"....Until Messiah the Prince, there shall be 7 Weeks + 62 Weeks".
(Dan.9:25). This is 69 "sevens" of years, 69 x 7 x 360 = 173,880 days
Sir Robert Anderson's discovery that God keeps a holy record of earthly days based on a heavenly calendar of precisely twelve 30 day months and a holy perfect year of 360 days was sheer, God inspired, brilliance. This unlocked the mystery of Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks. As we saw in the article on Biblical time and the Hebrew calendar time information is issued from the throne of God as years of 360 days, seasons of 90 days, and months of 30 days. This is the way prophetic information is passed down to earth from the the God of Israel. The final half of the 70th week is certainly laid out in Holy Scripture in terms of 360 day years. This, as we shall discover, is also the way the first 69 weeks of the seventy weeks of Daniel is reckoned.
In this regard we have a wonderful discovery to report. We can show Biblical proof of biblical/prophetic time being issued as years of 360.0000 days. Revelation 12 lays out the exile and nurturing of the woman, (God's covenant people), during the latter half of the final seven years of this age. That 3.5 biblical year period is the final half of the 70th week of Daniel. The Holy Spirit has issued the time of the exile of the woman to us using two different time units. Rev.12:6 gives the time-span to us as 1260 days. Eight verses later there is a restatement of the feeding/nurturing of the woman. Rev.12:14 gives the time-span to us again. But this time it is given to us as a "time, times and a half a time" or three and a half years. The 1260 days divided by 3.5 = 360 days.
This passage is a hidden key to Bible prophecy. It is, in effect, a "Rosetta Stone" for biblical/prophetic time. This passage of scripture in Revelation 12 neatly and simply unlocks for us the timing puzzle for the Seventy Weeks. If the 70th week of Daniel is reckoned as 7 years of 360 days then we must conclude that the first 69 weeks of the Seventy weeks of Daniel will be the same. They too must also be years of 360 days.
Let us turn now to focus in on those first 69 weeks of the seventy weeks of Daniel. Let us take a look again at our scripture and in particular verse 25.
"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times."
From this scripture we can deduce that the rebuilding of the walls and restoration of the sovereignty of Jerusalem would take 7 x 7 = 49 prophetic years. From that point on and for another 62 weeks or "sevens" or 7 x 62 = 434 biblical years the holy time-line would travel forward without pause until it came to a climactic moment in holy history. After the passage of 7 + 62 = 69 (weeks) or 69 x 7 = 483 biblical years Israel would see their Messiah. On this special day they could expect to see their Prince. Their Messiah would be at the gate.
And was He?
Jesus/Yeshua had been among His people for three and a half years. He had ministered to them in many ways during that time. But on this day it would be different. As the Passover lambs were being inspected for sacrifice Israel's long promised Sacrifice Lamb was also being presented for inspection before the priests of Israel that year. On this day, (it was four days before the Passover), Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach would finally reveal Himself politically to His people. On this very day, (and on no other), they would see their long awaited Messiah come in through the eastern gate of Jerusalem, riding upon a donkey.
Palm Sunday, (actually Palm Sabbath), Day 173,880,
Marks the Terminus of the 69 Weeks.
That day was "Palm Sunday" and being four days before the Nisan 14 Passover Crucifixion we can tag this day on the Hebrew calendar as Nisan 10.
It was day 173,880, and Messiah was arriving right on time. It was the tenth day of the Nisan/Passover moon. As we see when we examine the years in question between 30 A.D and 34 A.D. Only 32 A.D. fits the bill. 32 A.D was an embolismic year with an extra month of Adar 2 inserted into the Hebrew calendar in late Winter to boost the Nisan moon up into the Springtime for for that year. So that momentous year of 32 A.D. was a year with a late Passover. And it did manage to fit those extra 25 days in to connect the Nisan moons 476 days apart. See the graphic at the top of this page and the one below.
Notice how the 173,880 day timelines fail to engage with two Nisan moons in 30, 31, 33, and 34 A.D. Only the year 32 with a leap moth of Adar 2 injected into the Hebrew calendar will provide a late Nisan moon to accommodate the timeline that must fit into the two Nisan moons 476 years apart. Those two Nisan moons would be the Nisan moon of Nehemiah and the Nisan moon of the Passover of the Passion Year.
So what was the total number of weeks, (or "sevens", involved in the time period here? It was:
:: 7 + 62 = 69 weeks
:: or 69 "sevens"
:: 69 x 7 = 483 prophetic years.
As we discussed in the article on Biblical time each year of these 483 prophetic years as they were issued from the Throne of God were years of 360 days.
483 x 360 = 173,880 days
This then, is that all important number that Scotland Yard Inspector Sir Robert Anderson arrived at for the 69 weeks. He did this work in t he late 19th century and wrote the book, "The Coming Prince" outlining his discoveries.
When we divide the 173,880 days by the solar year we arrive at this.
173,880 / 365.242199 = 476 years plus 24.7 days
or 476 solar years plus 25 days inclusive.
For a fuller outlining of the calculations involved for the first 69 weeks see the video above listed or view the chart above. These are calculations you can verify yourself.
The 70 Weeks Prophecy begins with the Edict of Artaxerxes Longimanus in his 20th Year. This authority to rebuild the gates and walls of the ruined city of Jerusalem and thereby restore the political sovereignty of Jerusalem for self-rule as a semi-independent city-state was given to Nehemiah.
And how would the 70 weeks begin? On a certain special day in holy history a king would issue aroyal edict. The story is told inNehemiah chapter 2. (Click to go to the passage). And as the new moon of Nisan came up that year Nehemiah, his cup-bearer, laid out the burden of a scattered people to the supreme ruler of Persia. Nehemiah had been sad as he had remembered Israel's former Passovers in happier times. Now the holy city was under the sovereignty of the Medo-Persians, the superpower of that time. And in spite of a rebuilt temple and the return of many from Judah the city was still in ruins.
It was a day of high drama. In fear of his very life Nehemiah had asked the king for something of a very sensitive nature. He was asking Artaxerxes for permission to restore the city of Jerusalem, its walls and its gates. He was, in effect, asking for a royal edict allowing the Jewish House of Judah to return with supplies, money, and royal authority to restore the sovereignty of the Holy City as a self-governing city-state. This was a very tense moment. He could have been executed for this.
But Nehemiah found favor in the eyes of the king. And the Medo-Persian ruler Artaxerxes Longimanus issued that all important decree. It was a stupendous day in holy history. The edict given by Artaxerxes in his 20th year was highly significant. It gave permission for the political restoration of the city of Jerusalem.
Medo-Persia was the world superpower of the time. This edict would give authority for returning Jews to do something they had not been able to do before. They were being given this edict in the peace, security, and and superpower protection of Artaxerxes to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. The City of Shalom, the city of the coming Prince of Peace was to be restored. Soon its walls and gates would be rebuilt. And it would function as a sovereign city-state.
The key to all this was the stipulating of restoration of "gates and walls". The "city gates" were the entrance to the city. This was more than just a portal for entry. The city gate was an enclosed structure, the place where the town elders sat and judged in all sorts of governmental matters. This edict, would set in motion the restoration of the integrity and sovereignty of Jerusalem as a self-governing city-state.
King Cyrus is often mentioned in this context of the 70 weeks prophecy. But this earliest edict was given nearly 90 years earlier in 537 B.C.. The edict of Cyrus is outlined in Ezra chapter 1. The edict given by Cyrus was a proclamation of emancipation for the captives of Judah. It had its religious side to it as well. Cyrus had given them a grant and every encouragement the returning Jews to rebuild the Temple. But the political side to the equation was missing. Because in the Cyrus decree (and also the decree of Artaxerxes given to Ezra 80 years later in 457 B.C.), there was no mention of any permission being given to attend to the restoration of gates and walls of the city of Jerusalem. Cyrus had not given this critical permission for restoration of political sovereignty. That would come in the century to follow and only with the grant given to Nehemiah in 445 B.C.. This is an extremely important point overlooked by many Bible teachers.
These earlier edicts allowed the Jews to return to the land of Israel and to rebuild the Hebrew Temple in Jerusalem. And they did return, initially experiencing some delays due to opposition in the land. Finally, in the time period 520 B.C. to 516 B.C. and after the exhortations of Habakkuk the rebuilding program got under way under the able leadership of Zerubbabel.
The following century would see another significant event, the decree of Artaxerxes in his 7th year in 457 B.C.. This came about by a revival among the Jews who remained in Persia. That revival began like all revivals. The Word of God was shared with the people. The discovery of the scrolls was followed by a public reading of the Torah by the scribe Ezra. This is what sparked the revival of interest by the Jewish exiles. Suddenly, they remembered their destiny. Soon after the edict was issued large numbers of former captives began returning back to Jerusalem. It was Ezra who prepared the hearts of the people, not only for another Aliyah to the Land but also for the civic responsibilities that would come later on under Nehemiah. But it was only after the later edict given to Nehemiah that the city of Jerusalem would be restored to political sovereignty.
We know for a certainty that neither Zerubbabel or Ezra had rebuilt the walls and gates. Because when Nehemiah came along, (and this was eight years after Ezra in the spring of 445 B.C.), Nehemiah had received sad news. We read (in Nehemiah 2) that he had been told that the walls of Jerusalem were still in ruins. And the gates were burned with fire.
There were some sad social consequences to this. The city walls were a broken shell. and offered no had no civic protection. And so the people camped out within these broken down walls were being oppressed by marauders. It was still a wild Persian territory without the law and order that brings peace and security.
This is what prompted Nehemiah to petition the king. As the king's cup-bearer he was in a privileged position to take the bull by the horns and to pop the big question. As he did so he was trembling. In this act he was actually taking his life in his hands. If the king did not give his scepter and his favor Nehemiah was a dead man. His request would be regarded as a rebellious act against the Persian realms. He could have been charges with treason and executed speedily. But Nehemiah, as the king's cup-bearer was energized by the God of Israel. And so he asked the king to allow the Jewish returnees to rebuild the city walls and gates. This was no light matter. This act of rebuilding and restoration was not just a beautification program. This rebuilding of city infrastructure would restore the city of Jerusalem as an independent sovereign city-state.
And so it was, that in 445 B.C., in the month of Nisan, the Persian King Artaxerxes Longimanus in his 20th year would receive a petition from his Jewish butler. And Artaxerxes would issue a royal edict to allow the restoration of Jerusalem, God's holy city. (Neh.1-2)
This was not an obscure event. It was a highly significant event and it was recorded in the pages of holy history. This edict we see showcased in Nehemiah 2 would set the clock ticking for the seventy weeks of Daniel.
173,880 days later, the people of God, and the city of Jerusalem, would come to a pivotal and epic moment in holy history. In all of His three and a half year earthly ministry this particular day would be a time like no other. On this specific and momentous day, in the springtime of 32 A.D., in the month of Nisan, and on the 10th day of the moon, they would see their coming Prince! On this special day He would enter into His holy city!
