No 8

(70 weeks in the book of Daniel)

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city…” Daniel 9 :24.  This verse and the following verses in the text are what some say to be the most far-reaching and precise prophesies in all of the Bible.  It spans the time from 538 BC to the Great Tribulation period as discussed in Revelation.  But, it is not so much the period that it covers, but more the absolute precision of the dating.  Verses 24 to 27 are a response to an intercessory prayer (vs. 1 – 19) that Daniel had made on behalf of his people, Israel.  The answer came by the angel Gabriel who said to Daniel in verse 23b “therefore understand the matter and consider the vision” .  In the vernacular, Gabriel told Daniel “get this, man  because it’s important”. Six things occur in the 70-week period described in verse 24 with a gap between the first three and the last three : the first 3 occured at the cross and the last 3 are still future for us and will occur when Jesus Christ returns to the earth and ushers in the Millennium period; we will see this in detail in later studies.  “Seventy weeks”….what does this represent?…. How long is this period?….  Is it days, weeks, months, or years?  The only logical answer is that it represents years; 70 weeks of years, which is equal to 490 years.  There are 4 reasons to believe that Gabriel was talking about weeks of years. 

1)  By deduction – nothing significant (6 things) happened 70 days, or 70 weeks, or 70 months after this date (538 BC) however, something very significant occured after 483 years (69 X 7, but we’ll get back to this);

2)  Daniel was already thinking in years (Daniel 9 :2);

3)  The word weeks here in Hebrew is “shâbuim”, meaning weeks.  The context tells us if it should be literal weeks or something else.  In Daniel 10 :2, 3 the same word (shâbuim) appears, but the word ”days“ is added; therefore this passage speaks of weeks of days and 9 :24 speaks of something else;

4)  In Leviticus 25, the Lord ordered Israel to have a sabbath year every 7th  year and a jubilee year every 50th year.  Israel did not observe these sabbaths and jubilees and the Lord punished them by sending them to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36 :20, 21) for literal 70 years.  

70 years (verse 21b)  X  7 equals 490 years.

Therefore, Daniel 9 :24-27 speaks of weeks of years and Daniel was just as anxious as we are to see what was to occur during and after this period (Daniel 9 :19).  The key phrase is in verse 24 : “upon thy people”.  Whenever and whatever this prophesy was about, the angel Gabriel wanted Daniel to know that it concerned his people, Israel.  Daniel 9 : 25 splits the 70-week period into three parts : 1) “seven weeks” (49 years); 2) “three score and two weeks” (434 years); 3) one week unaccounted for (7 years).  There are only 69 weeks accounted for;  when will the seventieth week occur and what will happen during that week? The answer is that this week has not as yet occurred (year 2001) and is “on hold” and it applies to Israel only.  The present Church age (that’s us) is in this “holding” period; we were not in the 483 years of this prophesy and we will not be in the last 7 years of the prophesy either.  We will be taken out at the rapture of the Church and Israel, as a nation, will start God’s clock ticking again.     We will see the beginning and the ending of this 70th week in another study because the calculations are very complicated.  Meanwhile, try and find out when this prophesy of 70 weeks of years begins.   Because, if we can find out when it begins, then we can find out when it ends. 

(Hint : The answer is in the book of Nehemiah). 

When we look at all these prophecies, we must not get into arguements as to who is right and who is wrong.  We must see the veracity of God’s word and how perfect it really is.  It was written by a God who is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.