Page 37 - bv19

Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks” 37

completed, and therefore it cannot, in any way you look at it, be seriously taken to mean that the city
had not been rebuilt. The meaning clearly indicates that there were still some wide unoccupied
spaces wherein the houses had not yet been erected.

At this point we should reiterate that the Seventy Weeks were to start -- NOT from the build-
ing of the city (much less from its completion) but -- from the going forth of the word to restore and
to build it. In Ezra 1:1-4 we have the record of the word going forth, which perfectly fulfilled both
Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s prophecies, which also perfectly answered Daniel’s prayer, and which per-
fectly corresponds to the words of Gabriel. Also, we should realize, the Bible gives GREAT
PROMINENCE to this decree of Cyrus, and the date of it is given in two passages -- 2 Chronicles
36:22 and Ezra 1:1.

On the other side of the coin, we find that there is absolutely nothing in Nehemiah 2 that an-
swers to the words of the angel -- no commandment or decree going forth -- but merely letters given
to Nehemiah granting him safe conduct as far as Jerusalem, and letters to the keeper of the king’s
forest ordering him to supply timber for the gates, for the wall of the city and for Nehemiah’s house.

Finally, the epoch-making decree of Cyrus is related to the entire scheme of Bible chronol-
ogy because it was 70 years from the beginning of the captivity in Babylon -- whereas the 7th year
of Artaxerxes and the 20th year of Artaxerxes (mentioned in Nehemiah 2) is, at best, an uncertainty!
In fact, the word “Artaxerxes” is a TITLE meaning chief-ruler given to all the Persian kings. Some
are of the opinion that the ruler mentioned in Nehemiah is Darius (Hystaspes), and the same person
as the Ahasuerus of Esther. Others think he was Longimanus, who supposedly followed Xerxes and
Artabanus but, as we have seen, was none other than Xerxes! With the present state of knowledge
we have at our disposal, this question cannot be settled. However, as to Cyrus -- THERE IS NO
UNCERTAINTY AT ALL!

3. “Unto the Messiah”

The words “unto the Messiah the Prince” define the goal toward which the long chronologi-
cal line of the Bible had been steadily moving. In the time of Daniel the voice of prophecy was
about to be quieted, and the inspired history of YEHOVAH God’s ancient people was about to
come to an end. But, before the Biblical record was about to close, the final stage of the Old Testa-
ment chronology was made known to “Daniel the Prophet” -- and was recorded by him in the Bible.
From the going forth of the decree of Cyrus unto the Deliverer -- of whom Cyrus was a remarkable
type -- was to be a period of 69 “sevens” of years.

The words “unto the Messiah” reveal to us with absolute clarity and certainty to what point
in the life-time of Yeshua the Messiah the measure of 69 sevens (483 years) must reach. The very
word Messiah -- which is equivalent to the Greek Christos -- means “the Anointed.” Now when,
during the Messiah’s life-time, was he anointed and presented to Israel? The answer is clearly given
in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts. It was at HIS BAPTISM IN THE JORDAN RIVER -- for it
was at this time that the holy spirit descended upon him in the shape of a dove. And it was at this
time that John the Baptist bore witness to him as the Son of YEHOVAH God and the Lamb of
YEHOVAH God. As the apostle Peter declared in Acts 10:38: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth

The Berean Voice March-April 2003