The 70 year weeks
The 70 year weeks are a mysterious part of the Bible with even more interesting interpretations about the end times. Let’s take a closer look at what this is all about.
What is a year week
During the creation, God sanctified the seventh day as a day of rest, which is called Sabbath, but there was also the law of the “Sabbatical year”: Every seventh year the land should rest and the people should live in trust that God would provide for them.
But this never seemed to happen, because when Israel went into exile, there were 70 years that the Sabbatical year did not happen as prophesied by Jeremiah. Since the Sabbatical year occurs only every seventh year, we are talking about a period of 7*70=490 years, the entire time that Israel existed as a nation. So a year or week in Daniel consists of 7 years (it is called a week to show the parallel to the Sabbath day — seventh day in a week).
The promise
Counting 605 BC as the year of the first part of the exile brings us to 539 B.C. when Babel was destroyed and the exile ended under the first Persian king. Daniel was alive at that time and knew the promise that God had made. So when the time came he prayed a prayer of repentance for his people. His answer is the explanation of the 70 years, which is only 4 verses, but they take a while to explain them:
“‘Seventy “sevens” are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 ‘Know and understand this: from the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven “sevens”, and sixty-two “sevens”. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two “sevens”, the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: war will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one “seven”. In the middle of the “seven” he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.’”
70 sevens are the time span of 70*7=490 years, since we are talking about Sabbatical years, which is why Israel had to go into exile.
Verse 24 describes the result of the 490 years:
- For your people and your holy city, to finish transgression. Transgression is a reference to the Jews who supported Antiochus Epiphanes IV, described in chapter 11.
- Put and end to sin (literally “seal” which has the same consonants as “remove”) is an ambitious goal.
- Atone for (all) wickedness: atone refers to the Day of Atonement, which should in the same context was to remove all sins (an eternal atonement).
- Bring in an everlasting righteousness.
- Seal the vision and prophecy: Sealing here means to confirm.
- Anoint the most holy place: the most holy place would be the temple, but maybe this is Jesus who is greater than the temple and is also anointed.
When we look at this, we see that all of this goes far beyond what we have seen in history and what only Jesus did on the cross: He paid for all sin, gave us His commandments in our hearts with the Holy Spirit, and much more.
The 70 years
So let us break down the rest. The rest of the test breaks the 70 weeks into three parts:
- 7 (decree to build the temple in Jerusalem)
- 62 (temple is built)
- 1 (to finish).
Verse 25: Know and understand this: from the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven “sevens”, and sixty-two “sevens”. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
The word to rebuild Jerusalem went out through the prophet Jeremiah in 588/587 during the fall of Jerusalem. This takes the first 7*7 =49 years and ends in 539 when the Anointed One Cyrus issues a decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
Then it takes a while until the temple is rebuilt, which is the year 440 under Nehemiah, and 62*7=434 years pass by when the temple is built and remains but in many troubles as Israel was pushed from the beginning of the building through the time of political troubles and changing dominions that ruled of Israel (Persians, Greeks, Syrian-Egyptians, Romans). We are now in the year 6 B.C.
26 After the sixty-two “sevens”, the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: war will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.Here the Anointed One is not Cyrus but Jesus who was born in 6 B.C. “Put to death and have nothing” means in the Aramaic text “cut off”, which can also mean “cut a covenant”. He died to make a covenant.The people of the ruler refer to emperor Tiberius and his legions. Here the word “Prince” is used (related to the prince of this world?). He will come and destroy the city and the sanctuary (temple) in the year 70.The end will come like a flood (of Roman legions), the there will be war until the final war where Israel was deported from Israel in the year 135. The desolation is decreed (by God).
He will confirm a covenant with many for one “seven”. In the middle of the “seven” he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Since the last subject is God, He will make a covenant with many, which is the new covenant of Jesus.
In the middle of the “seven” he will put an end to sacrifice and offering, for sacrifice is no longer needed.
He will set up an abomination (the original does not use “he”, but “one who makes desolate”), so here we have a change of subject and back to Tiberius. The original speaks of wings of abomination, referring to the Roman legionary eagle. Until the decreed is poured out on him can be better translated as “until the decreed end is put on the desolator” which means until the Roman Empire falls which brings us back to Daniel chapter 7.
The last week
Well, this was a bit complicated when we came to a last week (last seven years). The reason is that some parts describe the end result and there are two stories told in one.
The first story is the story of Israel with their Jerusalem and their Temple and their land that comes to an end and is taken up by the New Covenant that Jesus establishes to start over with the Jews.
Both stories are 40 years out of time. But how is that possible? Jesus was in the desert for 40 days at the beginning of his calling and resisted all the temptations that Israel failed to overcome in the desert when they left Egypt. This is why Israel had to wander in the desert for 40 years until they reached the Promised Land. Here the story is turned on its head: Jesus did not give in to temptation and establishes a new covenant so that Israel gets an extra 40 years to enter the new covenant.
The story of Israel
In the year 66 the Jewish war begins, which has in the half of the seven years the destruction of the temple, which is not rebuilt. On the wings of the destroyer the temple is destroyed and with it the sacrifices are no longer possible.
The war ends in 73 after 7 years and after this, after some unrest, Israel is deported in 135 after another war. Israel lost the temple, the city and the land.
The story of Jesus
In the year 27 (with the assumption that Tiberius’ reign began in the year 12) Jesus is called and baptized with the Holy Spirit and he renews the covenant with the Jews. In the middle of the seven years (year 31) he dies and rises again, and the covenant now also includes the Gentiles. With his death, sacrificial service is no longer necessary.
The end of the seven years falls in the year 34, the year in which presumably Stephen is stoned to death after his speech in which he accuses Israel of having abandoned its covenant. This is the first time after Jesus’ death that a Christian dies for his faith and the first mention of Paul, who will spread the faith very strongly among non-Jews.
It is the time when the church follows Jesus in full consequence. The new covenant is now really active.
