|
Hi, guys —
Over the past few weeks, I've been reading
Roy Schoeman's book: Salvation is from the Jews.
I highly recommend
it! As you may know, Roy is a convert
from Judaism.
On Page 81 and 82 he talks about the prophecy
of Daniel in Chapter 9:24-27:
9 24 ‘Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and
your holy city, for putting an end to
transgression, for placing the seal
on sin, for expiating crime, for introducing
everlasting uprightness for setting
the seal on vision and on prophecy,
for anointing the holy of holies. 25 Know
this, then, and understand: From the
time there went out this message: “Return
and rebuild Jerusalem” to the
coming of an Anointed Prince, seven
weeks and sixty–two weeks, with
squares and ramparts restored and rebuilt,
but in a time of trouble. 26 And
after the sixty–two weeks an Anointed
One put to death without his . . . city
and sanctuary ruined by a prince who
is to come. The end of that prince will
be catastrophe and, until the end, there
will be war and all the devastation
decreed. 27 He
will strike a firm alliance with many
people for the space of a week; and
for the space of one half–week
he will put a stop to sacrifice and
oblation, and on the wing of the Temple
will be the appalling abomination until
the end, until the doom assigned to
the devastator.'
Daniel 9:24-27 |
The Hebrew evokes idols of Baal. Antiochus
set up a statue of Zeus in the Temple.
In the book he explains:
A few keys are necessary to decipher
this passage.
The Hebrew for "week" is
the same word for "seven", and a
day represents one year; hence "seven
weeks" is 49 years, "sixty-two weeks is 434 years, and "seventy weeks" is
490 years. The "going
forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem" refers
to the order of King Artaxerxes to rebuild
Jerusalem recorded in Ezra 7:11-26, which
was given in 458 B.C. It took exactly "seven
weeks", or 49 years, to complete the
building of the walls of Jerusalem, indicated
by the fact that 49 years after Artaxerxes'
decree, or in 409 B.C., Nehemiah ended his
appointment as governor of Judah.
Adding
another sixty-two weeks, or 434 years, brings
us to 26 A.D., which is the year which many,
including the ancient Church historian Bishop Eusebius, give as the date of Jesus' baptism
in the Jordan by John and the beginning of
His public ministry. Then,
in the "half of the week" — that
is, three and a half years later — the "victim
and the sacrifice shall fail". And it
was about three years and four months after
Jesus' baptism that He was crucified, at which
time the Temple veil was rent in two as a
sign that the Temple sacrifices would henceforth
fail. (The fact that the Temple sacrifices
failed at the time of the crucifixion is further
confirmed in a passage in the Talmud
— in Rosh Hashanah 31b) Then within
a generation later, the Romans came and destroyed
the Temple and the entire city of Jerusalem
and sent the Jews into exile, fulfilling the
verse,
"a people with their leader that
shall come, shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be waste,
and after the end of the war the appointed
desolation."
Pages 82 — 83 |
To break down the math and clarify of what
I have quoted above:
( 1 week = 7 years )
( 1/2 week = 3.5 years )
So . . .
- 7 weeks equal 49
years or (7 * 7 years)
- 62 weeks equal 434 years or (62 * 7 years)
- 70 weeks equal 490 years or (70 * 7 years)
Per Daniel 9:24-27
The "going
forth of the word to restore and build
Jerusalem" refers to the order
of King Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem
recorded in Ezra 7:11-26, which
was given in 458 B.C. It took exactly "seven weeks", or
49 years, to complete the building of
the walls of Jerusalem, indicated by
the fact that 49 years after Artaxerxes'
decree, or in 409 B.C., Nehemiah ended
his appointment as governor of Judah.
From Page 82, above |
Doing the annual math: 458 B.C. - 49 B.C. = 409 B.C.
Adding
another sixty-two weeks, per Daniel 9:26;
or 434 years, brings us to 26 A.D., which
is the year which many, including the ancient
Church historian Bishop Eusebius, give
as the date of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan
by John and the beginning of His public
ministry.
From Pages 82 — 83,
above |
Doing the annual math: 409 B.C. - 434 B.C. = 25 A.D. or 26 A.D.
26 And
after the sixty–two weeks, an Anointed
One was put to death.
(Daniel 9:26)
Then,
in the "half of the week" — that
is, three and a half years later — the "victim
and the sacrifice shall fail". And
it was about three years and four months
after Jesus' baptism that He was crucified,
at which time the Temple veil was rent
in two as a sign that the Temple sacrifices
would henceforth fail.
From Page 83, above |
Doing the annual math:
- 25 A.D. or 26 A.D. + 3.5 = 28.5 or 29.5, not
33 A.D. when Our Blessed Lord
died on the Cross?
Small note: So the 70 weeks
are a definite period divided into three parts:
When
I read this part of Roy's book, being a Math
minor, I was frustrated when the Math didn't
come out exactly, but in my 1954 Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1954) for this Chapter,
the author notes:
| "As
these prophecies were uttered between
the year 605-588 B.C. It is from these
broad limits that the seven weeks are
to be reckoned. We purposely allow this
latitude to the terminus a quo because
we do not attach a strict mathematical
value to the number of weeks." |
- Can someone help me understand the math
behind the prophecy of Daniel 9?
Mike
|
