many" through his blood; the covenant made
with Abraham and his seed of salvation to come.
8. "put an end to sacrifice and offering" once and for all as the true
sacrifice and true offering of which all the others were but shadows
pointing toward and illustrating the reality to come (or rather, that came).
Jesus once said. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. The ancient
tabernacle had 3 curtained doorways. The first was a purple curtain in the
white linen courtyard wall. It was the only WAY into the courtyard of the
tabernacle where sinners found salvation. The second, was the curtain at
the entrance to the tabernacle. It stood between the courtyard and the Holy
Place as the TRUTH. Through it the TRUTH about sin and salvation passed as
witnessed by the sacrificial blood taken into the Holy Place. The third
curtain stood between the Holy and Most Holy places. It kept and protected
men from seeing the "Shekina Glory" and dying. It also was what men saw
instead of the "Shekina Glory." Jesus came and lived among men to show us
God. God's Glory was vailed in humanity. When Jesus died as our sacrifice,
the curtain between the Holy and Most Holy in the Jerusalem Temple
(tradition says it was some 3 inches thick) was ripped from top to bottom.
Just as Jesus' LIFE was ripped away for our lives, the curtain of LIFE was
ripped away. That signified not only the complete and final end of the
Temple and all this rituals, but also the destroying of the separation
between us and God. In symbol the ancient tabernacle and its ceremonies was
the Messiah. It taught (actually, still teaches) everything there was to
know about the Messiah and how He would deal with the sin problem.
So, the 70 week prophecy finds its beginning in 457 BC and its ending in 34
AD. The 70th week begins with the earthly ministry of Jesus (in 27 AD), and
in the midst of it Jesus dies and is resurrected. There is nothing left
hanging undone. There is nothing left of the 70 weeks to look forward to.
Allen Roy
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