We have already seen in the investigation of Dan. 8, that the field of the Prophet’s vision, was the empires of Persia, Greece, and Rome. The period of 2300 days there given, cannot therefore be literal days; for literal days (scarcely six years and a half) would by no means cover the duration of any one of these empires singly, much less embrace so nearly the whole of their existence put together, as they evidently do. They must consequently denote 2300 years; and hence the seventy weeks which are cut off from them, must be seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, as will appear sufficiently plain when we come to trace their fulfillment.
Continuing his instruction to Daniel concerning the time (Dan. 9:25–27), Gabriel says, (verse 25), “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.”
There are but four events to which this language can be in any way applicable; first, the decree of Cyrus for the re-building of the house of God, B. C. 536; second, the decree of Darius for the prosecution of the work which had been hindered, B. C. 519; (Ez. 6); third, the decree of Artaxerxes to Ezra, B. C. 457; (Ez. 7); and fourth, the commission of Nehemiah from the same king in his twentieth year, B. C. 444. Neh. 2. In determining which of these acts in favor of the Jews answers to the “commandment to restore Jerusalem,” from which the seventy weeks are to be dated, we must consider how much is included in the phrase, “to restore and to build Jerusalem,” and also what commandment will allow the seventy weeks, dating from the time of its promulgation, to fulfill the conditions of the prophecy by reaching to the events therein specified.
How much then are we to understand by the words, “to restore and to build Jerusalem”? If they refer merely to the mechanical work of erecting buildings necessary to constitute a city, the decree of Cyrus has the pre-eminence above all others; for that was the first decree issued in favor of the Jews after the giving of the prophecy; and it cannot be supposed that a license to build the house of God at Jerusalem, which this decree granted, would not give permission also for the erection of buildings around it.
But the decree which the prophecy calls the commandment to restore Jerusalem, is one which goes forth 69 prophetic weeks, or 483 years previous to the manifestation of the Messiah; for from the going forth of that commandment “unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks;” but if we date from this decree of Cyrus, B. C. 536, the 483 years terminate 43 years before our Lord was born.
Two points may therefore be considered settled from these considerations: 1st. The prophecy does not point us to the decree of Cyrus, as the commandment from which to date the seventy weeks; for dating from that point the 69 weeks which were to extend to the manifestation of the Messiah the Prince, terminate 53 years before even his birth; and this proves, 2d. That the expression, “to restore and to build Jerusalem,” means something more than merely the building that is necessary to the re-existence of the city, which the decree of Cyrus granted.
As to the second decree, that of Darius, B. C. 519, it was but a confirmation of the original one of Cyrus; and the same objection otherwise exists against this as against the former; namely, the 483 years dated from that point terminate by far too soon, leaving full thirty-six years between their ending and the birth of the Saviour; whereas they should extend to the commencement of his public ministry.
We come next to the decree granted to Ezra, by king Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his reign, B. C. 457. Let us apply to this also the163measuring rod of the prophecy. Dating from this year, 483 years carry us to A. D. 27. And what took place then? Luke tells us: “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” Luke 3:21, 22, A. D. 27; margin. After this Jesus came “into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled.” The time here mentioned must have been some predicted period; but no prophetic period can be found, terminating, except the 69 weeks of the prophecy of Daniel, which were to extend to the Messiah the Prince. The Messiah had now come, and himself proclaimed, The time is fulfilled.
That Christ commenced his ministry in A. D. 27, is further proved from this fact: At the first passover which he attended, the Jews told him that the temple had been forty and six years in building. John 2:20. Herod commenced the building of that temple in the year B. C. 19. This will bring the passover, forty-six years afterward, in the year A. D. 28. He must therefore have commenced his ministry in A. D. 27.
Having found perfect harmony on this point, it is time that we look further at the words of the prophecy. The period of the 70 weeks appears to be marked off into three general divisions: first, seven weeks; second, threescore and two weeks; and third, one week. Seven weeks are allotted for the building of the wall, &c., in troublous times; and from that point events are thus predicted: [Dan. 9:26, 27:] “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. . . . And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.”
Sixty-nine weeks have brought us to the Messiah; and from the above we learn that he was to confirm the covenant for one week, that is, the seventieth, (seven years,) and that in the midst of this week he should cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. These Jewish ordinances, pointing to the death of Christ, could only cease at his cross; and there they did virtually end, though not in form till A. D. 70. It is the same therefore, as if it had read, And after threescore and two weeks in the midst of the seventieth week, shall Messiah be cut off, and cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. Now does the term, midst, refer to any fixed point in the week? It does; for it means the middle. The word from which it is translated, occurs in the Old Testament, according to the Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance, one hundred and sixteen times. One hundred times it is rendered half; four times it enters into composition and is translated midnight; eight times it is rendered, in the midst; once, in the middle, and three times, part. We are to understand therefore, that the crucifixion is fixed to the middle of the week. When did this take place?
The Saviour attended but four passovers, at the last of which he was crucified. John 2:13; 5:1; 6:4; 13:1. This could not bring the crucifixion later than A. D. 31, as “recorded in a curious and valuable passage of a Roman Consul, Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, about A. D. 514.
“In the consulate of Tiberius Cæsar Ang. V., and Ælius Sajanus [U. C. 784, A. D. 31,] our Lord Jesus Christ suffered on the eighth of the kalends of April.” “In this year and in this day, agree also the Council of Cæsarea, A. D. 196 or 198, the Alexandrian Chronicle, Maximus Monachus, Nicephorus Constantius, Cedrenus; and in this year but on different days, concur Eusebius and Epiphanius, followed by Kebler, Bucher, Patinus and Petavius.” “It is recorded in history that the whole time of our Saviour’s teaching was three years and a half, which is the half of a week [of years].”
Three and a half years reckoned backward from the Spring of A. D. 31, where the crucifixion took place, carry us to the Autumn of A. D. 27, where the 69 weeks ended and Christ commenced his ministry. And three and a half years, the last half of the week, reckoned forward from that time, bring us to the Autumn of A. D. 34, for the termination of the 70 weeks. Their close is marked by the martyrdom of Stephen, the formal rejection of the gospel of Christ by the Jewish Sanhedrim in the persecution of his disciples, and the turning of the apostles to the Gentiles. Acts 9:1–18.
According to the facts above set forth, reckoning the 70 weeks from the decree given to Ezra in the 7th of Artaxerxes, B. C. 457, there is the most perfect historical harmony concerning the events which were to cluster around and mark their close. So far it seems all must be satisfied. There are two more questions to be decided: 1. Is the 7th of Artaxerxes rightly fixed to the year B. C. 457? and 2. Will the decree given to Ezra sustain the full import of the words, “to restore and rebuild Jerusalem?” This will be the field of inquiry in our next. U. S.