-9-
Daniel 9:24-27 and the
Destruction of Herod's Temple
The prophecies of Isaiah 53 and
Psalm 22 provide a vivid and detailed portrait of Messiah's atoning death amid
an unbelieving Israel. But certain questions about the suffering Messiah were
not addressed. When was He to appear and be rejected? What impact would His
death have on the necessity of the temple and its sacrifices? Does the Tanakh
provide any clue to the chronology of these wondrous events? The prophet Daniel
answers these questions.
Until Messiah Comes
The Medo-Persians had just
overthrown the Babylonian empire. While serving as a government official in the
Medo-Persian empire, Daniel began reading from the prophecies of Jeremiah
regarding the restoration of Judah to the land after seventy years of Babylonian
captivity (Dan.9:2; Jer. 25:11; 29:10). Daniel, knowing that the seventy years
were close to expiration, began to earnestly pray, confessing the sins of the
Jewish people and pleading that God would restore Israel and the city of
Jerusalem, which lay in ruins. God's answer to Daniel was personally delivered
by the angel Gabriel and is recorded in Daniel 9:24-27. This we shall study in
its entirety quoting from the New King James Version.
The 490 Years
"Seventy weeks are
determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in
everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the
Most Holy (9:24).
For good reason, all conservative
Christian and Jewish scholars do conclude that these seventy weeks represent 490
years. First, Daniel had been thinking in terms of multiples of sevens. He knew
that the Babylonian captivity was set for seventy years, one year for each time
the Israelites failed to allow the land to enjoy its sabbatical (Lev. 27:1-7;
Lev. 26:32-35; 2 Chron. 36:21). 490 years of sin led up to the 70-year
Babylonian captivity and now it would take a 490-year period to bring in
salvation for the nation. Second, according to history, the things prophesied in
these verses were not fulfilled in seventy literal weeks, i.e.,
"everlasting righteousness" (v. 24), the destruction of the city and
the temple (v. 26), etc. Third, Genesis 29:26-28 shows that the word
"week" (Heb. "shabuwa") can represent seven years. "Shabuwa"
literally means "seven," without reference to a specific duration of
time. The context must determine the length. Fourth, the footnote on
"seventy weeks" from The New Jewish Publication Society translation
reads "of years." All sound evidence, contextual and otherwise,
indicates that these are weeks of years in view, not literal seven day weeks.
The Eternal Blessings
Six things were to be
accomplished for Israel within the scope of this 490-year period:
(1) "to finish the
transgression, (2) to make an end of sins, (3) to make reconciliation for
iniquity, (4) to bring in everlasting righteousness, (5) to seal up vision and
prophecy, (6) and to anoint the Most Holy" (9:24). The first four in this
list relate, directly or indirectly, to sin's atonement. Daniel had been praying
specifically for the spiritual salvation of Israel (Dan. 9:1-23). It therefore
makes perfect sense that Gabriel listed these four things first in his answer.
Interestingly, Isaiah used four
of these key terms in describing the ministry of the Suffering Servant. The
Messiah was to finish "transgression" by the sacrifice of Himself
(Isaiah 53:5, 8, 12), to atone for "sin" (v. 10, 12) and
"iniquity" (v. 5, 6, 11) and to "justify the righteous" to
God's everlasting satisfaction (v. 11). But when was this Suffering Servant to
appear? The next verse provides the answer.
Until Mashiyach Nagid
"Know therefore and
understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build
Jerusalem until Messiah the prince [Heb. Mashiyach Nagid], there shall be seven
weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again and the wall even in
troublesome times" (9:25).
The Hebrew word for
"Messiah" is "Mashiyach," which means, "one who is
anointed." In the Old Testament, this appellation is given to priests (Lev.
4:3,5, 16 6:22), kings, of Saul (2
Sam. 1:14), of David (2 Sam. 23:1), of Cyrus, pagan king of Medo-Persia (Isaiah
45:11); and of the long awaited "Mashiyach" who was to rule the
"nations" (Psalm 2:2-8 cf. Psalm 110:1-7), but first had to be
"cut off" in order to "sprinkle many nations" with His
atoning blood (Isaiah 52:15).
This "Mashiyach" was to
appear on the scene "seven weeks and sixty-two weeks" after the going
forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Therefore, in order to
discover the identity of "Mashiyach Nagid," we must travel forward 483
(49 years + 434 years = 483) years from the command to restore Jerusalem.
However, it is not an easy matter to discern exactly what command the angel had
in mind. There are three recognized possibilities for the starting point of the
69 weeks. Each has its own merit.
1. Zerubbabel's Return 536 B.C.
2. Ezra's Return 457 B.C.
3. Nehemiah's Return 444 B.C.
Zerubbabel's Return
Some say that the command to
restore Jerusalem was given by Cyrus in 536 B.C. in fulfillment of Isaiah's
prophecy (Isa. 44:24-28 cf. Ezra 1:1-4). But using the Ptolemaic calendar, the
terminal point (the end of the 483 years) is found to be approximately 50 B.C.
Neither Jews nor Christians believe anyone fitting the description of the
Daniel's prophecy appeared at that time. Moreover, the decree of Cyrus only
specifically entailed the building of the temple not the city itself.1
Closely compare the decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-14) and that of Darius who twenty
years later reestablished Cyrus' decree to build "the house of God" (Ezr
5:3-6:10).
However, those who advance this
view maintain that the Ptolemaic calendar is off some 82 years. Martin Anstey,
"the prince" of chronologers, expounds upon a plausible view:
The Chronology of this period has never yet been accurately
determined. The received Chronology, though universally accepted, is dependent
on the list of the Kings, and the number of years assigned to them in Ptolemy's
Canon. Ptolemy (A.D. 70-161) was a great constructive genius. He was the author
of the Ptolemaic System of Astronomy. He was one of the founders of the Science
of Geography. But in Chronology he was only a late compiler and contriver, not
an original witness, and not a contemporary historian, for he lived in the 2nd
Century after Christ. He is the only authority for the Chronology of this
period. He is not corroborated. He is contradicted, both by the Persian National
Traditions preserved in Firdusi, by the Jewish National Traditions preserved in
the Sedar Olam, and by the writings of Josephus...Consequently, the received or
Ptolemaic Chronology, now universally accepted, must be abridged by these 82
years. The error of Ptolemy has probably been made through his having assigned
too many years, and perhaps too many Kings, of the latter part of the period of
the Persian Empire, in the scheme which he made out from various conflicting
data."2
Accepting this theory would put
the terminal point of the 69 weeks approximately at Jesus' death.
Ezra's Return
Some believe that the decree of
Artaxerxes to Ezra (457 B.C.) marks the beginning of the seventy weeks. (Ezra
7:6-7). Gleason Archer states that this decree:
...included authority to restore
and build the city of Jerusalem (as we may deduce from Ezra 7:6-7 and also 9:9
which states, 'God...hath extended loving kindness unto us in the sight of the
kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of God, and to
repair the ruins thereof, and to give us a wall in Judea and in
Jerusalem,'" ASV).3
Moving forward 483 solar years
from this point, we reach the date 26 A.D. the approximate date of Jesus'
baptism. (If one subtracts the 4-year error of the Dionysian Calendar.) Jesus
was baptized so that He would be officially presented to Israel (John 1:31).
Nehemiah's Return
Many Christian scholars maintain
that the 483 years should be reckoned from the decree of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah
444 B.C. They base this on two things. One, nowhere except in the decree given
to Nehemiah is permission specifically granted for the rebuilding of the city.
The city and the wall were not rebuilt until Nehemiah arrived (Neh. 7:4). Two,
they say that 360 days constitute a Biblical year. By comparing Genesis 7:11
with Genesis 8:4, and these two with Genesis 7:24 and Genesis 8:3, we learn that
five months of the flood totaled exactly 150 days (five 30 day months). And from the
Jewish writers of the New Testament, we discover that 42 months (3 and a half
years) equaled 1260 days.4
Based on this, Harold Hoehner
provides the following calculation:
Multiplying the sixty-nine weeks
by seven years for each week by 360 days gives a total of 173,880 days. The
difference between 444 B.C. and A.D. 33 then is 476 solar years. By multiplying
476 by 365.24219879 or by 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.975 seconds [there
are 365 1/4 days in a year], one comes to 173,855 days, 6 hours, 52 minutes, 44
seconds, or 173, 855 days. This leaves only 25 days to be accounted for between
444 B.C. and A. D. 33. By adding the 25 days to March 5 (of 444 B.C.), one comes
to March 30 (A.D. 33) which was Nissan 10 in A.D. 33. This is the triumphal
entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.5
The "triumphal entry"6
occurred when Jesus meekly offered himself to Israel by riding into Jerusalem on
a donkey (Matthew 21:5). This fulfilled Zechariah's prophecy: "Shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King cometh unto thee; He is triumphant and
victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey" (Zech. 9:9). Sadly, though, His
most cherished people rejected Him the very thing Daniel predicted in the very
next verse.
In the final analysis it does not
matter whether one can ascertain which view of these three is correct. Whether
you relate the terminal point of the 483 years to Jesus' death, baptism or
"triumphal entry," the outcome is still the same. The 483 years
terminated at some important juncture of the coming of Jesus.
After the Sixty-two
"And after the sixty-two
weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself"7 (9:26).
"After" the expiration
of the 483 years, "Mashiyach Nagid" was to be "cut off"
(literally, destroyed). Naturally, this had to occur within the lifetime of the
person. Who was the only person claiming to be the Messiah who was "cut
off" for the sins of the world during the first century the terminal point
of the 483 years? His name is Yeshua ha Mashiyach (in English, Jesus the
Messiah). Five days after His "triumphal entry," Jesus was taken
prisoner, tried and executed as a criminal. This coincides perfectly with
Isaiah's declaration that the Mashiyach was to be "...cut off out of the
land of the living; through the transgressions of my people was he stricken. And
one made his grave among the wicked, and his tomb among the rich; although he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth (Isa. 53:8b-9)."
According to the New Covenant,
Jesus' death fulfilled every detail of Daniel 9:24! He died "for the
redemption of transgressions under the first covenant..." (Heb. 9:15) thus
"finishing the transgression." (Jesus cried, "It is
finished" with His dying breath on the cross John 19:30.) He washed away
the "sin" and "iniquity" of the people by the blood of His
sacrifice. By faith in Him, the righteous are justified and God is eternally
satisfied (Rom.5:1; Phil. 3:9).
Destruction of the Temple
"And the people of the
prince8 who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The
end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are
determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the
middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the
wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the
consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate"
(9:26b-27).
According to Daniel, the city of
Jerusalem and the temple were to be destroyed after the death (9:26a) of the
Messiah. Jesus was crucified in A.D. 30. Just prior to His death, He predicted
the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple due to the Jews' rejection of him:
Now as He drew near, He saw the
city [of Jerusalem] and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you,
especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they
are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies
will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every
side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will
not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of
your visitation (Luke 19:41-45).
The echo of these words had
scarcely ceased ricocheting throughout the hills of Judea before the Romans
appeared on the horizon to fulfill them. Historian Werner Keller aptly
summarizes the tragic holocaust that ensued:
Old Israel, whose history no
longer included the words and works of Jesus, the religious community of
Jerusalem, which condemned and crucified Jesus, was extinguished in an inferno
which is almost unparalleled in history the so-called 'Jewish War' in A.D.
66-70.9
At the end of this war, the
temple was burned to the ground. In precise fulfillment of Jesus' prediction,
the massive stones of the temple were completely dismantled and destroyed. Titus
and his Roman legions mercilessly slaughtered one million Jews. Thousands of
starving survivors were sold as slaves and scattered throughout the Roman
Empire.
The Impact on Judaism
The impact the destruction of the
Temple had on the Jews was catastrophic. They were severely traumatized as the
following quotation from the Jewish Encyclopedia reveals:
The cessation of sacrifice, in
consequence of the destruction of the Temple, came, therefore, as a shock to the
people. It seemed to deprive them
of the divine Atonement. Hence many turned ascetics, abstaining from meat and
wine (Tosef., Sotah, xv. 11; Ab. R. N. iv.); and Joshua ben Hananiah, who cried
out in despair, 'Wo unto us! What shall atone for us?' only expressed the
sentiment of all his contemporaries (IV Esd. ix. 36:'We are lost on account of
our sins.') It was then that Johanan b. Zakkai, pointing to Hosea vi. 6 (R.V.),
'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' to Prov. xvi. 6, 'By mercy and truth
iniquity is purged [atoned for],' and to Ps. lxxxix. 3 (A.V. 2), 'The world is
built upon mercy,' declared works of benevolence to have atoning powers as great
as sacrifice. This view, however, did not solve satisfactorily for all the
problem of sin the evil rooted in man from the very beginning, from the fall of
Adam (IV Esd. iii. 20, viii. 118). Hence a large number of Jews accepted the
Christian faith in the Atonement by the blood 'shed for many for the remission
of sins' (Matt. xxvi. 28; Heb. x.12; Col. 1:20) or in Jesus as 'the Lamb of God'
(John i. 29; Apoc. of John vii. 14, and elsewhere). It was perhaps in opposition
to this movement that the Jewish teachers, after the hope for the rebuilding of
the Temple in the second century had ended in failure and woe, strove to develop
and deepen the Atonement idea. R. Akiba, in direct opposition to the Christian
Atonement by the blood of Jesus, addressed his brethren thus: "Happy are
ye, Israelites before who do you cleanse yourselves, and who cleanses you? Your
Father in heaven; for it is said: 'I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye
shall be clean...'(Ezek. xxxvi. 26).10
Of course, Rabbi Akiba's
rejection of the blood atonement of the true Messiah, Jesus, ultimately led to
his acceptance and heralding of a false Messiah Simeon Bar Kokhba.
No Accident
Is it a mere coincidence that the
temple, the very heart of the Jewish life and worship, was destroyed within the
same generation that the Jewish nation, as a whole, rejected Jesus? Solomon's
temple was destroyed because the nation failed to obey the voice of the prophets
(Jeremiah 29:4-19). Remember that God promised that if the Jewish people would
obey His voice, he would preserve them as a prosperous, functioning nation (Lev.
26:3, 6-7). Therefore, it both logically and scripturally follows that the
second temple was also destroyed 37 years after Messiah's death because of
national Israel's refusal to embrace the fulfillment of the law and prophets,
namely Jesus, as the Messiah.
It is quite significant to notice
how God sent prophets to warn Israel before each of the three major dispersions.
Before the Assyrian dispersion (722 B.C.), God sent them Isaiah. Before the
Babylonian dispersion (586 B.C.), God sent them Jeremiah. Before the Roman
dispersion (A.D. 70) God sent them Jesus. Just as Isaiah and Jeremiah were
rejected by the nation, so too was Jesus. Jesus' entrance into Jewish history
just before the destruction of the temple was no accident. It was a precise
fulfillment of what Daniel the Prophet had foretold!