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32 Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks”

or any other period. But eclipses are events that occur in the heavens, and chronology has to do with
events on earth. There is no way the astronomers can tell us the succession of the Persian kings or
calculate the length of their reigns. And it is that information that is needed to make a viable chro-
nology. Without it, a perfect chart of all the eclipses is of about as much use to us as a map of Pluto!

The bottom line is -- regarding the events of sacred history prior to the conquest of Asia by
Alexander the Great -- there are NO SOURCES OF INFORMATION APART FROM THE BIBLE
ITSELF to determine a true chronology. However, none are needed because the chronology of
YEHOVAH’s Word is complete in itself. We must realize that it was no more a part of
YEHOVAH’s plan of revelation that we should be dependent upon human sources for the comple-
tion of biblical chronology, than that we should be dependent upon such sources for the understand-
ing of any part of essential truth or doctrine.

2. The Command to Restore and
to Build Jerusalem -- Daniel 9:25

The going forth of the commandment
(lit. word) to restore and to build Jerusa-
lem is one of the most important of the
chronological landmarks in the Bible be-
cause it stretches the measuring line of
483 years “unto the Messiah, the Prince.”
This was a matter that Daniel the prophet
was specially charged by the angel to
“know” and to “understand.” Now, un-
less the exact time of the going forth of
that word be known, and unless its rela-
tion with the entire chronological
scheme of the Bible be understood, the
YEHOVAH-given measuring line will
be of no avail for the very purpose that
YEHOVAH gave it! The Bible shows,
with an utmost clarity, both the decree re-
ferred to, and also the DATE of its “go-
ing forth.” In fact, the biblical time-line
would never have come into question had
not some “learned men” gone to the Bi-
ble with a ready-made chronology based
on Ptolemy’s miscalculations, and tried
to force scripture into its framework.
Rather than going to YEHOVAH’s
Relief of Cyrus the Great
Word and determining the beginning and
the end of the prophetic period, and then
letting the scripture itself show them the number of years (483) between these terminal events, these
men have simply relied on false chronologies based on pagan traditions and superstition.

The Berean Voice March-April 2003