CALCULATING THE “SEVENTY WEEKS” AND THE “TIME OF THE END,” (I.E. “TIME, TIMES AND DIVIDING OF TIMES”) UP TO “THE APPOINTED TIME,” (DANIEL CHAPTER 9 UP TO REVELATION 1:3: “THE (APPOINTED) TIME IS AT HAND.”)
Daniel 9: 24-27 RSV: "(24) Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place, [or thing, or one]. (25) Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then [“and” KJV] for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. (26) And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed. (27) And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; and for half the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. (Dan. 9:24-27 RSV)
Greek- Sun-Time (=S) Hebrew Moon-Time (=M) Sun years are 365.25 days. Moon years are 354.3 days. Further complicating the process, the records we have are often of regnal years, which do not coincide with either solar or lunar calendars. Time reckoning cannot, therefore, be precise. Bright says that there was a year’s difference in Hebrew and Greek time-reckoning for this period. Oxford Annotated Apocrypha (OAA) says, “(Time) reckonings in the Seleucid era varied in different places…dates given are approximate.” (p. 222 n. 8-9) God’s reckoning is perfect, but our perception of it is often “through a glass darkly.”
BC
648 [Sun time is given first; Moontime next in this article, Author.]
667 Manasseh carried captive, 2 Chronicles 33:11-13. Although Manasseh was released and returned to rule in Jerusalem, this might be considered the first phase of the later deportations. [The nation was no longer its own from this time.]
606-5 624
King of Judah and many captives including Daniel carried captive to Babylon. Daniel was in captivity seventy moon-years when Cyrus’ edict came forth in 538-9/ (S); 555- (M). (See below).
588 606-5 Jerusalem destroyed, captives taken including Jeremiah. Jeremiah proclaims God’s decree to rebuild Jerusalem: Jeremiah 30:1-3, “The Word (“decree”) that came to Jeremiah.” (See Hebrew #1697, dâbâr= “decree.”) See especially: Jeremiah 30:18; 31:4, 38-40; 33:7-13.
Note that Daniel 9:25-6, dates both a seven-week period and a 62-week period from “the decree to rebuild Jerusalem.” First, the coming of an anointed one would be seven weeks (of years), or 49 years. This was literally fulfilled in Cyrus. It would have been 49-50 moon-years from God’s decree through Jeremiah (605 BC [M]) to Cyrus’ decree (555 [M]). Cyrus is called “God's anointed” in Isaiah 45:1. (For end of 62-week period, see below at date 169-8(S).)
539-8
555 There were three decrees besides God’s decree through Jeremiah: They are: (1) Cyrus’ decree; (2) Darius decree to uphold Cyrus’ decree, 519(S)/534(M); Ezra 6:1-12; (3) Artaxerxes’ decree to finish and beautify the house, 457(S)/471(M), Ezra 7:11-17.
Cyrus’ decree to rebuild Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 36:22; Ezra 1:1-4. At this time Daniel prayed for the release of the captives. Daniel had been captive 70 years, (624-5 – 555 [M]). The seventy years captivity had been fulfilled. Note that God forsook the Temple also for seventy years, (588-518[S]), but not the same seventy.
536 553 Work begins on Temple, Ezra 3:8. Enemies hinder and stop work.
520 536 Haggai gives word of the Lord, (1:8); work resumes on Temple.
519-8 534 Darius decree to uphold the previous decree of Cyrus, Ezra 6:14.
Zechariah 1:12-16. Prophecy that 70 years of captivity are over and that God has returned to Jerusalem and it will be rebuilt. Zechariah refers again to “70 years” at chapter 7:5.
515 531 Temple finished: Ezra 6:14-15. (Temple had been abandoned for approximately 70 years, (605 [M] to 531[M].
?457 471 Artaxerxes decree to rebuild the House: Ezra 7:11-16.
171 176 In Daniel 9:25, “Then for sixty-two weeks,” the word translated “then” is from the Hebrew vau consecutive which is most often translated “and,” but sometimes left untranslated. It could, therefore, be translated: “And sixty-two weeks,” indicating that the 62 weeks, as well as the seven week period, was dated from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. This is verified by the historical record for the first invasion of Jerusalem by Antiochus IV Epiphanes came at this time. See 2 Maccabees 4.22. See also note at 2 Maccabees 5.1 that this is considered the first phase of the later invasions.
169-8 173 End of 62-week period, 434 years, (606-7 – 173[M]). After 62 weeks from the date of God’s decree, an anointed one was to be cut off, (Dan. 9:25-6). This would bring us to the date of the slaughter of Onias III in 173 (M). Daniel 9:27 says the abomination of desolation would be set up at this time.
Abomination of desolation: Priests war over office of High Priest. Onias III, (An 'Annointed One', a High Priest, the last legitimate High Priest to hold office is slain, 2 Maccabees 4:34. Antiochus IV takes and plunders the Temple: Josephus’ Ant. 12.5.4. 1 Maccabees 1.54: “…on the 15th of Chislev (167 BC [S]) they erected a desolating sacrilege.” See also Bright, pp. 422-3, citing 1 Maccabees 1:29-35, 41-64; 3:45; 2 Maccabees 5:22-26; 6:1-11, 18-31.
Josephus (Ant. 12.7.6) says this was according to Daniel’s prophecy given “408” years earlier. Note: Josephus, or a translator, was probably trying to convert the Hebrew moon-years of Daniel to the Greek sun-years. 408 sun-years equal 420 moon-years, (or 60 weeks of years). However, the text mistranslated may have already been converted and the 420 sun-years would have been the equivalent of 434 moon-years, (i.e. the 62 Weeks of Dan. 9:25), and another translator erred in re-converting it, mistaking the process, taking the “420” to be moon-years instead of sun-years.
If the 62 weeks are added to the seven weeks, we come out one “week” short of the “70 weeks.” This final “week” may, then, have been counted as “divided” or “halved” in the “Time, Times, and Dividing of Times,” i.e., the 245 years [M]: 70 +2(70) +35 = 245.
If 70 years of captivity are counted in addition to this “420,” the full “Seventy Weeks of Years” were fulfilled at this point. This would require counting the captivity from the time Manasseh was taken captive to Babylon in about 667 BC [M], (2 Chron. 33:11-13), to the first invasion by Antiochus in 176 BC.
This marks the end of the “Seventy Weeks” and begins the “Time, Times, and Dividing* of Times,” or perhaps also called “the time of the end.” I believe that this is the time when the “woman” of Revelation chapter 12, that is “Israel,” went into eclipse. (*'Dividing' is from Hebrew pelag in Daniel 7:25, and may also be translated “half.” However, “half” in Daniel 12:7 is from chêtsîy.)
“TIME, TIMES AND DIVIDING OF TIMES” UP TO “THE APPOINTED TIME”
168-7 173 Daniel 7:23-27. Vs. 25: “…times and laws… they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times and the dividing of times.” Vision seen in about 556-39 BC [S]. (Note that Book of Daniel, as we have it, is not in chronological order.)
Daniel 11:31-35. Vs. 35: “…end is yet for a time appointed.” This vision in about 539-8 BC [S].
Daniel 12:6-11. Vision seen in about 539-8 BC [S]. Verse. 6 the “Man” asks: “How long to the end of these wonders?” The answer is: “It shall be for a time, times and an half….and from the time…the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.” We do not know how the translators have handled the original message in converting Greek time to Hebrew and vice versa. This may have been intended to designate a 42 or 43 month period, which would be approximately a 3 ½ year period [S].
1 Maccabees 4.36-61 and 2 Maccabees 10.1-9 tell of the cleansing of the Temple after the desecration of Jason and Antiochus IV. The day of rededication was exactly 3 years from the time of its pollution, but 3 ½ years after the capture of Jerusalem, (OAA p. 231 n.52-59). This “time, times and dividing of times,” however, did not mark the final end, but only served to fulfill a pattern.
In Daniel 12:8 he does not understand, so he asks: “What shall be the end of these things?” He is told to seal up the book and go to his rest and that he will stand in his lot at the end of the days. It is clear that the “end” is to come at an “appointed time”: Daniel 11:27, 29, 35. Revelation 1:3 says that time is "at hand."
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