Daniel 9:25

Going forth of the commandment. At the time this vision was given, Jerusalem and the Temple were still in ruins. Heaven announces that a command will be issued to rebuild and restore, and that from that date a definite number of years will reach to the long-looked-for Messiah.

Three decrees dealing with the repatriation of the Jews are recorded in the book of Ezra: the first in the first year of Cyrus, about 537 (Ezra 1:1-4); the second in the reign of Darius I, soon after 520 (Ezra 6:1-12); the third in the 7th year of Artaxerxes, 458/457 B.C. (Ezra 7:1-26). See further Vol. III, pp. 97-104.

In their decrees neither Cyrus nor Darius made any genuine provision for the restoration of the civil state as a complete unit, though a restoration of both the religious and the civil government was promised in the prophecy of Daniel. The decree of the 7th year of Artaxerxes was the first to give the Jewish state full autonomy, subject to Persian overlordship.

One of the double-dated papyri found at Elephantine, Egypt, a Jewish colony (see Vol. III, pp. 103-107), was written in Artaxerxes’ accession year in January, 464 B.C. From this, the only known document of that year, compared with other ancient records, it can be deduced that by Jewish reckoning his “beginning of reign,” or “accession year” (see Vol. II, pp. 138, 139), began after the Jewish New Year of 465 B.C. and ended at the next New Year in the fall of 464. Hence his “first year” (his first full calendar year) would be from the fall of 464 to the fall of 463. The 7th year of Artaxerxes would then extend from the fall of 458 to the fall of 457. The specifications of the decree were not carried out until after Ezra returned from Babylon, which was the late summer or early fall of 457 B.C. For a discussion of Ezra 7 and the historical accuracy of the date 457 B.C. as the 7th year of Artaxerxes, see Vol. III, pp. 100-104. For a full discussion of the subject see S. H. Horn and L. H. Wood, The Chronology of Ezra 7 (rev. ed. 1970).

Messiah. Heb. mashiach, from the verb mashach, “to anoint.” Hence, mashiach describes an “anointed one” such as the high priest (Lev. 4:3, 5, 16), Israel’s kings (1 Sam. 24:6, 10; 2 Sam. 19:21), Cyrus (Isa. 45:1), etc. Theodotion’s Greek version translates mashiach literally, christos, a word that comes from the verb chrio, “to anoint,” and hence means simply “an anointed one.” The title “Christ” is a transliteration of Christos. In later Jewish history the term mashiach was applied to the expected Deliverer who was to come (see John 1:41; 4:25, 26).

Daniel predicted that the long-looked-for Prince Messiah would appear at a specified time. To this time Jesus referred when He declared, “The time is fulfilled” (Mark 1:15; DA 233). Jesus was anointed at the time of His baptism in the autumn of A.D. 27 (see Luke 3:21, 22; Acts 10:38; cf. Luke 4:18).

Prince. See on ch. 11:22.

Seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks. The natural method of calculating these weeks is to consider them consecutive, that is, the 62 weeks begin where the 7 weeks end. These divisions are components of the 70 weeks mentioned in v. 24 thus:

7+62+1=70. For the one week see on v. 27.

Beginning with the autumn of 457 B.C., when the decree went into effect, 69 prophetic weeks, or 483 years, reach to the baptism of Jesus in 27 A.D. It is to be noted that if the 483 years had been reckoned from the beginning of 457 B.C., they would have extended to the close of A.D. 26, for 483 years requires 457 full years B.C. plus 26 full years A.D. Since the period began many months after the beginning of 457, it would end as many months after the end of A.D. 26, that is, in 27. This is due to the fact that historians (unlike astronomers) never count a year zero (see Vol. I, p. 178). Some have been puzzled as to how Christ could begin His work in A.D. 27 when the record says that He was about 30 years of age when He started His public ministry (Luke 3:23). This is due to the fact that when the Christian Era was first computed, an error of about four years occurred. That Christ was not born in A.D. 1, is evident from the fact that when He was born Herod the Great was still alive, and Herod died in 4 B.C. (see Matt. 2:13-20).

A number of modern expositors place an entirely different interpretation upon these time periods. The “messiah” is variously identified as Cyrus, Zerubbabel, or the high priest Joshua (see Ezra 3:2; 3:1, 3; 6:11-13). The “commandment to restore and to build” is regarded by some as that given through Jeremiah that Jerusalem should be rebuilt (see Jer. 29:10). These expositors believe that this “commandment” became effective in 586 B.C., the year of the destruction of Jerusalem, and that the “seven weeks,” or 49 years, reach roughly to the decree of Cyrus. Further, these expositors hold that the 62 weeks, or 434 years, were intended to reach to the Maccabean era. By the covenant of the 70th week they understand Antiochus’ consorting with the renegade Jews. They translate “midst of the week” (Dan. 9:27) as “half a week” (see on ch. 9:27) and apply the “half a week” to Antiochus’ sacrilege of the Temple from 168 to 165 B.C. (see 1 Mace. 1:54; 4:52, 53). Translators of this school of interpretation follow an alternate punctuation in Dan. 9:25 to suit this idea (see RSV; RV; ASV, margin).

As shown above, only a distortion of the chronological figures enables these expositors to arrive at the events they assume fulfill the prophetic requirements. When these figures are applied to Christ, His ministry and death, and the gospel to the Jews, perfect synchronism is achieved. See further on ch. 8:25.