The

Daniel 9 Cipher

(The “70 weeks” of Daniel 9)

Although Daniel is regarded amongst the Christians as a prophet, in which their bibles follow the compilation of the Greek-Jewish Septuagint, he is more correctly enrolled in the “Writings” section of Jewish Bibles. The Qumran sect appears to have regarded him as a prophet, referring to him as “Daniel the Prophet.” And there is no question that his work contains prophecy. But his prophecy is more of foretelling in the way that seers speak rather than prophets. 

   Daniel was, in fact, a seer, someone who by vision or inspiration was given general glimpses of the future. A seer doesn’t necessarily understand what he sees or is shown. Rather, he relates it as he sees it, or as best as he can.  Much of the visions in Daniel are the result of a seer.

   Out of all of the prophecies, Daniel 9 has excited the most interest. It gives a timetable to the Messiah and to other key events in Jewish/Christian history (future from Daniel’s point of view). This involves the coming of the Messiah, the cutting off of the Messiah, and the destruction of Jerusalem following the “abomination of desolation,” the standing-up of the archangel Michael, and the Resurrection.

   Many have tried to calculate the “70 weeks of Daniel 9” from various starting points— i.e. the first year of Cyrus (536 BC), the 7^th year of Artaxerxes (457 BC, when Ezra came to Jerusalem and reestablished the law), the 20th year of Artaxerxes (446/445, when Nehemiah finished the wall), to various and sundry points— i.e. the baptism of Christ, the Crucifixion, and to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. None of the computations, however, have fit. This is because all were using the standard interpretation of “70 weeks” as a period of 70 sevens, which is assumed to be the literal meaning; in other words, a period of 490 years. No matter which starting point was picked, no computation could collate into a 490 year period any or all of the significant events mentioned. Indeed, the starting and exact stopping points of the 490 years were still a matter of conjecture.

   Moreover, Daniel 9 is full of significant events being mention as occurring at points in these elapsing “70 weeks,” such as Daniel 9: 25: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” Why the division of the weeks? Why not just say 69 weeks? Yet another: “After the 62 weeks the Messiah shall be cut off. . .” This appears to be the crucifixion, the generally accepted date for which is 30 AD. This is supposed to end the 69th week. Yet the end of the 70th week appears very clearly to be the destruction of the Temple, which is evident to anyone is not 7 years away but rather  40 years away from the crucifixion. Therefore the “Sevens” of Daniel 9 don’t appear to be speaking of a periods of 7 years. Seven years from 30 AD brings us to 37 AD, in which nothing significant happened at all.

   Some have also interpreted Daniel 9 27: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease . . .” as referring to the crucifixion. That would make 30 AD mid week— 3.5 years short— of the full 490 year period of the 70 weeks. However, nothing happened in 33/34 AD, which would in this view be the end of the 70th week.

     What indeed is Daniel 9 talking about? 

   Daniel is clearly being given a cipher, not a prophecy per se. All ciphers are incomprehensible without the key. Yet the key was provided; and, remarkably, in a very blunt way: The beginning of Daniel 9 reads: “In the first year of his reign (of Darius the Mede) I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”

   Note the language change from Jeremiah 25 to where Daniel is referring the reader: “desolations of Jerusalem.” Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25) had said in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar (606/605 BC), King of Babylon, 11: “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Daniel had perceived something else, for he said “desolations” in the plural. There was the key; that, and linking it to the 70 years mentioned by Jeremiah. Like any key, it appears at the beginning of the matter it interprets. 

   A small point actually contributing to this major oversight must be clarified first. Most every scholar has assumed that 539 BC was the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, as king of Babylon; and furthermore that it was therefore in this year that he ordered that the children of Israel may return and build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, thus ending the desolation. If counting from the 1st year of Nebuchadnezzar in 606/605 BC, this is hardly 70 years. It is short at least 3 years. Therefore some have sought to calculate the 70 years as 606/605 to 536/535, when the foundation of the temple was re-laid. This, however, was not the prophecy. The prophecy was servitude to the king of Babylon 70 years.  The mistake was in assuming Cyrus’ first year was 539 BC. Yes, he took Babylonia in that year; but he appointed aged Darius the Mede as king of Babylon (possibly Cyaxares II). Daniel relates a number of separate visions that came to him in either in the 1st year of Cyrus or in the 1st year of Darius. This can’t be the same year. How can Daniel calculate both as having the same first year? He could not. Cyrus was king of Persia long before he conquered Babylon and gave it to Darius. The only way Daniel ever could have experienced the “1st year of Cyrus” as king of Babylon is that Darius the Mede, who was 62 years old when given the kingdom in 539 BC, must have died in a few years. At that point Cyrus must have dispensed with a nominal king-governor to occupy the throne for a transition period, and took the title of King of Babylon direct. This must have been 536-535 BC. This became the first year of Cyrus as King of Babylon. Traditionally it is ascribed to about 538 or 539 BC.

     We must remember that Daniel’s life was Babylon-centric.  He would not calculate according to Cyrus’ regnal years as king of Persia (beginning about 550 BC). It didn’t matter that Cyrus had been the overlord or “king of kings” before conquoring Babylon. Darius was the direct king-governor over Babylon. Cyrus’ years would not be recorded in Babylon until he took the title of king there, which he obviously didn’t do in the very beginning since that title was given to Darius. Cyrus had a wise habit of installing a ruler in an area where this person actually had the hereditary claims to rule. This was noted even in Judea where he had made one of the princes, the son of one of the last Judaean kings, the governor. Darius no doubt had an hereditary claim to the throne, and could make the transition much easier for Babylonians facing Persian rule; a wise system, often used by the Romans who employed “client kings” in provinces where they didn’t want to hassle with the local problems. It was enough for the Romans, as it was for the Persians, that the installed ruler kept the taxes coming and maintained the peace under their law.

   In the case of Darius, being 62 years old, he didn’t last long. Nor at that age would he have been disposed to rebel against Cyrus. A wise choice on Cyrus’ part. At his death, however, Cyrus must have dispensed with a puppet king. Regnal years were now locally calculated by Cyrus accession to the Babylonian throne. Thus the first year of Cyrus could have been some 3 regnal years after Babylon fell to his forces and was placed under Darius the Mede. It does depend on what calendar and system of reckoning was used by Daniel.

     There is not the need here to get specific as to precise Gregorian years, or argue about what type of calendar system Daniel might be referring to. Those who wish to can consult Jack Finegan’s Handbook of Biblical Chronology. We must continue with the cipher, which will make itself very plain in a moment.

   According to Josephus, at this time Daniel showed Cyrus the prophecies in Isaiah relating to him by name. It was at this point that Cyrus insisted that God’s house be built at Jerusalem. The Jews were thus released, and the captivity of 70 years of serving Babylon ended.

   This period of 70 years is generally understood by scholars. However, Daniel and the other prophets understood more. Let us now examine the key. It must be said first that such discoveries do not come by intense study. Such knowledge as this, though study you must, will only come when God is ready to reveal it. 

The Key of Daniel 9

The 70 years above was a period of enslavement to the foreign king. However, there would also come a period of fasting from God; and a period of physical desolation upon the land. Daniel now understood the “desolations.” Indeed, the Temple was destroyed in 586 BC and its rebuilding not finished and dedicated until the 6th year of Darius the Persian in 516 BC = 70 years. Both Haggai and Zechariah give prophecies in the 2nd and 4th year of Darius, each referring to “these 70 years.” They are speaking about the time period coming soon to an end. Yet there is another; Jerusalem is still in desolation until the 20th year of Artaxerxes— 446/445 BC— when Nehemiah finishes the walls of Jerusalem. 516 BC to 446/445 BC is 70 years.

   There are thus three distinct periods of 70 years, each encompassing three very obvious states of desolation: physical captivity; spiritual famine and fasting (as the symbol of God’s presence is removed); and the physical desolation of the holy city, symbolizing as it does all Israel (which was ravaged as well during this time).

   This is the key that Daniel is giving as the interpretive factor to unlock the “70 weeks” that are to befall Israel in latter days. Later in Daniel 9 he declares the prophecy:

   Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25: Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26: And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27: And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

LXX 24 Seventy weeks have been determined upon thy people, and upon the holy city, for sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions, and to blot out the iniquities, and to make atonement for iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy. 25 And thou shalt know and understand, that from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem until Christ the prince there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks; and then the time shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be exhausted. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one shall be destroyed, and there is no judgment in him: and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming: they shall be cut off with a flood, and to the end of the war which is rapidly completed he shall appoint the city to desolations. 27 And one week shall establish the covenant with many: and in the midst of the week my sacrifice and drink-offering shall be taken away: and on the temple shall be the abomination of desolations; and at the end of time an end shall be put to the desolation.

   Seventy weeks are determined for several distinct reasons: 1 the finish the transgression. 2 to make an end of sin. 3 make reconciliation for iniquity. 4 to bring in everlasting righteousness. 5 to seal up the vision and prophecy. 6 to anoint the most Holy.

   Secondly, there is a noticeable division of the “weeks.” There will be 7 sevens, and 62 sevens. It does not say 69 sevens. There is a reason why there is a division based on 49 years. The above key is, if you will, an overlay or template.

606/605 BC to 536/535 = 70 years
586 BC to 516 BC         = 70 years

Notice that there is an overlap of about 49/50 years (7 Sevens) of the first 70 years by the second period of 70 years. 586 BC (destruction of the temple) to 536 BC (freedom from captivity)  = 49/50 years.

   Depending on when the exact dates by month and day began and ended, the overlap conceivably is 49 years, or “7 sevens.” We can understand in this respect why 7 “weeks” are separated in the countdown from the 62 weeks. The three sets of 70 above appear to be the template upon which the expanded “70 weeks” are based, and there is clearly an overlap in which 49 years of one of the periods of 70 years is concurrent with another.  

   The period of time that these 3 sets of 70 years encompass is 160 years. They are divided as follows:

   As the graph shows, the period of the 49/50 year overlap is preceded by 20 years and followed by 20 years of non overlapping time. The first 20 years (from 606/605/ BC) is part of the 70 years of physical captivity to Babylon. The second 20 year period following the overlap is concurrent with the 70 years that the temple area was in desolation (Mount Moriah) and therewith not an overlap. This 20 years (536 BC to 516 BC), however, is the span from the end of the captivity to the building of the temple. Therefore there are 3 sets of 70, one with a roughly 49/50 year overlap with another. The major 70, that one representing the loss of the Temple, is preceded by the 20 years of physical captivity, and from the time this physical captivity ended in Babylon (536 BC) to the Temple’s rebuilding is also 20 years.

   To reiterate: Notice in the 3 periods of 70 years above, which Daniel had understood, 2 periods actually overlap. The spiritual desolation from 586 to 516 overlaps the physical captivity of 606/605 to 536/535 by 49/50 years (depending on when Cyrus first year began 536/535). 49 years is actually 7 sevens. The clear notation in the beginning of Daniel 9 1: “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; 2: In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” He “understood by books” the desolations of 70 years on Jerusalem is clearly the cipher key to the expanded and futuristic 70 weeks.

   The confusing point here now is: are the “70 weeks” 70 sets of 7 (490 years) and do these “Sevens” overlap by 49 years at one point? Or, more probably, are they seven sets of 70? Part of the 70 weeks of Daniel seems to include Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the wall in 446/445 BC. 25: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” This definitely does happen at the end of one of the periods of 70 years (516 BC to 446/445 BC)

   If we are to figure that 160 years is the period of 3 sets of seven can we find the map, so to speak? To be more explicit: we definitely have an overlay. But over what do we lay this to unlock the cipher? Do we find other periods of 70 years between key events in Jewish/Christian history after the time of Daniel? Periods of 160 years?

   We do indeed. The cleansing of the Temple occurred in 164 BC, after the desecration of it by Antiochus Epiphanes.  A period of three 70s, as found in the key, from that point (160 years) comes to 4 BC, the year it is agreed that Jesus Christ was born. 70 years later is 66 AD. In February of that year Eleazar ben Ananias, governor of the temple, gained the support of the younger priests and, against the urging of the elder priests, committed a ghastly abomination of desolation. In the middle of this 70, Jesus Christ was crucified in 30 AD.

   According to Daniel 12, from the time the abomination of desolation is set up until the end there will be 1335 days, or 3.5 years. Counting from 66 AD until the fall of Jerusalem there is indeed 1,290 days, the span of time from the abomination being set up and the destruction of the temple. Then about about 45 days later there was the final fall and burning of Jerusalem, making 1335 days. Daniel: “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12: Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” It is interesting to note that even Boethius in his De Hebdomadibus (5th century) considered this 3 and a half years to be an extension on the 70 weeks. He considered there to be a time of seventy and a half hebdomads (Ebdomadias is Greek for “seven,” as in a set of time). And, indeed, it does seem that the “70 weeks” ends in 66 AD, and the period of the abomination of desolation begins for 1335 days. Also, note that in some texts, it reads in Daniel 12 that the sacrifice was “changed” at the abomination of desolation, not “removed,” which is indeed what happened in 66 AD, when the Gentiles were excluded from the offering.

   Thus the period of Jesus Christ and the gospel going forth, confirming the covenant, was a period of 70 years. “He will confirm the covenant with many for one week.” The writings at Qumran show that many Jews were expecting a period of 40 years to precede the end of the age, considering that 40 years began it in the desert after leaving Egypt. From 30 AD to 70 AD is 40 years.

   Therefore from the cleansing of the Abomination of Desecration in 164 BC (Daniel 8) to the Abomination of Desolation in 66 AD, we have encountered 4 sets of 70. Can you name key events that happened within that span of three 70 year intervals from 164 BC to 4 BC?  And can you count from the beginning and start the 7 sets of 70? I will leave the reader to ponder the words of the LORD to Daniel in the vision and not to forget the burden of history.

   Let us touch on one point before concluding this first article on Daniel 9. There are many who think that Daniel was written in the Hasmonean Period and is pseudo-epigraphic, a book merely claiming to have been written by Daniel, who, in turn,  may very well have been fictitious. The ancients were known to do that, and to have a very sincere motive for pseudo-epigraphy. The name of the book often had a meaning to it, and it set the tenor for what was inside. If we are to accept this, we can assume that like with the Book of Enoch a school of prophets wrote the book. This changes nothing really. They must have seen the cipher in history, noticing that there were three clear sets of 70 years corresponding each with physical captivity, spiritual famine and desolation, and physical desolation of the land and cities. The whole period was 160 years of trial, confirmation and judgment. Whether Daniel wrote this, prophesying what was to come, or whether a school of prophets noticed a clear pattern in history, nothing changes. God tipped his hand intentionally, giving a pattern to key events. And the prophets knew how to expand this. It is part key, part overlay and part template. It is quite complex, and it is designed to be very difficult to unravel. It is the key to the coming of what Israel long waited for— the Messiah— an event which Israel has forgotten today why it waited so long. Israel does not even understand why it should need a redeemer. God tipped his hand for a purpose. It is time to pay attention and prepare.