Daniel 9:23 “At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision”

“THE BEGINNING OF THE ‘SEVENTY WEEKS”

Evidently, going by the reckoning of Nehemiah, in the rebuilding of the wall and the city of Jerusalem, the beginning of the Seventy weeks, will be as recorded by him, that a decree by king Artaxerxes of Persia, was in the 20th year of his rule in the month Nisan (Nehemiah 2:1, 5, 7) though he used the calendar year beginning with the month Tishri (September – October, as it is in Jewish present civil calendar) as the twelfth month. Whatsoever will be the case, indications are that Nehemiah must have used the ‘fall to fall’ reckoning for the kings’ reign (Compare Nehemiah 1:1-3, with 2:1–8).

Here, we find him receiving the bad news, about Jerusalem’s condition, in (Chisler – third month) in the civil calendar and ninth month in the sacred calendar. In the second passage, he presents his request to the King and got his commission in the month Nisan (Seventh in the civil calendar and first in the sacred), yet all in the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes. The time therefore, of issuing the decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem in Artaxerxes’ twentieth year would be 455 BC accordingly, going by Nehemiah’s apparent reckoning.

THE TIME OF YEAR FOR BEGINNING OF “SEVENTY WEEKS”

Certainly, the time of the year in 455 BC, for the ‘seventy weeks’ to begin would not be before Nehemiah and those that were with him would have arrived in Jerusalem, for the work to commence, when the decree to rebuild the city by Artaxerxes was issued (Compare 2 Kings 25:25-26, Jeremiah 29:10 for a similar reckoning).

It took about four months trip, from Shushan, for Nehemiah to arrive Jerusalem at the end of the month Taninuz. Then, he ordered the construction work to start, in about the third or fourth day of the following month (Abib), which will bring it to about July 26/27 of the year 455 BC.

The walls were completed in the fifty-two days and that will bring it to the twenty-fifth day of the next month (Elu) (Nehemiah 6:15) and that will be about September 17 of 455 BC.

So we see that, at the beginning of those fifty-two days, the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem took place, since that is when it took effect. Then, the repairing of the rest of Jerusalem went forward (Daniel 9:25).

Again, we must realize that the Messiah cannot come, until the completion of the work in the city, and the restoration of the Priesthood by Nehemiah and Ezra, with others, who came after him with all the difficulties they went through doing that. It can be observed that, the work finally rounded up at the 49 year of the 70 weeks.

Daniel’s prophecy and its fulfillment can’t be lope to the end of the world or an Antichrist.

Next will be the “Coming of the Messiah”.

To be continued…