70 Weeks of Daniel

The 70 "Weeks" of Daniel
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Book of Daniel chapter 9
[Revealed in the first year of Darius = the first year of Cyrus = 539 BCE.
Nearly all agree that these are weeks of years, adding up to 490 years.]

Literal translation	Literal fulfillment
²⁴ Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to put an end to sin, and to complete sacrifice, and to atone for iniquity, and to bring eternal righteousness; and to fulfill vision and prophecy, and to anoint a holy of holies.	490 years later, a final sacrifice would be made in behalf of the people and Jerusalem, providing atonement and eternal righteousness, thereby fulfilling biblical prophecy and preparing a holy place for the people. (A "week" = seven. Here, seven years. 70 X 7 = 490 years.
²⁵And know and consider: from the issuing of a word to bring back and to rebuild Jerusalem, until (the) anointed one, (the) prince, (shall be) seven weeks; and sixty-two weeks shall come and shall be rebuilt plaza and moat and in distressful times.	In 458 BCE, emperor Artaxerxes I, decreed that the Jewish scribe, Ezra, should go to erusalem and do all that God would tell him to do, providing necessare funding to do so. See Ezra 7:18.
²⁶ And after the sixty-two weeks, shall be cut off (the) anointed one and nothing (shall be) for him; and the city and the holy (place) will people of a coming prince ruin, and its end (shall be) over run, and until (the) end, war is decided, desolations.	Precisely 490 years later, in 33 CE, Yeshua' (Jesus) was crucified at Jerusalem, after predicting that the city would be destroyed within the life-time of some then alive, in fulfillment of the next verse. See Matt. 24:15, 34*.
²⁸And next he shall confirm a covenant for many, one week; and a half of the week, he shall stop sacrifice and offering, and upon an extremity of detestables shall come a desolater, and until (his) annihilation and determined (events), it shall be poured out upon the desolater	In 66 CE, Jewish nationalists stopped the sacrifices and prayers at the temple made in behalf of the Roman emperor. In 70 CE, the Romans stopped the Jewish sacrifices, defiled the temple, destroyed the place and desolated the city. The nationalists were crushed at Masada in 72 CE.

Other interpretations

Anti-supernaturalists, who deny that prediction be possible, assert that Daniel's prophecies must have been written after the fact, and deal with a period through the Maccabees' revolt in the second century BCE. However, the language, circumstances and content of Daniel belong to the sixth century BCE, and the weeks of years do not correspond well to the period of the Maccabees.
Some note that Daniel had been reading the Book of Jeremiah, so take Jeremiah's prediction about the people's return to Jerusalem, which he made in 605 BCE, to be the "word" mentioned in Daniel 9:25. Noting that the 70 weeks are divided into 7 weeks, 62 weeks and a final week, some suppose that there may be a gap of time between those divisions. However, gaps of undetermined time leave the prediction too flexible to be recognized when fulfilled.
Others note that Cyrus decreed in 538 BCE that Jews, as well as many other peoples, should return to their land and rebuild their temple. Cyrus sent Zerubbabel to do so, which he did, completing it in 515 BCE. However, rebuilding of the city was not allowed, and when the Jews' enemies later reported to Cyrus that the Jews were working on the city, he put a stop to their building activities, which ceased until Darius allowed them to resume in 521 BCE.
In his seventh year, 458 BCE, Artaxerxes ordered Ezra to return to the city, to organize the temple worship, and to do there whatever God would tell him to do. See Ezra 7:8. Although rebuilding of the city is not explicitly stated, the language allows for as much making 458 BCE the most likely starting year of Daniel's 70 weeks of 490 years.
A minority of Protestant Christians relate the start of Daniel's 490 years to 444 BCE, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, when he allowed Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and repair the city walls, providing some finances. However, although Nehemiah was allowed to repair the walls, Artaxerxes made no explicit "word" or decree, requiring Nehemiah to do so. To make the 490 years fit their eschatological schemes, those Protestants apply a lunar calendar. However, such forcing of the text is not required for a messianic application.

Daniel's 70 weeks

Implications

Daniel's prediction of 490 years determined upon Jerusalem and its people, as well as a "week" of desolations to follow, seems to have been fulfilled quite literally with the crucifixion of Yeshua' in about 33 CE and the first Jewish revolt of 66-72 CE.
Yeshua's prediction of a soon fulfillment of the desolations predicted by Daniel, seems to have been fulfilled quite literally, implying further that Yeshua' recognized himself as the anointed one, the prince, who has provided atonement for iniquity and brought eternal righteousness.
This provides strong biblical evidence that Yeshua' is Israel's anointed "messiah," and that it is he who will also fulfill the remaining messianic prophecies.

*Matthew 24:15 "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
standing in the holy place.... 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all
these things take place." (ESV Holy Bible: New Testament)

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