He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’
In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.
And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation,
until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Daniel 9:27
Forgive me if this is a difficult read to understand today, but you might need to go through it slowly or even twice to let it sink in. Also, you won’t be surprised when I say that religious scholars don’t agree on how this subject matter was or will be fulfilled.
To understand what the “70th Week of Daniel” is and when it occurs, we need to go back to the previous three verses in Daniel 9, and discern the meaning of “seven”. Verse 24 states that seventy “sevens”, or seventy weeks, are decreed.
It is generally agreed among most that a prophetic week can stand for seven years, a year for each day. See Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6 for other examples of a prophetic day equaling one year. Further, a prophetic year is believed by many to be 360 days long, as the Jewish calendar is lunar based, not 365.25 days per year like our solar calendar (as we’ve already covered).
In Verse 25, it says: “From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’” So, seven “sevens” is 17,640 days, 49 lunar years, or 48.33 solar years. 62 “sevens” is 156,240 days, 434 lunar years, or 428.05 solar years.
There were four similar decrees during this era that were possible starting points to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem”: the decree by Cyrus in 536 B.C. (Ezra 1:1-4); by Darius in 520 B.C. (Ezra 6:1-12); by Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:11-26); and again by Artaxerxes in 444 B.C. (Nehemiah 2:1-8). There are “scholarly” opinions about which one was the starting point. The math looks doubtful on at least the two earliest decrees, as well as the fact that they focus on rebuilding the temple and not the city.
Whichever decree is correct, it commenced the seven “sevens”, or 49 years, it must have taken to rebuild Jerusalem (though this completion date is not verified anywhere that I could find). Another 62 “sevens” later, “the Anointed One will be put to death”, or crucified (verse 26). This would be around 33 A.D.
Then there is this final seven, or week, mentioned in the verse at the top. Some believe this was fulfilled in the first century, while more lean towards a future week. The book of Revelation (11:2-3, 12:6, 13:5) also mentions a period of 42 months or 1,260 days where many troubling things happen. “Time, times, and half a time” is also a reference to the same 3½ years that seems to be mentioned in Daniel 7:25 and 12:7 and Revelation 12:14. All of this sounds very similar to the disruption in the middle of the 70th Week in Daniel 9:27. More on this tomorrow.
One day the Lord will clearly reveal how the first 69 weeks were fulfilled down to the day, and how the final week was or will be fulfilled.