Seventy Weeks: Scope of the Prophecy
A period of 70 weeks (Daniel 9:24) is the equivalent of 490 days. But, was 490 days the actual intent of the revelation given to Daniel? Among the many objectives that would be attained in the Seventy Weeks is "to bring in Everlasting Righteousness" (Dan 9:24).
That points to the Advent of the Messiah. "5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 </span style="color:darkred">In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His Name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS"</span style="color:darkred"> (Jeremiah 23:5-6).
Christians already know the LORD Jesus Christ to be the Sun of Righteousness With Healing in His Wings (Malachi 4:2), because of His atoning work on the Cross after His First Advent. But, wasn't Daniel actually being revealed the Second Advent of the Messiah and not simply the First? "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (Romans 3:22).
Jews, who rejected the Messiaship of Jesus, still await the Advent of their Messiah. "For they [the Jews] being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God" (Dan 10:3).
It is entirely proper to view the Seventy Weeks (Daniel 9:24) as representative of a period greater than 490 days. "After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know My breach of Promise" (Numbers 14:34).
This passage establishes that the LORD used the possibility of equating a day for a year, i.e., in the punishment of Israel for refusing to enter the Promised Land after the negative report from the spies. Consequently, the Seventy Weeks (Daniel 9:24) can be properly interpreted as referring to a period of 490 years, because each week of 7 days would be the equivalent of 7 years, i.e., "each day for a year" (Numbers 14:34). Therefore, 70 weeks would be the equivalent of 70 times 7 years or 490 years.
In his book The Coming Prince (1895), Sir Robert Anderson carefully outlined the position that the Seventy Weeks could be taken as: (1) 69 weeks: adding together "seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks" (Daniel 9:25), plus (2) a disconnected and final 70th week, i.e., separated from the end of the 69th Week (April 6th 32 AD) by approximately 1,966 years until the beginning of the 70th Week (1998 AD): "he [the Antichrist] shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week [the 70th week]" (Dan 9:27).
Anderson determined that the "commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem" (Dan 9:25) referred to the Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus' decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem of March 14th 445 BC (Julian). "For the wall of the city... the king [Artaxerxes, who was the son of Ahasuerus (a.k.a. Xerxes), who, in turn, was the husband of Queen Esther] granted me [Nehemiah], according to the good hand of my God upon me" (Nehemiah 2:8). Further, Anderson determined that 69 weeks of prophetic years of 360 days (69 x 7 x 360) or 173,880 days, proceeded from March 14th 445 BC (Julian) to April 6th 32 AD (Julian)-- the very Palm Sunday of our LORD's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
John Gill's Expositor (1760) commented on Daniel 9:25-- "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 threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times" (Daniel 9:25)-- in agreement with Sir Robert Anderson. Incidentally, Gill did briefly state another position on the Seventy Weeks taken from Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel. John Gill summarized Newton's position: "Sir Isaac Newton thinks the seven weeks unto Messiah, which he detaches from the sixty two, respects the second coming of Christ [e.g., 7 weeks of years from May 14,1948 to May 14,1997-- a modern application by contemporary interpreters], when he [Christ] shall come as a Prince, and destroy antichrist, and that it takes in the compass of a jubilee; but when it will begin and end he [Newton] does not pretend to say."
John Gill explains his reason for disagreeing with Newton. "Within the space of seven weeks, or forty nine years, reckoning from the twentieth of Artaxerxes; when the Jews had a grant to rebuild their city and wall, and were furnished with materials for it; and which was done in very troublesome times... Nehemiah chapters four and five for which the space of seven weeks, or forty nine years, were cut out and appointed; and that this event belongs solely to this period is clear from the Messiah's coming being appropriated to the period of the sixty two weeks; which leaves this entirely where it is fixed." In other words: (1) the "seven weeks" (Daniel 9:25) points to the period encompassing the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls, i.e., "to restore and rebuild Jerusalem" (9:25), while (2) the "threescore and two weeks" points to "Messiah the Prince" (9:25) and His First Advent. Like Gill, John Zachary in his Threshold of Eternity (1989) agrees with Sir Robert Anderson's understanding of the Seventy Weeks. I, also, agree with Anderson, Gill, and Zachary; but, am grateful to know that Sir Isaac Newton lent his time, intellect, and name to the study of "things to come" (John 16:13).
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