Daniel and Messiah

Over the next few weeks we will look at this telling prophecy in Daniel 9:20-27. First the pre-amble:

“While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill – while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision: “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.”

Then the bombshell:

“Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. …”

What this couple of verses is giving us is firstly a timetable for the appearance of the Anointed One, then a glimpse into what will be in store for him and finally the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple after his demise (his “cutting off”).

The Anointed One will appear after a period of seven “sevens” and sixty-two “sevens” since the order to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. There’s more unpacking to be done here than a Royal house swap!

The Anointed One, the ruler, is none other than the promised Messiah. This is easy, as both expressions mean the same thing. The English word Messiah is simply a translation of the Hebrew Mashiach, meaning “the Anointed One”.

Now as for these numbers, it’s all a bit convoluted, isn’t it?

Firstly, we need to understand what is meant by “sevens”. In the English translation of the Hebrew text (known as the Masoretic text), the word used is actually translated as “week”. So we have seven weeks, then sixty two weeks. Now these are not actual weeks of days, what we have here is known as a shemittah cycle, a seven year period that parallels a seven day week, particularly the seven days of creation. There is nothing controversial about this usage here, it is a standard Jewish understanding, so “sevens” means “weeks” means “seven years”. For the last word on this, read Leviticus 25:8, where it talks of “seven Sabbaths of years” as a period of 49 years, a Sabbath being the seventh day of the week.

With that understanding we can return to the verses …

“From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be 49 years and 434 years (i.e. 483 years) … . After the 434 years, the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing”.

So, if we know the start point, then add 483 years, we should reach the point where the Messiah “will be cut off and will have nothing”.

Next week we will look at the start point.

Why would this be? The fact is that, within the Book of Daniel, there are a number of prophecies that can be said to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ or his Church. If indeed this was so, then Rashi and other Jewish commentators would be very aware of this, even if a few prophecies could be considered ambiguous or contentious. The last thing they would want would be for Jews to read the Book of Daniel as a prophetic book and come to some uncomfortable conclusions. More next week …

Did Daniel predict the coming of Jesus?