Daniel 9: An exegetical look at the 70th week
The 70th week of Daniel 9 is a hot topic in eschatology. In this exegetical exercise, we will avoid speculation into systems. Instead, we seek to understand what the author of Daniel intended to communicate to his/her original audience.
Exegetical Review
Daniel chapter 9 opens with an explanation that Daniel was reviewing Jeremiah's prophecy to determine when the exile to Babylon would end:
“In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, from the offspring of the Medes, who became king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his kingship I, Daniel, observed in the scrolls the number of the years that it was that were to be fulfilled according to the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet for the devastation of Jerusalem—seventy years.” (Daniel 9:1–2, LEB)
“For thus says Yahweh, ‘As soon as the time has passed, seventy years for Babylon, I will attend to you, and I will fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place.” (Jeremiah 29:10, LEB)
Thus, the author demonstrates that Daniel knew it would be 70-years from the day Babylon conquered Jerusalem until the day exile would end. This leads Daniel into prayer and pleads for mercy on behalf of the people. He calls back to the rescue out of exile from Egypt as a template for a new return from exile. It is in this state that he received a visit from a member of Yahweh's divine council with instructions.
The text of Daniel's 70th Week
““Seventy weeks is decreed for your people and for your holy city, to put an end to the transgression and to seal up sin and to make atonement for guilt and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal vision and prophet and to anoint the most holy place. And you must know and you must understand that from the time of the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem until an anointed one—a leader—will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be restored and will be built with streets and a moat, but in a time of oppression.“And after the sixty and two weeks an anointed one shall be cut off, and he shall have nothing, and the people of the coming leader will destroy the city and the sanctuary, and its end will be with the flood and on to the end there shall be war; these desolations are determined.And he will make a strong covenant with the many for one week, but in half of the week he will let cease sacrifice and offering and in its place a desolating abomination comes even until the determined complete destruction is poured out on the desolator.”” (Daniel 9:24–27, LEB)
The Basic Math
Daniel 9:24-27 presents the prophecy of the 70 weeks:
- Daniel 9:24: The purpose of the 70 weeks (or sevens).
- Daniel 9:25: From the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one (Messiah), there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens (a total of 69).
- Daniel 9:26: After the 62 weeks (meaning after the seven plus sixty-two weeks = 69), the anointed one will be "cut off," and a people of a ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
- Daniel 9:27: The final (70th) week is described, where a covenant is made and then broken in the middle of the week.
In terms of the basic exegetical math: 7+62=69 weeks; 69 weeks + 1 week = 70 weeks.
From the time the word is sent to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one comes is 69 weeks. At the end of the 69th week, the anointed one is cut off, and the "people of the coming leader" will destroy the city and sanctuary.
He (the leader of the people who destroyed the city and sanctuary, will strike a covenant for one week (the 70th week).
Worldview Observations
In the biblical authors' worldview, sabbatical cycles of seven years are also wrapped into a sabbath of cycles. Seven cycles of seven (70 years) was a Jubilee. The IVP Bible Background Commentary notes that the author of Danial is likely referring to a prophetic "word" not an official royal decree.
9:25. word to restore and rebuild. The NIV translates this as “decree,” but in its note indicates that it is a “word”—and this usually refers to a prophetic oracle, not a royal decree. In fact the same combination of verb and noun (“word going out”) has just been used in verse 23. This identification of the “word” is even more likely in light of the fact that Daniel is reflecting on the writing of Jeremiah, who proclaimed the prophetic oracle concerning return and restoration in his letter to the exiles (see comment on 9:2). Notice especially Jeremiah 29:10. The “going forth” of this word would then be dated to sometime between 597 and 594. (1)
While any interpretation is a guess into the author's meaning for a document of this age, it is a reasonable and text driven. This hypothetical but reasonable conclusion would put the target of these dates around 70 years after Jeremiah's prophecy 527-524 BCE.
The first deportation of Judahites into Babylon was approximately 597 BCE, followed by the destruction of the temple in 586 BCE. Somewhere around 597-594 BCE Jeremiah is issued a "word" about a 70-year period before they would be allowed to return.
Around 538 BCE (approximately 50 years), the first Judahites began returning to Jerusalem under King Cyrus the Great who conquered Babylon. Eventually, a Second Temple (ei Second Temple Judaism) was rebuilt around 538-516 BCE.
Fee and Stuart note that the book of Daniel may have been composed as early as 520 BCE, but that some date the book to as late as 165 BCE. (2)
This dating largely depends upon how you read the numbers in Daniel 9 either as references to earlier or later events. Either way, it is likely that the events are aimed by the author of Daniel at events contemporary or historical to that author's time.
This aligns well with an understanding that the 70-years of Jeremiah and Daniel are aimed at the late 500s BCE.
Alternative dates
If, however, we believe the author was using the figurative or symbolic numbers, one could argue for understanding 70 sets of 7, which would be 490 years.
In this reading, the date would likely still begin with Jeremiahs word (597-594 BCE) which would put the final events well within the 2nd century BCE and the Maccabean Revolt (167-160 BCE).
Steinsaltz notes the odd Hebrew expressions and heavy use of Aramaic, which would lend itself to an authorship well into the 2nd century BCE (3).
The IVP commentary mentioned earlier goes on to note:
9:26. anointed one cut off. The most common identification of the cut off anointed one is Onias III, the high priest murdered by Antiochus Epiphanes in 171 (referred to in 11:22). Many find this an irresistible option because it initiated a seven-year period of persecution in Jerusalem that included the desecration of the temple in 167.
In this reading, the author is likely writing contemporary to the other second temple literature such the books of the Maccabees. It is therefore plausible that the author is aiming at these events.
While conjecture beyond this into highly debatable and theoretical systems of eschatology are often unhelpful, it is worth noting that medieval scholar and rabbi Rashi notes that he thought the monarch was Titus, who destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD/CE. So, he took an even more symbolic view of the dates (4). Welton made similar arguments dating the end of the period at 70 AD/CE (5).
In terms of understanding the authors' intentions, it appears that the aim is to understand the events leading up to an anointed one and then a period of 7 dedicated to an evil leader from the people to come.
The gap between 69th and 70th week is simply a transition between the anointed one (an anointed king) who is cut off and a week of terror under a tyrannical ruler.
I find the dating of the book based on elements in the text to be most likely in the 2nd century BCE, which places the author's intended target around 167 BCE. This seems the most compelling representation of the data.
References:
(1) Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Da 9:24–27.
(2) Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 204–205; 209.
(3) Steinsaltz, Adin. Introductions to Tanakh: The Steinsaltz Tanakh. Jerusalem, 2015. Section: Daniel, Book Introduction
(4) Rashi and Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi). Rashi on Daniel. Troyes, France, 1075. Rashi on Daniel 9:26
(5) Welton, Jonathan. Raptureless. 3rd Edition Printing. Place of publication not identified: Bookbaby, 2015. http://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=4188734.
Commentaries
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
9:24. seventy sevens. A period of seven years was the sabbatical year cycle (see especially Lev 26:34–35 and the reference to it in 2 Chron 36:21). Seven sabbatical year cycles constituted a Jubilee cycle, at the end of which slaves were set free and land was returned to its proper owner (Lev 25). Seventy sabbatical cycles equal ten Jubilee cycles. The first Jubilee cycle is distinguished here (seven sevens in v. 25), and the last sabbatical cycle is distinguished (the seventieth week). It is clear, then, that these numbers are laden with theological significance that give them a schematic appearance. In Mesopotamia the numbers seven and seventy represent a full measure of time. Schematic usage of the term “weeks” can be seen in Jewish literature in the book of 1 Enoch (in the Apocalypse of Weeks), and the period of seventy weeks is also found at Qumran. The schematic use of time has been referred to as “chronography,” which is to be differentiated from “chronology.”
9:24. seal up vision and prophecy. See comment on 12:4. Sealing concerns authentication. The authentication of Jeremiah’s prophecy and Daniel’s vision will only be accomplished when the designated period of time passes.
9:24. anoint the most holy. The consecration ceremony that involves anointing and purification of the Holy of Holies in Exodus 29 (especially vv. 36–37) is sufficient background for understanding this statement. The desecration of the holy place requires its purification. Assyrian temple inscriptions also refer to the anointing of a temple that is to be repaired and restored by a future prince.
9:25. word to restore and rebuild. The NIV translates this as “decree,” but in its note indicates that it is a “word”—and this usually refers to a prophetic oracle, not a royal decree. In fact the same combination of verb and noun (“word going out”) has just been used in verse 23. This identification of the “word” is even more likely in light of the fact that Daniel is reflecting on the writing of Jeremiah, who proclaimed the prophetic oracle concerning return and restoration in his letter to the exiles (see comment on 9:2). Notice especially Jeremiah 29:10. The “going forth” of this word would then be dated to sometime between 597 and 594.
9:25–26. anointed one. It is important to note that the noun here is indefinite, thus a messiah (an anointed one, as in the NIV note), rather than the Messiah. The prophetic literature had not yet adopted this term as a technical term for the ideal, future Davidic king (besides this chapter, the term is used only in the prophets in Is 45:1, referring to Cyrus, and Hab 3:13, in a generic way). Priests and kings were both anointed to their tasks in Israel. Some have maintained that the two references to anointed individuals require two different anointed individuals: one after the first cycle of forty-nine years (plausibly Cyrus, since he has already been given anointed status in the prophets, though leaders of the return such as Zerubbabel or Joshua would not be impossible); the second to be cut off before the last week. This view is favored by the Hebrew punctuation that suggests a period should be placed between the two numbers (as reflected in the RSV) rather than after the sixty-two sevens. It was forty-nine years between the fall of Jerusalem (586) and the decree of Cyrus (538).
9:25. streets and a trench. “Streets” refers to the city squares and plazas that are the major features of city planning. This is where the public functions of the city take place, from government to merchant activities. “Trench” can only refer to the dry moat that was a common element of a city’s defenses. The combination indicates that Jerusalem will again be a place of security and prosperity, providing all of the civic functions of a smoothly operating urban center.
9:26. anointed one cut off. The most common identification of the cut off anointed one is Onias III, the high priest murdered by Antiochus Epiphanes in 171 (referred to in 11:22). Many find this an irresistible option because it initiated a seven-year period of persecution in Jerusalem that included the desecration of the temple in 167.
9:27. abomination of desolation. The consistent use of the noun translated “desolation” (shmm, see also 8:13) is quite intentional. The Syrian Baal Shamem (“Lord of Heaven”) was the deity whose worship was instituted in the temple on the altar of sacrifice by the Syrian citizens who were brought into Jerusalem by Antiochus and his military commander, Apollonius. Antiochus worshiped this deity as Olympian Zeus. This desecration perpetrated by Antiochus served as a prototype for all future desecrations. Even in the sixth century, however, this concept had precedent. In a work called The Verse Account of Nabonidus the priests of Marduk list the offenses of Nabonidus that purportedly led Marduk to dethrone him in favor of the Persian king Cyrus. Among the accusations are that he built an abomination, a work of unholiness (a statue of the god Nanna placed in the temple of Marduk), and ordered an end to the most important rituals.
Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Da 9:24–27.
How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour
Date of composition: unknown; presumably toward the end of the sixth century B.C. (ca. 520), although many have suggested it dates from the early second century B.C. (ca. 165)
Part 2 is a series of apocalyptic visions about the rise and fall of succeeding empires, in each case involving a coming tyrannical ruler (7:8, 24–25; 8:23–25; 11:36–45)—most often understood to be Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) of the Seleucid rulers of Palestine (175–164 B.C.), who because of his desolation of Jerusalem and sacrilege of the temple was to become the first in a series of antichrist figures in Jewish and Christian literature. But in each case the final focus is on God’s judgment of the enemy and the glorious future kingdom awaiting his people.
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 204–205.
9:1–27 The Interpretation of Jeremiah’s Prophecy
Daniel’s prayer (vv. 4–19) is the theological centerpiece of the book, reflecting Israel’s deserved exile for covenant unfaithfulness, but expressing hope in Yahweh’s forgiveness and mercy (the only place in Daniel where the name Yahweh appears). This is enclosed by the need for a new application of Jeremiah’s seventy years (vv. 1–3, in light of the devastation to be caused by the little horn). The answer (vv. 20–27) is a typical apocalyptic use of numbers, where the original number is multiplied by seven (= at the end of the devastation by the little horn), which, again typically, is portrayed against the backdrop of the final end.
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 209.
The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
"The book of Daniel is unique among the books of the Bible in several respects. First, parts of it are written in Aramaic, rather than Hebrew. Although there are sections of the book of Ezra that are also in Aramaic, these are only documents or official records cited in their original language, whereas in the case of Daniel it is the actual text of the narrative itself. Furthermore, the portions of the book that are in Hebrew contain many obscure expressions."
Steinsaltz, Adin. Introductions to Tanakh: The Steinsaltz Tanakh. Jerusalem, 2015. Section: Daniel, Book Introduction
Rashi on Daniel 9:26
and the people of the coming monarch will destroy [The monarch who will come] upon them. That is Titus and his armies.
And he will strengthen a covenant for the princes for one week לָרַבִּים, for the princes, like “and all the officers of (רַבֵּי) the king,” in the Book of Jeremiah (39:13).
Rashi and Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi). Rashi on Daniel. Troyes, France, 1075. Rashi on Daniel 9:26
Shalom שָׁלוֹם: Live Long and Prosper!
Darrell Wolfe
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*Written withs some editing and research assistance from ChatGPT-4o
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