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Prophetic Years
Brian Culliton
There is one prevalent theory among dispensationalists today that far surpasses any other in popularity. The theory places the fulfillment of the 69 weeks at the point of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is important to those who believe in a future 70th week that this is the precise point in history where the 69 weeks ends because it leaves no room for a 70th week to be fulfilled historically.
Taking into consideration the fact that it would devastate the popular theory if the 69 weeks were to be fulfilled any earlier than the very year Jesus was crucified, how does the theology place the completion of the 69 weeks at the very day Jesus entered Jerusalem one week before His crucifixion?
The prophecy's requirement for completing the 69 weeks is found in Daniel chapter nine, verse 27, which reads, "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times."
Assuming that the 69 weeks mentioned in the above quote are consecutive - and the most popular view does - means that in order to make such a definitive claim, the conclusion of the 69 weeks must agree with the timing of the command to restore Jerusalem. In order to do that, one must be able to definitively identify the precise time the command was given. The way in which the theory places Jesus' entry into the holy city exactly 69 weeks of years after the command to restore Jerusalem is by calculating the span of time with what's known as "prophetic years."
Late 19th century Plymouth Brethren Sir Robert Anderson created the genesis that became the foundation of dispensationalist reasoning concerning the timing of the fulfillment of the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel's prophecy. Anderson, in his book "The Coming Prince," concluded that Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem occurred on Sunday, April 6th 32 A.D. In order to calculate back to the command to restore Jerusalem, Anderson used what he called prophetic years.
A prophetic year consists of 360 days. There is no historical evidence that any culture ever used this system of calculating time, but Anderson insisted his use of prophetic years was valid because the Bible verifies his claim. Anderson did point out a few passages in the Bible that obscurely reference 360-day years. The references he cited, however, only reference months and days and say nothing of years. For instance, the first reference used to support a 360-day year is found in Genesis 7 and 8.
When the rain began to fall and Noah and his family boarded the ark, it was the seventeenth day of the second month. When the floodwaters finished receding it was the seventeenth day of the seventh month, which, according to the Bible, was a period of 150 days. This simply means that in five months time 150 days had passed. It works out that five 30-day months equals 150 days. But from this we cannot assume that there were twelve 30-day months in a year, or if there were, that the pattern continued for any reasonable length of time.
The other references used to support prophetic years come from the book of Revelation, with a cross-reference to the book of Daniel. There is a similar correlation between months and days in the book of Revelation where there is a reference to 42 months, and also 1,260 days. As is the pattern in Genesis, forty-two 30-day months equals 1,260 days. Once again, this is simply a possible reference to 30-day months, but again it says nothing of years, at least not for any significant number of years.
By far the most popular evidence used to support 360-day prophetic years is found in the comparison between Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13:5. In Daniel's prophecy antichrist has dominion over the saints for a time, times and half a time; and Revelation, referencing what many believe to be the same event, puts the duration at 42 months. The assumption of course is that time, times and half a time in Daniel's prophecy equals 31/2 years, thus, linking it to the 42 months in Revelation.
But even if the two verses are referring to the same event, the pattern of 360-day years could only be sustained for a short period of time. If the pattern consisted for too long, the Jewish feasts, along with the months they are held in, would begin to move into seasons in which they do not belong. This is especially true when considering sabbatical years because of their agricultural significance. (See Lev. 25:2-6)
A sabbatical year, which was instituted by God, occurs every seven years and is primarily for the purpose of allowing the crop fields rest for one growing season. If years were measured by 360-day periods rather than actual solar years, the growing seasons would quickly fall out of sync with the calendar unless adjustments were made. And adjusting the calendar is exactly what the Jews did. The Jews adjusted their calendar every two or three years to realign it with the solar year.
Another difficulty in justifying prophetic years is in the fact that the Jewish calendar isn't 360 days long; it's 354 days long. So if God intended for the Jews to understand Daniel's 70-weeks prophecy, how were they ever supposed to figure it out if the years of the prophecy were 360 days long? Apparently that sort of logic never entered the mind of Sir Robert Anderson who presented his theory of calculating the 69-week period using his prophetic years.
The calculated result Anderson derived at was this:
The 1st Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (the edict to rebuild Jerusalem) was 14th March, B. C. 445. The 10th Nisan in Passion Week (Christ's entry into Jerusalem) was 6th April, A. D. 32. The intervening period was 476 years and 24 days (the days being reckoned inclusively, as required by the language of the prophecy, and in accordance with the Jewish practice).
But 476 x 365= 173, 740 days
Add (14 March to 6th April, both inclusive) 24 days
Add for leap years 116 days
Equals a total of 173,880 days
And 69 weeks of prophetic years of 360 days (or 69 x 7 x 360) 173, 880 days.
According to Sir Robert Anderson, the actual span of 69 weeks in solar years equals 476 years. The Jews reckoned months according to the phases of the moon which divided a year by 12 months, but every year was not a twelve-month year. If the Jewish calendar were to maintain consecutive lunar months, all the feast days including Passover would migrate through the four seasons - and that never happened. A 12-month lunar calendar, such as the Jewish calendar, loses about 11 days each year. Left uncorrected, the month of Nisan, for example, would drift backward 11 days each year, eventually ending up in winter, then fall, summer, then back to spring again.
In order to compensate for the drift, an extra month was added every two or three years. In ancient times this compensation was added by observation; nowadays it's done systematically. The month added is called Adar, which is the name of the twelfth month on the Jewish calendar. The real month of Adar during leap years would simply become the thirteenth month. So on leap years there would be two months of Adar. For example, the interval from Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year), which is historically rooted in the month of Tishri, would be one month longer during a leap year.
Another issue with Sir Robert Anderson's claim is that it places the crucifixion in the year 32 AD. According to the Gospel of John, the day after Jesus was crucified was a high Sabbath, meaning that the following day (actually at sunset that evening) was not only Sabbath (Saturday) but also the first day of Passover. That means Jesus must have been crucified on the 14th of Nisan on a year where that day landed on a Friday. According to astronomical calculations, the 14th of Nisan did not land on a Friday in the year 32 AD. There are only two years around the time we know Christ was crucified where the 14th of Nisan does lands on Friday - 30 AD and 33 AD. This, of course, assumes the astronomical calculations I researched are correct, which they may or may not be.
The Command to rebuild and restore Jerusalem
From Sir Robert Anderson's book, "The Coming Prince," 476 years before Christ's crucifixion takes us to the time of Nehemiah's journey to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall and city in the year 445 BC. This is supposed to signify the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. But a certain theologian named Dr. Harold Hoehner, who no doubt learned about the astronomical data nullifying the 32 A.D. crucifixion date, changed the date in which Nehemiah received permission to go to Jerusalem from 445 B.C. to 444 B.C. so that the 69 weeks would terminate at the new crucifixion date of 33 A.D.
Dr. Hoehner's explanation is nothing short of confusing and utterly unverifiable.
After the 70-years captivity was complete, there were two specific decrees given by the Persian kings and one instance where the king gave permission to Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem temporarily. To some the permission Nehemiah received from the king is considered a decree. Thomas Ice had the following to say concerning the decrees:
"It is clear to me that of all the options available, the only decree that specifically fits the statements of Daniel 9:25 is the one by Artaxerxes given in 444 BC. as recorded in Nehemiah 2:1-8. Why? Because decree one and two relate to rebuilding the Temple. Only decree three speaks specifically of Jerusalem. It is clear that Nehemiah received a decree to "rebuild and restore Jerusalem" from King Artaxerxes."
Decrees one and two to which Mr. Ice refers are the decrees recorded in Ezra 1 and Ezra 7. The first decree appears to be specific to rebuilding the temple, but the verse leading into the decree implies that this could, in fact, be the decree of Daniel's prophecy. "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing." And what did the Lord speak through Jeremiah? "For thus says the Lord: After 70 years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place." (Jer. 29:10)
The second decree (Ezr. 7:12-26) was much more general and did seem to include rebuilding the wall. King Artaxerxes feared the God of the Jews and decreed that Ezra could take any of the captives he wanted and go to Jerusalem with gold and silver granted to him by the king. The purpose of the gold and silver was to beautify the house of God, buy animals for sacrifice, and whatsoever else the God of Israel would have them do with it.
"And whatever seems good to you and your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do it according to the will of your God." (Ezr. 7:18)
Also, this decree, which Mr. Ice calls decree two, had nothing to do with building the temple as he claims. The temple was completed during the sixth year of the reign of Darius in 515 B.C. - 71 years before this decree was given. (Ezr. 6:15) And decree three is simply non existent; there is no decree recorded in Nehemiah 2:1-8 as Mr. Ice claims. Searching out claims like these takes no more than an evening reading through a couple of small books of the Bible.
When the Jews who came out of captivity were dwelling in Jerusalem, many of them, including the priests and Levites, took wives from among the gentiles who were living there. This was an abomination to the nation of Israel as they were forbidden to enter into relationships with the gentiles. When Ezra was informed of this abomination, he rent his garments and sat in astonishment. He fell on his knees, lifted his hands to God, and prayed for God to forgive the shame that came upon Israel because of the sins of many who were set free. In his prayer Ezra stated:
"For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem." (Ezr. 9:9)
Ezra's prayer confirms that he understood that at least one of the king's decrees included restoring Jerusalem and rebuilding the city wall. Further confirmation that this or the previous decree included building the city and wall is found in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was King Artaxerxes cupbearer and a devout Jew. His writing begins with him inquiring about the progress in Judah from certain brethren who had returned from there.
When Nehemiah listened to their report wherein they told him the wall of Jerusalem lie in ruin, he wept and mourned for many days. Why did Nehemiah do this? The only logical explanation is that Nehemiah was expecting to hear that the wall was rebuilt and things were progressing in Jerusalem. After all, it had been thirteen years since Artaxerxes issued his last decree and freed a remnant of the Jews to go to Jerusalem. If one of the previous decrees did not include building the walls of Jerusalem, why was Nehemiah depressed when he heard the news?
Learning that the walls lie in ruin and the gates consumed with fire, depressed Nehemiah to the point where he could not hide it. This must have been a devastating blow to Nehemiah. How excited he must have been to finally have a chance to talk with fellow Jews who were returning from Jerusalem. After 13 years Jerusalem must have been well on its way to recovery or so Nehemiah thought.
Later, when Nehemiah was serving wine to the king, the king noticed his sadness. Nehemiah had never been sad before the king before, so the king asked him why he was sad. Nehemiah told the king it was because the city of his fathers lies in ruin. So the king asked Nehemiah if he had a request. Nehemiah answered that if it pleased the king he wanted to go back to restore his city. The king asked him how long he would be gone, thus giving him permission.
Nehemiah further asked the king for letters for safe passage to Jerusalem and to obtain wood from the king's woodsman for the purpose of rebuilding the gates. This is what
Mr. Ice is calling decree three - the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. However, this doesn't sound like a decree, especially in light of the biblical evidence indicating that a decree already existed. Both earlier decrees were recorded word-for-word in Scripture and Ezra verified their intent. No such recording of the king's letter to Nehemiah exists, which makes any theory about its context presumptuous.
Trouble In Jerusalem
If the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem had already been given, why wasn't the wall and gates built by the time Nehemiah met up with the men from Judah? We may not be able to answer that definitively, but we can piece together some clues to help us understand what might have happened.
During the reign of Cyrus when the gentiles who were living in Jerusalem wanted to help build the temple, the Jews strictly forbade them. (Many of these gentiles had Jewish ancestry and worshiped the God of Israel along with their pagan gods. If the Jews had allowed them to participate in building the temple, they would have certainly laid claim to it.) By not allowing the gentiles to participate in the construction of the temple, the Jews launched a virtual war in Jerusalem in which the gentiles would use every opportunity to impede their progress.
After much protesting by the gentiles and the timely intervention of King Darius, the temple was complete around 515 BC. About fifty years later, in the beginning of Artaxerxes' reign, the Jews attempted to rebuild the city and the walls. The gentiles were alarmed and wrote a strong letter to King Artaxerxes informing him of what the Jews were doing and what the implications of rebuilding the city would mean for the king's providence. Artaxerxes responded with a command to cease the unauthorized construction of the city walls until he gives a command to the contrary.
Then Ezra went to Artaxerxes and convinced him to allow the Jews to restore the city and its walls. Ezra told the king, "The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him." (Ezr. 8:22) This caused the king to fear God and grant Ezra's petition. The resulting decree, however, is not specific in its mention of restoring the city. But, as stated before, Ezra acknowledged the king's intentions when he thanked God for putting the restoration of the city in the king's heart.
The thing Ezra failed to do was request a detachment of solders from the king, which would have reinforced the decree once they arrived in Jerusalem. The gentiles in Judea were relentless in their efforts to stop the Jews from building their city. Decree or no decree, the gentiles were not about to let the Jews build unless forced to by the strong arm of the king's army.
Once Ezra and the Jews arrived in Jerusalem, many of the men fell into sin by taking wives from among the heathen that were living there. Nothing impedes the grace of God like sin. So with two strikes against them, the Jews were unable to build the city wall. When one reads the historical account in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, a sense of wonderment comes about because of the many times God helped His people through the difficult times. Since the king feared God and was thus persuaded to allow the Jews to rebuild their city, why did the city still lie in ruin?
The Jews, in their new-found freedom, dishonored God by defiling themselves with the heathen and needed to repent by putting away their heathen wives and returning to the Lord their God. God did allow the wall and city to be built, but only after the people had truly repented of their sin and amassed humbly in Jerusalem, boasting only in their weakness. It is through our weakness that the strength of God is revealed; and once the people of God were sufficiently weakened and humbled, God did a marvelous work through a man called Nehemiah.
When was the command given to restore Jerusalem? From a contextual study of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the answer appears to be in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes (About 458 B.C.). It was indeed Nehemiah who was granted permission to rebuild Jerusalem, but it happened fourteen years after the command went forth. And Daniel's prophecy clearly states that the 70 weeks began when the command to restore Jerusalem went forth. "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times." (Dan. 9:25)
The 70th Week
About six months before Jesus' first appearance in Jerusalem as the Christ, John the Baptist, who upon seeing Jesus, proclaimed, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" Thus John presented Jesus to the Jews as Messiah the Prince. And from that moment on, Jesus was tested and examined by the Jews to see if He truly was the Messiah - the spotless Lamb of God. This was the beginning of the first day of the 70th week of years.
The Apostle John wrote his Gospel a little differently than the others who wrote Gospel accounts. John focused a lot more on the fulfillment of prophecy, giving us a clearer perception of the Old Testament and how it all points to Jesus. John recorded four separate Passover periods during the ministry of Jesus - the first being six months after His baptism - which shows that Jesus' ministry lasted three and a half years. (John 2:13, 5:1, 6:4, and 11:55)
In the middle of His fourth year of ministry Jesus entered Jerusalem for the final time. If His baptism signaled the beginning of the first day of the 70th week, Jesus' final entry into Jerusalem marked the middle of the fourth day of the 70th week. The significance of this is found in the Passover story of Exodus 12.
On the tenth day of the first month each family or group of families were required to select a lamb for sacrifice. The lamb was required to be a male and examined for blemishes. The lamb then had to be kept until the fourteenth day, which is the fourth day after it is selected. In the evening of that same day, the lamb was to be killed by the whole congregation.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time, it was the middle of the fourth day of the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. As soon as Jesus gave up the ghost (the sixth hour or noon), the skies were darkened for three hours. The darkness that occurred at the moment Jesus died on the cross is probably the antitype to the time of day the sacrificial lamb was to be killed - just before sundown.
While Jesus' body hangs lifeless on the cross, the Jews conspired with Pilot to break the legs of the men on the crosses in order to kill them quickly so as not to have them hanging there during Passover. The solders broke the legs of the two criminals, but when they came to Jesus, they discovered he was already dead. Thus there was no reason to break His legs. John tells us this was done so the Scripture might be fulfilled: "He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken." (Psa. 34:20) This prophetic fulfillment is also realized in Exodus 12 in reference to the Passover: "In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones."
Israel's deliverance from Egypt was the type for the fulfillment of Israel's deliverance from sin and transgression. On that mournful, yet victorious day in Jerusalem, solders pierced the side of Jesus causing His blood to pour out. Little did they know that the blood was not poured out upon the ground, but upon every person throughout history that wills to put their trust in Him. And like the children of the exodus who death passed over because their houses were covered by the blood of lambs, the blood of the true Lamb, which covers their sin, cleanses the children of the New Covenant.
The Gospel Goes to the Gentiles (The Conclusion of the 70th Week?)
From the time of Jesus' resurrection to the time Peter met with Cornelius the Gentile and preached the Gospel to him and his friends, the Gospel was strictly for the Jews. From the New Testament point of view, once the Gentiles began to receive the Gospel, the chronological account of the Jews ended. It would be speculative to say that the timing of the Gospel going to the Gentiles perfectly accounts for the remaining years left to fulfill the rest of the 70th week, but it does fit from the biblical perspective.
It also fits with the historical Passover feast. "And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it." (Exd. 12:48)
Of course, circumcision itself was fulfilled in Christ: "In Him you (gentile believers) were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ." (Col. 2:11)
And the strangers, i.e., Gentiles who believe in Jesus are brought near by His blood: "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." (Eph. 2:11-13)
The fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy can be realized when one begins to realize the impact of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and what it all means to Israel. And just as importantly, what Israel is. Before the fulfillment of the 70-weeks prophecy, Israel was a nation chosen by God to be His people. The nation was particular -- the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the fulfillment of the prophecy brought Israel to a new era. Israel is now much more than a nation, it is the culmination of people from all over the world who have answered the call of God to cling to His Son, their King. But Israel is also the nation it always was, and God has brought them back to their land for the sake of the remnant that will believe when Christ appears - then, all Israel will be saved!
"For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you." (Rom. 11:16-18)
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