The 70 year prophetic captivity as given by Jeremiah, specifically Jeremiah 25:1-11, is coming to an end. The time is nearing for the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem, rebuild its walls, and restore the temple. Daniel prays with urgency to know and understand the timing of the end of the desolation in Jerusalem, perhaps hoping he would return with the first wave of people. He did not. He died in Babylon.
The prophecy of 70 years captivity came upon the Jewish people because of their disobedience to God’s Torah, specifically their idolatrous practices. The number of years determined for their captivity was the number of Sabbaths that they did not allow the land to rest on the seventh year: the shimittah (Leviticus 25:1-7). Jeremiah said to the people of Judah, “I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. And Adonai has sent to you all His servants the prophets … but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear” (Jeremiah 25:3-4).
In this chapter, he prays for his people. He is also visited by an angel named Gabriel who gives him an answer to his prayer. Though the answer is cryptic to Daniel, it is an answer nonetheless, an answer that challenges us today when considering end-times prophecies.
- When does this chapter take place historically?
Esther 1:13
2. Which Scriptures was Daniel reading?
Dig Deeper:
3. Read Jeremiah 25 and consider the following questions:
4. Who was the king of Judah?
5. What year of reign was it for Nebuchadnezzar?
6. How long had Jeremiah been warning the people of the consequences of their rebellion?
7. Who has been sent to Judah repeatedly?
8. What did they cry out for?
9. What does the LORD of the armies say?
10. What will he remove?
11. How long will the nations serve Babylon?
12. What will happen after the 70 years?
13. Read Jeremiah 33 and compare to Jeremiah 25.
Back to Daniel chapter 9
14. What did Daniel learn by reading Jeremiah?
15. Describe Daniel’s prayer position.
16. What kind of prayer did he pray?
17. To whom does God keep covenant and extend His grace?
18. What is the sin of Judah?
19. What belongs to God?
20. What belongs to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in captivity?
21. List of sins they have done.
22. What does God promise for disobedience?
Deuteronomy 28:15-68.
23. How does Daniel plead for Jerusalem?
24. What does he ask for Jerusalem?
25. How is Daniel’s prayer an example of prayer?
26. What, if anything, convicts you in Daniel’s prayer?
27. Have you ever prayed for the nation of Israel? The Jewish people?
28. Can you hear in Daniel’s prayer the need the Jewish people have for the prophet like Moses who will speak the Word of the LORD and teach them how to walk in it?
29. Do we have the same need? Why or why not?
30. Describe who comes to Daniel while he confesses his sins, the sins of Israel, and pleads for the holy mountain in Jerusalem?
31. What time during the day does this event occur? What else happened at this time?
Matthew 26:45
Mark 15:33
32. Why does Gabriel come with an answer to the prayer?
The Vision Explained by Gabriel
And a few others*
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and for your holy city for putting an end to the transgression, for making an end of sin, for forgiving iniquity, for bringing in everlasting justice, for setting the seal on vision and prophet, and for anointing the Especially Holy Place” (Daniel 9:24).
33. What is decreed for the Jewish people and the holy city?
34. Has this happened to the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem?
Isaiah 2:3
Micah 4:2
35. Read the following prophesies detailing the decree:
Psalm 37:28
Isaiah 24:5
Ezekiel 18:21-23
Ezekiel 37:23
Jeremiah 31:33-37
Zephaniah 2:3
Zechariah 8:7-8
Matthew 12:18
1 Peter 2:24
1 John 2:2
Revelation 1:5
“Know, therefore, and discern that seven weeks will elapse between the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Yerushalayim until an anointed prince comes. It will remain built for sixty-two weeks, with open spaces and moats; but these will be troubled times” (Daniel 9:25).
This vision in Daniel has been interpreted over the centuries by many people, though until the restoration of Israel and Jerusalem in our day, many interpretations have been faulty because they were centered not on Israel, but on the church, Rome, and every other pagan nation. Daniel 9:24 clarifies that the 70 weeks are about God dealing with His people, the Jewish people, not the world, church or Rome, unless what is happening to the Jewish people affects these other entities.
It it also important to remember that Daniel is told to “seal up the book until the time of the end.” This is because until the days in which we are living, there was no Israel, no regathering of the Jewish people back to the Land, no talk of rebuilding a Temple in Jerusalem, no discussion about returning to the sacrifices on Passover or Day of Atonement or a restoration of the Jewish Hebrew Biblical roots of faith.
36. Who issues the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem? And when?
2 Chronicles 36:22-23
Ezra 1:1-4
According to Gabriel, seven weeks are set aside signifying 49 years. This number of weeks/years would mark the completion of a Jubilee of seven Sabbatical or shemitah years (Leviticus 25:1-10). This is Gabriel’s way of showing Daniel that the 62 years that follow and the one final week should be interpreted as shemitah years.
Daniel would have understood the Torah outlines the Hebrew calendar, and the period of seven years represents shemitah year cycles, not an arbitrary period of seven years in history. All shemitah years began on Tishri 1 (The Feast of Trumpets) in September/October and end with the month of Elul in August/September.
Daniel’s timeline would begin at 457-456 BCE on Tishri 1 when the decree was given by Cyrus to the Jews to return to the Land and begin rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple. This would also begin the first shemitah year cycle.
The rebuilding project took longer than anticipated to begin and Nehemiah mourned, fasted and prayed over the project (Nehemiah 1:1-4). When he finally acted on the decree and initiated the rebuilding process, it was 444 BCE, the beginning of the third shemitah year.
The spiritual restoration began through Ezra, the priest. Ezra brought many Levites back with him from Babylon to Jerusalem. He taught them the Torah regulations for Temple service down to the “letter of the law.” After Ezra and the priests had been prepared, another shemitah year would have begun on Tishri 1, 444 BCE. This shemitah year is confirmed by Nehemiah:
“All the people gathered with one accord in the open space in front of the Water Gate and asked ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher to bring the scroll of the Torah of Moshe, which Adonai had commanded Isra’el. ‘Ezra the cohen brought the Torah before the assembly, which consisted of men, women and all children old enough to understand. It was the first day of the seventh month” (Nehemiah 8:1-2).
“Know, therefore, and discern that seven weeks will elapse between the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Yerushalayim until an anointed prince comes. It will remain built for sixty-two weeks, with open spaces and moats; but these will be troubled times” (Daniel 9:25).
According to Daniel 9:25, the “anointed prince” will not come until the end of the 69 shemitah years or 483 years (69 x7). When counting 69 shemitah year cycles from 457 BCE, the final year of those weeks begins Tishri 1, 26 CE (September 30) and ends Elul 29, 27 CE (September 19). Using the Biblical calendar cycle, the “annointed one” would manifest sometime around Tishri 1, the Feast of Trumpets, 27 CE. This is not the time of Yeshua’s death, as many timelines claim, but the near the time of his immersion in the Jordan River. After his anointing, he goes into the wilderness for the month of Elul and returns to the Galilee to begin his ministry of repentance and deliverance on or near the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement (Matthew 4, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 1:80).
“It [the Temple/Jerusalem] will remain built for sixty-two weeks, with open spaces and moats; but these will be troubled times. Then, after the sixty-two weeks, Mashiach will be cut off and have nothing” (Daniel 9:26).
37. How long will the city remain built?
38. What happens after that time?
39. What happens to the city and the sanctuary?
According to Gabriel, 490 years will pass between the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an “anointed prince” comes – Messiah Yeshua. Along with ending transgression, sin, and forgiving iniquity, there will be an anointing of the Most Holy Place which refers to the Temple and a King who brings everlasting justice. Setting the seal on the vision and the prophet refers to Daniel who is told to “seal up the book until the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4).
After Yeshua’s immersion, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” became the focus of the message to the “lost sheep of the House of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6, John 1:29). Though he comes to his own Jewish brothers and sisters, they do not recognize the “time of your visitation” (Luke 19:43-44). After the 62 weeks, the “anointed one” is crucified. With the pouring out of the Spirit of God on Shavuot (Pentecost), 3000 Jewish people received the message of repentance and forgiveness and took the message into the nations where they lived. Sha’ul took the same message of returning to the God of Israel through repentance and forgiveness to the gentiles. With the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE by the Romans, the counting of shemitah years and the Jubilees ended or according to Daniel’s vision, were interrupted.
A Little Manna:
When talking to a Jewish person about the Messiah, Daniel’s vision is key to knowing ‘who’ the Messiah is. He has to come before the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. There is only one person who fulfills the prophecy, Yeshua of Nazareth.
40. What occurred during the interruption of the shemitah years, during the time since the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE and today?
41. Read the following Scriptures and describe what God, who remains the same yesterday, today, and into the future, considers an abomination to Him.
Leviticus 18:21-28
Leviticus 20:13
Deuteronomy 12:31
1 Kings 11:5-7
2 Kings 23:13
Jeremiah 7:10
Ezekiel 20:30-31
Malachi 2:11
Proverbs 11:1
Proverbs 11:20
Proverbs 12:22
Proverbs 16:12
Proverbs 17:15
Proverbs 28:9
Luke 16:15
“The people of a prince yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, but his end will come with a flood, and desolations are decreed until the war is over. He will make a strong covenant with leaders for one week. For half of the week he will put a stop to the sacrifice and the grain offering” (Daniel 9:26-27).
The Messiah has nothing to do with the rest of the vision. The last ‘week’ is considered the seven-year period that ends the 70-week vision. “The prince who is yet to come” will begin the 70th shemitah year cycle when he makes a “firm covenant” with the Jews for that “one week.” The Hebrew for “firm covenant” is brit gibor or ‘strong covenant in abundance’ with the leaders. This refers to the Jewish leaders who are looking to restore Torah to the Land. With that restoration, the sacrifices and offerings at a restored Temple will occur and world leaders need to be included.
Even though the Jewish people have returned to the Land in the present day, they do not govern themselves in Jerusalem. They do not have a Temple nor has full Torah obedience been reinstated. Until these events happen, there is no shemitah and the last week of the 70 weeks cannot begin.
When that final seven years begin, the Jewish people will have their own government centered in Jerusalem. They will have a Temple with sacrifices, offerings according to Torah ordinances. They will also observe the shemitah every seven years giving the land rest – even though there will be an interruption to that observance.
At the halfway mark of the ‘week’ or 3 ½ years, “the prince” will put an end to the sacrificial offerings and defile the Holy Place. The deception of the “desolator” will become obvious, especially to the Jewish people. Sacrifices and offerings are required by Torah when there is a standing Temple which means during this ‘week,’ there will be either a rebuilt Temple or a Tabernacle like in the wilderness where there can be an “abomination of desolation.”
For the Jewish people, the coming Messiah must be a Son of David or Messiah ben David. He must restore the divided kingdom. The Messiah, the Lion from the Tribe of Judah, must be a victorious king who rules and reigns over the whole earth. Unfortunately, the Jewish people missed the suffering Messiah of Isaiah 53, the Messiah ben Joseph, which leaves them open to a false messiah. Those who are looking for the anti-messiah to be a catholic Pope or a Arab brother from Ishmael will also be deceived. The anti-messiah must be a son of David, a Jewish man though a descendant of Esau who desires to get back his birthright and blessing could fit the description.
It isn’t far-fetched to believe that the false Messiah, the anti-messiah, will make a ‘new covenant’ with the Jewish people that allows for Temple services to begin. It is even possible that this ‘man of lawlessness’ will feign to be Torah observant, even Jewish. This covenant is so strong that it breeds a great delusion to the whole world until the truth is revealed 3 ½ years later when “the prince” breaks the covenant.
42. Describe the covenant that will be made between the anti-messiah and the Jewish people?
During the 3½ years of Temple sacrifices granted under the rule of the ‘desolator,’ there will be two witnesses in the streets of Jerusalem who will be given great authority. Their prophecies will annoy the people of the world so much that when they are murdered in the streets, the world celebrates. After 3 days they are raised to life again (Revelation 11:1-4).
In Revelation 12:5-6 there is another reference to the 1260 days. The ‘“woman” is Israel and she will be taken to a place prepared by God to be “nourished.”
“On the wing of detestable things the desolator will come and continue until the already decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator” (Daniel 9:27).
Gramatically, the ‘desolator’ is cannot be the same ‘he’, but another person or perhaps the false prophet. Revelation 13:11-13 may reference this ‘desolator:’
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like those of a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence; and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, the one whose fatal wound had been healed. It performs great miracles, even causing fire to come down from heaven onto the earth as people watch.”
43. How will its end come?
Matthew 24:6
Mark 13:7
Luke 21:9
Revelation 12:14-16
44. How do Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14-15, and Luke 16:15 relate to this chapter?
45. What do these verses tell you about Yeshua?
*Thankfully, I found someone who understood the centrality of the Jewish people and their history, Torah and its ordinances in this prophecy of Daniel. My understanding is interspersed within his teaching.
©2023 Tentstake Ministries Publishing, all rights reserved. No copying or reproducing of this article without crediting the author or Tentstake Ministries Publishing.