THE SANCTUARY by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 9, 1876

THE SANCTUARY.

By Uriah Smith

Tenth Paper.—Date of the 70 weeks.

We have now seen what constituted the decree for the restoration and building of Jerusalem from which the seventy weeks were to be reckoned. It was the authority granted to the Jews to restore their temple, their worship, their city and their civil state, by the three-fold decree of the Persian kings, Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes. It was completed, and went forth, when the last touch of authority granted to Ezra by Artaxerxes Longimanus, was put into operation by Ezra, in carrying out the work which it gave him liberty to perform.

In what year was this?

Ezra says that it was in the seventh year of that king. Ezr. 7: 7, 8.

What year before Christ was the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus?

The following testimony is a concise and conclusive answer to this important question:—

“The Bible gives the data for a complete system of chronology, extending from the creation to the birth of Cyrus, a clearly ascertained date. From this period downward we have the undisputed Canon of Ptolemy, and the undoubted era of Nabonassar, extending below our vulgar era. At the point where inspired chronology leaves us, this Canon of undoubted accuracy commences. And thus the whole arch is spanned. It is by the Canon of Ptolemy that the great prophetical period of seventy weeks is fixed. This Canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes in the year B. C. 457; and the accuracy of the Canon is demonstrated by the concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses. The seventy weeks date from the going forth of a decree respecting the restoration of Jerusalem. There were no decrees between the seventh and twentieth years of Artaxerxes. Four hundred and ninety years, beginning with the seventh, must commence in B. C. 457, and end in A. D. 34. Commencing in the twentieth, they must commence in B. C. 444, and end in A. D. 47. As no event occurred in A. D. 47 to mark their termination, we cannot reckon from the twentieth; we must, therefore, look to the seventh of Artaxerxes. This date we cannot change from B. C. 457 without first demonstrating the inaccuracy of Ptolemy’s Canon. To do this, it would be necessary to show that the large number of eclipses by which its accuracy has been repeatedly demonstrated, have not been correctly computed; and such a result would unsettle every chronological date, and leave the settlement of epochs and the adjustment of eras entirely at the mercy of every dreamer, so that chronology would be of no more value than mere guess-work. As the seventy weeks must terminate in A. D. 34, unless the seventh of Artaxerxes is wrongly fixed, and as that cannot be changed without some evidence to that effect, we inquire, What evidence marked that termination? The time when the apostles turned to the Gentiles harmonizes with that date better than any other which has been named. And the crucifixion, in A. D. 31, in the midst of the last week, is sustained by a mass of testimony which cannot be easily invalidated.”—Advent Herald, March 2, 1850.

Again the Herald says:—

“There are certain chronological points which have been settled as fixed; and before the seventy weeks can be made to terminate at a later period, those must be unsettled, by being shown to have been fixed on wrong principles; and a new date must be assigned for their commencement based on better principles. Now, that the commencement of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus was B. C. 464-3, is demonstrated by the agreement of above twenty eclipses, which have been repeatedly calculated, and have invariably been found to fall in the times specified. Before it can be shown that the commencement of his reign is wrongly fixed, it must first be shown that those eclipses have been wrongly calculated. This no one has done, or ever will venture to do. Consequently the commencement of his reign cannot be removed from that point.”—Advent Herald, Feb. 15, 1857.

It will thus be seen that the date of the seventh year of Artaxerxes rests very largely upon the records of history respecting eclipses, and the testimony of astronomy as to the time when those eclipses occurred. Of the accuracy with which the dates of eclipses may be settled, Prof. Mitchell eloquently says:—

“Go back three thousand years—stand upon that mighty watch-tower, the temple of Belus, in old Babylon—and look out. The sun is sinking in eclipse, and great is the dismay of the terror-stricken inhabitants. We have the fact and circumstances recorded. But how shall we prove that record correct? The astronomer unravels the devious movements of the Sun, the earth, and the moon, through the whole period of three thousand years; with the power of intellect, he goes backward through the cycles of thirty long centuries, and announces that at such an hour and such a day—as the Chaldean has written—that eclipse did take place.

Respecting the authority of the canon of Ptolemy, Prideaux, Vol. i. p. 242 thus speaks:—

“But Ptolemy’s canon being fixed by the eclipses, the truth of it may at any time be demonstrated by astronomical calculations, and no one hath ever calculated those eclipses but hath found them fall right in the times where placed; and therefore this being the surest guide which we have in the chronology, and it being also verified by its agreement everywhere with the Scriptures, is it not for the authority of any other human writing whatsoever, to be receded from.”

Thus positively do we find the date for which we seek. The seventh of Artaxerxes was B. C. 457. There the seventy weeks commenced.

From this point we drop the plummet down through following years to ascertain whether, measuring our lines according to the prophecy, we strike the events which the prediction brings to our view.

The first line is forty-nine years in length; for, says the prophecy, there shall be seven weeks (49 symbolic days, or 49 literal years), during which the street and wall shall be built in troublous times. Dan. 9: 25. This brings us to the time when the work of building was completed; and this was finished in the last act of reformation under Nehemiah, in the fifteenth year of Darius Nothus.

Forty-nine years from B. C. 457, bring us to B. C. 408.

The fifteenth year of Darius Nothus was B. C. 408. Prideaux, Bliss, Hales.

Thus at our first testing point, the event answers to the prophecy, as the shadow answers to the face in the mirror. U. S.