Dan 9:25 | KingComments | STEP | Now Daniel is told – and we are told – when to start counting the seventy weeks, that is to say the four hundred and ninety-year period. We have to “know and discern” that, otherwise we will miss the meaning. The counting should start at “the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem”. This cannot refer to what Cyrus ordered, for he did not command to rebuild Jerusalem, but to rebuild the temple ( ). Only a hundred years later has permission come to rebuild the city and that is what this verse is about. Artaxerxes is the king who gives Nehemiah the permission to rebuild the city, in the fourth year of his reign ( ), that is the year 445 BC. Then the four hundred and ninety years begin. Then an intermediate event is given, namely the coming of the Messiah. When He comes, sixty-nine weeks have passed. This period of sixty-nine weeks is divided into a period of seven weeks and a period of sixty-two weeks. The first period, that of seven times seven weeks, that is forty-nine years, is the period in which the restoration of Jerusalem takes place. The second period of sixty-two weeks is linked to this period in one breath. The end of those two periods – that of seven weeks (forty nine years) and that of sixty-two weeks (= four hundred and thirty-four years), that is four hundred and eighty-three years together – is connected with a person: “until Messiah the Prince”. A certain characteristic of this time is given: “It will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.” This shows that Jerusalem has been rebuilt, but that in those four hundred and sixty-three years (sixty-nine weeks) it is always under pressure from foreign peoples.

‏ Daniel 9:25

Seven Weeks and Sixty-Two Weeks

Now Daniel is told – and we are told – when to start counting the seventy weeks, that is to say the four hundred and ninety-year period. We have to “know and discern” that, otherwise we will miss the meaning. The counting should start at “the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem”. This cannot refer to what Cyrus ordered, for he did not command to rebuild Jerusalem, but to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:2). Only a hundred years later has permission come to rebuild the city and that is what this verse is about. Artaxerxes is the king who gives Nehemiah the permission to rebuild the city, in the fourth year of his reign (Neh 2:1), that is the year 445 BC. Then the four hundred and ninety years begin.

Then an intermediate event is given, namely the coming of the Messiah. When He comes, sixty-nine weeks have passed. This period of sixty-nine weeks is divided into a period of seven weeks and a period of sixty-two weeks. The first period, that of seven times seven weeks, that is forty-nine years, is the period in which the restoration of Jerusalem takes place. The second period of sixty-two weeks is linked to this period in one breath. The end of those two periods – that of seven weeks (forty nine years) and that of sixty-two weeks (= four hundred and thirty-four years), that is four hundred and eighty-three years together – is connected with a person: “until Messiah the Prince”.

A certain characteristic of this time is given: “It will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.” This shows that Jerusalem has been rebuilt, but that in those four hundred and sixty-three years (sixty-nine weeks) it is always under pressure from foreign peoples.