Seventy Weeks

Seventy Weeks

"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." -Daniel 9:24

This is the keystone prophecy that accurately predicted the appearance of Jesus the Messiah at the end of the
first 69 prophetic weeks of years. But at the end of the 70th week, or seven years, we see seven purposes listed:

1. To finish the transgression,
2. To make an end of sins,
3. To make reconciliation for iniquity,
4. To bring in everlasting righteousness,
5. To seal up vision
6. And prophecy,
7. To anoint the Most Holy.

If ALL of these purposes of God were fulfilled in the first century, why is transgression and sin as bad as
ever? In fact, the world moves further away from godliness every day, and it is headed for the ultimate climax
of faithlessness and apostasy against the True God. Daniel prophesies of a "transgression of desolation" that
would echo Paul's prediction of the Great Apostasy or falling away of mankind (2 Thess. 2:3). Items 5 and 6 are
speaking of ALL vision and prophecy, the big picture. The "Most Holy", Jesus the Messiah, was anointed by
EHYEH at His baptism by John at the Jordan River, but it is at the Seventh Trumpet of the Revelation that we
read:

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ" (Revelation 11:15).

This is mirrored at Daniel 7:25-27:

"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think
to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the
people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and all dominions shall serve and obey him."

Isaiah 10:24-27 sheds more light on how the "yoke" or burden upon Israel is lifted because of the anointing:

"Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he
shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb:
and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from
off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing."

The "anointing" refers to the second coming of Jesus:

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the
remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and
from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea....And there shall be an
highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he
came up out of the land of Egypt." -Isaiah 11:11,16

But when the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel was taken captive by Assyria in 721-718 BC, nowhere does the Bible
say that they ever returned. There was never a miraculous EXODUS from ancient Assyria. No such event
as that described in Isaiah 11 has yet taken place. Clearly, this prophecy is set at the time of Christ’s return.

It is only after all Seventy Weeks that the sins of Israel are atoned for . Daniel goes on to say that righteousness
will not be ushered in, nor Christ be anointed, until all 70 Weeks have come to pass. In other words, the transfer
of powers within the seventh trumpet that officially crowns Jesus as King, cannot arrive until after the 70th
Week. If it arrived before, it would wipe out the heart of the prophecy, that informs us that all things will be made
new under Jesus after the 70th Week.

Some have reasoned that these prophecies applied to Israel only and were therefore fulfilled in the first century,
culminating with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Others reason that these promises were "fulfilled" by
the enabling of their future fulfillment by the successful baptism, ministry, and subsequent conquering by Jesus
through his remaining obedient to his death, but is that really what the scripture says?

Such a gap in time is seen in many prophecies in the Bible. John F. Walvoord writes:

Dr. Ironside shows a number of instances of parentheses in God's program: (1) The interval between the
'acceptable year of the Lord' and the 'day of vengeance of our God' (Isa. 61:2--a parenthesis already extending
more than nineteen hundred years). (2) The interval between the Roman empire as symbolized by the legs of
iron of the great image of Daniel 2 and the feet of ten toes. Confer also Daniel 7:23-27; 8:24, 25. (3) The same
interval is found between Daniel 11:35 and Daniel 11:36. (4) A great parenthesis occurs between Hosea 3:4 and
verse 5, and again between Hosea 5:15 and 6:1. (5) A great parenthesis occurs also between Psalm 22:22 and
22:23 and between Psalm 110:1 and 110:2. (6) Peter in quoting Psalm 34:12-16 stops in the middle of a verse to
distinguish God's present work and His future dealing with sin (I Pet. 3:10-12).

(7) The great prophecy of Matthew 24 becomes intelligible only if the present age be considered a parenthesis
between Daniel 9:26 and 9:27.   Acts 15:13-21 indicates that the apostles fully understood that during the present
age the Old Testament prophecies would not be fulfilled, but would have fulfillment 'after this' when God 'will
build again the tabernacle of David' (Acts 15:13). (9) Israel's yearly schedule of feasts and a wide separation
between the feasts prefiguring the death and resurrection of Christ and Pentecost, and the feasts speaking of
Israel's regathering and blessing. (10) Romans 9-11 definitely provide for the parenthesis, particularly the
future of the olive tree in chapter 11. (11) The revelation of the Church as one body requires a parenthesis
between God's past dealings and His future dealings with the nation Israel. (12) The consummation of the
present parenthesis is of such a nature that it resumes the interrupted events of Daniel's last week.

Since we know that the first 69 weeks leading up to the Messiah elapsed consecutively, it is obvious that the last
week has been detached, or "cut" from the prophecy, to be fulfilled at a later time.

Interestingly, the Hebrew language once again comes to our aid in discovering the true meaning of the prophecy.
The word "determined", according to Strong's Concordance, comes from:

H2852 חתך châthak khaw-thak' A primitive root; properly to cut off, that is, (figuratively) to decree: - determine.

The 490 years were “cut” or determined on Jerusalem and the Jewish people, which applies to all Christians who
hope to be grafted onto the vine of Israel, as Paul outlined in the 11th chapter of Romans. So the total
time period of 490-years is "cut" at specific, time-marking intervals, and for this reason the "Seventy Weeks" of
Daniel 9:24-27 has been one of the most mistranslated and misunderstood prophecies in the Bible. In it may lie
the key to understanding the sequence of events known as the "Time of the End",
popularly referred to as the "End Times".

This is not bad news, but instead very good news. It is not the end of the world, but the end of an age during
which God has allowed the earth to be ruled by Satan, albeit while held in check by God at the other end of a long,
retractable leash. The Bible has given us enough prophetic detail to come to an accurate understanding of the
events soon to unfold, but in order to learn these things, there is a simple requirement: That we love our God
EHYEH and His Son Jesus and wish to do the will of our Father in Heaven. That will includes a specific purpose
for the Heavens and the Earth, and the most important outcome of that will is to forever settle the legal case that
the Serpent raised in the Garden of Eden, before all the Sons of God. We read at Ephesians 3:1-11:

"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery....
Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men,
as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body,
and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel....
To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in
God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul makes it clear that there are principalities and powers in heaven that will be shown the wisdom of God
through the faith and perseverance of the congregation of Jesus' followers on earth. As Christians we have the
marvelous opportunity to be a part of the grand outworking of God's wisdom through Jesus by being witnesses of
Him. Paul said that both Jews and Gentiles make up the Body of Christ, and that the implications of the
outworking of God's wisdom in Jesus are eternal in nature. Jesus said that it was our endurance to the end that
will enable us to acquire our souls (Matthew 10:22; Luke 21:19), and if we are to be part of His congregation, we
are to "keep seeking, knocking, and asking" for insight so that we will not be fooled by the false teachers that
will continue to arise in greater numbers during the last days.

Why was the Bible written in a way that these things are so difficult to understand? Would anyone ever
understand? If so, who? These questions were answered at Daniel 12:8-10, where Daniel, after receiving the
visions from the angel Gabriel and expressing that he did not understand them, asked Gabriel:

"O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall
understand; but the wise shall understand."

No, it would not be good if the wicked were to understand the prophetic wisdom of God, so that they might gain
the mastery over the outworking of His eternal purpose. If we would like to be purified, made white, and tried for
Jesus' sake, we need to keep searching and asking God for accurate knowledge, and He never leaves
unanswered those who love Him.

When did the Seventy Weeks begin?

"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."

Gabriel admonishes us to “know therefore and understand”.   We must understand how the time is divided, and
where the divisions occur. First, the starting point for the 490-year period: Daniel's original prayer was for the
restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple, which were destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Jerusalem was
left desolate and without walls, a shadow of its former self. Daniel’s prayer was for restoration of the city and
Temple. The command to rebuild Jerusalem is the starting point, but Gabriel then goes into more specific detail
regarding three items:

The Street

The Wall

Troublesome times

These are vital qualifiers, because they separate the two other commands involving the restoration of the Temple
from the rebuilding of the city:

1. Cyrus, the king of Persia, commands the Temple to be rebuilt and allows the Jews
to return in 539 B.C. (Ezra 1:1-11).

2. Artaxerxes, king of Persia, gives Ezra the priest a letter permitting and encouraging Temple worship and
sacrifice at Mt. Moriah, but not the rebuilding of the city and its walls, in 458 B.C. (Ezra 7:11-26)

Daniel made his prayer in the first year of Darius, son of Xerxes, about 539-538 B.C. Jerusalem was a shadow of
its former glory, lying in ruins without walls and a Temple. The prophetic time clock begins with the command to
rebuild Jerusalem, but the specific command to rebuild the walls and the street does not come until 93 years later:

Nehemiah was the cup bearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes, and he shared Daniel’s grief regarding the
desolate state of Jerusalem and his desired restoration of it, 94 years after Daniel’s prayer.

The Temple was rebuilt in 516 B.C., but the Jews had little incentive to return to Jerusalem with no walls
and little protection. The king, seeing Nehemiah’s sadness, asked him why he was distraught, and after
Nehemiah told him, Artaxerxes granted his request and gave him orders to rebuild the city gates and walls:

"And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before
him....I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you
send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it…and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the
king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the
temple, for the city wall."   -Nehemiah 2:1,5,8

In what year was the order given?

According to Wikipedia and just about every other source on earth, the year of the beginning of the rule of
Artaxerxes was 465 BC. The Watchtower Society, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, insists that the
rule of Artaxerxes began 10 years earlier, in 475 BC. Without speculating on what the reasons might be for
insisting on this false date, the important thing is that it applies the end of the first 69 weeks to Jesus'
anointing as the Messiah at the Jordan River, where he was baptized by John in the year 29 CE. This could be a
valid marker, but was that the intended marker to "cut" the prophecy?

We read in "THE 20TH YEAR OF ARTAXERXES
AND THE "SEVENTY WEEKS" OF DANIEL"
© Carl Olof Jonsson, Göteborg, Sweden, 1989. Revised 1999, 2003:

"Was Xerxes a co-regent with his father Darius?

It is true that the Watch Tower Society attempts to solve the problems created by their prolongation of
Artaxerxes’ length reign from 41 to 51 years (his accession being dated to 475 instead of 465 BC) by
abbreviating the reign of his predecessor Xerxes (485-465 BC) from 21 to 11 years, arguing that the first
10 years of Xerxes’ rule was a co-rule with his father Darius.

There is not the slightest evidence in support of such a co-regency. The Watch Tower Society’s discussion on
pages 614-616 of its Bible dictionary Insight on the Scriptures, volume 2 (1988), is a miserable distortion of the
historical evidence. Thus, on page 615 they claim:

There is solid evidence for a co-regency of Xerxes with his father Darius. The Greek historian Herodotus (VII, 3)
says: "Darius judged his [Xerxes’] plea [for kingship] to be just and declared him king. But to my thinking
Xerxes would have been made king even without this advice." This indicates that Xerxes was made king during
the reign of his father Darius.

If we look up Herodotus’ statement, however, we will discover that he, in the very next few sentences, directly
contradicts the Watch Tower Society's claim that there was a ten year long co-regency of Xerxes with Darius by
stating that Darius died one year after this appointment of Xerxes as his successor. Herodotus says:
Xerxes, then, was publicly proclaimed as next in succession to the crown, and Darius was free to turn his
attention to the war. Death, however, cut him off before his preparations were complete; he died in the year
following this incident and the Egyptian rebellion, after a reign of thirty six years, and so was robbed of his chance
to punish either Egypt or the Athenians. After his death the crown passed to his son Xerxes.
What we find, then, is that Darius appointed Xerxes his successor one year (not ten!) before his own death.
Further, Herodotus does not say that Darius appointed Xerxes his co-regent, but his successor. (Note, for
instance, the wording of the passage quoted by the Watch Tower Society in Aubrey de Sélincourt's translation in
the Penguin Books). In the preceding paragraphs, Herodotus explains that a common rule among Persian kings
before they went out to war was to appoint their successors to the throne, in case they themselves would be killed
in the battles. This custom, he says, was also followed by Darius.

The Watch Tower Society, then, quotes Herodotus completely out of context, leaving out the subsequent
sentences that refute their claim. Incredibly, they introduce this forgery by terming it "solid evidence"!

After presenting abundant astronomical and other evidence, Jonsson concludes:

The seventy weeks of Daniel

A number of applications of the 70 weeks of Daniel have appeared throughout the centuries. Some of them,
including that of the Watch Tower Society, have to be discarded at once, as they can be shown to be in direct
conflict with historically established dates. They have nothing to do with reality.

If Artaxerxes’ 20th year was 445/44 instead of 455, it is still possible to start from that year, provided that we use
a "prophetical year" of 360 days instead of the solar year of 365,2422 days. This was demonstrated by Sir
Robert Anderson in his book The Coming Prince (first published in 1895). His application has recently been
improved upon by H. W. Hoehner in his book Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (1977), pages 135ff.
These authors show that the 476 years from Artaxerxes’ 20th year, 445/44 BC, to the death of Christ ( if set at 33
A.D.) correspond to 483 years of 360 days. (476x365,2422 is 173.855 days, and if this number is divided by
360 we get 483 years.) This is just one example of an application that at least has the advantage of a historically
established date at its start.

The reign of Artaxerxes began in 465/464 BC, and his twentieth year was 445/444 B.C. The month of Nisan is
the first month in the Jewish Calendar, so the order fitting Gabriel's prophecy went out during
March/April of 444 BC.

What is the marker after the first 7 weeks, and then 62 weeks?

The seven-week or 49 year period covers the reconstruction of Jerusalem in "troublous times", and is marked by
the completion of the street and wall. This construction period began with the command in Nehemiah 2:8 in
March of 444 BC, and continued for the next 49 years. Details of the troublous times are in Nehemiah chapters 2
through 7, and from the point that this work by Nehemiah and his successors was completed, to "Messiah the
Prince" would be 434 years.

As stated by Carl O. Jonsson, prophetic "days" in the Bible are in many cases years, and this is one of those
cases. How do we know this? This prophecy was not fulfilled after 490 days, so we must use the information that
God gave us at Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6, where in both verses He indicated "a day for a year", which is
quite often how He dealt out punishment for unfaithfulness.

These prophetic years are based on the Jewish Calendar of lunar months, consisting of 360 days. Some have
used the Gregorian Calendar based on the solar year to try to decipher this prophecy, and that will not work out
too well, because it contains 365 days. The difference between one calendar and the other, when applied to a time
period as long as 483 years, amounts to well over 6 years. This can be reconciled with simple math:

1.   There are 360 days to a biblical year.

360 x 483=173,880 days

2. There are 365.242 days to a year in our calendar.

3. If we divide our 365.242 days into 173,880 days we have 476 years and 24 days .

4. Add 476 years from 444 BC we arrive at 33 CE and add 24 days (year 0 being 1)

The command was given in the month Nissan. Nissan corresponds with March/April in our calendar.
Therefore, 69 weeks ends on 24th day of Nissan or about March 29th, 33 CE.

Messiah the Prince is Cut Off

The word "Messiah" means anointed or chosen and applies to kings, priests and prophets. But ultimately the
word applied to the coming of the an eternal-King who would reign on David’s throne.
-2 Samuel 7:13, Isaiah 9:7, Daniel 7:14, Jeremiah 23:5.

"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: -Daniel 9:26a

And that is exactly what happened! Is this a valid marker for the Messiah? Jesus' last visit to Jerusalem was in
fact and purpose the crisis of His ministry. The twofold testimony of His words and His works had been fully
rendered, and His entry into Jerusalem was to proclaim His being the Messiah and to accomplish His purpose,
to be put to death to redeem mankind.

A closer look at the Hebrew confirms that it means his death:

H3772 כּרת kârath kaw-rath' A primitive root; to cut (off, down or asunder); by implication to destroy or consume;
specifically to covenant (that is, make an alliance or bargain, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the
pieces): - be chewed, be con- [feder-] ate, covenant, cut (down, off), destroy, fail, feller, be freed, hew (down),
make a league ([covenant]), X lose, perish, X utterly, X want.

This information, together with the word "determined" that also indicates a "cut", would seem to be telling us
that this is the point where the last week should be "cut" from the prophecy, to be fulfilled at a later time.

Gabriel is also informing Daniel about the dual nature of the Messiah, that He will be a Prince, but also that he
will die, but not for Himself. This dual nature of the Messiah as both King and Suffering Servant is clearly
developed in Isaiah 52:13 -15:

"Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man,
and his form more than the sons of men:
So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them
shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider."

Isaiah expands upon this at 53:5: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. He was taken from
prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken."

The End of the Prince Who is to Come

"...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."

This is another example where not only the King James translators, but most have gone against what is clearly
stated in the original Hebrew text. The King James Interlinear uses the word uqtzu (end-of-him), meaning "his
end", implying the end of the prince that shall come to destroy the city. It does not say theend, implying the city
itself, and there is a logical explanation for this:

The German expositor Keil, a professor of oriental languages as well as biblical exegesis, in the celebrated Keil
and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, says on page 362 that the “ruler who is to come” is a leader
“whose coming is known, of whom Daniel has heard that he will come to destroy the people of God.”

Keil maintained that preconceived ideas, concerning the historical fulfillment in the first century, have influenced
some translators. They have refrained from translating the verse according to the interlinear, “his end shall
come in the flood,” because Titus, to whom they thought this referred, did not come to his end in 70 CE. The
suffix “his” on the word “end” naturally and grammatically refers back to its nearest masculine antecedent, the
"prince that is coming". The word order of the Hebrew appears as follows: “The city and sanctuary will be
destroyed by the people of the prince who is to come; and his end will come in the flood.”

After considering all the evidence, Keil concluded that “there remains nothing else than to apply the suffix to the
evil prince”, and added that it “refers simply to the hostile prince, whose end is emphatically placed over against
his coming.” The people and the leader will be destroyed at the end of a military campaign, which is symbolized
throughout the book of Daniel by a "flood", and for further evidence, the Hebrew uses the definite article.
This in turn also makes sense of the last words of Daniel 9:27, which many translations erroneously
render: "and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate". How many times can we keep desolating the
already desolate? The proper translation found in many Bibles is "upon the one causing desolation". This
rendering is found in the Jewish Publication Society Translation of the Old Testament, The (Jewish) Soncino
Commentary, The International Critical Commentary, The Revised Version, The Jerusalem Bible, and the
marginal notes of the NASV. Incidentally, Jesus compared the judgment at his Second Coming with the deluge
of the Days of Noah. (Matt. 24:39)

Daniel speaks elsewhere of such an evil tyrant of the last days. At Daniel 7:8 he had previously described “a
little horn, possessing eyes like a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.” He “will speak out against the Most
High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and
they will be given into his hand for a time, times and half a time” (7:25). This period is the same one referred to in
Revelation 12:14, where it is defined as three and a half years (12:6). Revelation 13:5 concurs that “the Beast”
will be given authority for 42 months. This is also taken up in Daniel 12:11 as 1,290 days, commencing with the
setting up of the "Abomination of Desolation". -Dan. 11:31; Matt. 24:15.

At Daniel 8:9-12 we read:

"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south,
and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host
and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away,
and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression,
and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered."

And in 23-26, Gabriel says:

"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce
countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and
practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart,
and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;
but he shall be broken without hand.
And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true:
wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days."

In verse 23, we see that this "King of Fierce Countenance" arises “in the latter time” of the Syrian kingdom that
eventually came out of the four divisions of the Greek kingdom of Alexander the Great. Jamieson, Fausset and
Brown say in their commentary on Daniel 8:23 that the reference to the “‘latter time of their kingdom when the
transgressors are come to the full’...does not hold good of the time of Antiochus, but of the closing times of the
Christian era”. This is confirmed by the very clear time markers of 8:17, 19: “The vision pertains to the time of
the end...the last end of the indignation...the appointed time of the end.” This should confirm in our minds that the
eighth chapter of Daniel is pointing us to the time of the end of the age, just as his other prophetic chapters.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes did not reign at the “acherit” (the closing days) of the Syrian dynasty, he lived a little
past the middle of the Syrian period.

Whose One-Week "Covenant"?

"And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to
sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end
is poured out on the desolator." -Daniel 9:27 (ESV)

As we just read at Daniel 8:11: "...by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was
cast down." Is God referring to the animal sacrifices of the old covenant? No! Jesus fulfilled the need for such
sacrifices. "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the
salvation of God." -Psalms 50:23.

Keil shows that the personal pronoun “he” at the beginning of verse 27 refers naturally and easily to the evil
prince just mentioned. He says: “The connection much more indicates that the (evil) prince is the subject of ‘will
confirm,’ since the prince who was to come is named last, and is also the subject in the prefix ‘his end.’ Also the
‘taking away of the sacrifice’ combines itself in a natural way with the destruction of the city and the temple
brought about by the prince who is to come. The reference of ‘he will confirm’ to the ungodly leader of an army is
therefore according to the context and the parallel passages of this book which have been mentioned [i.e. 8:13, 11:
31, 12:11], as well as in harmony with the natural grammatical arrangement of the passage, and it gives also a
congruous sense, although by the prince Titus cannot naturally be understood... Therefore the thought is: That
ungodly prince shall impose upon the mass of the people a strong covenant that they should follow him and give
themselves to him as their God” (Commentary pp. 366, 367).

Keil goes on to say that “the reference of the words under consideration to the desecration of the temple before
the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is untenable” (p. 371). This same prince of ill-intent is also the
subject of the desolation described in the latter half of verse 27. On these two very important verses that have
been so badly misunderstood and overlooked, Keil puts forth this far more accurate translation:

“The city, together with the sanctuary, shall be destroyed by the people of the prince who shall come, who shall
find his end in the flood; but war shall continue to the end, since destruction is irrevocably decreed. That prince
shall force a strong covenant for one week on the mass of the people, and during half a week he shall take away
the service of sacrifice, and borne on the wings of idol abominations [cp. Ps. 18:10, where the true God is also
borne on wings] shall carry on a desolating rule, till the firmly decreed judgment shall pour itself upon him as one
desolated.” (Commentary p. 373).

If there is any doubt, check the New World Translation

As we have seen elsewhere, the Revised versions, especially the NWT, are very telling. If the Revisionists don't
want you to know something, they will change it. The NWT tries to make Daniel 9:27 look like it is speaking of
the Messiah keeping the old Law Covenant in force for one week:

(NWT) “And he must keep [the] covenant in force for the many for one week;

Now let's look at some other translations:

(ESV) And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; (GNB) That ruler will have a firm
agreement with many people for seven years; (ASV) And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week;
(BBE) And a strong order will be sent out against the great number for one week; (CEV) For one week this
foreigner will make a firm agreement with many people; (Darby) And he shall confirm a covenant with the many
for one week; (Geneva) And he shal confirme the couenant with many for one weeke; (GW) He will confirm his
promise with many for one set of seven time periods; (JPS) And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one
week; (LITV) And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week.

And just for safe measure, the KJ Interlinear says:

"and-he-shall-be-master-of covenant to-many-ones"

Why might the Watchtower Society not want their sheep to know of a seven-year peace agreement with the
Beast? If their 10-year adulterous relationship with the United Nations as an NGO (Non Governmental
Organization) and continued registration as a DPI is any indicator, they plan on agreeing to it and sacrificing their
sheep to the slaughter when the Beast breaks the agreement!

How could "...in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease" apply to something
that the King of Fierce Countenance might do? Paul answered that question at Hebrews 13:15--

"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name."

The planned destruction of Christianity by the Illuminati's manipulation of world events would fit this scenario.
The proposed World Government/One World Church will initially come on the scene with a
message of world peace through a uniting of faiths, and it will be successful through the practice of witchcraft:

"And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart,
and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;
but he shall be broken without hand." -Daniel 8:25

He magnifies himself in his heart and true Christianity will be his first target, before he ultimately goes up against
Jesus Himself:

"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us,
what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" -1 Peter 4:17

The "Transgression that Desolates"

At Daniel 8:14, 15, we are given vital clues as to the length of the entire vision of the final week.   Young's Literal
Translation most closely matches the Interlinear text:

"And I hear a certain holy one speaking, and a certain holy one saith to the wonderful numberer who is speaking:
Till when is the vision of the continual sacrifice, and of the transgression, an astonishment, to make both
sanctuary and host a treading down?

And he saith unto me, Till evening--morning two thousand and three hundred,
then is the holy place declared right."

The only other references in the Bible concerning an evening and morning (in that order) are the six days of the
creation account. Then there were the morning and evening sacrifices in the temple under the Mosaic Law
Covenant. God is no longer interested in animal sacrifices in the morning and the evening from a Jewish Temple
in Jerusalem. When Jesus died, the curtain to the Most Holy in the Temple was rent in two, signifying the end of
the literal Temple. Jesus' ransom sacrifice eliminated the need for any more burnt offerings, and as a result, that
particular burdensome, insufficient part of the Law Covenant was fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-20) It should also be
noted that in the original text of Daniel 8:11 says :

"Yea, he magnified [himself] even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily [sacrifice] was taken away,
and the place of his sanctuary was cast down."

The word "sacrifice" here is an interpolation, so it should be read as the "daily" was taken away.
This signifies a perpetual, ongoing daily praise coming from the lips of Christians,
and this is what will be outlawed by the evil tyrant.

In the very next verse (12), we are given more insight into why the "daily" is taken away:

"And an host was given him against the daily [sacrifice] by reason of transgression,
and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered."

Some have tried to show that "evening-morning" refers to the two daily sacrifices of the Old Mosaic Law
Covenant, so that "2,300" means the total of evenings and mornings, and that the prophecy is referring to 1,150
days. There are several problems with that interpretation:

The first problem is that "evening-morning" does not in itself denote singular or plural, there was no such
distinction in the Hebrews and it had to be tranlated according to context:

H6153 ערב ‛ereb eh'-reb From H6150; dusk: - + day, even (-ing, tide), night.

H1242 בּקר bôqer bo'-ker From H1239; properly dawn (as the break of day); generally morning: -
(+) day, early, morning, morrow.

So that if "2,300" were taken from the text and it simply said ereb boqer, this would literally mean an evening-
morning, or one literal day. It is the fact that it is followed by "2,300" that necessitates the plural endings of
"evenings and mornings". So the literal translation would read "evening-morning 2,300", or 2,300 days. It
would seem, if anything, that God was telling us not to interpret this as years.

Bibles that interpolate [and] have misrepresented the meaning of the text. Adding the word "and" would imply
"addition", but the text does not say to add, and it does not present the evening and morning as being separate
and in plural form. It is the same as the "evening" and "morning" of the creative days.

At Daniel 8:26 all the translations have interpolations. For instance, the ASV reads: "And the appearance of the
evening and of the morning, that is told, is true; and thou, hide thou the vision, for it is after many days."

The original Hebrew said nothing to denote "after" or "future". It was simply saying that it applies to "many
days" of the prophecy.

The other major problem is that all the other references in the Bible to the last three and one half years of the
age are very specific in length. Daniel 7:25 says "they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the
dividing of time."   Daniel 12:11 says "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." The
Revelation is very clear on the "time, times and half a time", "42 months", and "1,260 days" for the period of
preaching in sackcloth, the woman in the wilderness, the courtyard being trampled, etc. An interpretation of
1,150 days for the 2,300 evenings-mornings falls 110 days short of the appointed time frame. The Bible never,
ever contradicts itself!

The key is that the angel Gabriel was referring to two things, not just the final 42 months. The question had to do
with not just the ending of the continual sacrifice, but the transgression that caused it. So we would have to look
elsewhere for clues. From Daniel chapter 11 we see that before the time of the end begins, there is already a
massive upheaval going on among the holy ones, who are forsaking their covenant relationship with God and
making deals with the New World Order, and the persecution and carnage has already begun.
Daniel 11:31-35 says:

"And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily
sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate."
And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries:
but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword,
and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time
of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed."

The Keil and Delitzsch Commentary, on Daniel 8:13,14 and 26 says:

The interpretation of the period of time, 2300 evening-mornings, named by the angel is beset with difficulty. And
first the verbal import of בּקר ערב is doubtful. Among recent interpreters, Berth., Häv., v. Leng., Maur., and Horm.
(Weiss. u. Erf. p. 295) understand by its days consisting of morning and evening (twenty-four hours); others, as
Bleek, Kirmss, Ewald, Hitzig, Wieseler (who, however, in his treatise, Die 70 Wochen, u.s.w., p. 115ff., defends
the first explanation), Kran., and Delitzsch, are of opinion that evening-morning is particularly reckoned with
reference to the offering of a morning and an evening sacrifice each day, so that 2300 evening-mornings make
only 1150 whole days. But there is no exegetical foundation for this latter opinion. It is derived only from a
comparison, or rather an identification, of this passage with Dan_7:25; Dan_12:11., and Dan_9:27; and therewith
it is proved that, according to 1 Macc. 1:54, 59, cf. 4:52, the desolation of the sanctuary by the worship of idols
under Antiochus Epiphanes lasted not longer than three years and ten days, and that from Dan_12:11 it extends
only to 1290 days. But these arguments rest on assertions which must first be justified....

..... The fulfilment, or the historical reference, of this prophecy accordingly affords, as is sufficiently manifest, no
proper means of ascertaining the import of the “evening-morning.” This must rather be exegetically decided. It
occurs only here, and corresponds to νυχθήμερον, 2Co_11:25. But the choice of so unusual a measure of time,
derived from the two chief parts of the day, instead of the simple measure of time by days, probably originates
with reference to the morning and evening sacrifice, by which the day was to be consecrated to the Lord, after
Gen_1:5, Gen_1:8,Gen_1:13, etc., where the days of the creation week are named and reckoned according to the
succession of evening and morning. This separation of the expression into evening and morning, so that
to number them separately and add them together would make 2300 evening-mornings = 1150 days, is shown to
be inadmissible, both by the asyndeton evening-morning and the usages of the Hebrew language. That in Dan_8:
26 הערבוהבּקר (the evening and the morning) stands for it, does not prove that the evening ad morning are
reckoned separately, but only that evening-morning is a period of time consisting of evening and morning. When
the Hebrews wish to express separately day and night, the component parts of a day of a week, then the number
of both is expressed. They say, e.g., forty days and forty nights (Gen_7:4, Gen_7:12; Exo_24:18; 1Ki_19:8), and
three days and three nights (Jon_2:1; Mat_12:40), but not eighty or six days-and-nights, when they wish to speak
of forty or three full days. A Hebrew reader could not possibly understand the period of time 2300 evening-
mornings of 2300 half days or 1150 whole days, because evening and morning at the creation constituted not the
half but the whole day. Still less, in the designation of time, “till 2300 evening-mornings,” could “evening-
mornings” be understood of the evening and morning sacrifices, and the words be regarded as meaning, that till
1150 evening sacrifices and 1150 morning sacrifices are discontinued. We must therefore take the words as they
are, i.e.,understand them of 2300 whole days.

This exegetical resolution of the matter is not made doubtful by the remark, that an increasing of the period of
oppression to 2300 days, over against the duration of the oppression limited in Dan_7:25 to only three and a half
times, or to 1290 (or 1335 days, Dan_12:11-12), is very unlikely, since there is in no respect any reason for this
increase over against these statements (Kran. p. 298). This remark can only be valid as proof if, on the one side,
the three and a half times in Dan_7:25 are equal to three and a half civil years, for which the proof fails, and, on
the other side, if the 1290 or the 1335 days in Dan_12:11. indicate the whole duration of the oppression of Israel
by Antiochus. But if these periods, on the contrary, refer only to the time of the greatest oppression, the erection
of the idol-altar in the temple, this time cannot be made the measure for the duration of the whole period of
tribulation.

Conclusion

The final seven years of the age will be inaugurated by an apostate, worldwide "covenant" against EHYEH and
His Son Jesus as the rightful King of the Universe. They are concluding a "covenant with death", and the
King of the North's heart is against the holy covenant. The Bible contains many prophecies concerning the
"Time of the End". The next two essays will go into further details on these prophecies.

Continue on to "A Covenant With Death

Continue on to "The King of the North"

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"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 even unto the end
shall be war; desolations are determined." -Daniel 9:26 (ASV)

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